WELLAND, ON – Mohawk Mountaineers men's curling captured their second consecutive OCAA Championship defeating the Humber Hawks 8-4.
The Mountaineers mixed doubles team could not repeat as champions, but still took home hardware, winning the OCAA bronze.
The Mohawk and Humber matchup was the third straight OCAA Championship featuring the two powerhouse curling programs. It was the Hawks who came out on top in 2020 and now the Mountaineers in 2022 and 2023. The 2021 championships were cancelled due to COVID-19.
"Humber is a strong team," said head coach Betty Calic. "We could not take them for granted at all, at any point in time, and its good when the final is a good competition. It's even nicer when you come out on top."
To advance to the gold medal match, the Mountaineers defeated the Fleming Knights in the semi-final round by a score of 10-1. Mohawk had jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first end, and added two and three in the third and fourth ends, at which point the Knights took the handshake defeat.
Against Humber, it was a great early start again for Mohawk. They would take two points in end one and another point in the second end to lead 3-0. The Hawks would answer with one in the third and the fourth end would see neither team come away with a point.
It was in the fifth end when the Mountaineers made a statement, grabbing four points to lead 7-1. While Humber would make things interesting with three of their own in the sixth end, Mohawk would seal the deal with a point in the seventh to win.
"The boys really worked hard this year," Calic said. "We knew we were coming in here with giant targets on our back and they stepped up, they stayed focused and they got the job done."
On the mixed doubles side, the Mountaineers faced the Humber Hawks in the semifinals. It was Mohawk who defeated Humber a year ago in the OCAA gold match, but this time the Hawks came out in front 11-6.
The Hawks led the whole way, but the Mountaineers made it interesting after the sixth end where they got three points to cut the Humber lead to 8-6. However, the Hawks would stop any Mountaineer run there and get three points in the seventh end to win.
Mohawk would face the Confederation Thunderhawks (1) for bronze. The Thunderhawks would take a 2-1 lead after three ends, but the Mountaineers answered with three in the fourth end. Mohawk would not look back after that, grabbing an additional point in the fifth and three more in the seventh to win 8-4.
Mixed doubles head coach Matthew Kimber credited the duo of Ashley Verhees (Elmwood, ON) and Elias Whittington (Campbellville, ON).
"We had Ashley returning and (we knew) with the promotion of Eric (Just) going to the men's team, we were going to have to work hard with Elias to make sure we could get them gelling as a team," Kimber said. "They came together really well and played a really great tournament."
Along with the team medals, Mohawk took home a handful of individual awards.
For the second straight year, Calic was named OCAA Men's Curling Coach of the Year.
Jacob Jones (Brantford, ON) was once again named OCAA Men's Most Valuable Player and an OCAA First-Team All-Star. Liam Little (Haliburton, ON) was also named a first-team all-star for the second straight year, while Joel Matthews (Waterdown, ON) joined his teammates with a first-team nod.
Just (Ancaster, ON) was named a OCAA Second-Team All-Star.
Verhees was named an OCAA Mixed Doubles Second Team All-Star.
Mohawk's men's team will now prepare to be one of four OCAA schools representing Ontario at the CCAA Championships between March 15-19 in Sudbury, ON.
