Olympic hopeful
At the Canadian Olympic long-track speed skating trials Sunday at Calgary, Tamara Oudenaarden of St. Albert placed fourth overall with a cumulative time in the two-race 500-metre event.
In the first 500m, Oudenaarden finished fourth at 38.89 as the second-fastest Alberta skater. Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont. posted the fastest time of 38.56
In the second race, Oudenaarden was the runner-up at 38.78. Nesbitt was first at 38.54.
Oudenaarden, 22, was scheduled Tuesday to race the 1,000m but her placing was unavailable at press time.
The 2010 Vancouver Olympic long-track team, including as many as 10 women and eight men, will be officially announced Monday.
Oudenaarden, a product of the Edmonton Speed Skating Club, trains at the Calgary Olympic Oval. Career highlights for the Bellerose Composite High School graduate include placing 18th in the 500m in her 2009 debut at the World Single Distance Championships and finishing 24th at the World Sprint Championships in 2008 and 2009. She was also fourth at the 2008 Canadian champion ships in the 500m.
Merchants win
The St. Albert Merchants closed out the 2009 portion of their schedule in the Capital Junior B Hockey League with a rare win.
The 3-2 decision Dec. 20 against the Stony Plain Flyers at Akinsdale Arena also halted a seven game winless streak. Third period goals by Caine Smith and Nicolas Addessi (PP) rallied the team to victory. Chris Clark knotted the score at 1-1 in period two with a shorthanded marker. Curtis Ronaldson (5.59 GAA) recorded his first win of the season after seven losses since rejoining the team after a stint as the St. Albert Steel's backup goalie.
It was also the first win for acting head coach Terry Moser after taking over the bench duties from Adam Sharpe, who resigned following a disappointing 7-17-0-2 record in his first season with the team, including a 1-11-0-1 showing on home ice.
In the west division the Merchants (8-18-0-2) are second last in the standings and trail the fifth-place Flyers (11-15-0-1) by five points.
Offensively the Merchants are led by Jason Riley (6-15-21 in 26 games), Addessi (9-11-20 in 23 games), Ryan Creelman (7-13-20 in 23 games) and Jake Behiels (11-8-19 in 20 games).
The Money Men ring in the new year Sunday in Leduc against the Riggers (4-20-0-4) at 4:15 p.m. The next home game is Jan. 8 against the Strathcona Bruins (10-16-0-2) at 8 p.m. In the east division the Bruins are fifth and the Riggers are in sixth place.
