University of Regina Cougars hoping home ice is key to success ahead of curling national championships

U of R curling teams look to bounce back and defend home ice at the upcoming curling championships. Donovan Maess has more.

Ahead of the 2026 U Sports national championships, the host University of Regina Cougars (U of R) are hoping home ice is the key to gold.

“The fact we’re hosting at the Callie makes us all feel pretty comfortable,” men’s skip Carter Williamson told CTV News. “This is our home club. We practice here all the time. Sure, there could be added pressure but it’s going to be pretty special to be out here with all of our friends, family and quite a bit of support from the school and community. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Might be more pressure with like ice conditions and everything like that, we have home court advantage,” women’s team second Hannah Rugg added. “Getting to know the rocks beforehand and everything, we do have an advantage and a little bit more pressure. But there’s tough competition out there.”

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This year’s nationals have a different feel for the U of R.

In 2025, the Cougars swept both the men’s and women’s Canada West conference titles.

At last month’s conference championships, both teams lost their final games.

The men dropping their semi-final draw to the University of Alberta (U of A).

“That was our first time really as a team playing in an event,” Williamson admitted. “We were hoping for a cheeky 4-4 and squeak in on a tiebreaker.”

However, Team Williamson exceeded their own expectations, going 7-1 through the round robin.

“Then to lose in the semi-final, I feel in a way we earned our [to nationals],” the skipper said.

As for the women, they went 6-1 through their table before also matching up against the U of A in the gold medal game.

Led by skip Chloe Johnston, the Cougars earned silver.

“They had the advantage in Edmonton and we have the advantage in Regina,” Hugg joked. “Hopefully we can pull it off and win this.”

“Last year and when we won it, we got asked, ‘Are you guys the new U of A?’ And we said, ‘Hopefully,’ and we can keep it going and get as many championships as they do because they’re such a successful team,” she added.

Leaning on experience

Neither team is a stranger to the national stage.

The men’s team are two-time national champions with their most recent in 2024.

Williamson was a second on that championship team but moved to skip after former teammate Josh Bryden graduated.

He calls the transition to the house a process.

“It’s like driving on a highway backwards. It was a bit of a learning curve in the fall getting used to being in the house because I played so many games consecutively at second past four years,” Williamson explained. “Knowing what to do from the other end is easy but knowing what to do in the house is totally different.”

On the ladies’ side, the U of R has not won a national championship since 2010.

Despite that, this team has plenty of experience. Johnston skipped the team at the tournament last year.

This year marks Lauren Speidel’s second nationals, third Tesa Silvsides’ fifth and Rugg’s sixth.

“We all have national experience and hopefully the first national jitters is not a part of our team. And we’re able to just push through,” Rugg said.

On the other hand, the men’s team has three first-year players in lead Evan Arnold, second Andrew Moulding and alternate Nathan Weiss. Third Rhett Whittmire is the only other returning player from 2025.

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Williamson says his message to the young team heading into the bonspiel is simple.

“Don’t let the moment get too big,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re just playing games to Callie. It’s the same four idiots that’re going to be out on the ice.”

“This is a week we’re going to look back on because it’s not too many times you get to play in a home national,” Williamson added.

The 2026 U Sports and Canadian Collegiate Athletics Association national curling championships run Feb. 17-21 at the Callie Curling Club in Regina.

Both teams open their events Tuesday night with the men taking on Carleton University and the women against Guelph at 7:30 p.m.