A24 • Wednesday, January 23, 2013 • Burnaby NOW
25 Hoop win to 2nd place 25 Sr. Lakers open WLA
25 High School hoops pic
SECTION COORDINATOR Tom Berridge, 604-444-3022 • tberridge@burnabynow.com
Ice dance central claims podium Tom Berridge sports editor
Burnaby ice dancers were the belle of the Canadian figure skating championship ball in Mississauga, Ont. last week. Following up on Danielle Wu and Spencer Soo’s near-record gold-medal win in the novice ice dance final to start the week, former Moscrop Secondary students, ZhaoKai Pang and Nicole Orford, both gained the podium in their respective junior and senior dance finals. That gave the B.C. Centre of Excellence ice dance coaching duo of Aaron Lowe and Megan Wing medals from six of their seven teams at this year’s nationals. Pang and partner Madeline Edwards, last year’s national novice champs, won a second straight Canadian championship gold medal, defeating short program leaders, Mackenzie Bent and Garrett MacKeen of Eastern Ontario, in the long free dance program. Pang, 17, and 16-year-old Edwards scored 86.24 in the fourminute free dance to overtake the first-round leaders with a 145.25 total score, nipping Bent and MacKeen by less than a point. “They had the skate of their lives,” said Lowe. “Maddie and ZhaoKai’s free dance was just at a much higher level.” The B.C. Centre of Excellencetrained skaters also beat Bent and MacKeen at the Skate Canada Challenge in Regina last month. With the gold medal, the local ice dance team earned a berth on Canada’s national team to the junior world championships to be held in Milan, Italy from Feb. 25 to March 3. Bent and MacKeen will also be participating. “Our goal was just to make the junior world team. We haven’t set
Photo courtesy of Melanie Hoyt/burnaby now
Gold again: ZhaoKai Pang of Burnaby and Madeline Edwards won the junior ice dance gold medal at the Canadian figure skating national championships in Mississauga, Ont. last week. our goals yet,” said Pang. “We want to skate faster and have more of a presence on the ice. We really want to look like we belong on a world stage.” With last year’s top five pairs from the worlds back again for
a second straight year, Lowe believes this season’s championships will be a reality check for his teenage team. Based on current scores, Edwards and Pang would need another personal best to crack the
top five, Lowe said. “We tell our skaters to be ready for your opportunities by doing your job,” he added. “All the top teams are super strong and fast. They have to really work on strength and speed because their performance level is world class.” Pang and Edwards’ final score would have placed them fifth overall in this season’s senior dance category. Caelen Dalmer of Burnaby and her partner Shane Firus, sixth at the Skate Canada Challenge, kept their third-place placement after the short program with a 76.53 free skate to finish with the bronze medal in the junior ice dance for B.C. But it was the free skate of Orford and Thomas Williams that surprised Lowe. Orford and Williams, fourth after the opening short skate, made up a five-point deficit after a slipup by the third-place couple of Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam of Ontario to take the third place medal by less than a point. “It was a huge shock,” Lowe said. “(Orford and Williams) skated clean and had a great skate. They took advantage of the opportunity when it came.” Orford and Williams’ thirdplace skate earned them a place on the Canadian team for the Four Continents championships in Osaka, Japan in less than two weeks. “Deep down inside, they always wanted this feeling, so now it’s come,” Lowe added. Orford and Williams scored 91.04 in the free dance to finish with a total score of 152.56. The pair placed sixth at both last year’s nationals and world junior championships. Skate Page 25
California duals suit Burnaby swimmer Mariya Chekanovych of Burnaby was a big winner for the Simon Fraser University women’s swim team in Los Angeles last week. Chekanovych posted the Clan’s only win against 10th-ranked University of California Los Angeles on Saturday, taking the 100-yard breaststroke by almost three seconds over UCLA runnerup Jessica Khojasteh in a winning time of 1:02.40. On Friday, the SFU freshman chalked up five first-place finishes, including a pair of relays, as the Clan women defeated Pomona Pitzer College and California Baptist University in a pair of dual swim meets in Claremont, California. Chekanovych started off the
meet with a win in the 200-yd. Triano also had a strong showmedley relay with teammates ing in the 100-yd. breast finishing Kristine Lawson, Alexandria third. Cossey placed second in the Schofield and Nicole Cossey. 100-yd. freestyle, while She then won both the also earning a second 100-yd. breast in a time runner-up finish with the of 1:03.50 and the 200-yd. 200-yd. free relay team individual medley, with a of Lawson, Schofield and 2:08.19 clocking, against Jordyn Konrad. Pomona Pitzer competitiIn Friday’s duals, ion. Lawson, Cossey, Quon Against Cal Baptist, and Konrad also won Chekanovych teamed the free relay. Other indiwith Lawson, Carman vidual event winners Nam and Meghan Quon included Quon, Cossey, to win the 400-yd. medley MARIYA Lawson and Nam. CHEKANOVYCH relay. Chekanovych finished Winner of six races off the meet with a first- in California duals place swim in the 200-yd. The SFU men won just breast in a time of 2:20.30. one of four swim duals in southAgainst UCLA, Courtney ern California.
Men win one
Three Clan swimmers, Kevin Nickerson, Hans Heyer and Dimitar Ivanov, posted two wins in their resepective individual Friday’s events. Ivanov also shared a victory in the 200-yd. medley relay with Julian Monks, Alexandre Duguay and Adam Kautz. Heyer and Nickerson chalked up a relay win in the 200-yd. free with Paolo Olavario and Ciaran McDonnell. In San Diego, Monks won the 100 and 200-yd. breast, while Heyer took the 100-yd. free and was runner-up in the free sprint. Ivanov was a winner in the 200yd. back. tberridge@burnabynow.com – www.twitter.com/Thomas Berridge
Bantam Bruins can’t solve St. Albert riddle The Burnaby Winter Club is still looking for its first John Reid memorial AAA bantam hockey tournament title in St. Albert, Alta. The BWC Bruins lost a quarter-final matchup 3-0 with eventual finalist Southside Athletic Club on Saturday. The Bruins then surrendered a 6-3 decision to the Lloydminster Heat in Sunday’s final placement game. In the game, Burnaby took an early 3-0 lead on first-period goals by Devan Purhar and Henry Rhyu, and an early second-period marker by Jake Kryski. But Lloydminster silenced the Bruins with five unanswered counters in the middle stanza, including a hat trick from Brayden Goulet. Goulet, who had just two goals in the Heat’s four earlier matchups, including a goal and one assist in Lloydminster’s 4-0 win over the North Shore Winter Club in pool play, was in on all six goals for the Alberta club. Goulet scored four times, including his third power-play goal of the game and the only tally of the final period. The winter club opened with a 7-1 win over the eventual third-place finishing Calgary Northstar Sabres on Jan. 17. Dante Fabbro led the way with a pair of goals. Jaeger White had a threepoint outing, including Burnaby’s 3-0 goal on a power play midway through the second period. The Bruins followed that up with a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Hawks. Jongmin Lee, Kyle Uy, White and Kryski, with the eventual game-winner, all scored for the winter club. Tyler Shugrue kicked out 27 shots on goal. Burnaby also drew 1-1 with the Sherwood Park Flyers in its second game on Friday. North Shore Winter Club beat Southside 3-2 in the championship final. Burnaby Winter Club was a John Reid tournament finalist in 2010, 2003 and 1991.