By Keiran Gorsky
Ottawa’s Kenzie Girgis celebrated the best finish possible to her university field hockey career as she captained her University of British Columbia Thunderbirds to their first Canadian university championship since 2017.
Girgis scored the first goal of the final as UBC won a closely-contested 2-1 championship match on Sunday over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues at the University of Waterloo’s Warrior Field.
“It’s unbelievable, this team has been through so much together,” Girgis said via U Sports. “My family, they came out here, and most of my teammates’ families were able to make the long trip out here to come and support. It means a lot.”
Girgis opened the scoring in the 10th minute of the final and her Thunderbirds held on to win their record-extending 20th McCrae Cup. UBC went undefeated over four games at the nationals, opening with a 1-1 draw against the Varsity Blues, topping Waterloo 2-1 on Friday and blanking the University of Prince Edward Island 4-0 on Saturday to reach the final.
“We knew we had to come out strong, U of T’s a great team,” added Girgis, who was named UBC’s player of the game, a tournament all-star and first-team All-Canadian. “I thought we played really connected together, were confident and really believed we could win.”
Girgis followed her sister Abrie into the sport years ago. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Girgis family installed a 200-square-foot patch of artificial turf in their backyard so the two could continue to hone their skills.
Read More: Kenzie Girgis serving double duty with Canadian field hockey program
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The 22-year-old midfielder first cracked the Canadian women’s roster for the 2023 Pan American Games in Chile and has since made 37 appearances for the national team.
Back at home, Girgis’ youth club held a high school all-star game on Monday at Nepean Sportsplex. The Outaouais Field Hockey Club welcomed 51 players in total for the junior and senior games, with four visiting international students leaving their mark.
Organizers were pleased to see the Ottawa high school league continuing to return to strength this season, as 19 teams competed, close to pre-COVID numbers.
The Merivale Marauders have been unstoppable in the local league since Girgis helped the Glebe Gryphons to an unbeaten season in 2021. The Marauders won their fifth consecutive national capital title this fall and narrowly missed the OFSAA playoff round on goal differential tiebreaker following a win, a loss and a tie in the pool stage.
Visiting Gee-Gees top previously-perfect Guelph to win OUA women’s soccer championship
A 76th-minute own goal was all that separated the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees and University of Guelph Gryphons at the OUA Women’s Soccer Championship final on Saturday afternoon. An Ottawa corner kick ricocheted off a Guelph defender into the net as the Gee-Gees spoiled the Gryphons’ perfect season.
Gee-Gees goalkeeper Laura Salgado earned the clean sheet in the 1-0 win and was named player of the match as she celebrated her second provincial championship of the year, following a Quebec-semi pro title with the West Ottawa Warriors in the summer.
The 11-0-1 Gee-Gees claimed their fourth OUA women’s soccer championship in five seasons and their 13th in program history. The fourth-nationally ranked Gryphons did not manage a short on target in the game.
Both teams will head to U Sports Women’s Soccer Championships in Vancouver. Ottawa will open the tournament on Thursday in a quarterfinal clash against five-time national-champion Trinity Western University Spartans.
Katherine Medland Spence battles to top of Skate Ontario Sectionals
Nepean Skating Club product Katherine Medland Spence wasn’t feeling her best even as she topped the senior women’s podium at Skate Ontario Sectional Championships in Middlesex Centre near London. She’s gotten used to it.
“I’m proud of my battle this weekend,” Medland Spence wrote in an Instagram post. “Today was one of those days where everything was a bit off, but despite that I continued to fight and I’m proud of that mental strength.”
The 26-year-old Richmond Training Centre-based athlete has dealt with a slew of health issues over the last year-and-a-half. Extensive physiotherapy was required to treat a series of painful labrum tears in the hip. Lumpectomy surgery followed in the summer after she noticed a bump on one of her breasts. Worst, perhaps, was a prolonged bout of vertigo.
“I thought I was struggling with a mental block. I couldn’t get jumps in the air, and when I did, I didn’t know where I was,” Medland Spence described her original symptoms in a separate Instagram post.
You would be hard-pressed to name a more excruciating ailment for a figure skater. Medland Spence was forced to withdraw from last season’s nationals in Gatineau and then she took a month off from skating and a full two months away from jumping.
Read More: Katherine Medland Spence survives multiple challenges to reach Canadian Skating Championships
Everything trivial became insurmountable as Medland Spence began her vestibular rehabilitation.
“Basic skating became too much. Some days I would last five minutes on a session before I was at my limit,” she wrote. “Things that were second nature to me now left me on the verge of heaving.”
Every day posed a different challenge as she returned to training in increments. A return to normalcy seemed more and more far-fetched.
“I wondered if this season would happen. If it could even happen. I wondered if I would ever be able to get back to the level I was at. I was told that I would be able to return to full training but I was skeptical of that happening at all, let alone this year,” she described.
In August, Medland Spence was finally able to resume programs without jumps or spins. Eventually, she got the okay from her vestibular therapist to resume regular competition.
She finished with a combined score of 146.84 at Sectionals over the weekend, second behind Breken Brezden of Dauphin, Manitoba. Medland Spence was recognized as the winner, being the top-performing Ontario skater.
“Sometimes you fall on a double toe and just have to laugh at yourself. I’ve made some good progress in the past couple weeks and I’m looking forward to continuing that progress into Challenge,” she wrote.
Brianna Dion and Jacob Côté were also winners at the Sectionals, topping the junior pairs competition. The Glen Cairn Skating Club representatives scored 123.58 points to win the event. Earlier this season, they placed 14th at a September ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Turkey with a score of 112.67.
Gloucester Skating Club’s David Shteyngart was the silver medallist in the senior men’s event and was also a champion in pairs competing in the novice division alongside Emily Chaikin.
Gloucester produced several more top results – Christopher Nordstrom was the novice men’s silver medallist, Jason Kraan was fifth in novice men’s, Jonathon Moravec was fifth in senior men’s and Mila Marleau was sixth in junior men’s.
Amy Millar wins Canadian Show Jumping championship
Amy Millar and her 16-year-old mount Christiano were crowned champions of the 2026 Royal Horse Show in Toronto. Millar and Christiano posted two faultless rounds on Saturday night to top the pack.
“[Championships] are about an absence of errors,” the two-time Olympian from Perth told Equestrian Canada. “You have to go out and not make mistakes… I had to get a little lucky, and the others had little mistakes.”
Christiano has been part of the Millar family for some time. He used to be partnered with Millar’s father Ian, who competed in a record 10 Olympic Games.
“I wanted to ride Christiano,” said Millar. “He’s like your favourite pair of shoes. I know exactly what he’s going to do, and he loves this kind of competition. He’s fast, he’s careful, and he loves it when the crowd cheers for him.”
The nine-day Royal Horse Show is part of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at Exhibition Place.
Kim Ratushny and 1990 world-champion Canadian women’s hockey team receive Order of Sport from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame
The 1990 world-champion Canadian women’s hockey team was honoured with the Order of Sport, Canada’s highest sporting honour, at the 70th Order of Sport Awards hosted by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Gatineau on Nov. 4.
Held at the Ottawa Civic Centre, it was the first official edition of the IIHF Women’s World Championship. Canada went a perfect 5-0 at the tournament and topped the United States 5-2 in the gold medal game.
Kim Ratushny, then a forward at Cornell University, was the sole Ottawan on the team. She scored a goal and four assists at the competition.
The team was one of three trailblazers to receive the honour, alongside Chief Dr. Wilton Littlechild (Indigenous Peoples’ Sports); and Jay Triano (Basketball).
Ottawa welcomes first Ontario Cup blind hockey tournament
Ottawa hosted the inaugural edition of Canada Blind Hockey’s Ontario Cup from Nov. 6-8. Forty-five players from across the country registered for the tournament at Tom Brown Arena.
The sport features an oversized puck encasing metal ball bearings so players can hear it move. Matt Morrow, executive director of Canadian Blind Hockey, indicated that Ottawa would kick off the blind hockey season each fall.
Gee-Gees topped by host Gryphons at university rugby nationals
The University of Ottawa Gee-Gees lost a close opening match to the host Guelph Gryphons in the quarterfinals of the 2026 U Sports Women’s Rugby championships, falling 28-19. The Gee-Gees then fell to the Queen’s Gaels 27-7 in the consolation semi-final to tie for seventh place.
Gaels blindside flanker Jiggy Schonfeld and fullback Rachel Cullum, both of Ottawa, were named championship all-stars.
National capital region players Maddy Grant, Piper Walsh and 2025 Canada Games silver medalist ShonDreya Smardon helped the University of Victoria Vikes to the national championship. Grant and Walsh were also named all-stars.
The Gee-Gees’ Brinten Comeau and Marley Magnusson (first team) and Ava Johnston and Erica Osei (second team) earned All-Canadian honours this season.
Ravens & Gee-Gees rowers earn multiple 4ths at nationals
Carleton University’s Rosie O’Brien earned a pair of solo fourth-place finishes at the Canadian University Rowing Championship in London over the weekend. The Ottawa Rowing Club product finished fourth in both the women’s individual and lightweight singles races. O’Brien finished just over two seconds behind UBC bronze medallist Morgan Harris-Stoertz in the latter event with a time of 10:04.560.
O’Brien took up rowing in Grade 9 but stopped competing for two years during COVID. She re-entered the sport after accompanying a nervous acquaintance to university tryouts.
“It’s my happy place. I enjoy the training more than the racing. It’s being outside, being active. There’s nothing like being on the water. It’s peaceful. It’s meditative. You focus on what’s happening,” she told Ottawa Sports Pages High Achievers columnist Martin Cleary in an interview last year.
O’Brien was named OUA Rower of the Year at last season’s closing ceremonies. She won the lightweight singles event at OUA Rowing Championships in St. Catharines at the end of October by a 4.6-second margin.
The uOttawa Gee-Gees team of Rebecca Cocchetto, Maya Tudor, Isabelle Mirfield, Hannah Kavanagh and Emily Rodrigues also finished fourth in the lightweight coxed four event with a time of 8:29.270.
Also reaching national ‘A’ finals were uOttawa’s Kyle Lamprecht and David Jefic (fifth, men’s coxless pair), Nathan Rumble (sixth, lightweight men’s single sculls) and Tudor and Kavanagh (sixth, lightweight women’s double sculls).
The Gee-Gees earlier earned a program-record six medals at the OUA Championships along with their best-ever men’s team finish and a best-matching women’s team finish, both taking fourth place.
Gee-Gees football falls to Queen’s in OUA semis
The uOttawa Gee-Gees led at halftime, but ultimately fell 45-27 to the Queen’s Gaels in the semi-final of the OUA football playoffs on Saturday. Quarterback Josh Janssen completed 33 of 44 passes for 410 yards .
Ottawa beat the McMaster University Marauders 33-17 in the quarter-finals before losing to the defending Yates Cup winners, who outscored them 24-3 in the second half.
Long-time Gee-Gees golf coach Paul Carson passes away
The uOttawa Gee-Gees men’s golf coach of 30+ years, Paul Carson, recently died at age 80 following a severe injury from a fall.
The Gee-Gees earned eight OUA men’s team championships with Carson at the helm. He also coached the uOttawa women’s team at times and helped start the Ravens’ golf program as well as the Gee-Gees’.
Carson’s funeral will be held on Saturday, says his obituary notice.
Rebecca Leslie 3-0 with Team Canada at women’s hockey worlds
Rebecca Leslie and Team Canada are off to a hot start at the 2026 IIHF Women’s World Championship in Denmark. The Ottawa Charge right winger has a goal and two assists through three preliminary round games. Canada bested Sweden 5-1, Japan 9-0 and their Danish hosts 10-0.
Leslie, an Ottawa Lady Senators alumna, is coming off a breakout season in the PWHL in which she put up 23 points in 30 games. That catapulted the 30-year-old Boston University grad onto Team Canada, a lineup she hadn’t been able to crack earlier in her 20s before the PWHL’s arrival.
Archer Alison Langley makes Youth Olympic Games debut
XQuest Archery and Ottawa Archers athlete Alison Langley competed in the women’s individual and mixed team events at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.
Langley fell to eighth-ranked Ellen Martini of Australia in the first elimination round of the individual event, finishing 25th place overall. In the mixed event, she and partner Yashveer Banis placed 21st with a combined score of 1236.
Langley is the first woman to represent Canada in archery at the Youth Olympic Games.
North Gloucester Giants fall in U19 interprovincial football final
The North Gloucester Giants lost 27-3 to Quebec champions, the St. Leonard Cougars, in the battle for the Doug Britton Memorial Cup on Sunday.
The U19 Giants had earlier advanced to the Quebec Midget Football League championship game with a 13-6 victory over the Sun Youth Hornets in the semi-final at Gil O. Julien Park.
This season was the first where Montreal-area teams competed against U19 teams from the National Capital Amateur Football Association.
Ottawa high school runners crack top-10 at OFSAA cross-country
Several local runners earned top-10 finishes at the OFSAA provincial high school cross-country running championships in Sudbury on Monday.
John McCrae’s Quinten Lepp finished seventh in the novice girls’ division, while Nakkertok Nordic Ski Club teammates Graeme Siderius of Colonel By and Tristan Obaseki of Immaculata both placed ninth in their respective junior and novice boys’ races.
Jules-Léger’s Jacob Gauthier placed second among visual males and 22nd overall in the para race, while teammate Liên Nhan was second in the visual female class.
The national capital association’s top team result came from the Glebe Gryphons novice girls, who placed fifth. Also in the top-10 were the Glebe junior girls (sixth), the Nepean senior girls (seventh), the Glebe junior boys (eighth) and the injury-ravaged Immaculata novice boys (ninth).