Curling world champion and University of Ottawa communication alumna Dawn McEwen joined the Canadian curling team in its Olympic gold-medal victory over Sweden today, Feb. 20.
McEwen, 33, grew up in Ottawa and spent much of her childhood at the RCMP Curling Club in the Rockcliffe area. She graduated with a bachelor of arts in communication from the U of O in 2004.
By 2005, she had made it all the way to the Scott Tournament of Hearts, the stepping stone to representing Canada at the women’s world curling championships, but lost in the finals to Canadian curler Jennifer Jones’ team. McEwen then went on to join Jones’ team, win the 2008 world championship, and now, alongside Jones, win gold at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
The Canadian team met the experienced Swedes with caution. Despite Canada’s 3–1 lead, Sweden managed to tie things up in the fifth end. The sixth and the seventh went scoreless, the latter intentionally in order to allow the Canadians the opportunity to maintain the final stone in the eighth and hopefully the 10th as well.
The Canadians took a 4–3 lead over the Swedes in the eighth end, but only by a hair — the stones were so close that the officials had to measure the difference. After insurmountable pressure put on by a key shot by Jones in the ninth end, the Canadians secured their 6–3 win over the Swedes. The Canadian women’s curling team went undefeated, 11–0, in their Olympic sojourn in Sochi.
