In an event marked by poor skiing conditions and bad luck, Graham Nishikawa finished in a disappointing 31st in Saturday’s 15-kilometre pursuit race at the World Under 23 Championships in Slovenia.
Nishikawa fell early in the race and went from a good position in the front pack to dead last.
“Two guys crashed on me,” said Nishikawa, in a release. “I fought hard the rest of the race to catch back up, but it was too late.
“My skate was really good and I went through lots of guys, but died at the end. I think it would have been a really good day if I had not fallen.”
At the end of the day, Nishikawa managed to claw back almost 30 places out of the 60-strong field and was the second Canadian across the line. Russian Alexander Legkov took first.
Next, Nishikawa competes at some European Cup races, then he’s back to Canada for the national championships in early March.
Hockey
Oldtimers league (Thursday)
Performance Centre
Turbos 4
Medicine Chest 1
Laurie Malo, Alain Pelletier, Jim Stephens and Gary Mailloux scored for the Turbos. Jeff Jensen, Blaine Demchuk, Bob Parks and Bob Candow assisted.
Scoring for Medicine Chest was Grant Lyon, assisted by Carl Burgess.
Yukon Inn 4
AON Flames 3
Glen Heinbigner led the Inn with a goal and two assists. Mike Blower, Bernie Adilman and Dave Pearson scored as well.
Dave Milne scored a pair for the Flames. Lorne Burnett added a single.
Rec league (Thursday)
Boston Pizza 9
Kluane Drillers 8
Mike Young led Boston Pizza with a five-point night (three goals, two assists). Lance Brown also had a hat trick, while Mike Nikon scored a pair and Ron Servatius added a single. Dean Mastrangelo helped out with a pair of assists.
The Drillers’ Tyler Murray scored three goals and an assist, and Mark Daniels had two goals and a helper. Andrew Zinck added two goals, and Doug Roberts scored a single and two assists.
Yukon Appliance Blues 11
Kopper Kings 6
The Blues’ Ryan Martin scored four goals in this high-scoring tilt. Eric Kositsin had two goals and two assists, and Joe Martin added two goals and an assist. Jason Berkers notched two goals as well. Tom Minard helped out with two assists.
Ben Cole scored two and assisted on two, leading Kopper Kings’ scoring. Jordan Johnston and Larry Daigneault both scored one and assisted on three. Aren Coates and Josh Clake scored singles.
Rec league (Friday)
Southern Tutchone
Storm 10
Alwarid & Associates 3
Leading the scoring for the Storm was Ryan Gleason with six goals. Shawn Kolak and Jeremy Miller each added singles and assisted on two. Warren Strand and Kevin Smith added singles. Tim McIntosh helped out with three assists.
Blayne Monahan had a single and two assists for Alwarid, David Sembsmoen and A.J. Beacon each scored as well.
Environmental Dynamics 5
Narrow Gauge 5
Adrian Bergman was Narrow Gauge’s leading scorer, with a hat trick. Phillip Harry added a single and an assist and Byron Gilday added a goal. Alex Vautour, Dan MacDonald and Jordan Kulicki assisted.
Jeremy Hookham, Adam Green, and Dave Richard each had a goal and an assist. Brad Barker and Justin Halowaty scored as well.
Soccer
Under-11 (Thursday)
Kopper King 7
Rafter A Ranch 2
KK’s Travis Pumphrey and Jarrett Malchow both scored hat tricks in this lop-sided win over the Ranch. MVP Owen Langford-Hedstrom added a goal as well.
Riley Andrews and Dominique Rogers scored for the Ranch. Ashton Shaffer was named MVP.
Snap-on-Tools 7
Kiwanis Club 5
Garet Heynen and Logan Frasher both scored a pair for Snap-On, and Clay Limacher, Jermie Linville and Ryan Kolla booted singles. Kolla was named top Tool.
Kiwanis’ Jessie Cebulaik scored a pair, while Nicole Bendera, Felix Bouchard and Ashley Weeks scored singles. Gina Charlie was named MVP.
Sorrento Systems 2
Bumper to Bumper 2
Josh Hansen and Micheal Hunter scored for Sorrento in this even finish. Sorrento goalie Meghan Lannigan was under a lot of pressure throughout the game but kept her cool. Lannigan was named MVP.
Kurtis Hills and Jonathon Koltun scored for the Bumpers. MVP was goalie Adam Torgerson who also maintained his composure under pressure.
Coed league (Thursday)
Assante 10
Traduction ABC
Translation 6
Geoff Zaparinuk and Mo Sahid scored hat tricks for Assante, and Heidi Reaume added a pair of goals. Margi Paszkowska and Saira Sahid scored singles.
Ashraf Mahmoud scored three times for the Translators, Stephen Mead scored a pair and Greg Bryce added one.
Sanchez Cantina 7
Pearson Dental 4
Bill Bennett netted three for Sanchez, Kate Rich scored two, while Elena Cruickshank and Simon Pulido scored sinlges.
Pearson’s Ian Oostindie made the hat trick, and Vanessa Brault added one.
Squash
Thursday night league
Whitehorse Travel 18
Northwestel 15
Whitehorse Travel’s Lesley Cabott and Beth Ellis beat Tara Matechuk and Tracy Pittman respectively in four sets.
It took five sets for Northwestel’s Shaun Stinson and Cameron Traynor to defeat Trevor Mead-Robins and Dallas Yeulett, which gave Whitehorse Travel enough points to win the series.
Northern Lights
Optometry 15
Well-Read Books 13
Another close match — Northern Lights’ Karen Clyde swept Angela Gayle making the difference in points. Al Ohlin beat Well-Read’s Alan McDermott in straight sets as well.
Well-Read’s winners were Eric Irvine, who swept Jen Meurer, and Chris Ziegler, who went the distance against Matt Brown.
Kumon Learning 15
High Country Inn 12
Kumon’s Shannon Tessier beat Brianna Stark in straight sets. Judy Ratcliffe won by default.
Stephen Mills swept Lara Lewis for the High Country, and Peter Boniface beat Rachelle Zrall in five sets.
Standings
1st Whitehorse Travel, 198
2nd Northwestel, 171
3rd Well-Read Books, 170
4th Northern Lights
Optometry, 162
5th Kumon Learning, 148
6th High Country Inn, 131
7th Sterling Insurance, 114