Canada Winter Games roster announced

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This article was published 14/02/2023 (887 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nearly two-dozen athletes and coaches from across the region will be heading to Prince Edward Island to represent Manitoba at the 2023 Canada Winter Games which start Feb. 18.

Of the 207 athletes set to make the trip, 18 are from the region, competing in everything from hockey to fencing. The complete roster was announced at a ceremony which also unveiled the uniform for Team Manitoba and named the opening ceremony flag bearer. Winnipeg speed skater Sofia Bieber will be leading the athletes during the festivities.

“The Canada Games are a key milestone on the high-performance pathway, but this is just one step of many great things ahead,” chef de mission Drew Todd said.

“Alongside my incredible mission staff, we are doing all we can to help our athletes succeed, and we are confident they will perform at their best on the national stage.”

By far the most well represented sport is ringette, with seven athletes and one coach named to Team Manitoba. The team is looking to defend a bronze medal from 2019. Athletes must have been under 20 years old as of Dec. 31, 2022 to be eligible for ringette at the 2023 Canada Games.

Lauren Bezditny (Mitchell), Taylor Rempel (La Broquerie), Kaylee Davies (La Broquerie), Bree Morrissette (St Pierre Jolys), Alexis-Taylor Kohuch (Oakbank), Amanda Vann (Oakbank) and Chloe Vincent (Lorette) will all be suiting up for Team Manitoba. Katherine Schoenborn will be behind the bench coaching.

The region is also represented in both the male and female hockey teams. The male team includes U16 players, while the female team is U18.

St Adolphe’s Avery Pickering, fresh off winning a gold medal with Team Canada at the international U18 championships, will exchange her maple leaf for a bison to suit up for Team Manitoba.

On the male side, Reece Gult and Owen Martin from Oakbank will be heading to the Island as well.

The hockey and ringette players be joined by two other athletes and one coach from Oakbank who will also be making the trip. Heather Willis is listed as a biathlon coach, while snowboarder Liam Berger and speed skater Jordan Campbell will be hitting the slopes and track respectively.

Willis will be coaching Ste Genevieve’s Rowan Firth, with her dad, David Firth, listed as technical support for the biathlon team.

Fencing will make its return to the Canada Games for the first time since 2013, with Richer’s Khloé Lessard-Kulchyski set to represent Manitoba.

Lane Peters is the only athlete from Steinbach who will represent the province at the 2023 games, in gymnastics. He’ll be joined by coach Amanda Pierson, also from Steinbach, and Grunthal’s Declyn Friesen.

Kiandra Bonnel-Christ alongside coach Sonia Christ will be participating in Judo in P.E.I.

Finally, Lorette’s Joey Johnson, a Canada Games alum, will be coaching Manitoba’s wheelchair basketball team.