Today was the first day of competition for our Judo Team. Although there are 10 athletes here representing Team NL, only 3 males competitors took to the mat today. The competition was tough, as expected, but the boys fought hard, coming up just short. 

Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow when 7 more athletes will be competing in both male and female weight categories.

Curling is truly a game of inches, and that was never more evident than in both of TeamNLs matchups in Montague today at the Games. 

In this mornings draw, AB went up 5 - 1 with the hammer after the second end, and unfortunately from there, things just didn't line up for Sam and Kate. After some hard fought steals, the Game ended 9-2 after the 6th end. 

The Paterson/Follett rink didn't have much time to regroup, and after a quick lunch, took on TeamBC for the second draw of the day. In the 3rd end, Paterson threw a great rock to bring the score to 3 - 1 in favor of TeamBC. The teams traded singles, and a single with the hammer in 7 led both teams into the final end with BC up 5-3 and that is how the game ended. 

While today was disappointing for the two curlers, they will go into tomorrows draws ready to battle for a well-deserved win. 

Our female hockey team had a day off from practice today but met this morning to go over some video footage of yesterdays game. During this meeting the coaches highlighted some of strengths of the team and the girls left the meeting feeling positive and pumped for their game this afternoon against PEI. 

Team NL started the game off strong with Olivia Sparkes scoring in the first period. Team PEI went on to score two consecutive goals. Jessica Mercer from Team NL then popped in a goal in the third period to tie the game. 

The game then went to a 5 minute, 3 on 3 overtime. Team PEI upset Team NL only 25 seconds into overtime. Shoutout to Lacy Bigelow who had a stellar game between the pipes. 

Today the NL Alpine team competed in Giant Slalom. It was a snowy morning that brought challenges to the athletes, but the sky opened up to a beautiful sunny day for all the racers in the afternoon. 

Many great times were recorded on the course and everyone is well repped to take on the Slalom course tomorrow. 

Despite the weather challenges each athlete performed extremely well on the track!

Another great day at Brookvale, as it started with the male 1.2km classic sprint qualifier followed by the female event. Spirits were high as great displays of grit and determination were left on the course. 

Jeremy Jones began the day qualifying for the sit ski sprint final. It was great to see all the Team NL X-Country Ski team along with parents and Mission Staff cheering Jeremy on as he dug in hard crossing the finish line. Tomorrow Jeremy has the 2.5km interval start event in the morning  and the others have a non-competition day. Let’s go Team NL! 

It was a tough second game for Team NL’s male curlers today who faced number one seed Team NS. We can take nothing away from TeamNS as they certainly brought their A game today.  On the bright side, the boys finished strong - they may have lost today’s battle but the team fully intends to fight a little harder tomorrow. After returning to the Village, the team shared a good supper, enjoyed the company of the other athletes at Athletes' Village, and planned to get a good night’s rest. They are looking forward to watching them compete against Team MB tomorrow morning at 10 am.

Lily Evans and Mark Butt skated to a New Personal Best Score of 36.59 and are in 3rd place heading into Friday's Pre Novice Pair Free Skate. They wowed the audience at the Eliyahu Wellness Centre with their solid and exciting pair elements during Wednesday's Pre Novice Pair Short Program event. 

In Pre Novice Women's Short Program, Rachael Tuff skated her way to 9th place with Jasmine Wheadon finishing the day in 11th place in a field of 21 competitors. Rachael and Jasmine both had a strong day of competition executing high degrees of technical elements and receiving scores for both their technical elements and program components. All 4 skaters will compete again on Friday. 

Maddox Glover had a great practice today as he makes his final preparations for competition in the Special Olympics Male Level II category on Thursday

Along with Maddox, Pre Novice Ice Dancers Kaitlyn Smith and Dawson Smith and Pre Novice Men Jonathan Flynn and Adam Masek also enjoyed a successful training day as they prepare for their free program competition on Thursday.

These are the fifth Games for Coach Neal Thorne! Neal competed at the 1999 Corner Brook Games in Singles and the 2003 Bathurst/Campbeltown, NB Games in the Pairs event where he and his teammate finished in 4th place. 

Prior to the 2023 Games Neal  coached Team NL at the 2011 Halifax,NS Games and 2015 Games in Red Deer, AB. Coach Brittany Morgan and Team Manager Susan Dean are both returning for their second Games. Brittany having coached during the 2015 Games in Prince George, BC and Susan managing our 2019 Team  at the Red Deer, AB. Games. Experiencing the Canada Games for the first time are Coach Jenna Hillyard and Wanda Glover our Special Olympics Support Team Member.

The members of the figure skating team send a huge thank you out to the many friendly and helpful volunteers and staff at the figure skating venue! 

The NL Men’s Boxing Team entered the ring on Wednesday evening with two fighters on the card.  

Mason McGrath, competing in the 57 kg weight class, lost his match to a boxer from Team NS. The Canada Games experience has been very positive for Mason. To compete at this level is a dream of many boxers, but only a few get to live it. Well done Mason, we are very proud of you.

In the 75kg weight class, Mike Gosine made his Canada Games debut against an Ontario boxer. He had an outstanding fight that went the distance with both boxers landing good shots. Mike will fight again on Thursday.

Riley Yetman, on the other hand, spent time today training.  He will fight his second match on Thursday in the 63.5 kg weight class! 

All 10 team NL Snowboard athletes took to the slopes today to compete in the Canada Winter Games parallel giant slalom (PGS) event. Run after run, each preformed well with fast transitions and balanced carved turns. Excitement stirred quickly as qualification results filtered through the grapevine and the team found out that 13 year old Andi Osmond and 20 year old Owen Lapshinoff both made it into the top 16 finals. Andi Osmond rode consistently and made it into the top 8 out of 25 female racers. Owen Lapshinoff continued to dominate with solid wins for the next two runs, driving him into the top 8 finals as well. The team and fans exploded with joy when he received 6th out of 28 male racers.