Team Yukon has gotten their 2023 Canada Winter Games underway.

The Games are taking place in Charlottetown, P.E.I. from Feb. 18 to March 5.

The opening ceremonies were held Saturday evening.

Sunday marked the start of competition at the Games.

According to a Team Yukon press release, in front of boisterous, cowbell-loving crowds, the female curling team of Whitney Kasook, Dannika Mikkelsen, Neizha Snider and Taylor Legge had two draws on the first day of competition.

The Yukoners were in tough against New Brunswick and Alberta and dropped both their matches, 10-4 to New Brunswick and 9-2 to Alberta.

Table tennis mixed doubles teams Victor Li and Melody Qiu and Krish Sharma and Kalie Bennett started their Canada Games on Sunday. The duo of Sharma and Bennett started out with a loss to Manitoba 3-0, but picked up wins against Nova Scotia, 3-2, and Nunavut, 3-1. They sit second in Preliminary Group 5 with a 2-1 record. Li and Qui dropped all three of their matches.

Sharma and Li and Qiu and Bennett teamed up later in the day to begin the female and male doubles. Qiu and Bennet lost a close match to N.W.T. 3-2.

Sharma and Li lost two close matches, 3-2 to N.W.T. and 3-1 to Nunavut.

The squash team had to overcome some early nerves in front of a packed cheering section. Keely Kovac and Kyla Kurzynski had their opening matches against opponents from Saskatchewan and Ontario. Both found some success throughout the game but eventually fell. In boys’ individual squash, Rannon Johnson kept it close against his opponent from Nova Scotia, while Charles Gagne lost to the N.W.T.’s Joe Depew. The score in all four matches was 3-0.

Charlie Fidler was the only freestyle skier to give aerials a shot. For an event not often practiced, in the qualifying round, Fidler scored 70.91 combined over three jumps to finish 15th out of 20.

Of note is that the male hockey team triumphed over Nunavut in a big way this morning, beating them 11-6. First-overall WHL pick Gavin McKenna led the way with six goals. Jase Johnstone chipped in with two. Nash Holmes, Kaelan Basnett and Chayce Tuton added singles for the victors.

The Star will have more updates from the 2023 Canada Winter Games during the week.