Poised to qualify for ACAC Championship, Griffins look to close deal at Winter Regional
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After setting the table with some solid finishes at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Curling Fall Regional in November, the MacEwan Griffins are poised to earn an invite to next month's buffet that is the ACAC Championship.
First, though, they must finish off the task at the ACAC Winter Regional bonspiel, which begins today (4:30 p.m.) and continues through the weekend at the Avonair Curling Club.
The Griffins sit second at 4-1 in the mixed draw (Portage is 5-0) and probably need two wins this weekend to secure one of the top four spots in the Feb. 16-18 championship in Camrose.
On the women's side, MacEwan is 4-2, which has them entering this weekend in third (behind 6-0 Concordia and 4-2 NAIT, who hold the head-to-head tiebreaker on them). So, something similar will likely punch their ticket.
"They're both poised," said head coach Tom Kitagawa. "If we do the same thing then both teams will qualify."
Of course, it's never easy to repeat success. Just ask the Griffins women's rink, which didn't qualify for the ACAC Championship last year after winning the banner in 2016.
In a sports world of clichés, taking one game at a time this weekend will be key for the Griffins.
"Don't look past this team. Every team can beat you," said Kitagawa of his message to his student-athletes. "It's like anything. If you have an OK game and the other team has a stellar game, it can bite you. It just happens. You pick any sport."
Getting off to a good start would be ideal. The MacEwan mixed rink of Jordan Semen (second, but skip), Aidan Munro (fourth stones), Rebecca Bartz (third) and Andrea Bury (lead) will open play on Friday against Red Deer College (4:30 p.m.) and Olds (8 p.m.). On Saturday, they'll meet Lakeland (12:30 p.m.) and Portage (8 p.m.) before closing out the spiel on Sunday against NAIT (8:30 a.m.).
The Griffins women's rink of Ashton Simard (skip), Erin Wells (third), Andie Kurjata (second) and Sara Fraser/Hilary Charlie (splitting lead duties) gets defending ACAC champion Concordia in their first game on Friday (4:30 p.m.) and then UAlberta-Augustana (8 p.m.). On Saturday, they'll face Red Deer College (12:30 p.m.) and Olds (8 p.m.) before closing out the event on Sunday against Lakeland (8:30 a.m.) and NAIT (12 p.m.).
"I'm of the sense that (I'd like to play) some of the better teams right off the hop," said Kitagawa, whose women's rink certainly will take that route with the powerhouse Thunder up first. "I like playing the stronger teams right up front, so we go in knowing we've got to be pumped up for this.
"It would be good to come out of that first day with 2-0 records."
