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Sports Extra: St. Albert's Matthew Savoie captains Team Canada

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HOISTING UP A SHOT – Claudia Holt fires the ball for the Richard S. Fowler Falcons against the Louis St. Laurent Barons at the Fowler Classic. The Falcons won Thursday's pool A opener 75-12. The junior high tournament features six boys' and six' girls teams. The first of six playoff games start today at Fowler at 9 a.m. and the finals are 3 p.m. for the girls and 4:30 p.m. for the boys. CHRIS COLBOURNE/St. Albert Gazette

Savoie medals

Matthew Savoie returned home from the third annual Winter Youth Olympic Games with a bronze medal as captain of Team Canada.

The St. Albert centreman and forward Nate Danielson of Red Deer were the only Albertan players on the Canadian squad that won two and lost two in the six-nation tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In the preliminary round, Canada lost 6-2 to Russia and blanked Denmark 6-0.

The scores in the medal round were the 2-1 semifinal loss to the United Sates and Wednesday’s 4-2 bronze-medal victory against Finland.

Russia beat the United States 2-0 in the gold-medal game.

Savoie scored once and added two assists in four games while leading Canada in penalty minutes with 28.

The Youth Olympics are a multi-sport event organized by the International Olympic Committee and the age limitation for athletes is 14 to 18.

Canada was the silver medallist at the 2016 Youth Olympics.

This year’s roster featured 2004-born players selected by Hockey Canada through its member branches and regional scouts. Four players were picked from each of the west, east and Ontario regions, with five players from across Canada added to fill the remaining positions.

Savoie, 16, was among six Western Hockey league prospects on Canada’s roster.

The former St. Albert Gregg Distributor Sabre in the Alberta Major Bantam Hockey League and Northern Alberta Xtreme player in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League was the No. 1 pick in the 2019 WHL bantam draft by the Winnipeg ICE and as an affiliate recorded five assists in 12 games with the ICE.

Savoie is also rated among the top players eligible for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

This season with the Winnipeg-based Rink Hockey Academy prep team in the CSSHL, Savoie has amassed 16 goals and 42 points in 17 games after achieving MVP honours with the Xtreme prep team with 31 goals and 71 points in 31 games despite playing one year above his age group.

In November, Savoie played in the World U17 Hockey Challenge with Canada White and contributed one goal and five assists in six games as an underage player. Savoie was among 66 players chosen to represent Canada on three teams at the U17 Worlds.

At the 2019 Canada Winter Games, Savoie totalled six goals and 13 points in six games with the bronze-medal winning U16 Alberta team.

Mixed bonspiel

The St. Albert Curling Club is rolling the dice this weekend with its Vegas Baby! mixed bonspiel theme

The 18-rink competition is sponsored by Chartwell St. Albert Retirement Residence.

The finals are 2 p.m. Sunday.

The bonspiel includes a four-team open mixed division and the playoff games are also set for 2 p.m. Sunday.

In last year’s 20-team bonspiel, the St. Albert foursome of skip Bob Range, third Nicole Bellamy, second Mike Howes and lead Audra Lindsey pulled off a surprising 4-0 record and two of the wins were shutouts against Doug McLennan of St. Albert in the quarter-finals and Dale Krysta of Stony Plain in the final.

U21 nationals

Friday’s result for the Team Alberta rink skipped by Abby Marks of St. Albert had playoff implications at the U21 junior nationals in Langley, B.C.

The score between Alberta (6-3) and Manitoba (9-0) in the last draw of the championship round was unavailable at press time.

A win would secure third place for Alberta and a semifinal berth, but a loss would create a variety of tie-breaker scenarios depending on win/loss combinations for the teams ranked 5-4 in Friday’s draw.

Manitoba had already qualified for Sunday’s final and Nova Scotia (7-2) clinched a spot in today’s semifinal.

Worlds are next month in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

Alberta is the defending Canadian champion as skip Selena Sturmay, Marks at third, second Kate Goodhelpsen and Paige Papley at lead finished 11-0 at nationals.

At worlds in Liverpool, N.S., Canada was awarded silver after losing to Russia on a steal of one in the extra end of the final.

This year’s Alberta rink of Marks, 20, third Catherine Clifford, Papley at second and lead Jamie Scott was the top team in pool A of the 14-team tournament at 5-1 for advancement into the eight-team championship pool.

The Alberta losses were 9-8 to Saskatchewan, 12-3 in eight ends to Nova Scotia and 6-5 to New Brunswick.

The Alberta rinks at both nationals are based with the University of Alberta Pandas’ curling program.

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