Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on this the first day back in the Assembly, I would like to title my Member's statement bragging rights for Hay River. We have had a number of outstanding accomplishments on the part of athletes just recently. I will go into more detail perhaps in the future.
Amy MacDonald, an outstanding biathlete, has just had some very successful races. The Monique Delorey Gagnier rink is off to the Scott Tournament of Hearts in Lethbridge.
I would particularly today like to highlight the success of Brendan Green. Most of you have probably heard a little bit about what happened at the world championship races in Val Martello, Italy, just a few days ago. Following the individual races, Brendan was a part of the Canadian team that ran an astonishing race. They were overjoyed to be on the podium, and proudly accepted the bronze medal for Canada. We were only a fraction of a second away from the silver. Every member of the four-man team had to come up with a near perfect performance to make the podium finish possible. All came through without picking up any shooting penalties.
In the anchor position, Hay River's Brendan Green had a major role to play in the success of the Canadian team. Brendan earned the honour of anchor after having the most consistent placings for the team in the three individual events.
A lot can happen in the final leg of a relay event when the teams are close. Nerves of steel are needed to cope with the excitement and intense pressure that develops. That was certainly the situation that Brendan faced when the handoff to him took place. At this point, Germany had a commanding lead of several minutes, but Canada was still
in medal contention at fourth place with five or six teams bunched together within a minute or so of each other. To reach the podium, Brendan had to overtake Poland or Austria, but several other strong teams including the powerful Norwegian and Russian teams were close behind and in position to overtake him if he lost his focus for only a minute.
Mr. Speaker, Brendan managed to overtake all but the Germans who had developed an insurmountable lead. Outshooting the Norwegian who had to take a penalty loop, Brendan managed to lead the range with clean targets and a slim seven-second lead. It came down to a skiing sprint to the finish, and seven-tenths of a second was all that separated the two as they crossed the finish line with Norwegians pulling ahead to snatch the silver. However, the Canadians could accept the bronze with pride, knowing that they had given one of the great skiing nations a run for their money.
Mr. Speaker, on the subject of bragging rights, I also -- in case my grandchildren ever read Hansard and wonder what their grandmother was doing -- I just want to say that I am a proud grandmother now of Grayson James Groenewegen and Julianne Elizabeth Groenewegen all since the last time we were here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause