HAMILTON, Ont. - It's OUA Championship time for the Marauder women's curling team. McMaster will look to drop the competition and top the podium for the second time in three years. Prior to the cancelled 2021 season, McMaster was the top program in the province, earning the 2020 OUA Women's Curling Championship. After a tough outing last season, the Marauders are looking to make their way back to the top of the standings. The roster is made up of a combination of returning players from that 2020 gold medal squad as well as rookies, and the lineup is poised to combine their experience and energy for a run at the 2023 banner season title. The Marauders will need to perform in competitions with the Toronto Varsity Blues, Queen's Gaels, Brock Badgers and Laurentian Voyageurs to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.
McMaster @ OUA Championship
Hosted by Ontario Tech University
Oshawa Golf & Country Club | Oshawa, Ont.
February 3rd-5th, 2023
The Marauders are just one of sixteen teams that will be aiming for the OUA title - the Algoma Thunderbirds, Brock Badgers, Carleton Ravens, Guelph Gryphons, Laurentian Voyageurs, McMaster Marauders, Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, Queen's Gaels, Toronto Varsity Blues, TMU Bold, Trent Excalibur, Waterloo Warriors, Western Mustangs, Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, Windsor Lancers and York Lions. Wilfrid Laurier enters the weekend as defending champions, with only one change to their 2022 title-winning roster.
McMaster has faced many of these provincial competitors already this season and will know what they are up against in order to bring the title back to Hamilton.
The 2023 OUA Women's Curling Championship opens at 9am with Draw 1. The OUA Championship title will be awarded Sunday afternoon and the Marauders will need to perform at peak level in order to return home with some hardware.
2023 OUA Women's Curling Championship Details
- The 16 teams will be divided into four pools. Each pool will play a round robin of eight end games. After the round robin, the top 2 teams from each pool will advance, leading to quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final games.
- In all round robin games, the first team named on the draw will play the stones on the top of the scoreboard, practice first and throw their draws to the button with a clockwise rotation. The second named team will play the stones on the bottom of the scoreboard, practice second and will throw their draws to the button with a counter clockwise rotation.
- Last stone advantage in the first end (hammer) will be decided by draws to the button following each team's pre-game practice. Within two (2) minutes of the completion of the pre-game practice, two positions from the team will each throw a stone (full sweeping allowed). The better distance of the total of the two draws between the two teams will receive last stone advantage in the first end. During the round robin portion of the draw, each position on each team will deliver a minimum of two (2) draw shots for last stone advantage. The two (2) draw shots can be taken anytime during the round robin. The draw to the button will be played towards the home end.
- Should the team throwing stones in the 1st practice session record a cumulative distance of 0.00cm or 370.8cm, a third player from this team will deliver a draw to the button (either turn). If the third player records a distance of 0.00cm or 185.4cm, a fourth player will deliver and so on until a number other than 0.00cm or 185.4cm is registered. Any individual stone that does not come to rest in the house will receive a distance of 185.4cm. Only the first two stones delivered by each team in each game will count towards accumulated distance. If the team throwing stones in the 2nd practice session records the same two-stone distance as their opposition, a third player from this team will draw to the button. This procedure will continue until last stone has been decided.
Women's Curling Championship Schedule
*Saturday night and Sunday's schedule will be determined after the round robin competition on Friday and Saturday morning.
Championship Coverage
Results: Updated live on the
Ontario Tech Ridgebacks' website
Instagram: @mcmastercurling
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