Local athletes return home after competing in Canada Winter Games

Gibney just misses out on medal in female judo, Nimegeers and female hockey team finish in sixth place, figure skaters post top-15 finishes

Randy Palmer - Moose Jaw Express

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 and would go on to finish in sixth place after falling 6-2 to Alberta in the consolation round.

The loss to Nova Scotia was especially tough, as Team Sask held a 2-0 lead heading into the third period, but 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 fifthsixth place game on Saturday afternoon, where things were close until the third period, when Alberta scored three times to take control of what was a 3-2 contest.

Earlier in the week, Saskatchewan put together a 1-2 record in the round robin to earn their spot in the medal round.

Nimegeers was held off the scoreboard in their opener, an 11-1 loss to B.C., but drew an assist on Team Sask’s second goal in their 4-2 loss to Quebec. That made their third preliminary-round game a must-win, and Saskatchewan would come through with a 3-2 victory over New Brunswick. Nimegeers scored her first goal of the tournament at the 8:02 mark of the second period and would draw an assist on the game-winner with just over six minutes to play.

Nimegeers would lead Team Sask in scoring with a goal and four points despite taking the ice as a defenceman. ****

Moose Jaw Koseikan Judo Club competitor Avery Gibney came as close as can be to winning a medal in female judo at the Canada Winter Games.

The 17-year-old Peacock student lost her opening match in the female 52 kg division but would string together back-to-back wins on the consolation side to advance to one of two bronze medal matches.

There, Gibney would lose by ippon to Quebec’s Laurence Gagnon to settle for fifth place.

Gibney ran into some bad luck in the draw, as she took on eventual gold medalist Leanna Au from B.C. in her opening match and would give up a pair of wazari to drop to the consolation side.

Things changed dramatically in Gibney’s favour from there, as she’d defeat Manitoba’s Kaya Leveille by ippon and follow up with a two-wazari win over Nova Scotia’s Katherine Brown to book her spot in the bronze medal match.

Fresh off his appearance in weightlifting at the Saskatchewan Winter Games the previous week, Avonhurst Judo Club competitor Paxton Nelson reached the bronze medal semifinal in the male 50 kg division before falling short.

Like Gibney, Nelson ran into the luck of the draw in his first match, taking on eventual gold medalist Antoine Degranges of Quebec and losing by two wazari. The shoe was on the other foot in Nelson’s first consolation match, where he took a double wazari win over Newfoundland’s Brayden Swain before losing by ippon to Ontario’s Arel Roitman in the semifinal.

Koseikan’s Kolbi Fenrick also ended up battling a pair of medalists in the 57 kg female division. Fenrick opened her tournament against New Brunswick’s Mahee Savoie and lost by ippon, with Savoie going on to win the silver medal.

That defeat sent Fenrick to the consola- tion round, where she’d fall by ippon to Yukon’s Jaymi Hinchey. Sure enough, Hinchey would win her next two matches and claim bronze.

All three competitors took the mats in the male and female team competitions but were unable to reach the medal matches.

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Figure skaters Eric Swalm and Rowan Gray both posted top-15 finishes in the Pre-Novice Male competition.

Moose Jaw’s Swalm finished in 12th place, putting down a score of 36.95 in his free skate, and combined with his 21.94 in the short program two days earlier, finished with 57.89 total.

Brownlee’s Gray took a 13th-place finish after recording a 36.13 in his free skate, with a 19.86 short program giving him 55.99 points.

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Saskatchewan finished the Canada Winter Games with three gold, seven silver and 10 bronze, with their 24 medals good enough for sixth place overall. Team Sask’s Centennial Cup score -- representing the most improvement from Games to Games -- was minus-7.5 to finish in 11th place.

High school senior basketball playoffs set to begin Tuesday

Final slate of games last week sets stage for postseason, semifinals on Thursday night

The Moose Jaw High School Athletic Association senior basketball regular season came to a close this past week, and now the playoffs take centre stage.

The final days of competition saw a trio of girls contests, as the Peacock Toilers took a 57-51 victory over the Central Cyclones, the Vanier Spirits rolled to a 69-19 win over the Assiniboia Rockets and Lumsden took a 54-41 win over Assiniboia.

The game between Peacock and Vanier was closer than one would expect given the standings -- the Toilers capped their campaign

Randy Palmer - Moose Jaw Express at 7-1, Spirits at 3-5 -- but as has been the case throughout the season, anything can happen on any given night.

Sure enough, Central took an 11-10 lead out of the opening quarter and held a 29-24 edge at the half. You don’t put up a season with a single loss without a reason, though, and Peacock outscored Vanier 16-8 in the third quarter to take the lead for good.

Peacock’s balance was once again on display, as Jessica Selensky led the Toilers with 14 points, Hannah Miller scored 13, Devlynn McClung 12 and Mattaya Coupland 11. Ava Nichols was Central’s top scorer with 18 points -- including four three-pointers -- while Ellah Flanagan put up 17.

The contest between Vanier and Assiniboia saw Kate Waldenberger lead all scorers with 14 points, while Waverly Demassi had a 12-point night. Jessica Beaubien led the Rockets with six points.

Scorers were unavailable from the Assiniboia and Lumsden game.

Next are the playoffs, which began on Tuesday as fourth-place

Central (3-5) hosted fifth-place Assiniboia. The winner of that game advances to the semifinals on Thursday and will face Peacock (7-1, 6:20 p.m.). The other semifinal has Lumsden (4-4) at Vanier (6-2, 6:20 p.m.).

The boy semifinal sees Vanier (0-6) at

Peacock (4-2, 8 p.m.), with the winner there advancing to face Central in the city final on Tuesday, Mar. 14.

Both the girls and boys finals are at Sask Polytech, with the girls tittle match at 6:20 p.m. and boys championship at 8 p.m.

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