Thomas Scoffin’s final competition as a University of Alberta Golden Bear didn’t have the ending the 22-year-old skip wanted, but he is finishing his University curling career with one national title and two silver medals.

“I just feel really honoured to be part of the Bears program for the past five years,” Scoffin said from Edmonton this morning. “It’s too bad it has to come to an end.”

Scoffin and third Karsten Sturmay, second Tristan Steinke, lead Caleb Boorse and alternate Christopher Kennedy, had a tough start to the U Sports/ Curling Canada Championship in Thunder Bay.

The newly-formed team, which played their first games together at the Western University Curling Championships a few weeks ago, conceded their first game to Dalhousie University 6-2 before coming back with a 7-5 win over Queen’s University in Draw 2. That evening, the Golden Bears then dropped a 8-6 game to Memorial.

They came back the next morning for a game against the University of Regina – who they went unbeaten against at the Western University Curling Championships – with winning on their mind.

“That was a really important game game for us to win,” said Scoffin.

He said the Golden Bears struggled to find their rhythm against Regina, but stole two points in the 10th end to secure the win.

Scoffin said it took a few days for his team to “catch on” to the ice conditions at the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay, Ont.

They ended up with a 4-3 record after the round-robin to qualify second for the playoffs.

Since the team started training together in September, their goal was to first, make the playoffs, and second, make the finals, said Scoffin.

With their first goal complete, they played one of their best games against Prince Edward Island in the semifinal. They had wrapped up their final round-robin the night before against the maritime team.

“Those were definitely our best games of the week,” said Scoffin.

Then in the semifinal, “things just clicked for us,” he said. “We really just took it to the next level. The guys really played good in front of me.”

They won their spot in the final against Memorial with a 10-3 win over P.E.I.

The final went scoreless for the first three ends, with Memorial getting on the board first. The Golden Bears came back with two in the fifth before the mid-game break.

“Just five ends, we were exactly where we wanted to be,” said Scoffin, “up one.”

But Memorial sealed the win, scoring three in the sixth and four in the eighth to win the university’s second national men’s curling title.

“It’s a disappointing feeling,” said Scoffin. “We lost last year as well, so it’s hard to swallow.

“We gave it all we had.”

Scoffin made the final in 2016, hoping to defend his 2015 national title, but was defeated by Wilfrid Laurier University and came home with silver.

He said he’s been thinking about this 2017 final a lot the past few days.

This spring, Scoffin will graduate from the U of A with a bachelor in commerce, after spending five years with the curling program.

He’s reluctant to make any decisions about the future of his curling career right away and said he’s “taking some time.”