A shot at the gold medal was at stake Friday for Meaghan Mikkelson of St. Albert at the women’s world hockey championship.
The semifinal winner between Canada and Finland would play the United States or Switzerland for the gold today in Burlington, Vt. Friday’s score was unavailable at press time.
Mikkelson is competing in her fourth worlds and in her last three appearances Canada settled for silver.
The 27-year-old defenceman had three assists in two wins and one loss in the tournament prior to Friday’s playoff.
Mikkelson is among 13 players on Canada’s roster from the 2010 Olympic gold-medal winning team.
Last year Mikkelson was honoured as one of the 24 inaugural inductees to the City of St. Albert’s Skating Wall of Fame at Northstar Hyundai Arena.
The Zone 5 Black Gold teams advanced into the round of eight in their respective age divisions at the Ringette Canada AA championships in Burnaby, B.C.
The U16 Havoc and U19 Grit teams competed Friday for berths in today’s medal finals.
St. Albert players on the Havoc roster include centre Janelle Wilk, forwards Sarah Cancian and Alyssa Ricioppo, defencemen Hannah Marthinsen, Simran Grewal, Siobhan Scantland and Lauren MacBeath and netminder Lauryn Girard.
Playing for the Grit is forward Stephanie Bolduc, defenceman Sasha Stadnyk and netminder Anj Grewal.
This is the first year nationals expanded the number of teams to 20 in U16 and 18 in U19.
Visit www.ringette.ca for results.
The Christina Monk rink is off to a roaring start at the 49th annual Tournament of Champions with two convincing victories at the Jasper Place Curling Club.
The President’s Cup winners at the St. Albert Curling Club knocked off Ellerslie 8-4 in seven ends Tuesday and skunked the Derrick 11-0 in five ends Wednesday.
The next game for Monk, third Lauren Jenkyns, second Kathy Piper and lead Laurie Schreiner is Monday at 6 p.m. A win would send them into Wednesday’s semifinal at 6 p.m. A loss would drop the team into the B bracket for another shot at the semifinal in Tuesday’s game at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, St. Albert rinks skipped by Dale Briske and Doug McLennan rebounded from their tournament-opening losses with victories in the B bracket Thursday.
In the men’s draw, Briske defeated the Avonair 7-4 after dropping an 8-5 decision to Lancaster Park on Tuesday. Briske, third Les Ferguson, second Rick Dallyn and lead Doug de Bruijn are back on the ice Monday at 8:45 p.m.
In the mixed division, McLennan roughed up the Avonair 8-2 in seven ends and will play Monday at 8:45 p.m. The first game for McLennan, third Alison Howes, second Colin Jenkyns and leads Lauren Jenkyns and Cherisse Gunderson was Wednesday’s 8-7 loss to the Thistle.
The double-knockout competition features 12 Edmonton and area club champions in the women’s, men’s and mixed divisions.
Thursday’s finals start at 7 p.m.
Visit www.jasperplacecurling.com for draw times and results.
The cheer team at William D. Cuts school returned home with silver medals from the recent Sea to Sky international cheerleading and dance championships in Vancouver.
G.S. Lakie middle school of Lethbridge finished ahead of Cuts in the four-team junior varsity division.
In February, Cuts was awarded silver in division three at the junior high provincial championships. Division three is the highest level of competition at provincials.
Cuts qualified for provincials by winning the division title at the Edmonton zone meet for the first time in 10 years.
