Weekend Roundup: Silver at women’s hockey worlds, Fernandez leads Canada to Billie Jean King Cup Finals
It was another exciting weekend at home for Team Canada fans!
There was a seesaw battle with Team USA in Brampton in the final of the women’s hockey world championship. On home court in Vancouver, Canadian tennis stars took on Belgium with a spot in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals at stake.
Here’s a look at what you may have missed:
Hockey: Silver for Team Canada at IIHF Women’s Worlds
Team Canada captured silver at the IIHF Women’s World Championship after falling 6-3 to the United States in the final in Brampton.
In the final, Brianne Jenner scored a pair of goals for Team Canada while Marie-Philip Poulin added one. It wasn’t enough to overcome the Americans, who denied the home team a third straight world title.
READ: Team Canada wins silver at IIHF Women’s World Championship
Canada had been perfect in this tournament leading up to the final. The Canadians won all four of their preliminary round games, outscoring opponents 18-4 en route to finishing atop Group A. That included a 4-3 shootout victory over the United States on Monday to secure first place in the pool.
The Canadian squad had a hard fought 3-2 quarterfinal win over Sweden on Thursday. Sarah Nurse scored an overtime winner for Canada. Nurse and Blayre Turnbull scored in regulation time.
In their semifinal, Canada had a dominant 5-1 victory over Switzerland to set the stage for a classic Canada-USA final. Sarah Fillier netted a hat trick while Jamie Lee Rattray and Rebecca Johnston a goal each. Fillier was named tournament MVP and Best Forward while Ann-Renée Desbiens was named Best Goalie.
Tennis: Team Canada qualifies for Billie Jean King Cup Finals 🎾
Team Canada defeated Belgium 3-2 in the Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers in Vancouver. In the deciding doubles match on Saturday night, Leylah Fernandez and Gabriela Dabrowski joined forces to win in straight sets of 6-1, 6-2.
READ: Fernandez and Dabrowski send Canada into the Billie Jean King Cup Finals
This was Fernandez’s second win of the day. She had a slow start to her first match but rallied to defeat Belgium’s No. 1 Ysaline Bonaventure 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 and give Canada a 2-1 lead. Sunday’s second singles showdown saw Belgium down Canadian Katherine Sebov in a back-and-forth battle lasting three sets to tie the teams at 2-2.
The two teams finished Friday tied 1-1. Fernandez cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Yana Wickmayer to take a 1-0 advantage. Then Rebecca Marino lost a tough battle to Bonaventure in three sets of 6-4, 4-6, 4-6.
Team Canada will continue their journey at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals taking place November 7-12. They will be joining the eight other winners of Qualifiers this past weekend (Spain, Czech Republic, France, United States, Italy, Germany, Kazakhstan, Slovenia), the 2022 finalists (Switzerland, Australia) and one wild card.
Breaking: Silver for Phil Wizard at Breaking for Gold World Series
At the second stop of the WDSF Breaking for Gold World Series in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Canadian B-Boy Phil Wizard finished in second place. In an energetic and high-spirited final, the Canadian came up short against B-Boy Dany of France.
Results from the Breaking for Gold World Series count towards a world ranking list that will determine Olympic qualification for Paris 2024 where breaking will enter the Olympic program for the first time. Phil Wizard was fifth in the Olympic qualification rankings heading into the competition in Rio.
Beach Volleyball: Runner-up result for Melissa & Brandie
Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson finish second at the AVP Pro Series New Orleans Open. The number two seeds fell to top seeded Americans Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng 21-9, 21-18 in the final.
Athletics: Rogers re-writes Canadian record… again
Camryn Rogers broke the Canadian hammer throw record yet again, setting the national mark at 77.84 metres this past weekend in Walnut, California. That surpassed the 77.67m she threw last June. Her new record is pending ratification, but it is the farthest distance in the world this year and ranks her as the seventh-best all-time women’s hammer thrower. Can you believe it’s only April with a long season ahead?
Ben Flanagan ran to his second Canadian record in six months. In Saturday’s Boston Athletic Association 5k, he reached the finish line in 13 minutes and 26 seconds to place second. That takes nine seconds off the previous national 5k road record set by Charles Philibert-Thiboutot‘s winning time in last year’s race.
Figure Skating: Fond farewell to Messing at season’s final competition ⛸️
Team Canada left it all on the ice at the ISU World Team Trophy in Tokyo, Japan. They finished sixth with 68 points at the last international figure skating competition of the season. Team USA secured the gold medal with 120 points followed by Team South Korea taking silver (95 points) and Team Japan with the bronze (94 points).
Ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier finished third in both portions of the ice dance competition. Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were third in the pairs short program. Beyond the results, the event served as the final goodbye to Keegan Messing on competitive ice. After missing the Olympic team event at Beijing 2022, he was determined to finish his career at this biennial team competition. The joyful Japanese fans loved every moment and gave him an incredible sendoff. Check out his backflip over teammates Gilles and Deschamps in the Instagram post just above.
