A string of 17 consecutive wins for Thomas Scoffin reached its end last week.
The Whitehorse curler and his University of Alberta Golden Bears rink finally dropped one in the gold medal game at the 2016 CIS/Curling Canada University Championships last Wednesday in Kelowna, B.C.
Scoffin, skip of the Golden Bears, won nine straight at last year’s Canadian Interuniversity Sport championship for gold, and won eight more last week on the way to the final, losing 7-4 to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks from Waterloo, Ont., for silver.
“We performed really well all week. We knew we were coming into the week with a bit of a target on our back as the defending champions, but we rose to the occasion,” said Scoffin, in an email to the News. “I had a fantastic time competing with the team. We’re definitely really disappointed with the outcome and it’ll take a little while to get over that loss.”
Scoffin, a third-year business student, was joined by third Karsten Sturmay, second Jason Ginter and lead Parker Konschuh.
The rink cruised through most of their first eight games in Kelowna, the closest one being a 7-6 win over the Victoria Vikes, who went on to take bronze.
They also beat Laurier, led by skip Aaron Squires, 6-4 in round robin play. Scoffin and Ginter beat Squires by the same score in last year’s CIS men’s final en route to gold.
“Nerves definitely affected our performance in the final,” said Scoffin, 21. “Obviously when there is that much on the line, nerves are going to be a factor, but we definitely under-performed. We ran into a hot team and they didn’t miss much. Have to give them credit for a great performance in the final.”
Ginter and Scoffin, playing together on a non-university team, have also made two finals on the World Curling Tour this season.
Scoffin is currently in South Korea with Edmonton’s Team Bottcher helping Korean teams prepare for their national championship.
Scoffin played second form Team Bottcher, led by skip Brendan Bottcher, at a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event in the fall.
He was also Bottcher’s alternate at the 2014 CIS championships where Bottcher, a University of Alberta alumni, won silver.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com