Titans Curl into Quarterfinals

By: D’Arcy Murphy
Photo Credit: Mr. Sluski

HT1 curlers (L-R) Steven, D'Arcy, Melissa, and Zainab.

Holy Trinity’s two remaining curling squads took to the ice on Monday, February 23rd for their quarterfinal playoff draws. The Titan curlers were making the school's first playoff appearances in recent history. HT1 came away with a tight 5-4 comeback victory while HT2 cruised to an easy 7-0 win two sheets over. The teams return to the Oakville Curling Club on Wednesday for their next matches.

HT1’s team members are Serena Maione (absent), Zainab Rasoul (absent but pictured), Melissa Stanley-White (lead), Steven Molnar (vice), and D’Arcy Murphy (skip). The team struggled to put rocks in play early on, trailing 4-1 after the third end. That third end, which saw Blakelock pick up a steal of one point, was long and drawn out with intense strategy. League-mandated time limits forced the fourth end to be the final one of the afternoon. Trailing by three, vice Steven Molnar followed up Melissa Stanley-Patrick’s well placed guards with two stones in the eight foot ring. After missing the first of his skip’s stones, D’Arcy Murphy drew into the twelve foot with the hammer to score three in the end and force the tiebreaker. To determine a winner, the two skips had to draw for the button, but both missed. Then moving on to the vices, Molnar sealed the victory by drawing to within a foot of the pin!
 
Meanwhile on sheet four at the Oakville Curling Club, HT2 made it a clean sweep for the Titans on the day with their blowout win. Liam DeSouza, Justin Hui, Paulius Pace, Logan Pereira, and Neale Rait make up their squad. After losing to Iroquois Ridge earlier in the season and practicing with them in the preseason, the guys were determined to get even with their rivals and beat the Trailblazers in this important playoff test. The boys took a commanding lead in their match-up. Well placed guards and putting lots of rocks in play helped them get in front and they never looked back, racking up seven points and comfortably advancing to the next round of the playoffs! On Wednesday they’re right back at it.

HT3 also had a great season, but came up just short of qualifying for the playoffs. The team consisted of Tessa Bennett, Rachel Bolland, Emily Hollick, Daniela Pace, and Rachel Rudman. Congrats to the ladies on a great season of fun and competitiveness!

The season continues on Wednesday for HT1 and HT2! Let’s go Titans!

This article has been edited to amend an error. The games played on Wednesday that HT1 and HT2 qualified for were quarterfinals, not semifinals.