With just days to go until the Winter Olympics in Beijing begin, athletes are poised and ready to compete in the second Games of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The opening ceremonies will take place this Friday in China.
Canadian athletes are on the ground, and among them are four Nova Scotians — three of whom will be hitting the ice in hockey.
Halifax’s Jill Saulnier and Stellarton’s Blayre Turnbull are on the Canadian women’s hockey team for the second Olympics in a row.
The pair competed in the 2018 games in PyeongChang, South Korea. Not only were they the first Nova Scotians ever named to that team, but they were also the only athletes from the province to head to the Olympics that year.
Team Canada ended up taking home silver at those Games.
Saulnier, 29, and Turnbull, 28, were both on the national women’s team that won bronze in 2019 and gold in 2021.
Saulnier is currently with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association team based in Montreal. Turnbull also joined the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, training with the Calgary-based team and competing in the Dream Gap Tours in 2020 and 2021.
Behind the bench, the women’s team this year in Beijing also includes two Nova Scotians. Troy Ryan is the team’s head coach, and Kori Cheverie takes on the assistant coach role.
On the men’s side, Antigonish’s Alex Grant will also be playing hockey for Team Canada.
Grant is a former captain of the Saint John Sea Dogs and fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2007. The 33-year-old defenceman currently plays with Helsinki-based Jokerit in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
As well, Liam Moffatt from Truro is competing in snowboard cross. According to his biography on the Canadian team’s website, the 24-year-old fell in love with snowboarding at age seven and was awarded the Neil Daffern Award for Excellence by Canada Snowboard in 2020.
Jessica Wong, who is originally from Baddeck, is also competing at the Olympic Games. She is part of Team China’s women’s hockey team.
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