Team Alberta North won six out of their seven competitions during the first weekend of the Wood Buffalo Arctic Winter Games. The first weekend of the competition included curling, ice hockey, and futsal games across three different age groups.
The Alberta North Male Curling Team (2004 or later) won their first draw against Team Northwest Territories 10 -2 Sunday. The team which includes Carter Furgeson and Cortland Cortland Sonnenberg from the County of Grande Prairie, Varyk Doepker from Grande Prairie, and Robert Nelson from Sexsmith will face Team Nunavut in their second draw Monday.
There were three hockey games on the schedule this past weekend, which included the team’s only loss in the first two days of competition. The 2007 or later male hockey team dropped their competition against Team Nunavut 4 to 2. Linden Zaichkowsky, Cy Nelson, Ben Antonio, Kai Ducharme, and Spencer Behnsen are the five Peace Region players on the team, who will face Team Northwest Territories Monday afternoon.
Team Alberta North vs Team Nunavut was the only game scheduled in the 2004 or later Male Ice Hockey division during the first weekend. The Northern Alberta Team walked away from their first game with one in the win column, beating Team Nunavut 6 – 3. Nate Balderston, Landon Longson, Graden Vandeligt, Niles Driedger, Asher Lamabe, Zach Tardif, Kobe Villeneuve, and Owen Rude are the eight Peace Country athletes representing the north part of the province in this competition. On Monday afternoon the U-17 team will take on Team Nunavut.
The 2003 or later female hockey team is the last hockey game of the weekend. The team, which includes 11 players from the Peace Region, defeated Team Yukon 5 -1 Sunday. Aydin Hebert, Jamie Hensch, Thea Thompson, Mckenna Bowers, Carolyn Head, Anna Jeffs, Macy Robinson, Kaitlyn Senkoe, Elly Stone, Karsyn Utz, Victoria Willsey and Avery Johnson along with the rest of the U-18 female team will face Team Alaska Monday.
The final three competitions of the weekend were in Futsal. Grande Prairie’s Jake Shewfelt and the rest of the 2007 or later male team took their competition against Team Nunavut by a score of 9 – 0, they will take Team Sapmi Monday. The male 2009 or later team won over the Northwest Territories 6 -0. The Peace Regions Grayson Van Tassell, Roman Bueckert, Leonardo Ramos Perez, and Fausto Ramos Perez along with the rest of the team will compete in their second game of the competition Monday afternoon. Lastly, the 2007 or later female team made their mark in their first game of the tournament, defeating Team Nunavut 18 – 0. Grande Prairie’s Reece Hollingworth, Autumn Hitchcock, Mya Fitzgerald, Saimaa Rawlyk, and Livvy Blundell along with the rest of the team have Monday off before taking on Team Yukon Tuesday morning.
The Wood Buffalo Artic Winter Games run until Saturday and include 20 different events.