Norman, Okla. (Sept. 4, 2017) - The OU Curling team once again competed in curling tournaments across the south. The 2017 Summer Curling Tour began in early May at the Dallas Curling Club’s Steers and Beers Open Bonspiel, which hosted teams from across the U.S. and Canada. The Sooners dropped their first game against a talented hometown Dallas team, but rallied and finished the tournament with a 4-game win streak to take home the B-Event Championship with a combined record of 4-1. The next stop was Austin, TX which took place over Memorial Day Weekend. In the Sooners’ second consecutive appearance in the tournament, the team once again made the C-Event Championship. The Sooners would finish as the C-Event Runner-up with a combined record of 2-3. Jeff Milne skipped both Dallas and Austin teams, with Casey Cascio, Matthew Ramsey, and Edward Thorn in the Vice Skip, Second, and Lead positions. The team then headed north to the Kansas City Bonspiel and St. Louis Bonspiel. The Sooners went 0-3 in Kansas City, but rallied in St. Louis to finish as the B-Event Runner-up with a 3-2 record. The Kansas City team was comprised of Jeff Milne, Casey Cascio, Andrew Mahre, and Matthew Ramsey, while the St. Louis team was Jeff Milne, Dillon Kovar, Matthew Ramsey, and Edward Thorn. Overall, OU Curling team was in an event final in three out of the four tournaments. 2017 OU Summer Curling Team
Utica, NY. (March 12, 2017) – The University of Oklahoma Curling Team concluded the college curling season with the team’s first Top 10 finish at the 2017 Collegiate Curling National Championships in Utica, NY. The championships began with pool play where OU was slotted against Yale, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, and MIT. In OU’s first game against the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, the Sooners were able to overcome an early four-point deficit to Green Bay to force a tie at the end of regulation. However, Green Bay, with the hammer, was able to win in the 9th ending. The Sooners then faced the MIT Engineers. The Sooners jumped to a 4-0 lead after stealing four in the first end, with the Engineers responding by taking one in the second, third, fourth and fifth ends. With the game tied 4-4 at the end of the fifth end, OU was able to remove MIT’s rock in the 4 foot to secure two points in the 6th end, and stole two in the 7th end to regain the four point lead. OU was able to keep the house clean of stones in the 8th to secure the 8-4 victory. Oklahoma and Yale played in the last game of pool play. This marked the first time the two programs have ever played each other on the ice. The teams blanked the first end, and the Sooners stole two in the second end to take an early 2-0 lead. In the third, Oklahoma was able to force Yale to one. Yale responded by forcing the Sooners to only one in the fourth end, which gave OU a 3-1 lead heading into halftime. Yale rallied from their early deficit by scoring three in the fifth end to take their first lead of the game 4-3. Yale added to their score in the sixth end by stealing one putting the Sooners behind by two. Playing aggressively, the Sooners gave up three more points to Yale in the seventh. The Sooners were unable to recover from costly errors, and conceded in the 8th end for a final score of 7-3 in favor of the Bulldogs. Oklahoma’s effort secured them a spot in the tournament 3rd place bracket against Harvard University, Hamilton College, and Bowdoin College. Oklahoma and Hamilton previously met in the 2016 National Championship Playoff with Hamilton taking the first meeting. The game started with the Sooners taking one in the first end and Hamilton taking four in the second, putting the Sooners down by three entering the third end. OU responded by scoring four in the third and stealing one in the fourth to retake the lead 6-4. Hamilton scored one in the fifth and OU scored two more in the sixth to make the game 8-5 in favor of the Sooners. Hamilton rallied in the seventh to score three, which tied the game 8-8 going into the eighth and final end. The Sooners were able to place a biter at the top of the house early as their insurance rock, while Hamilton went to work placing center guards to steal the end. With the hammer, OU skip Noah Gordon faced two center guards with Hamilton’s shot rock slightly open at the back of the 4ft, and successfully preformed a hit and stick to win the game for the Sooners with a final of 10-8. OU moved on in the tournament to their first ever event final at collegiate nationals to face Harvard who, in similar fashion, won their game in the eighth end after being tied in the seventh against Bowdoin College. The game began with OU having offensive troubles. Harvard successfully stole one in each of the first four ends to take a 4-0 lead at the half. The Sooners came roaring back in the fifth end with four of their own to tie the game 4-4. Harvard, with the hammer, was able to take three in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to regain a four-point advantage. The Sooners were able to keep stones in play for the majority of the eighth end, but shook after the Sooner’s seventh stone rolled out of the house on an attempted takeout. The OU Curling Team finished as the 4th Place Runner-ups and in the final Top 10. Overall, the 2016-17 season marked the best year in the program’s history. During the course of the year, the Sooners won two college bonspiel championships, compiled thirty-seven wins, and accumulated seventy-two US Curling Association Collegiate Merit points, while traveling over 9,800 miles – all OU Curling records. University of Oklahoma v. Hamilton CollegeNorman, Okla. (March 5, 2017) – The University of Oklahoma Curling Club finished its regular season as the No. 3 ranked collegiate curling team in the U.S. Curling Association’s merit point standings, and were invited to compete for the national title in Utica, New York. During the 2016-17 season, the OU squad traveled more than 9,800 miles and won the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay and Denver Curling Club collegiate bonspiels. Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. Utica will host the Top 16 collegiate teams at the 2017 Collegiate Curling National Championship March 10 through 12. OU will compete in Pool B as the second seed against No. 1 Yale University, No. 3 University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, and No. 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This will be the second consecutive year OU has competed for the College Curling National Championship and their third overall appearance in the tournament. 2017 OU National Team
Omaha, NE (February 10, 2017) – The University of Oklahoma is sending two teams to compete at the Nebraska State College Bonspiel. The teams will face local teams Wayne St. College, Creighton, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, and fellow out-of-state team University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. Both OU teams will feature true freshmen skips. OU 1 will be skipped by Noah Gordon and OU 2 will be skipped by Edward Thorn. Noah will be supported by veterans Jeff Milne (Gr.-Ph.D.) and Casey Cascio (Gr. – Ph.D.) in the vice skip and second positions respectively. OU 1 will be led by Matt Ramsey (Fr.). OU 2 will feature tournament newcomers Sophia Huebler (Fr.) and Ellie Holder (Fr.), but will have senior support with Alex Plotkin (Sr.) playing on the frontend. Additionally, for the first-time in the program’s history, OU will field a split team with the University of Nebraska. OU’s Dillon Kovar (So.) will skip the split team with Mark Preslar (So.) serving in the lead position. The team will be rounded out with Nebraska contributing players for the second and vice skip positions. Games will begin at 8:30 AM on Saturday, February 11th at Baxter Arena and continue throughout the day. Each team will compete in pool play, which consists of four games. Then, the pools will be broken into event finals, which will occur on Sunday, February 12th at 11:00 AM. The full schedule can be found below. Overall, the Sooners look to finish the season strong and secure a Top 5 finish in the US Collegiate Curling standings. Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017 Draw 1: 8:30AM - 10:30AM UNL2 v. OU1 (Sheet 2) Creighton v. OU/UNL (Sheet 3) Wayne St. 2 v. OU2 (Sheet 4) Draw 2: 10:45AM - 12:45PM UNL 1 v. OU/UNL (Sheet 4) Draw 3: 1:30PM - 3:30PM OU/UNL v. OU 2 (Sheet 2) Wayne St. 3 v. OU 1 (Sheet 5) Draw 4: 3:45PM - 5:45PM Wayne St. 1 v. OU 1 (Sheet 1) UNL 1 v. OU 2 (Sheet 3) Wayne St. 2 v. OU/UNL (Sheet 5) Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017 Draw 5: 8:30AM - 10:30AM UW-SP v. OU1 (Sheet 3) Creighton v. OU 2 (Sheet 5) Finals Ceremony: 10:45AM - 11:00AM FINALS: 11:00AM - 1:00PM OU 1 v. TBD OU 2 v. TBD OU/UNL v. TBD Awards: 1:00PM 2017 Omaha OU1 Team
2017 Omaha OU2 Team
2017 Omaha OU/UNL Team
Norman, OK (November 28, 2016) – The University of Oklahoma maintained their lead in the latest USA Curling Collegiate Merit Point Standings. The Sooners have now been atop the standings for 181 days; a new record for the Sooner Curling program. The OU Curling team maintained their strong lead with multiple tournament wins. The Sooners have won two of the three collegiate tournaments they have attended. The only other team this year to have accomplished this feat is the 2016 National Champions, The University of Pennsylvania (currently 5th in the standings).
Other teams in the Top 5 include: #2 SUNY – Poly, #3 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, #4 Wayne State College, and #5 University of Pennsylvania. Bowdoin College fell out of the Top 5, with the new standings, and are currently 9th. With two more Collegiate Tournaments left in 2016, there is a chance for other teams to shake-up the Top 5 heading into 2017. For the full list of standings, visit the USA Curling Collegiate website: http://www.collegecurlingusa.org/. Denver, CO (November 13, 2016) – The University of Oklahoma Curling Team won the 2016 Denver College Curling Tournament going 5-0 and amassing 54 points while only allowing 19 points against. The Sooners faced the Wayne State College Wildcats in the first round. OU, with an impressive defensive performance, won 8-2 in 7 ends. In round two, the Sooners faced the home team, University of Denver, and won 11-3 in 7ends. In the last round before playoffs, the Sooners faced former Big XII rival, University of Nebraska, for the number one seed in their pool. The Sooners stole one in the first end and hold Nebraska to one in the second end; however, the Sooners opened it up in the third end by scoring 6, which resulted in a 7-1 advantage for the Sooners heading into the fourth end. OU increased their lead by stealing 2 in the fourth end, with Nebraska taking two in the fifth end. In the sixth end, the Sooners put the game away by scoring four with the final score 13-3 OU. The big win against Nebraska gave OU a perfect 3-0 record in pool play. As the top finisher in the A pool, OU faced the second finisher in the B pool, Wayne State College’s 2nd team. Despite the rough start, OU gained a late lead scoring 5 in the fifth end and held on to beat Wayne St. 12-8 in eight ends. In the champion match, the Sooners once again faced Nebraska. The championship match started the exact same way as their previous match, with the Sooners stealing one in the first and Nebraska scoring one in the second. Nebraska stole one in the third to take an early 2-1 lead, but the Sooners railed in the fourth and fifth ends scoring 2 and 1 respectively. In the sixth end, the Sooners stole two more for a 6-2 lead heading into the seventh end. Nebraska began the seventh end on a hot streak keeping four stones in play for the potential to score four and tie the game. However, with the last four stones, Sooner Vice Skip, Casey Cascio (Gr.), took out one Nebraska stone with his first throw, and hit a double takeout roll-in to give the Sooners the advantage. Sooner Skip, Noah Gordon (Fr.), followed by taking out Nebraska’s second to last stone with his first shot, and placing a high scoring guard with his second. The last four stones changed the game to give the Sooners an additional four points, and ended the game 10-2 in seven ends. This marked the second time the OU Curling Club has won the Denver College Curling Tournament, with the first in March 2015. The team consisted of mostly freshmen with Casey Cascio as the lone graduate student who competed on the March 2015 team as the Second. The 2016 team consisted of: Noah Gordon (Fr. – Skip), Casey Cascio (Gr. – Vice Skip), Edward Thorn (Fr. – Second), and Matthew Ramsey (Fr. – Lead). The Sooners also maintained their lead as the #1 team in the USA College Curling Merit Point Standings. The Sooners have been atop the merit point standings since they were first released on June 1st, 2016. Following the Sooners in the Top 5 are: #2 SUNY – Poly, #3 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, #4 Bowdoin College, and #5 University of Pennsylvania. The OU team hopes to not only to punch their tickets to the National Championship early this year, but to also lead their Division consisting of: Wayne St. College, Creighton, UNL – Omaha, University of Denver, University of California – Berkley, and Region 5 rival University of Nebraska – Lincoln. Several games were live streamed and recorded, and are available on the Denver Curling Club’s YouTube page. Direct links are provided below in addition to final standings and full OU 2016 Denver Curling roster. Round 1: OU v. Wayne St. College Round 3: OU v. Nebraska Championship: OU v. Nebraska 2016 Denver Sooner Team
Final Pool Standings
Playoffs
Norman, OK (October 12, 2016) – The OU Curling team will compete in the Philadelphia for the first time in the program’s history. The Sooners are set to face off against the host team, and defending 2016 National Champions, University of Pennsylvania in the first round. Although several key players will remain in Norman to continue the Sooners winning streak in local competition, the Philadelphia team will be looking to upset several Region 2 powers. The competition field will include four of the Top 5 2015-16 regular season finishers (#1 RPI, #2 RIT, #3 Bowdoin, #5 Yale) and the 2016 National Champions (University of Pennsylvania). The tournament will be held on Oct. 15th at the Philadelphia Curling Club. Jeff Milne (Gr.-M.S.) returns to the skip position with OU’s freshman phenom, Noah Gordon, staying in Norman. Casey Cascio (Gr.-Ph.D.) will serve as the team’s vice skip; a role he has not held since the Dallas Bonspiel in April. The front end will be comprised of 2nd year veterans Dillon Kovar (So.) and Mark Preslar (So.) as the second and lead respectively. 2016 Philadelphia Sooner Team
Norman, OK (October 10, 2016) - The OU Curling Club kicked off the collegiate curling season by winning the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and St. Norbert College Season Opening Bonspiel at the Green Bay Curling Club. This marks the club’s second ever overall tournament event win, after they won the Denver Curling Club College Bonspiel in March 2015, and first ever overall win outside of their US Collegiate Curling Conference. The win further extends the club’s lead in USCA Collegiate Championship merit points (points current as of Oct. 12).
The weekend started with a scrimmage against Wisconsin-Green Bay. After going down big in the early ends, the Sooners chipped away at the UWGB lead before tying it up at 6 in the seventh end. Going into the final end needing to steal one, Sooner skip Noah Gordon (Fr.) played a brilliant guard strategy to force UWGB into attempting a difficult runback to score. The UWGB rock came up narrow and missed, securing the Sooners’ victory. The bonspiel itself started bright and early on Saturday morning, when the Sooners took on Wisconsin Medical College in the quarterfinals. The Sooners jumped out to an early lead, scoring two with the hammer in the first end. The Sooners built on their early lead, stealing in the next three ends before forcing WMC to score one in the fifth end. Having regained the hammer, the Sooners scored three in the sixth to take a commanding 7-1 lead. In the seventh end, WMC scored two, handing the hammer back to the Sooners going into the eighth and final end. Needing to steal a big end, WMC tried setting up guards that were cleared away by the Sooner front end of Alex Plotkin (Sr.) and Casey Cascio (Gr.-Ph.D.), leaving vice skip Jeff Milne (Gr.-M.S.) and skip Noah Gordon (Fr.) a series of straightforward hits to close out the victory 8-3. In the semifinals, the Sooners took on 2015 USCA College Curling Champions Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Following the pattern from the night before against UWGB, the Sooners fell behind early. After 4 ends, the score was 4-1, but the Sooners managed to score two with the hammer in the fifth end. After forcing UWSP to only score one in the sixth, the Sooners again scored two in the seventh, sending the game into the eighth tied at 5. Once again, skip Noah Gordon managed to pull a steal out of his hat. The Sooners again set up plenty of guards, and the UWSP skip was left with a draw through a narrow port to win. Her draw came up heavy, and Sooner vice skip Jeff Milne swept the UWSP rock far enough to let the Sooner rock count for the win. Going into the finals against Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Sooners were confident they could replicate their success from the scrimmage earlier in the weekend. The game started well, with the Sooners forcing UWGB to score one with the hammer in the first. The Sooners took advantage with the hammer and scored two in the second to take a 2-1 lead. UWGB responded by scoring two of their own. In the fourth end, the Sooners missed a few key shots, allowing UWGB to steal and take a 4-2 lead. In the fifth end, the UWGB skip executed a nearly perfect freeze with her last rock, seemingly forcing the Sooners to take one. The small gap left, however, was just enough for Sooner skip Noah Gordon to remove the UWGB rock and keep his rock in play to score 3 and give the Sooners a 5-4 lead. The sixth end turned into a battle of hits resulting in a blank end. In the seventh, UWGB scored two with the hammer, giving the Sooners the hammer in the eighth. Following some dramatic freezes and hits by both sides, skip Noah Gordon set himself up for a draw to score two and win the bonspiel. His draw came up just a few feet long, sending the game into an extra end to determine the winner. Once again, the Sooners needed to steal to win, and once again, skip Noah Gordon played a brilliant strategy. UWGB was left with either a tough runback or a narrow port to draw through to win. UWGB’s attempt at the draw came up just long, allowing the Sooners to score three and win the game and overall tournament 9-6. Green Bay, WI (September 30, 2016) – The OU Curling team will be one of six schools competing in the first collegiate bonspiel of the 2016-17 season. Other teams participating will be University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI), Wayne State College (Wayne, NE), St. Norbert College (De Pere, WI), Medical College of Wisconsin (Green Bay, WI) and University of Wisconsin – Green Bay (Green Bay, WI). Although this will be the Sooner’s second time competing in Wisconsin, it will be the first time the Sooners compete at the Green Bay Curling Club. The team will scrimmage against University of Wisconsin – Green Bay on Friday with their first draw against St. Norbert College on Saturday at 9:00AM. The Sooners are walking into Green Bay as the #1 collegiate curling team in the US Curling Collegiate merit point standings. Additionally, Wayne State College holds the #2 position which sets up a potential #1 v. #2 matchup depending on the course of the tournament. The team will be skipped by Wisconsin native Noah Gordon (Fr.) with Jeff Milne (Gr.) serving as the Vice Skip. Front end duties will fall to Alex Plotkin (Sr.) and Casey Cascio (Gr.). With the curling team taking five walk-on freshmen, the OU Curling will also compete in Edmond, OK on Sunday at 4:00PM and 6:15PM at the Arctic Edge Ice Arena. Both teams will be skipped by Dillon Kovar (So.) with Andrew Mahre (Gr.) and Edward Thorn (Fr.) severing as the Vice Skip for the 4:00PM and 6:15PM draws respectively. Although the Edmond teams will prodomanitly feature the talented walk-ons, it sets the Sooners up to have a big weekend in the merit point standings. If all three teams win out, the Sooners add eight more points to their already substanail lead. Below is the OU roster and tournament bracket for Green Bay, and the current merit point leaders (as of the last update by US Curling). 2016 Green Bay Sooner Team
2016-17 Merit Point Leaders
Norman, OK (September 26, 2016) – The OU Curling team’s 2016-17 collegiate curling schedule will have the Sooners traveling over 9,000 miles during the course of the season. The distance shatters the previous record of 6,712.2 miles traveled by a collegiate curling team since the creation of the U.S. College Curling Championship in 2013; which was set by the Sooners during the 2015-16 season. Additionally, the schedule marks the first time a Region 5 school (OU) will travel and compete in Region 2 (Philadelphia, PA) during the course of the regular season. Below is a brief snapshot of upcoming competitions. The full schedule that includes local competitions is located under Schedule 2016 - 2017.
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