SUDBURY, Ont - Laurier's men's curling team went from feeling golden to seeing red Thursday at the U SPORTS/Curling Canada University Championship.

Despite coming off a bonspiel-opening win less than 12 hours prior, the team looked extremely sharp to begin their second draw against the Alberta Golden Bears. With a pair of two-point ends by the mid-point break, Laurier found themselves with a comfortable 6-1 lead after five ends. 

The Canada West champions (for the past four seasons) made things a lot more interesting in the second half of the game, scoring four of the final six points to make it 7-5. Fortunately, the Golden Hawks, holding on to the hammer in the tenth and final end, sealed the deal with a single to secure an 8-5 victory. 

In the nightcap, Laurier took on the AUS bronze medalist University of New Brunswick Reds just two days shy from being eight years exactly since their only other match-up ever. That came at the 2015 national championship hosted by the Golden Hawks at the KW Granite Club, in which the purple and gold were finalists.

Once again, Laurier opened the scoring with two in the first end and would hold leads of 2-0, 3-2, and 5-3 before the mid-way point. 

Things began to unravel after that though, as the Reds scored five unanswered points over the next three ends to take an 8-5 lead. 

The Golden Hawks came up with a clutch response in the ninth though, posting their first three-point end of the bonspiel to tie the game 8-8. 

With UNB sitting one in the tenth end, a Laurier takeout attempt on the team's final stone shaved the side of a guard, allowing the Reds to come away with a single and the 9-8 win.

The loss, which dropped Laurier to 2-1, was the first at a national championship since March 22, 2016 - a span of 11 games. It was also just the third loss in 25 games played this season for the team.

Entering action on Friday, the Golden Hawks find themselves in a four-way tie for second place in the eight-team pool.

They open day three at 12:30 pm with a rematch of this year's OUA final against the Queen's Gaels, who lost both draws on Thursday. The Owen Purdy-led rink was narrowly defeated 12-11 in an extra-end to undefeated Dalhousie and conceded an 8-4 decision to the hosts from Laurentian.

The Golden Hawks will face those same Voyageurs at 8:30 pm. Laurentian enters Friday's action having won back-to-back games and outscored their opponents 17-8.

There will not be a video stream for either game but live stats and scoring will be available on the Curling Canada website. You can also follow along with updates on social media at @WLUAthletics on Instagram and Twitter.