Archery, squash and snowboard keep the medals rolling for Team BC
In archery, the mixed team event was the focus of the day, with compound shooting in the morning and recurve in the afternoon.
Spencer Gamache (Quesnel) and Emma Chylinski (North Vancouver) competed as the compound duo. They would compete in the quarterfinal against Bryanne Lameg and Austin Taylor of Manitoba. While it looked close for the first few ends, Manitoba would increase their lead and closed out the match with a score of 155 – 141. This score eliminated BC from the remainder of the Compound competition. Manitoba would go on to win the silver medal in the event.
Coming off of their bronze and silver performances in the individual event yesterday, Adi Shapria (Vancouver) and Adam Deane (Delta) were feeling confident and ready to perform in Friday’s team event. They represented BC as the duo in the recurve mixed team event.
They were up against a tough opponent to start things off in the quarterfinal match. Shapira and Deane were slated to shoot against Quebec’s Jacob Gagnon and Marie-Eve Gelinas. Gagnon finished 5th in yesterday’s team event, and Gelinas had a gold medal finish in the individual event. Quebec eliminated BC from the matches, beating them in the quarterfinal by a score of 6-2.
The mixed team event concluded the Canada Winter Games competition for archers. BC had a strong showing capturing three of a possible four individual medals in the event. Gamache (Compound) and Shapira (Recurve) bring silver medals back to BC for their outstanding performances, while Deane (Recurve) brings home a bronze.
Team BC archers improved on their results achieved by BC at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in the men’s individual compound and male and female individual recurve events.
In squash, after going down a set, Lucia Bicknel (West Vancouver) stormed back to defeat Charlotte Orcutt of Ontario 3-1 to win the gold medal in women’s singles.
It was a big win for Bicknel on many levels. Orcutt is the number one seeded player in the country, the Canada Winter Games is the biggest stage for squash players and TSN was there to film the encounter.
“She is a great player and I always love playing her. It was kind of a slow start for me but I managed to bounce back the next one and I got the momentum up and then won the next two,” said Bicknel.
That gold medal tied Team BC’s all-time gold medal mark of 28 medals won at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax.
Maggie Crompton (Whistler) won a silver medal at Canada Olympic Park in snowboard half pipe. It’s an event she doesn’t usually compete in.
“I just wanted to have fun,” said Crompton. “This is not something I usually compete in but I may try competing much more in the future. This event has been so much more than I thought it would be. I have met so many competitors from all the other provinces. And the volunteers? They’re the bomb dot com.”
Jadyn Chomlack (Pemberton) won a bronze medal Thursday in slopestyle and followed that up with a bronze medal in half pipe.
“This is my first half pipe event so I went into it with low expectations,” said Chomlack. “It’s really fun to do. I think I’ll focus on slopestyle though. I mean I focused on it but I didn’t take it too seriously. Maybe that was the key.”
In the men’s curling semi-final, the men’s team played a dramatic game against Manitoba. It was a rematch against the only team that beat them in the round robin. Manitoba got off to a hot start, stealing a single point in the second and third ends. However, Team BC came right back with a three point fourth end to take a 3–2 lead into the half. After some back and forth play, as well as some incredible shots on both sides, Team BC took a 5–4 lead into the eighth end with Manitoba owning the hammer. The men’s team managed to keep Manitoba to a single point, forcing an extra end. It was a tense end, but Team BC scored a single point with the hammer to claim the victory, sending them to the gold medal game.
“At the beginning of the season we set the goal of being on the podium at the Canada Winter Games, and to accomplish that is an amazing feeling,” said Joshua Miki (Port Coquitlam). “To being going for gold on top of that is just insane.”
The men’s team will go for the gold medal against Ontario at 10:00 am on Saturday. British Columbia has never won a gold medal in men’s curling at the Canada Games.
It was a heart breaking loss for women’s hockey in the semi-final losing 1-2 to hometown Alberta in overtime. It was a team they had defeated handily in the round robin routing them 6-1. But in a tight hockey game, neither team broke the scoreless draw until a minute and a half into the third period when Alberta beat BC goaltender Kiara Stecko (Kelowna). Team BC tied the game five minutes later as Jenna Buglioni (Port Moody) does what she does best and put the puck into the back of the net. Overtime would decide the game, however as Alberta scored on the four on four with under four minutes to play. Team BC will now play for the bronze medal.
In Badminton, British Columbia lost to Quebec epic 2-3. Saturday, Alberta will face off against Quebec in a re-match from the pool play, but this time with the gold medal on the line. British Columbia will play Ontario for the bronze medal.