*SPECIAL EDITION*
Tonight on the ice, The Young Guns played a double-header in the Oakville Women’s Competitive Division Playoffs. The short bench split the games 1-1, but it was the second game (the win) that really mattered. A win in the second game would put off complete elimination from the league championship. After a pep talk (yelling) from Coach Janet, the girls were tight on the backchecking, forechecking and general heads up play. The scoreboard looked a bit like a yo-yo, with the Guns going up 2-0, then 2-1, then 3-1, and finally 3-2. Keeper Heather kept us in the game, as always. Remarkably, two goals were scored by the Defense, Kaila and Laura, but the grittiest goal was the winning goal scored by Marlie as she pressured the opposing defence at centre ice, blocked a dumping attempt with her shins and kept chasing the puck on a breakaway from the blue line. Hard and low, to the back of the net, nothing fancy, just a game-winning goal #GWG. The Guns live to play another week.
Back to Rio…
CANOE/KAYAK – Flatwater
Adam van Koeverden went flat out and won the K1 1000m B Final (likely his last Olympic race) with a time of 3:31.872, which was actually fast enough for a Silver medal in the A final, and close to the Gold Medal time, 3:31.447, set by Marcus Walz of Spain. Czech Republic’s Dostal took silver and Russia’s Anoshkin won bronze.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Men’s and Women’s semis action today.
Women’s side – Brazil 2 vs. Germany (World Champs): Germany took it in straight sets. They will now face Brazil 1 (Bednarczuk Rippel and Seixas De Freitas) who upset USA’s Walsh Jennings and Ross in the other semi. It would have been cool to have an all-Brazil women’s final (would have been cooler to have an all-Canadian final, actually).
Men’s Side – Brazil 1 knocked out Netherlands and Italy knocked out Russia. Both games went to 3 sets.
Finals are Wednesday and Thursday 9pm.
BOXING – Women’s Fly
Kitchener’s Mandy Bujold ended her Olympic run today in the Quarterfinals with a loss on points to China’s Cancan Ren.
In the Men’s Light division (60kg), Brazilian Robson Conceicao defeated France’s Sofiane Oumiha to win the home country’s 3rd Gold medal.
BASKETBALL – Women’s Quarterfinals
All women’s quarterfinals were played today, and all were tight games (except the US vs Japan, which was 110-64). Serbia edged Australia 73-71, while Spain finished a basket up on Turkey 64-62.
For the Canadian women, hoop dreams will remain dreams for another 4 years. The first quarter lead would be the only lead they would hold over France. The fourth quarter had to be the one that counted, but Canada couldn’t drain the field goals, going 6 for 22 (or close to that) in the fourth quarter. Canada was able to bring the game within a basket a couple times in the last two minutes, but small errors would cost them as France took the win 68-63. It’s the end of the road for Canada.
SOCCER – Women’s Semifinals
Sweden and Brazil were held scoreless through regulation and extra time. It would be Brazil’s second shootout in as many games. The goalies came up huge with Sweden’s goalie, Lindahl, shining again, making two huge saves in the penalty shootout (i.e. guess the right way, be fast, and have strong enough hands to stop the ball).
Canada played Germany in the second semifinal. Sigh. I really thought it was our year. The Canucks started off with some pizzazz but Buchanan, known for playing tough, took a poor penalty on a tackle inside the 18yd box. She could have outrun the German to steal the ball from her, but Buchanan’s style is to attack (and she is usually successful). Unfortunately for Canada, Germany was awarded a penalty kick and Melanie Behringer made no mistake as she sent a rocket to the back of the net.
Canada would have its chances to connect with the back of the German net, but for the most part, Germany was able to keep them at bay. Every pass attempt seemed to be picked off by a German jersey. Germany found the back of the net again in the second half with a shot from the top of the box that hugged the post, just out of reach of Labbe.
Canada will put that 2-0 loss behind them to get ready for a bronze medal game against the host nation (Friday Aug 19 at noon). Gold medal match between Sweden and Germany is at 4:30pm. I think I’ll cheer for Sweden.
DIVING – Men’s 3m Springboard Final
18 year old Canadian Philippe Gagne qualified for the Final, but would not be able to rival the Chinese Gold Medallist Cao Yuan (who was out of reach of all competitors). GBR took Silver, Germany took Bronze.
TRACK AND FIELD
MEN’S 110m Hurdles –
Canadian Johnathan Cabral was 8th in the semifinals, earning him a spot in the Finals! USA’s Ash Ronnie DQ’ed in the final – what heartbreak as there’s no second chance! Cabral came 6th!
WOMEN’S 1500m
Kenya took gold, Ethiopia took Silver and USA Bronze.
Canada’s Nicole Sifuentes did not move past the semifinal, finishing 18th.
MEN’S HIGH JUMP –
Derek Drouin! While jumping a season’s best at 2.38m (that’s approximately 7’10”!), the World Champion became the first Canadian Male to win a Rio Gold medal.
Silver went to Qatar’s Barshim (2.36m) and Bronze to Ukraine’s Bondarenko (2.33m).
This was Canada’s first gold medal in high jump since 1932.
p.s. hope this video will make up for the lack of other sports today!
p.p.s. First time using iMovie on iPhone and it keeps auto zooming photos. Since it’s 1:30, I’ll see if I can fix it for keeps later