Two Manitobans seek world junior spots
DEFENCEMAN Travis Hamonic of St. Malo and goalie Chet Pickard of Winnipeg will step onto the ice on Saturday in Ottawa for Canada's national junior team's development camp. The players will compete for roster spots on Team Canada, which will vie for gold at the 2009 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa, Dec. 26, 2008-Jan. 5, 2009. Hamonic, played last season for the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors while Pickard was with Tri-City Americans.
Winnipeg archer Jay Lyon will compete at the Canadian Archery Championships next week to prepare for the Beijing Olympics.
Selkirk v-ball coach joins Dalhousie
Rick Scott is heading to his new job as head coach of the women's volleyball program at Dalhousie University in Halifax shortly and he's taking two of Manitoba's top players with him.
Scott, the former head coach of the four-time Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association AAAA volleyball champion Selkirk Royals, has announced middle/left-sides Lauren Schinkel and Courtney Giesbrecht are joining his team for the 2008-2009 season.
Schinkel, a recent graduate of Sanford Collegiate, and Giesbrecht, a Steinbach Regional Secondary School alumna, both played for the Bison under-18 club team. The two were also named to the MHSAA graduating all-star team.
"I had a chance to see both players during the season in high school and club play and I was very impressed with the athleticism of both players," Scott said. "One of the things I wanted to do with this new position was bring in some new players and elevate the level of play and both of these players bring a tremendous work ethic that will improve our team."
St. Charles invites girls to golf clinic
Attention girls aged seven to 18 years: the game of golf is calling you. And there will be ice cream.
As part of the CN Future Links junior golf program, a free "let's go golfing" clinic for girls will be held on Aug. 4 at St. Charles Country Club, 100 Country Club Blvd.
Participants will receive golf instruction at no charge from Canadian PGA professionals and are invited to stay afterward to "make your own sundae."
The clinic for girls ages seven to 11 years is noon-1:30 p.m. followed at 2-3:30 p.m. by a clinic for girls aged 12-18. The clinics are open to the first 60 girls who register. Both active golfers and beginners are invited to participate.
To register, call the St. Charles pro shop at 888-8229 and indicate if you need to borrow clubs for the clinic. See www.future-links.org for more information.
Winnipeg's the target for Canada's top archers
MANITOBA will host the 2008 Canadian Archery Championships on July 28-Aug. 6. Both field archery and target events will be contested.
About 150 archers from across the country are expected to participate, including members of Canada's 2008 Olympic and Paralympic teams.
The field archery event will be held near Sanford while the target event will be hosted at a site at Canadian Mennonite University at 600 Shaftesbury Blvd.
"Unfortunately, the Olympians are not going to be able to stay for the whole event," organizing committee co-chairman Ed Wilson said in a press release. "They have a date in Beijing on Aug. 8, and although we would love to have them here for the entire championships, we really do understand."
Manitoba's Kevin Tataryn, a silver medallist at a recent World Cup event in France will be among the competitors as well as Paralympic archers Norbert Murphy of Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., Kevin Evans of Jaffray, B.C., and Lyne Tremblay of Magog, Que. The men's Olympic archers, including Jay Lyon of Winnipeg, John David (J.D.) Burnes of Toronto and Crispin Duenas of Scarborough, Ont., are expected to be competing, however Olympic women's archer Marie-Pier Beaudet has withdrawn due to her Olympic travel itinerary.
Lyon recently set a Canadian record in the 70-metre senior men's recurve with 669 points when he won a sanctioned event in Argyle.
"We're very excited to have these elite archers competing here in Manitoba," said co-chairman Jeff Gunter.
ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Hard-hitting Dominicans spike Canada's junior women's team
Canada's national junior women's volleyball team has a 1-1 record at the 2008 NORCECA Junior Women's Continental Championship in Saltillo, Mexico, after losing to the Domincan Republic on Wednesday.
Canada earned a hard-fought victory in the first set but lost the next three as the Dominicans recorded a 27-29, 25-16, 25-15, 25-17 triumph.
Captain Sofie Schlagintweit (Abbotsford, B.C.) led Canada with 13 points followed by Becky Pavan (Kitchener, Ont.) with eight points and Tabitha Love of Dauphin with seven points.
"The Dominicans hit the ball very hard, and their defence was strong, while our errors on both defence and offence put to us in trouble," said Canadian head coach Normand Bouchard.
Canada was playing its final group match late Thursday against the United States. The playoffs begin today.
The top-three finishers in the tournament, which includes the top under-20 aged players in the NORCECA zone, will qualify for the 2009 Junior Women's World Championship.
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