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(February 28, 2019 - Red Deer, AB) Team Alberta is inching towards its all-time mark for the most medals won by Alberta at a single Canada Winter Games, adding seven medals on Thursday in Red Deer, including three gold medals.

With the three gold medals earned on Thursday, Team Alberta has now surpassed the mark for the most gold medals earned by the province during a single Canada Winter Games. The previous mark was 30 gold medals, set at the 1995 Canada Winter Games in Grande Prairie, AB, the last time Alberta hosted the national, multi-sport event.

On Thursday, Team Alberta earned medals in Figure Skating, Archery, Snowboard, and Cross-Country Skiing.

To date, Alberta has earned 88 medals, just three medals short of equalizing the current record of 91 total medals, set at the 2003 Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbelton, New Brunswick.

There are two full days of competition left with plenty of medal opportunities remaining at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.

FIGURE SKATERS ADD THREE MEDALS FOR TEAM ALBERTA

The long routine was featured today to close out the Figure Skating competitions at the Gary W Harris Canada Games Centre, and Alberta earned an additional three medals, two gold medals, and one bronze medal.

Skating in the Singles Novice Men event, Matthew Newnham, 16, of St. Albert, AB, came back from the fourth position after the short routine, delivering an impressive skate jumping to the top position. The 15-year-old athlete from St. Alberta, AB, executed a performance worthy of 91.54 points, more than 15 points ahead of the second-best routine of the night, to combine a score of 130.23 points. The long program performance tonight represents the best score of his young career, surpassing his previous mark of 88.17 points.

In the Dance Novice event, the Alberta duo of Isabel McQuilkin and Jake Portz sat in first place after the short routine with 32.06 points. The duo skated to a 61.38-point routine to combine a score of 93.38 points for the bronze.

Kaiya Ruiter of Calgary, AB, who is only 12 years of age, was the top-seeded skater of the Singles Novice Female heading into the long program. Ruiter posted a score of 49.96 points in the short program, had an 8.7 points lead entering the second of two skates. She delivered an almost perfect program tonight to earn 76.03 points, cumulating a total score of 125.91 points.

Earlier in January, Ruiter won the 2019 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in the category, scoring 139.57 points, the current Canadian Record in the event.

ALBERTA SNOWBOARDERS EARNS TWO MEDALS IN SLOPESTYLE

On snow at Canyon Ski Resort, the snowboard team competed in the slopestyle event. Alberta had three boarders advance to the final, in each the men and the women events.

The women of Team Alberta rode the gold and bronze medals, with Kianah Hyatt-Sikora, 16, of Calgary, AB taking home the top title with the solid first run, landing her 67.80 points. Teammate Kamilla Kozuback, 14, of Calgary, AB, had trouble on the first of two runs but bounced back with a solid run landing her on the podium with 53.80 points.

The snowboard competitions now move to Calgary, where the halfpipe events will be presented on Friday night.

SAMUEL HENDRY EARNS BRONZE IN CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING

After a day of rest, Team Alberta was back on snow in the cross-country skiing events at the 2019 Canada Winter Games with both the women’s 10km and men’s 15km mass start events.

Samuel Hendry, 19, of Canmore, AB skied his way to the bronze medal, stopping the clock at 41:58.20.

Hendry, a member of the Canadian National Junior Cross-Country Ski Team, was fifth in the Spring events earlier this week.

In the women’s race, Alberta was kept off the podium, but three Alberta skiers finished the race in the Top-10. Anna Pryce finished fifth, while Issy Hendry was behind in sixth place and Anna Parent in ninth position.
There is a single cross-country skiing event left on the calendar, with the Mixed Relay race to take place on Saturday.

AARON COX WINS SILVER MEDAL IN ARCHERY

At the Westerner Park, the recurve and compound competition took place in Archery, and Aaron Cox, 19 of Devon, AB shot his arrows to a silver medal position. Cox is a returning athlete from the 2015 Canada Winter Games, where he had placed in the fourth position in the individual event and silver medallist in the team event.

He qualified for the second round with the best score of 1162 points in qualifying round, benefiting from a bye in the second round of the single elimination format. Cox quickly moved onto the third round with a 6-0 win over his opponent from Prince Edward Island, qualifying him for the semi-finals. Facing Adam Deane of British Columbia, Cox scored the 6-2 win to advance to the ultimate match of the tournament.

With the gold medal on the line, Cox was edged 6-4 by his Saskatchewan rival Hunter Chipley, earning the silver medal for Team Alberta.

The Archery competition resumes on Friday with the Team Events.

SQUASH TEAM TO PLAY FOR TEAM EVENT BRONZE MEDALS ON SATURDAY

Both of Alberta squash teams finished their team events with a 4-1 record, finishing in the second position of the preliminary round. They each faced Ontario at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre in what proved to be very exciting and close matches throughout the evening.

In the semifinals today, the men faced off against Ontario, and the team lost their round 4-0, advancing to the bronze medal match. The medal match is slated for Saturday, March 2 at 2 pm, against Quebec.

In the women’s semifinals, the women of Alberta left all they had on the court but ultimately fell short of advancing to the gold medal match. They lost 3-1 to their opponents from Ontario, with two of the matches going to the fifth and ultimate sets in a dual that lasted over 3.5 hours.

The bronze medal matches are scheduled for Saturday. Tomorrow, Bethany Churchill will play for bronze in the individual women’s competition.

TEAM ALBERTA ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS IN WOMEN’S HOCKEY WITH BIG WIN AGAINST MANITOBA

Team Alberta faced off against Manitoba in quarterfinals action at the Downtown Arena in Red Deer. Televised on TSN across the country, the game was fast pace right from the beginning.

The first period was fast and furious on both sides of the ice, but impressive goaltending prevented a single goal being scored. Alberta’s defense looked solid, killing three straight penalties to survive the first period.

Coming out of the locker room, Alberta took advantage of a power to open the score in the fifth minute of play, a goal courtesy of Teghan Inglis. Alberta continued to put offensive pressure and capitalized with just under four minutes to go in the period. Sarah Wozniewicz netted the goal that gave Alberta a 2-0 lead.

The third period was all about protecting the lead, and Alberta was very successful in doing so. With two minutes left in the third period, Manitoba pulled their goaltender with the hopes of narrowing the gap and shifting the momentum. But Alberta squeezed an Empty Net goal to secure the 3-0 win, advancing to the next round.

Alberta netminder Bella McKee was credited with the shutout, stopping all 29 shots.

Alberta advances to the semifinals round.

ABOUT THE ALBERTA SPORT CONNECTION

Alberta Sport Connection (ASC) coordinates Team Alberta’s involvement in the Games. It is a provincial crown corporation dedicated to the development of sport in Alberta.

ASC’s vision is for Alberta to be the premier sport delivery system in Canada. It helps Alberta’s high-performance athletes train and pursue excellence.

For more information on the Alberta Sport Connection visit www.albertasport.ca or follow @AlbertaSport on Twitter.