Smeltzer Rink To Play For AUS Title

(ST. JOHN'S, NL) The UNB Reds men's curling team will play for the 2019 Atlantic University Sport Championship on Sunday, in St. John's.

The Jack Smeltzer rink earned a berth in Sunday's men's final with an 8-2 win over the host Memorial Sea-Hawks, in seven ends, in Saturday's semi-final.

"We're playing way better than we were at the start of the weekend," said Smeltzer. "We're really a unit, a team now."

UNB scored three in the second end and three more in the sixth to pull away.

Earlier in the day, the Reds beat St FX 10-2 in the final round robin game. That win put them into a tie-breaker, where they beat the Saint Mary's Huskies 7-4.

The Smeltzer foursome has now won four straight games after dropping their first two.

"We have a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence," said Smeltzer, whose team will face Dalhousie in Sunday's final. "Dal hasn't lost a game yet, so they're probably pretty confident too."

On the women's side, the Reds' Justine Comeau fell 9-3 to Mount Allison in Saturday's semi-final.

UNB gave up two in the seventh end and three in the eighth.

"It's never fun to lose that way, but we made it to the semis and with the results we had last year, it was better than expected," said Comeau. "I'm pretty happy to win the bronze."

Despite the loss, the season isn't over for Comeau's team.

UNB hosts the U SPORTS Curling Championships, March 15-19, at Willie O'Ree Place.

Both Reds teams are in, as hosts.

For Smeltzer, the host's bye is nice, but he'd rather not have to use it.

"It would be so great to go in as AUS champs, that was our goal coming into this weekend," he said. "We know we want to go in the front door, so to have that chance, especially after our start, is really nice."

The men's and women's AUS Championship games start at 9:30am Atlantic, on Sunday.

RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: Dani Ahmed/for Memorial Athletics