RANT N' ROAR - DAY NINE
turnaround day at the canada games
There's always a certain atmosphere around the village when turnaround day arrives. Athletes are sad to leave the games and the friends they've made along the way, but excited to return home to see their family and support systems. However, when one door closes, another one opens. After our Week 1 athletes land at St. John's International, our week 2 athletes will be getting ready to board the plane and travel to Charlottetown.
I am very pleased for many reasons as week one comes to an end. The volunteers and staff had nothing but good things to say about our athletes manners and behaviour. The competition and tenacity from our athletes in every sport was everything we could have imagined and more. Remember, Doing your best... Nothing less.
I wish a heartfelt farewell to our week one athletes and thank them for wearing the Team NL colours with pride. To our week two athletes - we are anxiously awaiting your arrival and can't wait to see your faces as you embark on the amazing opportunity that is the Canada Winter Games.
WEEK ONE ROUND UP
See below for some of our favourite stories from Week One
TEAM NL comes up with gold in trampoline competition
Earlier in the week, the individual competition took place. Gwen MacKay, Megan McCallum and Ben Fudge continued do us proud with great efforts but unfortunately missed out on the finals.
Gleb Evstigneev soared to new heights and hauled in Team NL’s first medal of the Games. His golden performance was the first ever medal that gymnastics has earned at the Canada Games. Gleb has worked extremely hard and his dedication paid off! The arena was filled with a large contingent of Team NL athletes who provided a loud atmosphere. Way to do your best and nothing less Gleb!
pat lechelt True sport award goes to teamnl athlete for second time in as many games
The Pat Lechelt True Sport Award was presented yesterday at the Seaport Stage at Port Charlottetown as part of the 2023 Canada Winter Games, and Newfoundland and Labrador gymnastic athlete Gabe Flynn could not have been more deserving of such a prestigious honour.
Pat Lechelt was known around this country as one of the leading Chef’s de Mission who guided her province of Alberta to the Centennial Cup and led her team to the Jack Pelech award, which is bestowed upon the province that demonstrates the true spirit and congeniality among provinces/territories at the Canada Games.
Proud finish on the court for teamnl wheelchair basketball
Team NL made their partnered provinces proud in their final game of the 2023 Winter games. The team filled the courts with energy as they entered to a large crowd of Newfoundlanders and Nova Scotians cheering them on. It was their closest competition of the games and while Ontario took the game, the team will take their incredible experience of games with them forever. In their true team style, they gave the opposing fans an applaud on their way off of the court, leaving a truly memorable moment and a terrific performance by Newfoundland and Labrador and the athletes representing from Nova Scotia!
Way to go, Team!
Squash competition ends with some big wins
Our Squash Team Competition ended on the final day of competition with some strong results.
Our female team, bolstered by a lot of TeamNL fans in the stands, beat Team NT 3 - 1 in some tough won 5-game matches to take hom 10th place in the overall Team Competition.
On the male side, they beat Host Team PEI earlier in the morning 3 - 1 to land themselves 9th on the placement table, 2 spots ahead of their 2019 finish.
It was a great week on the court with lots of tough battles and determination.
Gymnasts keep making history
Jirah Hiscock made history this week and was the first female from NL to compete in uneven bars final. She placed 5th. Way to go Jirah, you represented your province proudly!
Male hockey end competition with 5-1 record
After a tough 4-0 loss to Team NS in the qualifying game, Team NL Mens hockey were back on the ice to face Team Yukon for the 9th/10th place game to close out their Canada Games competition. The team could have easily folded the tent after a heart break loss but they showed up to play and ended up prevailing 7-3. Carter Arnold got the nod in the pipes and made the saves he needed to preserve the win. Noah Boland picked up a pair of goals, with singles from Mason Strong, Carter Bromley, 'Bob' Ben O'Brien, and Brody Harnum rounded out the scoring. Overall the team finishes with a 5-1 record and won Pool C. Phenom Gavin McKenna had a goal and two assists for the Yukon in the loss. After the game, the team was in high spirits and happy to end of on the winning note, improving their team placing from the 2019 Games. Way to go Team NL.
Speed skating has a fast day at the rink
Mere minutes from PEI's picturesque National Park, North Rustico hosts the short-track speed skating for the 2023 Canada Games.
The first day of competition had Team NL's Noah Bolton competing in two events: 1500m and 500m. Unfortunately, Noah didn't make it out of the 1500m quarterfinals. For the 500m--best described as NASCAR on skates--Noah made it out of his heat and competed in a separate bracket semi final later in the week.
Noah is the speed demon in the blue helmet (#2).
IMG_2360.MOVMale Gymnasts take on the all-around final
The gymnastics venue continued to be loud, with provinces screaming in excitement as their athletes gave it their all. Our boys all-around finalists proved themselves once again and hit all of their routines. They all made great improvements from their preliminaries and they are happy with their performance. Congrats to Gabe Flynn, Tyler Gosse and Will Osmond.
karate finishes Games on strong note
Day 5, the final competition day! Our last two competitors were up that day. Ryan Crocker and Alex Ryan who both competed in the heavyweight +68kg kumite division.
Ryan was up first and had 4 great fights! Ryan won his first fight against Ontario by a score of 3:2, but narrowly lost his following 3 matches versus Quebec by a score of 4:2, British Columbia by a score of 3:2 and to Alberta by a score of 2:1. Some very close fights by all means and it really shows that Ryan belongs among the best of the best!
Next up in the opposite pool for the +68kg division was Alex Ryan. Alex again had 4 great fights defeating Northwest Territories by a score of 8:0 and defeating Quebec by a score of 1:0. Unfortunately, he lost to Nova Scotia by a score of 3:2 and to Alberta by a score of 4:0. Alex finished 5th overall and was one win away from competing in the Bronze Medal Match! So close!!
Female curling finding their form
The NL Ladies Curling Team defeated Team NT in an exciting extra end game. After a 4 - 4 eight end battle, the NL squad protected their stone on the button with several precise guards; all in the front of the 12 foot. Eventually NT conceded the victory as they ran out of rocks.
The girls were very excited with the win and it was great to see the NL Karate team in attendance cheering the girls on.
biahtlon in hot pursuit of the competition
After a true Newfoundland weather day for Monday’s sprint (although luckily the rain did fall downwards instead of sideways), the Biathlon team welcomed the sunshine for Tuesday’s pursuit race. Both men’s and women’s teams put in excellent performances and truly leaving it all on the course, embodying the Team NL mantra “your best - nothing less”.
The biathlon team was excited to have so many mission staff come to cheer them on in Brookvale and experience how exciting their sport is! The grit, determination, and focus of the athletes was on full display. The next day was a rest day for the team before they prepared for Thursday’s Individual race - the longest of the disciplines where the men had to ski 12.5km and women skied 10km. They shot 4 times and accuracy was the most important here as penalties were 1 minute instead of ~30 seconds for a penalty loop.
table tennis turns up more strong results
Team NL had a short first day of competition with the boys team only playing one encounter and the girls team having 2. On the girls side they played a tough BC team to start the day. Despite the loss, they performed better than their last encounter against them by winning a pair games. They then lost to Saskatchewan 3-1 giving them 6th overall. The boys had their one encounter against PEI falling 3-1. Peter Quinlan had an excellent performance grabbing a win against both of the PEI boys who have a higher TTCAN rating than him.
Team NL touches down
After a short delay leaving home, Team NL arrived safe and sound!
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