Hon. Marty Klyne: Honourable senators, from February 18 to March 5 of this year, Prince Edward Island hosted the 2023 Canada Winter Games. In total, there were 20 sports and 150 events during the two-week period. This was an experience of a lifetime for young athletes across Canada. Team Saskatchewan had an excellent showing. Our athletes earned 20 medals at these winter games — three more than the team earned at the last games, back in 2019.

One group of young athletes I’d like to point out is Saskatchewan’s ringette team. Ringette is one of the fastest sports played on ice. After dropping their first two games, Team Sask. fought their way back to the medal round, including a dramatic, come-from-behind win in the quarter-final against New Brunswick. As their goalie Maddy Nystrom said after the game:

Our team didn’t give up. We don’t give up. We started slow in round robin. We worked our way up and kept getting better every single game and kept pushing. We wanted to win so bad.

All of this hard work paid off in the bronze medal game, as Team Sask. won 4-3 in overtime against Team P.E.I. on a beautiful goal scored by Rylie Bryden. This was Saskatchewan’s ringette team’s first medal in 24 years, and only the second ringette medal in Saskatchewan’s history — the last was a bronze medal in 1999.

March being Women’s History Month, it is particularly exciting to see an all-female coaching staff and all-woman team succeed at the games in ringette. This says a lot about Saskatchewan’s commitment to female coaching and athletes in a sport that is played by so many female athletes in my home province.

And I’m very pleased to say that we are hosting the 2023 Canadian Ringette Championships in my hometown of Regina next month, from April 9 to 15. We’re looking forward to watching all of the great ringette talent from across Canada.

Thank you. Hiy kitatamihin.