International
2019 FISU Winter Universiade Day 8: Women’s hockey plays for gold after semi-final victory
As the 29th Winter Universiade is winding down, there was two of the four Canadian individual team sports competing on day nine. Canada notched a another Top 30 performance as Alexandre Fortin (Laval; Quebec City, Que.) finished in 22nd place in a time of 1:33.89 in the men’s slalom.
Alpine Skiing
The Canadian men’s alpine team finished the Games at Funpark Bobrovy Log, and Fortin was the lone Canada final result as he completed both legs for the Top 30 finish in the slalom race. For Fortin this was his second Top 30 result at this Universiade after being 30th in the men’s alpine Giant Slalom earlier in Russia.
Jean-Christopher Allard (Laval; Drummondville, Que.) and Félix Blanchard (Montreal; Montreal, Que.) both raced but they recorded a did not finish result as both could not complete the first run in this event.
Head coach Michel Huot (Montreal; Montreal, Que.) commented afterwards, “It was a tough last two days as only one women and one men skier finished the slalom races. I’m happy for the result of Alexandre today.”
Cross Country Skiing
The Canadian women’s cross country skiing team completed their Universiade at Raduga Cluster by competing in the 15km mass start race. Ember Large (MacEwan; Edmonton, Alta.) led the way for Canada with a 38th pace showing with a time of 46:29.7 – her best result at this Universiade – followed by Alexandra Slobodian (Carleton; Stittsville, Ont.) in 39th and Freya Hik (Alberta; Toronto, Ont.) placed 41st.
The trio discussed the tough course and the competition level as all skiers went out together.
‘It was wild! Just starting the race with the all those girls was super unreal. Getting to ski with everybody from all around the world was the coolest experience ever! “ exclaimed Large.
“Yeah. It was definitely a shock to see people snow plow right off the start. You could see the Russians for the first two kilometers and you were like ‘yo I’m in this!’ and then the paced picked up. It was cool to ski and race with other people from the different countries,” commented Slobodian. And Hik reflected, “It was cool to start with so many nationalities. The race could have gone a bit better but I wouldn’t change this experience in Russia for anything in the world. “
The rest of the Canadian contingent finished in 42nd for Marianne Scherrer (Laval; Quebec City, Que.) then 43rd for Camille Hamm (Lakehead; Thunder Bay, Ont.) and 46th showing for Katherine Denis (Ottawa; New Liskeard, Ont.) against a world class field.
TEAM CANADA RESULTS FROM MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2019
ALPINE SKIING
Men’s Slalom
Finals (two heats)
- Alexandre Fortin, Laval; Quebec City, Que., 1:33.89
DNF. Jean-Christopher Allard, Laval; Drummondville, Que., DNF
DNF. Félix Blanchard, Montreal; Montreal, Que., DNF
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
Women's Mass Start 15km
Finals
- Ember Large, MacEwan; Edmonton, Alta., 46:29.7
- Alexandra Slobodian, Carleton; Stittsville, Ont., 46:50.9
- Freya Hik, Alberta; Toronto, Ont., 48:07.4
- Marianne Scherrer, Laval; Quebec City, Que., 48:48.1
- Camille Hamm, Lakehead; Thunder Bay, Ont., 48:56.7
- Katherine Denis, Ottawa; New Liskeard, Ont., 50:28.7
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Canada (4-1; playoffs: 1-1) lost 2-0 over Russia (5-0; playoffs: 2-0) in gold medal game; Canada wins silver medal.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Canada (4-1; playoffs: 0-1) lost 5-1 to Russia (5-0; playoffs: 1-0) in the semi-final; now plays Kazakhstan (5-0); playoffs: 0-1) in the bronze medal game on Tuesday, March 12 at 12 a.m. ET (11 p.m. local time).
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