Victory over Canada in their final match saw the GB Students men’s team end a challenging campaign at the FISU Winter World University Games in some style in Torino.
Arran Thomson. Ross Craik, Kaleb Johnston and Rory Macnair, a newly formed quartet put together for this event, had won only one of their previous eight matches in the round-robin qualifying section of the competition, but they showed real mettle as they battled through a low-scoring encounter with a Canada team that had already qualified for the semi-finals to claim a 3-2 win.
“Both teams were pretty even all the way through the game, but we managed to put the opposition under some pressure on his last and managed to get the miss out of him for the win,” said skip Thomson.
“So, it was great to finish the week on a high. It really lifted the spirits.”
While it was a tough week on the ice, Thomson believes all four of them and alternate Fraser Swanston will take away a great deal from this experience as they look to develop their curling careers moving forward.
“We learnt lots about each other and our processes even with dealing with the pressures of representing our country and we also learned an incredible amount about how to read the ice especially in an arena.
“Kaleb even managed to take away an American’s t-shirt,” he joked.
“We really enjoyed interacting with athletes from different nations at the village and watching the ice hockey as well.
“We are looking forward to going out and seeing other sports in the next few days and we would definitely recommend this to other athletes.”
In the women’s event Laura Watt, Amy Mitchell, Holly Wilkie-Milne and Lisa Davie took their run of successive wins to four in a row when they beat hosts Italy 5-2 in their first match of the day, before they suffered a 9-6 loss to Sweden to end their campaign.
“Italy played a lot of great shots this morning, so it was a close game, but we just got on top of them and closed the game out at the end,” said skip Watt.
“This afternoon we just had one loose end and that let the game slip away from us, which was disappointing, but overall we’re really happy with the experience.”
They had also gone into the last day knowing they had no chance of reaching the play-offs, but determined to make the very most of their involvement.
“It was a really tough start to the event, so I’m really glad that the team pulled together and had a good streak in the middle of the event,” said Watt.
“So, it was disappointing not to get the win against Sweden, but I’m really proud of how we did overall in the tournament. 
“This experience has been so valuable for us all I think.
“Any experience in an arena with time clocks and all the extra stuff that goes on at these events is so valuable to us, so I think we’ve all taken a lot from it and we’re really grateful that we were able to come to this event and soak it all up.”
GB Students Women’s Team
Laura Watt (University of Highlands and Islands - Perth College UHI)
Amy Mitchell (University of Stirling)
Holly Wilkie-Milne (University of Stirling)
Lisa Davie (The Open University)
Cara Davidson (Edinburgh Napier University)
GB Students Men’s Team
Arran Thomson (The Open University)
Ross Craik (University of Abertay)
Kaleb Johnston (University of Stirling)
Rory Macnair (Edinburgh Napier University)
Fraser Swanston (SRUC)
Head Coach – Nancy Smith
Women’s Coach – Luke Carson
Men’s Coach – Niall Ryder
Schedule:
Wednesday 15 January
GB Men
GB – Korea 3-5
Thursday 16 January
GB Women
GB – Korea 3-6
GB Men
GB – Ukraine 8-6
GB Women
GB – China 7-8
Friday 17 January
GB Men
GB –China 5-6
GB Women
GB – Canada 1-11
GB Men
GB – Norway 3-8
GB Women
GB – Norway 3-6
Saturday 18 January
GB Men
GB – Sweden 5-7
GB Women
GB – Japan 6-3
GB Men
GB – Italy 4-7
Sunday 19 January
GB Women 8-4
GB – USA
GB Men
GB – Switzerland 3-4
GB Women
GB – Poland 7-4
GB Men
GB – USA 4-7
Monday 20 January
GB Women
GB – Italy 5-2
GB Men
GB – Canada 3-2
GB Women
GB – Sweden 6-9
Tuesday 21 January
Men Semi Final 1 - 0700
Men Semi Final 2 - 1100
Women Semi Final 1 - 1500
Women Semi Final 2 - 1900
Wednesday 22 January
Women Bronze Medal Game - 1300
Men Bronze Medal Game - 1800
Thursday 23 January
Women Gold Medal Game - 0900
Men Gold Medal Game - 1300
Please click here for results. 
