What an NCAA rule change might mean for junior hockey in Sask.
Nov 18, 2024
Previously, WHL players were declared ineligible to play NCAA hockey in the U.S.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Divers Roseline Filion and Meaghan Benfeito kept Canada’s medal streak going at the Rio Summer Games with another bronze medal.
Filion, of Laval, Que., and Benfeito, of Montreal, were third in the women’s 10-metre synchronized diving event Tuesday. They were fifth heading into the final round, but a botched dive by the North Koreans gave Filion and Benfeito an opening for a podium finish.
And they nailed it on their final dive — an inward 3 1/2 somersault — for a score of 80.64 points to finish with 336.18 overall behind two Chinese teams. Filion and Benfeito, who were bronze medallists four years ago in London, gave Canada its fourth bronze medal and fifth overall.
Canada’s only non-bronze medal also came in the pool, a silver captured by 16-year-old Penny Oleksiak in the women’s 100-metre butterfly final on Sunday. Canadian athletes have won at least one medal on each day of competition so far.
Filion and Benfeito make up half of the “Fab IV” on Canada’s diving team. Filion, Benfeito, Jennifer Abel and Pamela Ware all have medal potential in Rio as Abel and Ware missed the podium in the three-metre synchro by less than a point.
“Fab” is an acronym — F for Filion, A for Abel, B for Benfeito, and the Roman numeral IV is a stylized W for Ware. All four women will now shift their focus to the individual events.
The competition was held outdoors for the first time since the 1992 Barcelona Games. But the colour of the water in the pool Tuesday was a putrid green and there was no immediate word on what caused the colour change.
Canada will have a chance to win another medal in the pool Tuesday night as Sydney Pickrem competes in the women’s 200-metre individual medley final.
Meanwhile in Brasilia, the Canadian women’s soccer team exorcised some demons with a 2-1 win over Germany to conclude the preliminary round. Melissa Tancredi had both goals as Canada withstood a late barrage from the second-ranked Germans to improve to 3-0-0 to finish atop Group F. More importantly, Canada earned its first win in 13 games against Germany.
Both had already clinched quarter-final berths. The Canadians will play the runner-up in Group G on Friday in Sao Paulo.
Canadian judo competitor Antoine Valois-Fortier came up short in his bid for a second straight Olympic bronze medal. A third-place finisher four years ago in London, the 26-year-old from Quebec City lost his repechage match to Japan’s Takanori Nagase in the men’s 81-kilogram event.
A win would’ve put Valois-Fortier into a bronze medal showdown against Italian Matteo Marconcini.
After having a first-round bye, Valois-Fortier began the competition with wins over France’s Loic Pietri and Argentina’s Emmanuel Lucenti. But he lost his third-round match to Russian Khasan Khalmurzaev to drop to the repechage.
Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., and Ottawa’s Gaby Dabrowski were eliminated from the women’s tennis doubles event following a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 loss to Czechs Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova. The match was a see-saw battle, most notably in the eighth game of the third set.
Bouchard and Dabrowski had several opportunities to break serve down 4-3, but ultimately could not overcome Safarova and Strycova who held on to win the match.
Safarova and Strycova opened the tournament with a huge upset win over defending Olympic champions Serena and Venus Williams of the U.S.
Canada remained alive in men’s doubles with Toronto’s Daniel Nestor and Vernon, B.C.’s Vasek Pospisil facing Italians Fabio Fognini and Andreas Seppi.
The Canadian men’s field hockey team suffered a 7-0 setback to the Netherlands. The Dutch (2-0-1) moved into second in Pool B behind Germany (3-0) while Canada (0-3) is tied for last with Ireland (0-3).
It marked the first time in the tournament that Canada has been shut out after suffering losses of 6-2 to Germany and 3-1 to Argentina.
The Canadians resume action Thursday facing Ireland, which lost 3-2 to Germany on Tuesday.
After missing the London Olympics four years ago, Canada qualified for the Rio Games with a fourth-place finish at the International Hockey Federation’s World League semifinal in Argentina last June.
Canada’s Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk earned a three-set win over Brazilians Evandro Goncalves Oliveira Junior and Pedro Solberg in men’s beach volleyball. After losing their opener Sunday, the Canadians will conclude pool play Wednesday against Cubans Nivaldo Nadhir Diaz Gomez and Sergio Reynaldo Gonzalez Bayard.
The Canadian Press
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