Alberta's Masters Team takes Bronze at the 2023 Canadian Master's Team Championships

Team Alberta overcomes Team Nova Scotia with a 5 to 2 victory in the Bronze Medal match, while Ontario secures the Gold over Quebec with a dominating peformance over the weekend losing only 2 of their 35 matches.

Team Alberta started quickly with wins over PEI and New Brunswick on Day 1.   An early morning start on Day 2 was not kind to Team Alberta falling 0- 7 to the powerhouse Ontario Team. 

Finishing 2nd in our pool, Alberta faced Quebec in the Semifinals the afternoon of Day 2.  In a hard fought battle leading to a 3-3 tie going into the deciding match, Quebec proved to be the stronger team going on to a 4-3 victory.

On day 3 Team Alberta faced Nova Scotia for the Bronze Medal.  Getting off to a quick  3- 0 start things got a little tight as NS won the next two matches to put proceedings at 3-2.  As she had done all weekend, Fiona C steadied the ship with a solid victory in match 6, securing Team Alberta's  3rd place finish.

For a look at the full tournament results and participants click here

Amazing play lite the courts up over the weekend with some of the top age group players in the country on display.  It was very eye opening to see the level of play that these masters players maintain; obviously training hard and keeping their skills sharp and bodies fit.  Most amazingly there were no injuries reported over the weekend with players competing in 4 or 5 matches over the 3 days - must have been the carefully monitored balance of hydration, nutrition and recovery techniques between matches - a true science!

The off court highlight of the event was the Saturday Banquet featuring an amazing east coast buffet, local beverages and an extremely entertaining lineup of Team Skits for the coveted "NEDY" Trophy.  With a lineup of two professional musicians and an incredibly enthusiastic supporting cast, Team New Brunswick proved to be the cream of the crop performing a musical "squash themed" version of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire complete with a trumpet!  Team Alberta placed a respectable 5th out of 7 in the skit competition with much less preparation and talent to display. (A big thank you to Julie M for saving the day and getting Team Alberta prepared and on stage when our names were called!)

Much laughter was shared and many good friendships were formed as the weekend progressed.  PEI and their group of volunteers was a fantastic host, all the teams were fantastic sportspeople, the officials were awesome and kept all the players in a positive mindset and Squash Canada did a great job organizing the on and off court activities which made it easy for all participants to focus on playing their best and having lots of fun.

My sincere thank you to my Team Alberta teammates: Michael Brook, Jeff Williams, Jody Kirchner, Julie Multamaki, Kristina Hill, Fiona Curthoys, for a great weekend in PEI and to Squash Alberta for supporting us, providing our team uniforms and for making our venture to the east coast possible.

If you would like to participate in future Canadian Master's Team Championships click here to learn more on team selection and criteria.