It’s the back half of the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Charlottetown and that means a busier week for Team NT.
The week one athletes cleaned out their dorms over the weekend and are now back home, while the week two athletes have settled in and are now in action. Team NT’s contribution to week two includes badminton, men’s curling, mixed doubles curling, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, archery, women’s hockey, and figure skating.
The girls hockey team took to the ice Monday against Newfoundland and Labrador, which ended in a 9-0 defeat. Tuesday saw the NWT girls face off with Prince Edward Island and they were on the wrong end of a 5-0 decision in that one.
Ellie Loutitt was between the pipes for the girls in both of those games and to say she was busy would be an understatement. In those two contests, Loutitt faced a total of 137 shots — 73 against Newfoundland and Labrador and 64 against Prince Edward Island.
Yellowknifer spoke with Loutitt on Tuesday and she said she knew she would be peppered, but not to that extent.
“At the Arctic Winter Games, I was facing around 35 shots a game and then in my first game here, I got 73,” she said. “I’m tired and a bit sore. It’s the best of all the provinces and territories here, so I knew the level would be different, but it’s more than I thought it would be.”
Hay River’s Kami Gostick is scheduled to start against Yukon today, giving Loutitt a much-needed rest, one she said she’s going to appreciate.
Loutitt added that she’s been having fun between games and is involving herself in pin trading, the unofficial sport of the Canada Winter Games.
She also got to watch Ontario play Nova Scotia on Tuesday afternoon, and while the girls won’t be playing either of those teams, she said she wouldn’t mind a shot at playing Ontario.
“I’d do it just to see how well I would do against them,” she said.
Over on the court…
Mixed doubles badminton saw two duos from the NWT in action on Tuesday. The team of Hilary Huynh and Riley Steinwand lost their opening-round contest to New Brunswick, while Grady and Morgan Stabel were unlucky in two contests versus teams from Ontario. In men’s singles, there was no success for Steinwand, Grady Stabel, Dante Kay-Grenier, Lucas Wilson or Ben Naugler. Huynh was a winner over Aaliyah Yoga of Newfoundland and Labrador in women’s singles, but Andie Cockney and Brittany Kendo weren’t as lucky as they dropped their opening contests.
Jullian Bowling and his rink of David Dragon, Ian Gau and Tasir Bhuiyan out of the Yellowknife Curling Centre were on the ice twice on Tuesday versus Alberta and Ontario, but were unsuccessful in both games, losing 10-3 and 10-2, respectively. In mixed doubles curling, Adrianna Hendrick and Mason MacNeil dropped both of their games on Tuesday to New Brunswick (11-4) and Ontario (11-2).
In snowboarding, Hawke Williams-Ellis and Grayson Marchiori were on the hill in the men’s slopestyle and neither scored well enough to make it into the finals.
See the next edition of Yellowknifer for another update.