Men's playoff brackets set after day three of the OUA Curling championships

GUELPH, Ont.- The men's playoff teams have been decided after Day 3 of competition at the 2014 OUA Curling Championships being held at the Guelph Curling Club, while there is still some room for movement in the women's respective brackets.

The defending national champion Waterloo Warriors maintained their unblemished record on Saturday, needing one extra end to squeak by the Queen's Gaels 6-5 in their first game of the day before easily taking care of Laurentian 7-0 in just four ends. Jake Walker and the two-time defending conference winners are the only undefeated team remaining in the men's tournament, and are a single game ahead of the Guelph Gryphons (4-1) and Brock Badgers (4-1).

Skip Scott Brandon guided Brock to solid victories over Lakehead and UOIT to secure a playoff berth, while Michael McGaugh and his team from Guelph also defeated the Thunderwolves in their only game on Saturday to earn at least a spot in the quarter-finals.

After suffering their first loss of the tournament, a 5-4 decision to Western, the Laurier Golden Hawks find themselves in a three-way tie for first-place in Pool B with Toronto and Carleton. All three clinched playoff berths after the host Windsor Lancers played spoiler in the final draw of the day, knocking off the rival Western Mustangs 5-3 to eliminate them from playoff contention.

The Varsity Blues, skipped by Evan Lilly, defeated Windsor and Algoma to improve to 4-1, while Brett Lyon-Hatcher and the Ravens also topped the Lancers as well as Trent to keep pace with Toronto and Laurier.

On the women's side, both Guelph and Toronto continue to remain the teams to beat in Pool A, both earning two more victories on Saturday to solidify their playoff spots. Danielle Bourque and the Varsity Blues are red-hot after falling to Guelph in their championship opener, taking wins in their last four contests. The Gryphons and skip Jaimee Gardner are also coming into form after notching convincing victories on Day 3.

However, the last playoff spot in the pool is up for grabs after the Waterloo Warriors suffered a devastating loss to the UOIT Ridgebacks, who after tying the game in the eighth with three points managed to steal a pair in the extra end to steal the win. That loss created a pivotal match-up on Sunday between Waterloo and Laurentian, both of whom sit at 4-2. The winner will earn the final playoff berth in Pool B.

Laurier remains the only undefeated rink in the women's competition after topping second-place Carleton 6-4 and Lakehead by the same score on Saturday. Carly Howard and the Golden Hawks have booked their spot in the playoffs along with Jamie Sinclair and the Ravens, who got by Western 6-5 and beat Windsor 6-3 to round out their third day of competition.

Lakehead and skip Victoria Anderson are currently second having finished their pool play with a 3-3 record. The 2013 OUA champions from Western are having their title defence threatened in the round-robin portion, as Caitlin Romain and the Mustangs are tied with Windsor and Brock with 2-3 records heading into Sunday.

Draw 11 begins at 8:30 a.m. on Day 4 with the final seven pool matches in the women's competition slated to take place, including the Warriors and Lady Vees who will duke it out on Sheet 3 for a quarter-final spot. The men will take to the ice at noon to conclude their round-robin match-ups and determine their seedings for the playoff round.

The quarter-finals for both the men and women take place on Sunday evening beginning at 7:00 p.m. Live updates will be available for all of Sunday's matches at www.golancers.ca.


For live draw results and up-to-date standings, click here.

To visit the OUA Curling Championships information page, click here.

For a recap of Day 2, click here.

For a recap of Day 1, click here.