A pair of local curlers contributed to a record haul of 30 gold medals for Team BC at the Canada Winter Games that wrapped up Sunday in Red Deer, AB.
Coquitlam’s Hayato Sato skipped his Team BC rink to a 7-2 win over Ontario in the curling competition’s gold medal game Saturday at the Pidherney Centre.
The west coast contingent, that also included third Joshua Miki from Port Coquitlam, blew open a tight game by scoring five in the seventh end.
“It was an incredible feeling,” Sato said of the victory that capped a 9-1 run through round-robin play. “They shook hands and my knees were just trembling there.”
The team was also comprised of Surrey’s Dawson Ballard and lead Troy Chong from Burnaby.
Port Moody’s Jenna Buglioni assisted on Team BC’s second goal in their 5-4 win over Ontario to win the bronze medal in the women’s hockey competition.
Buglioni scored five goals in the tournament, including a hat trick in Team’s BC’s opening game win, 6-1, over Alberta, and the only goal in their 2-1 overtime loss to Alberta in last Friday’s semifinal.
Coquitlam’s Thomas Milic stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced to help Team BC defeat New Brunswick 7-2 in a game last Friday to determine seventh place in the men’s hockey competition. Another Coquitlam player, Matthew Seminoff, scored a goal in that game.
Team BC won a total of 87 medals through the two weeks of competition that brings together some of the best young athletes from across Canada, just shy of the 88 it won on two previous occasions, in 2015 and 2011.
3/5: The person in the photo is Troy Chong, from Burnaby.
