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Newsletter by Keiran Gorsky, Martin Cleary & Dan Plouffe
Mike Evelyn O’Higgins and Jay Dearborn didn’t get off to the start they wanted in two-man bobsleigh this morning. Their sled clattered off the lips of the track on both runs through the Cortina Sliding Centre. Even the most avid spectators among you will be forgiven for sleeping through the 4 a.m. start time, especially with two more runs slated for tomorrow afternoon.
Back home in Ottawa, an ultra-loyal contingent was very much awake – those were the Green Eggs and Hammers, their rec league ultimate Frisbee team out of the Ottawa Sport and Social Club.
“We were just looking for a fun Frisbee pun,” team captain Eli Giaccone explained the origin of their name to the Ottawa Sports Pages’ Keiran Gorsky.
The team will soon be off to Italy to cheer on their beloved ringers in Cortina d’Ampezzo in the four-man event this weekend.
Evelyn O’Higgins has been with the team from the beginning, though originally from a distance. He would head out to the Rideau Sports Centre to cheer on his wife Erin O’Higgins. The former Ottawa Junior Senator became a full-fledged member after returning from his first Olympics in Beijing. Evelyn O’Higgins proceeded to rope in his friend, Dearborn, this past summer.
Together on their co-ed team, Evelyn O’Higgins and Dearborn, a retired CFL defensive back, make for an explosive duo in the low-stakes recreational league.
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“[People] would be like, ‘Why is this guy amazing at running and catching?’ and we would be like, ‘Oh, he’s an Olympian,’” Erin laughed.
Jay Dearborn (left) and Mike Evelyn O’Higgins. Photos: IBSF
The two bobsledders usually arrive ravenous after a long workout elsewhere. It isn’t uncommon that they scarf down a whole shawarma or burrito before a game. The duo aren’t afraid to lead the team to victory, though they always remain extremely cautious given their hulking figures, Giaccone explained.
“We don’t just rely on throwing long bombs to our bobsledders,” Giaccone promised. “We do like to keep it competitive.”
Away from the community centre, the Green Eggs remain extremely tight-knit, attending Rapid and Charge games, skating on the canal, bowling, water skiing and doing whatever else comes to mind. Throughout the European bobsled season, many of them have risen at quite unearthly hours to support their teammates on the bobsled track.
The Green Eggs and Hammers ultimate team supports Mike Evelyn O’Higgins at the 2025 IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid, NY. Photo provided
In March of last year, the team finally decided to watch Jay and Mike in action at the IBSF World Championships in Lake Placid. Their group of 26 rented a large cabin over that weekend. Cheering him on at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, they sported Evelyn O’Higgins’ old race suits to show their support.
“His speed suits fit all of our team members differently, so it’s a funny scene,” Giaccone remembered.
From there, a trip to the Olympics slowly materialized. Some of the team were on the fence at the beginning.
“But then we thought, ‘When is the next time that we’re going to have a friend that’s actually competing in the Olympics?’” Giaccone recalled.
Ottawa/Canadian bobsled fans will be in Cortina for the four-man competition next weekend. Photo provided
A smaller 16-member contingent will crowd into two Airbnbs in Cortina d’Ampezzo, booked well in advance. They will form something of a convoy en route to the newly reconstructed Sliding Centre.
Evelyn O’Higgins and Dearborn will surely appreciate the support, though they still seemed in good spirits after finishing 23rd and 21st of 26 pairs in today’s first and second runs for a combined standing of 22nd, while recording the fifth and eighth-fastest start times. In an interview that has since gone viral, the duo did their best not to smirk as they purposely answered every question in rehearsed hockey cliches.
WATCH CBC SPORTS | Canadian bobsledders give hilarious interview using only hockey cliches
Homan and Miskew keep medal hopes alive with perfect 2-win day
Canada’s Team Rachel Homan climbed back to a .500 record in the round robin with wins over China and Japan.
Homan and co. snapped three-match streak of one-point losses with a 10-5 win over China’s Team Wang Rui in the morning. It was a challenging task for the Canadians, considering Wang has had more success against Homan in 2025 than perhaps anyone else. The Chinese team bested Canada twice at Pan Continental Championships in October, including in the gold medal game.
A heavy throw from Wang opened up a double takeout opportunity in the fourth end, which Homan seized on her final throw for four points. Wang was heavy again in the sixth, as Homan won three more points to go up 7-3. At this point, China requested an umpire along the hog line to closely monitor Homan’s throws.
“I mean, there’s always something blowing up at the Olympics, right?” second Miskew said to The Canadian Press of the double tapping controversy after the game. “So this year it’s this. It’s all good, we’ll get through it and I think that it’ll die down eventually.”
Rachel Homan. Photo: Candice Ward / COC
Homan drew her final stone of the eighth to score a deuce, and Wang conceded after nine.
“The results weren’t what we wanted earlier, but I think we just continued doing what we were doing and it felt good to come out on top today,” lead Sarah Wilkes indicated.
The Canadians followed it up with a 9-6 win over Japan. Canada went down 2-0 after a first end where Homan’s missed shot allowed Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura an easy draw. Homan scored two in the next end and then stole three in the third when Yoshimura’s final shot was heavy.
Yoshimura went on to struggle with the weight on her throws for the rest of the game. What looked a simple draw in the sixth end zipped through the house, Homan quick on the case to help the Japanese stone away from the button and complete the steal to give Canada a 7-3 lead.
Yoshimura pounced on a slew of Canadian half-shots in the ninth, curling her final stone onto the button for a deuce. Japan gave Canada a scare in the final end, penetrating Homan’s guard and sitting three by the final shot of the game. Miskew Wilkes swept softly to a single point.
Homan boasted an 89% success rate with her draws compared to 65% for Yoshimura.
“It’s huge,” Homan said after the evening game. “We’re making a lot of big shots as a team and trying to be as precise as we can. Obviously, it feels good but still lots of work to do.”
Canada will be tested again tomorrow against Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg, who are undefeated up to this point.
Kayle Osborne. Photo: COC
Munster goaltender Kayle Osborne and the Canadian women’s hockey team are now guaranteed an Olympic medal after Canada survived a close 2-1 semifinal encounter with Switzerland despite outshooting the Swiss 46-8.
Team Canada captain Marie-Philip Poulin became the all-time leading goal scorer in Olympic women’s hockey with her 19th career goal, surpassing Hayley Wickenheiser. Poulin made it 20 less than seven minutes later, diving into Daryl Watts’ rebound to push the puck past Swiss netminder Andrea Braendli.
Osborne was a healthy scratch with Ann-Renée Desbiens between the posts, backed up by Emerance Maschmayer. Canada will play the United States in the gold medal game on Thursday.
Ottawa Olympians in action on Feb. 17:
Day 11 Preview: Ivanie Blondin’s need for speed has been present in many forms since childhood
She may not be ready to say it just yet, but we are likely amid Ivanie Blondin’s final appearance on Olympic ice. We probably won’t hear whether that’s the case for sure, and we may not necessarily get a definitive answer to another burning question either: is the 35-year-old speed skater Ottawa’s greatest athlete of all-time?
But starting with Tuesday morning’s women’s team pursuit, in which Canada is certainly favoured for a medal and the golden one in particular, Blondin’s teammate Isabelle Weidemann will have the chance to equal fellow speed skater Kristina Groves’ status as Ottawa’s most decorated Olympian ever with what what be a fourth career medal.
Blondin could also reach that plateau of four career medals come the end of the women’s mass start on Saturday, and even potentially break the plateau if she scores an upset podium in Friday’s 1,500 metres.
Where exactly Blondin fits in Ottawa’s GOAT conversation is not exactly the topic at hand, but Ottawa sports fans will certainly want to tune in watch greatness in motion as the winner of 94 career World Cup and 18 World Championships medals performs on the Olympic stage.
Ivanie Blondin won the women’s mass start event in possibly her last appearance in a World Cup speed skating event in Calgary on Nov. 23, 2025. Photo: Dave Holland / Speed Skating Canada
The road Blondin travelled to become one of the world’s most successful and popular speed skaters saw her experience several sports while growing up in the east end of Ottawa.
Her father Bob spent hours creating and maintaining an outdoor skating rink in the family’s backyard. At age two, Blondin stepped onto the smooth surface and felt right at home in her Velcro skates.
A year later, she moved indoors and used her brand new in-line skates to move around the furniture in the living room and the dining room.
When she was 10 years old, Blondin loved cross-country skiing and won the Quebec Cup in her age group.
In preparation for one cross-country ski race, she completed a two-kilometre warm-up trail and finished that only minutes before her race start time. It proved worthwhile as he went on to win the four-kilometre race.
“We went to Camp Fortune one time and I couldn’t keep up with her. She just took off,” Bob told Ottawa Sports Pages High Achievers columnist Martin Cleary before the Games, giving another example of the need for speed in her life. “Someone said to me ‘there’s a little kid out there, is that yours?’ Yes, and I can’t keep up to her. She’s flying.”
As a young teenager, Blondin also found her way onto the cycling velodrome at Bromont, PQ, and won a national track title for her age category.
Ivanie Blondin at the Brewer Park oval in 2009. Photo: Dan Plouffe
When she was introduced to speed skating through the Gloucester Concordes Speed Skating Club, she brought her speed onto the ice.
“When they taught her something, she wanted to perfect it,” Bob added.
At 14, Blondin was the youngest to make the Canadian junior short-track speed skating team and qualified for three world junior championships. A year later, she was the youngest to be named to the Canadian senior team.
“When she made the national senior team, it was a shock to the team,” Bob said. “They never had a 15-year-old on the team as everyone else was 20 or older. Travelling was an issue at her age. She was still in school. Who was going to tutor her?
“She’s passionate for the sport. She loved the people. She loved meeting the people. She loved travelling.”
After five years of racing short-track speed skating, which included numerous concussions and the disappointment of not qualifying for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic team, Blondin considered pulling out of the sport. But Concordes’ coach Mike Rivet convinced her to fly to Calgary and discover long-track speed skating.
For a year or so, Blondin was a member of both the long-track and short-track national teams and capable of racing at the international level. By choosing long-track speed skating, the Garneau high school grad rewarded herself with a long and successful career that keeps going and going and going.
You can read Cleary’s full feature on Blondin here on OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Gloucester Concordes products Isabelle Weidemann (right) and Ivanie Blondin (left) flew to a first-place time in the quarterfinals of the women’s team pursuit speed skating event at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Photo: Greg Kolz / COC
The next chapter in Blondin’s story begins with the first team pursuit semi-final at 8:52 a.m. ET when Canada faces USA in a head-to-head showdown for a place in the gold medal final at 10:47 a.m. ET, while the race for the bronze is at 10:41 a.m.
Canada posted the top time in the quarter-final round and earned two silver medals and a gold to rank first overall in the World Cup women’s team pursuit.
Speed Skating Ontario and the Gloucester Concordes are holding watch parties for Weidemann and Blondin’s old high schools (Colonel By and Garneau, respectively).
Also in action on Tuesday are Dearborn and Evelyn O’Higgins, who have a sizeable gap (in bobsleigh terms) of .73 seconds to make up in their third run if they are to rise inside the top-20 position required to qualify for the fourth and final run.
Ottawa’s Zach Connelly will race in the anchor position for the Canadian biathlon team in the men’s 4×7.5 km relay alongside Adam Runnalls, Logan Pletz and Jasper Fleming.
And Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew will take on the lone unbeaten team in the women’s curling competition when they face 6-0 Team Sweden.
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