麻豆社区

Thomas Scoffin is finally a national champion.

The 20-year-old Whitehorse skip led the University of Alberta Golden Bears to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) title Saturday, defeating the host Laurier Golden Hawks 6-4 in Waterloo, Ont.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long time coming,鈥濃�圫coffin said of his national title. 鈥淚t means a ton to me. Personally I鈥檝e put in a ton of work over the last eight years to try to get to this point, and it鈥檚 just an amazing feeling when it all comes together.鈥�

Scoffin compiled an impressive junior resum茅, appearing in a record seven Canadian junior championships as a skip 鈥� six times for the Yukon and once for Alberta.

鈥淚 spent the last eight years dreaming about a junior national championship,鈥� he said.

鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 quite on my radar like the juniors was, but now having been there twice 鈥� last year as an alternate 鈥� it鈥檚 a different calibre of curling compared to junior. We鈥檙e playing against guys that are up to 25 years old.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a pretty big deal. I鈥坉on鈥檛 think the four of us even realized how big it was until we got home. All of the support we鈥檝e received is pretty overwhelming and awesome.鈥�

The Golden Bears went 7-0 in the round-robin of the 2015 CIS-Curling Canada University Curling Championships last week at the KW鈥圙ranite Club, with Scoffin shooting at an 81 per cent clip.

The skip upped his game in the playoffs, curling at 88 per cent in a 7-1 semifinal win over the Winnipeg Wesmen. Then in Saturday鈥檚 final, Scoffin curled an outstanding 90 per cent 鈥� a near-perfect game.

The two finalists combined for three blanks and a score of 1-1 before Alberta collected a deuce in the sixth end. Facing four rocks in the seventh, Laurier skip Aaron Squires came up with a clutch draw to the button to settle for one.

The Golden Hawks came to within a point heading into the 10th, but Scoffin came up with a perfect tap for the 6-4 win.

鈥淎s a team, we were just ready to win that one I think,鈥濃�坱he skip said. 鈥淲e trusted each other to do our jobs and it all worked out no problem.鈥�

Scoffin 鈥� the youngest active player on the Golden Bears senior rink 鈥� was named to the second all-Canadian team for his fine performance.

He was also named the university鈥檚 athlete of the week.

The humble skip said that award wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without the heroics of his teammates: Evan Asmussen (third), Jason Ginter (second) and Andrew O鈥橠ell (lead).

Golden Bears coach Rob Krepps said he sees some Brendan Bottcher in Scoffin. Bottcher skipped the university to both the world junior and CIS title in 2012, and is widely considered the 鈥淣ext One鈥� in Alberta.

Krepps said he 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 have been more impressed鈥� with his young skip.

鈥淗is shot-making was nothing short of outstanding,鈥� the coach told the Star. 鈥淗e was, without question, the best player in the field at his position. His performance was just terrific.

鈥淚n my opinion, he has it in him to be standing on the top of an international podium wearing a maple leaf on his back. I think he can rise to the highest levels of our sport,鈥濃�圞repps added. 鈥淚f everything goes as it should, this isn鈥檛 the last time we鈥檒l hear Thomas Scoffin鈥檚 name.鈥�

Scoffin skipped both the junior and senior men鈥檚 rinks at the University of Alberta this year.

Alberta also won the women鈥檚 CIS title, thanks to another outstanding performance from Pandas skip Kelsey Rocque 鈥� the two-time consecutive reigning Canadian junior and world junior champion.

With the two titles, the University of Alberta became the second program to claim both team banners in the same year since the inaugural CIS competition was held in 2008.

Scoffin volunteered thanks to all the Yukon curlers who helped him along his journey over the past decade.

鈥淭here鈥檚 too many people to thank, but the community support from Whitehorse is amazing,鈥� he said.