Moose Jaw’s Brooklyn Nimegeers and Team Saskatchewan came oh so close to playing for a medal at the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island.
Instead, they ended up enduring a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to Nova Scotia in the quarter-final on Friday night and would go on to finish in sixth place after falling 6-2 to Alberta in the classification round.
The loss to Nova Scotia was especially tough, as Team Sask held a 2-0 lead heading into the third period thanks to a first-period goal from Ella Wingert and a second-period marker from Janelle Evans. NImegeers drew an assist on Evans’ marker 5:32 into the period, giving her a goal and three assists for the tournament.
Nova Scotia didn’t take long to tie things up in the third period, scoring a pair of goals a minute apart early in the frame, and they’d then finish things off with 10:31 gone in the extra period.
That sent Saskatchewan into the fifth-sixth place game on Saturday afternoon, where Evans and Julia Duke had the lone goals for their province. The contest was close until the third period, when Alberta scored three times to take control of what was a 3-2 contest.
The Saskatchewan male and female judo competitors took to the mats in the team competition on Saturday, with both crews missing the medals.
The female team -- including Moose Jaw competitors Avery Gibney and Kolbi Fenrick -- took a win over P.E.I. in their opening match but fell to New Brunswick in the semifinal and dropped a decision to B.C. in their first bronze medal draw match.
Paxton Nelson and the male team were unable to win a match, falling to Ontario in their opener and Manitoba in their second outing.
Be sure to check out www.2023canadagames.ca for full results from both weeks of Canada’s elite multi-port competition.
