By Kaden Nanji
Despite going undefeated in the pool play, the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women’s curling team’s season ended on Feb. 4 in the quarterfinals of the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championships held in Guelph, Ont.
After winning their first four games of the tournament, the Bold were eliminated in the knockout round by the Laurentian Voyageurs. Following the eight ends in a 4-4 tie, they were forced to play an extra end, where the Voyageurs scored two points to secure the win.
“It was a very positive experience. I think our team performed really well, we just came up against a very talented team in Laurentian…and they outplayed us,” said TMU head coach Justin Chen.
The Voyageurs went on to win the tournament, beating out the Waterloo Warriors in the semi-finals and then the reigning champions McMaster Marauders in the finals.
During the 2023 OUA championships, the Bold won the bronze medal and a trip to the U Sports national tournament, where they placed sixth. This year, however, they couldn’t reach the same fate.
“It was just a very fun experience to spend almost a week curling,” said TMU fifth-year lead Jessica Filipcic. “It was nice to see all the hard work and dedication put into the season come to fruition.”
The Bold started off the 2024 OUA championship pool play—the stage of the competition where teams play against each other to qualify for the knockout round—with a statement 7-1 win against the Voyageurs in seven ends.
In the following match, the Brock Badgers conceded after six ends, with TMU claiming a massive 10-2 victory.
After going down early against the host—the Guelph Gryphons—the Bold fought back in the third and fifth ends to win their third game 6-4.
“We made a lot of really nice shots to win that game,” said TMU third Émilie Lovitt Sansoucy, who’s in her second season with the Bold.
In their final pool play match, the Bold demolished the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks 7-1, in just four ends.
“I took a moment and stopped and was like, ‘Wow, this will be my last OUA’s…we did so well in the round-robins, we just have to keep it going into playoffs,’” said Filipcic.
The tournament served as the last dance for Filipcic, who is in her final year of eligibility.
“Her leadership off the ice is huge…she is fully immersed in the culture and has helped the new players on the team adjust,” said Chen.
The undefeated record in pool play from the Bold didn’t translate to a high seed in the quarter-finals. The Warriors also boasted an undefeated record and were placed in the same bracket as the Bold.
To determine which side would secure the top seed, the two teams went to a tiebreaker, which was the Last Stone Draw.
Last Stone Draw is when two players from each team deliver a stone as close as possible to the centre. The team that has the closest stone to the centre after being measured wins the tiebreaker.
The Warriors, with a score of 147.20 cm, won the tiebreaker and qualified for the top seed in the tournament. Meanwhile, the Bold, with a score of 218.10 cm, were relegated to the fifth seed, despite having a better overall record than the third and fourth seeds.
As a result of losing the tiebreaker and dropping to the fifth seed, the Bold had to face off against the fourth-seeded Voyageurs instead of the eighth-seeded Gryphons.
Despite this, the team had full confidence in themselves heading into the knockout round.
“I think the team that we had this season is amongst the most talented curling team that TMU has ever had,” said Chen.
Filipcic, who was previously awarded First Team All-Star nods in consecutive seasons, leaves the Bold having cemented herself as one of the top leads in the OUA.
“It’s a very small-knit community with great people who are super dedicated to the sport,” said Filipcic on her tenure with the Bold. “I’ve made some great friendships and have taken some of those friendships outside of school and curled with them in the Ontario circuit.”
“I took a moment and stopped and was like, ‘Wow, this will be my last OUA’s'”
Fourth-year Courtney Auld has played alongside Filipcic for the last three seasons and is expected to take a bigger leadership role within the squad.
TMU second Celeste Gauthier is also expected to take a leap when she enters her third year next season. The Ottawa product boasts a robust resume—having won the silver medal at the under-18 women’s curling championship and gold at the 2020 Ontario Winter Games—before joining the Bold.
Sansoucy was awarded the third position during the recent tournament. Her sweeping abilities will make her a key member of the Bold’s next generation of curlers.
With a mix of veteran members and young faces, the Bold now look towards next season in hopes of securing the program’s first championship banner.
“I know we have a lot of good potential and experience on our team, so that’s an edge on the competition,” said Sansoucy. “We also have [the] talent and the skillset for the future.”
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