The Carleton Ravens men's curling team came painfully close to improving on last year's U SPORTS silver medal, but instead will come home with a second consecutive second-place finish.
For the young Ravens rink, an extra-ends loss to Calgary over the weekend meant another successful season closes just moments away from gold. While the Ravens are likely to return their entire roster, the sting of Saturday's loss will still hang for some time.
After showing improvement over last year, by going 6-1 in the round robin, the Ravens qualified for the U SPORTS finals with a 6-4 win over Alberta in the semifinals. After the Ravens sent the match to extra ends in the eighth, Calgary skip Kenan Wipf executed a perfect hit and roll on the final shot of the tournament to give the University of Calgary the title.
The Ravens' lone round-robin loss came at the hands of the OUA champions and Ravens' rival, Laurier.
In the finals, the Ravens trailed after a three-point third end by Calgary. Carleton rallied with three of their own in the fourth end. After tying the match again in the 8th, Carleton had Calgary on the ropes in the 9th, but it wasn't to be.
Despite the loss, the Ravens have a lot to be proud of as they plan to return the full roster next season. Carleton led the U SPORTS championship with the most stolen points of any team, as they came within a whisker of the title.
