Team Canada Results on Day 6 2009 Universiade in Harbin, China

Monday, February 23, 2009

Canada at a Glance - Day 6

O Canada – Go Canada!!

What Canada Did on Monday, February 23 at the 2009 Winter Universiade

BIATHLON

Canada’s biathletes did not compete on Day 6 of the games. The next competition for the biathletes is scheduled to take place Tuesday with the men competing in the 10K sprint event and the women competing in the 7.5K sprint event.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING

Finishing 34^th, Mississauga, ON athlete Alana Thomas posted Canada’s result as the female cross -country skiers competed in the 5K pursuit event.

Thomas finished the sprint event in a time of 34:09.9 – six spots better than St-Ferreol-les-Neiges, QC skier Alexia Pichard-Jolicoeur’s time of 34:41.0

Anna Crawford of Lake George, NY finished in 43^rd spot with a time of 35:18.0, while Peterborough, ON skier Mary Thompson finished one spot back in 44^th, positng a race time of 35:50.7.

The men competed in the 7.5K pursuit event with Gavin Hamilton posting Canada’s best result – finishing 29^th in a time of 43:06.4. Ed McCarthy finished 47^th in a time of 44:44.1 with Calgary’s Carl Steudler completing the race in 46:08.8 – good for 60^th spot.

MENS CURLING

Skipped by Laurier’s Mike Anderson, Canada’s Men’s curling team dropped their third game in a row on Monday afternoon – falling 7-4 to China in the afternoon draw. Canada’s record falls to 3-4 and the team sits sixth in the standings. The men play twice on Tuesday - 9:00am against the United States before wrapping up the round robin at 7:00pm against Finland.

WOMENS CURLING

Skipped by Laurier’s Hollie Nicol, Canada’s Women’s curling team won both of their draws on Monday, defeating China 7-6 in the morning draw and downing Great Britain 9-3 in the evening draw.

Canada sits alone atop the standings boasting a record of 8-0. Having already clinched top spot in the round robin, Canada will play once on Tuesday - 2:00pm against Czech Republic.

MENS HOCKEY

Canada’s Men’s hockey team defeated Czech Republic 3-1 to run their record to 3-0 in the round robin. Kyle Ross, Reid Jorgensen and Mike Hellyer scored for Canada while Aaron Sorochan stopped 21of 22 Czech shots in the Canadian net. Canada’s (3-0) next opponent will be Kazakhstan (3-0) in a game schedule for Tuesday afternoon at 7:00pm.

WOMENS HOCKEY

Canada’s Women’s Hockey team enjoyed a day off from competition on Monday and will next take to the ice Tuesday afternoon at 3:30pm against Japan.

LONG TRACK SPEED SKATING

The Canadian men did not skate on Monday, and will next take to the ice on Tuesday competing n the 1000-meter event.

* * *

The Canadian women did not skate on Monday, and will next take to the ice on Tuesday competing n the 5000-meter event.

SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING

Montreal’s Guillaume Bastille earned Canada’s first medal at the 24th Winter Universiade, finishing second in the 1000-meter final.

Bastille also medalled for Canada in the men’s 5000-meter relay. Bastille teamed up with Alexander Boisvert-Lacroix, Richard Shoebridge and Tyler Darraugh to finish second behind the Chinese in a time of 7:03.929.

* * *

Montreal skaters Marie-Andrée Mendes-Campeau, Nita Avrith, Annik Plamondon, and Valerie Lambert combined to win Canada’s third medal of the games – a bronze in the 3000-meter relay event.

The Canadians completed the relay in a time of 4:32.728, behind teams from China and Korea.

Canada’s combined medal count stands at three – two silver and a bronze.

MHKY vs Czech Republic

Photos from Canada's 3-1 win over the Czech Republic.

Mens Hockey move to 3-0

Men's hockey raised their record to a perfect 3-0 with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic.

Kyle Ross, Reid Jorgensen and Mike Hellyer scored for Canada in the win.

Canada at Kazakhstan are tied atop the Pool standings at 3-0, with the two teams facing each other Tuesday evening at 7:00.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Random photos

From the Games - Carly Hill

Our Journey to China

I left bright and early from Montreal airport with my teammates from McGill and the girls from out east. We flew from Montreal to Vancouver to meet the rest of the girls from across Canada

Once arrived in Vancouver we joined the girls from Ontario and one from British Columbia. We had a two hour layover in Vancouver where we decided to enjoy one last Canadian meal and stuffed our faces with either Subway or Tim Hortons.

As we boarded the flight to Beijing we were all very tired and ready to sleep. I was lucky enough to have a window seat while most of the girls were stuck in the middle of the middle row, next to random strangers many of whom were wearing Sars masks. The girl I sat beside was extremely talkative and taught me how to say hello (nee how) and thank you in Mandarin.

During the flight we were told to stand up and walk around because the blood rushes to our feet. We all walked around, talked with the speed skaters and pushed our way by people to get to the wash rooms. The walk ways were always crowded and very stressful to walk through.

Now , let’s get to the most annoying part of this flight - the TV’s sucked. Most of the girls did not even have the option to choose movies, instead they were streaming on random channels that would repeat the movies and constantly start over again, so you could never watch a full movie. The popular choices for the girls were Finding Nemo and Hancock. I guess I was considered lucky because I was able to choose my movies therefore I had the two they had as well as The Vacation, Cars and The Heartbreak Kid. The girls were so mad that not only were they stuck sitting in the middle of the middle, next to people coughing and wearing Sars masks but they couldn’t even watch TV.

The food while we traveled to Beijing was very good and they definitely fed us enough for the entire ride. We received two big meals as well as sandwiches and beverages. The good news is none of us got sick and we all ate enough to last us for a long time. Our stomachs were too full. The airplane had all the typical elements for a long ride such as the screaming baby, the annoying individuals who get up all the time, the ones who talk far too loud and most importantly the ones who walk through the isles and hit your head as you’re trying to sleep.

We arrived in Beijing and I was excited to see the millions of people who are supposed to be around, however - we got there and the airport was completely empty. As we waited for the train to bring us the other side of the airport, Cathy Chartrand lifted her pants and almost fainted. Her ankles were now considered Kankles (fat ankles). They were huge; we all checked ours ankles and it turned out that other girls were experiencing the awful horror of Kankles as well. The rest of the train ride we spent making fun of Cathy and the other girls. The Beijing airport was very clean and everyone was so friendly. We met the Great Britain men and women’s hockey teams and they joined us on the flight to Harbin. I sat with several girls from Great Britain and we all had a great laugh about the different meaning in words. Turns our when I said she was wearing nice pants, she thought I commented on her underwear so she looked at me very uncomfortably. The girls were hilarious and they made the flight to Harbin very pleasant considering we had no TV’s to watch.

We arrived in Harbin and turns out seven of us lost our sticks somewhere along the way. They were left either in Montreal or Beijing. Our assistant coach, Shelley Coolidge had a very hard time trying to communicate how many sticks we lost and where they were lost, and we all had a good laugh. We had practice the next day and they did not think our sticks would be there in time and well they weren’t. We practiced using other people’s sticks and two girls had to use the wrong side. The funny thing was that Cathy Chartrand shot was still harder then mine even with a wrong sided stick.

Traveling to Harbin has been very interesting but I am sure we will be experiencing many funnier moments in the next two weeks.

-Carly Hill, Team Canada Womens Hockey

Posted by Hodges at 9:12 PM 0 comments

Team Canada Men's Curlers determined to dig deep to stop slide

Monday, February 23, 2009

MCURL drops third straight

Canada's mens curlers lost their third straight game of the round robin, falling 7-4 to China's Fengchun Wang.

Canada's record drops to 3-4, and the team is tied for sixth heading into tomorrow's final day of round robin competition.

Canada will play twice to wrap up the round robin portion of the event, facing the United States (2-5) in the morning draw before meeting Finland (1-6) in the final draw before the playoffs.

Posted by Hodges at 2:42 AM

Opening Ceremonies Spectacle was Cultural Extravaganza

Playing Canada Beach Volleyball while waiting for the March in was popular and fun for all nations waiting!

The Harbin Organizing Committe pulled all the stops in a two hour Performance involving Dancers, Chinese and Russian pop artists, Gymnasts, and musicians for the athletes and spectators. In attendance was the Chairman of China, HU Jin Tao and was televised on National Television in China. Our cross Country skiers made the 3 hour train trek from Yabuli and the Biathon athletes from Maoershan were shuttle by bus an hour and a half to join the Canadain athletes in Harbin Village and they were not dissappointed. Walking in to the arena with McGill Women's Hockey Player Kathy Chartrand was a thrill for all the delagation. The Chinese people are so welcoming and we are stopped often for photographs .

I am starting to run out of Canada pins and even the Military Officers at the village gate know me by name "Canada Pin Leader".


FISU President Gerge Killian address at Opening


Flag bearers at Opening Ceremonies


Chairman Hu Jin Tao of China (fourth from the left


Laurier Representatives at the 2009 Winter Universiade

Proud of Laurier Women's Curling as they go 7-0 in round robin defeating China

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Canadian curlers clinch top spot

Makes me so proud of Laurier Athletes who are representing Canada. Today they beat the World Silver medalists from China before a capacity partisan crowd of China spectators in the Curling venue at the Harbin Ice Skating Gym. Hollie Nichol, Danielle Inglis, Laura Hickey and Hillary McDermott. The two Andrea"s Bevan and Ironside had the day off but helped cheer the Men's Hockey Team on their 3-1 win over the Czech Republic. Today in short track speed skating Canada won 3 medals 2 silver and 1 bronze.

Women's curling continues to run the show as they picked up their seventh win in as many starts. In the first of two draws on the day, Hollie Nicol and the rest of the Laurier four defeated World silver medalist Bingyu Wang 7-6 , clinching a first place in the process.

View official FISU linescores - http://app.harbin2009.org/wu24info/pdf/bh/0511176e.pdf

A pro-Wang crowd tried their best to rally their Chinese curling heroes, and Wang came close to giving the crowd the results the craved, taking two in the ninth end and stealing two more in the tenth. But the Canadians held on for the win, keeping their unblemished record intact.

"Our goals coming in were a top four placing and to give China a good game and we;ve now done both of those things," said Canadian team coach Jennifer Ferris. "I thought today's game was a great mental win, it was a pleasing to see the girls elevate their game in a matchup where they needed to bring a good effort."

The win guarantees Canada a first-place finish in the round robin, and a date with the 4th place finisher in Thursday's semifinal. Canada's playoff opponent is still yet to be determined, with six teams still in the hunt for the final three playoff spots.

"There's nothing we can do to determine the matchup on Thursday," said Ferris. "We've done our part at the top - it's up to the rest of the field to figure it out for the other playoff positions."

Canada's record of 7-0 is two games clear of the 5-2 marks of China and Russia. Canada (7-0) will face Great Britain (4-3) tonight, before wrapping the round-robin portion of the event tomorrow with a game against the Czech Republic.

Canada at a Glance - day 5

BIATHLON

Canada’s biathletes did not compete on Day 5 of the games. The next competition for the biathletes is scheduled to take place Tuesday with the men competing in the 10K sprint event and the women competing in the 7.5K sprint event.

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING

Canada’s cross -country skiers did not compete on Day 5 of the games. The next competition for the cross-country skiers is scheduled to take place Monday with the women competing in the 5K pursuit event and the women competing in the 7.5K pursuit event.

MENS CURLING

Skipped by Laurier’s Mike Anderson, Canada’s Men’s curling team dropped both their round robin competition games on Sunday – falling 9-4 to Switzerland in the morning draw and following it up with a 7-5 loss to Korea in the evening draw. Canada’s record falls to 3-3 and the team sits sixth in the standings. The men play once on Monday when they take on China at 2:00pm.

WOMENS CURLING

Skipped by Laurier’s Hollie Nicol, Canada’s Women’s curling team won their only draw on Sunday, defeating Korea 8-6.

Canada sits alone atop the standings boasting a record of 6-0, and will play twice on Monday - 9:00am against China and 7:00pm against Great Britain.

MENS HOCKEY

Canada’s Men’s hockey team did not compete on Day 5 of the games. Canada’s (1-0) next opponent will be Czech Republic (1-1) in a game schedule for Monday afternoon at 12:30pm.

WOMENS HOCKEY

Canada’s Women’s Hockey team defeated China 7-1 to run their record to 4-0. Canada will enjoy a day off from competition on Monday and will next take to the ice Tuesday afternoon at 3:30pm against Japan.

LONG TRACK SPEED SKATING

Canada’s Long Track Speed Skaters competed in the men’s 1500-meter event.

Calgary’s Philippe Riopel posted the team’s best result, finishing with a time of 1:51:35 good for 9th place.

Regina’s Mykola Makowsky finished in 13th spot – posting a time of 1:52.21

Ste-Foy, Quebec’s Vincent Blouin finished 17th overall with a time of 1:52:57, two spots better than Calgary’s Keith Sulzer and his time of with a time of 1:52:94

The Canadian men do not skate on Monday, and will next take to the ice on Tuesday competeing n the 1000-meter event

* * *

No Canadian skaters competed in the 100-meter event on Sunday.

The Canadian women will next skate on Monday as they participate in the 5000-meter event.

SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATING

Montreal’s Guillaume Bastille posted Canada’s best results of the 24th Winter Universiade, finishing fourth in the 3000-meter final.

Bastille advanced to the finals with the fourth fastest time in one of two semifinals, and missed out on a medal by three-hundredths of a second.

Montreal’s Alexander Boisvert-Lacroix also advanced to the semifinal round, but finished 7th and did not move on to the finals.

Canada’s mens 5000-meter relay team advanced to the finals by winning their semifinal qualifier. The men skate for gold tomorrow.

* * *

Canada failed to qualify a skater to the finals of the 3000-meter event on Sunday.

Montreal skaters Marie-Andrée Mendes-Campeau, Nita Avrith, Annik Plamondon, and Valerie Lambert all advanced from the preliminary heats.

Lambert and Plamondon were eliminated from medal contention in their semifinal when the overseeing official disqualified the entire eight skater field.

Mendes-Campeau and Avrith completed their race, but were not among the four fastest times.

Already qualified for the final of the 5000-meter relay event, Canada’s women also. skate for gold tomorrow.

Canadian Women move to 4-0

The Canadian women ran their round-robin record to 4-0 with a 7-1 win over the host Chinese on Sunday night.

A crowd of more than 3500 fervent Chinese supporters witnessed their national side hold the Canadians in check for the first two periods, only to have Canada score five third period goals and skate to the convincing margin of victory.

Friday, February 20, 2009

O Canada - Go Canada!!

Alright, lessons learned. The Facebook group idea seems to have fallen flat, largely because I'm getting the notion that none of you want to add me as a friend. That hurts my feelings a bit, but I've moved on.

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Athlete blogs, event scores and summaries, great photos.

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The Canadian Flag was raised today at Heilongjiang University Athletes Village. Team Canada gathered around the Athletes Village square to be greeted by Both the Mayor of the Athletes Village and the Secretary General of the Sport Federation of China. As Chef de mission I exchanged gifts with the Secretary General including a Photography book by Canada's first woman in space Dr. Roberta Bondar.

Canadain team set to march into Opening ceremonies

HARBIN, China (CIS) - Led by a women's hockey team making its Universiade debut, Canada is eager to open competition at the 24th Winter Universiade in Harbin, China.Canada will participate in eight of the 12 sports offered at the 2009 Winter Universiade - Biathlon, Cross Country Skiing, Men's and Women's Curling, Men's and Women's Ice Hockey, and Long Track and Short Track Speed Skating. With a total roster size of 130 - including 94 athletes, Canada has sent one of the largest delegations to the 2009 Winter Universiade in Harbin.Laurier Athletic Director Peter Baxter heads the delegation as Team Canada's Chef de Mission, and sees good things ahead for Canada's athletes at the games. "We've assembled a very strong team straight across the board," said Baxter. "We expect to be a competitive threat in all of the events we'll be participating in." Two years ago in at the Winter Universiade in Turin, Italy, Canada made four trips to the podium including gold medal performances in men's hockey and women's curling. Stopping short of predicting specific medal finishes this time around, Baxter sees the possibility for this year's Universiade team to surpass the totals posted in Italy in 2007."We've got incredible depth in many of the individual sports here in Harbin," said Baxter. "In some of the speed skating events, we could see a number of podium finishes. Our team sports are very strong. We come into the men's hockey event as the defending champion, our women will likely be a serious threat to win gold, and both our men's and women's curling teams will be among the top teams in the field at the end of the week."Canada has a long history with the Winter Universiade, first participating at the 1968 games in Innsbruck, Austria. Over the last 41 years, Canada has been one of the most consistently visible countries at the games - sending teams each of the last 20 Winter Universiade competitions.Since winning their first medal with a gold in men's hockey back in 1968, Canada's has won 51 Winter Universiade medals - highlighted by a record 18 at the 1985 Universiade in Belluno, Italy. That year, the short track speed skating team dominated the competition, winning 17 medals including five gold.The events of the 2009 Winter Universiade are split into three separate venues. All the events contested on ice will be held in Harbin, with women's hockey played at the site of the 2008 IIHF World Women's Championships - the Baqu Arena. Men's hockey will be played at the Harbin Institute of Physical Activity, long track speedskating will be held at Heilongjiang Speed Skating Gym and the Harbin Institute of Science and Technology will be the venue location for short track speedskating. Both curling competitions will be contested at the Heilongjiang Skating Gym.Canada's skiers will be stationed at one of two ski resorts southeast of Harbin. The biathletes will compete at the Maoershan Ski Resort, located 85 km from the host city while the cross country skiers are another 100km further along at the Yabuli Ski resort.With 32 participating countries traveling to the games, Harbin will play host to nearly 2,000 student-athletes, coaches, administrators and officials with the host Chinese sending the largest delegation with over 250 competitors.

Mission Staff problem solve to ensure logistical support for Team Canada

Planning and support for the entire Team Canada delegation of 130 strong can be a gigantic ordeal. Tasked to lead the logistical nightmare is Assistant Chef de Mission Joe Morissette. For over a year now Joe has traveled to Harbin on a pre-games visit to ensure his comfort level of our accommodations and competition site meet expectations, he has made contacts with our hosts the Harbin Universiade Committee, to ensure logistical and technical aspects for our athletes, coaches, sport medicine staff, and mission staff well prior to the games met his expectations to ensure a smooth operation come arrival of our team next week. At home arranging a uniform sponsor (Russell) to suit the team, liasoning with team leaders and national sport organizations to ensure athlete registration, working with the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa to process passport visa applications, and of course answering the many questions that come across his desk including dress code beyond the team uniform, parent accommodation suggestions, and yes the question asked most "Can you get tickets to the sold out Opening ceremonies?" The last question mentioned for the record is probably the only item that Joe has been unable to solve, yet to be fair, he has no control of tickets. By the time we got ticket info the ceremonies were sold out.
In the CIS office our Deputy Chef Frank Boyer is an octopus, juggling multiple tasks and projects required to ensure that athlete uniforms are delivered prior to departure to the athletes, office equipment, communication devices, and office supplies are boxed crated and air freighted to Harbin in a timely and cost effective manner. Allison Tovell our Medical Clinic Manager is in charge of ensuring therapy tables, modality ultrasound equipment, tape, medical supplies, and especially Hot packs (for frigid Harbin) is packed, shipped and waiting for the mission staff to set up prior to the arrival of our athletes.
People talk about the "Olympic Effort" well these professionals are gold medalists with respect to ensuring no detail has been left out and all the support required to ensure that all athletes and coaches have the necessary support for them to compete at thier personal best is on-site. The experience all athletes will soon embark on will be in part to the meticulous planning, hard work, and dedication of those in our CIS International Office. This work often goes without notice or thanks, but without their efforts the student-athlete experience would not be what we know will soon be a lifetime of memories of Harbin!