The last Team Alberta training camp before the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games starts today at various venues in St. Albert and Edmonton.
The provincial contingent of 78 athletes, 23 coaches and 11 mission staff will hold training sessions at the following venues:
Curling: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the St. Albert Curling Club.
At 12:30 p.m. the curling teams from Red Deer and Calgary will stage a Learn from the Pros segment for several special guests. The all-star games at 12:30 p.m. will feature Team Alberta athletes and world-class curlers Marc Kennedy, Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Blake MacDonald, Carter Rycroft and Jamie King.
Figure skating: 2-3:30 p.m. at Servus Credit Union Place.
Jamie Sale, an Olympic gold-medal figure skater and member of the Special Olympics Alberta board of directors, will skate with the Team Alberta athletes at 2:45 p.m.
Snowshoeing: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club.
Cross-country skiing: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Kingswood Park.
Floor hockey: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Metro Sportplex.
Speed skating: 2 to 4 p.m. at Clareview Arena.
Alpine skiing: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Rabbit Hill.
All the venues are open to the public.
The seventh national winter competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities runs Feb. 28 to March 3 in St. Albert and Jasper. More than 650 athletes from 10 provinces and two territories will compete in seven sports for medals and spots on the national team for the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The St. Albert Slash play the Spruce Grove Saints twice in three days in a home-and-home series in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League.
Game times are 11:30 a.m. today at Grant Fuhr Arena and 8:30 p.m. Monday at Performance Arena.
Sixteen points separate the Slash (13-5-4) and Saints (6-14-2) in the north standings.
The St. Albert Flyers can solidify their second-place standing with a win Sunday against the KC Centennials in the Alberta Minor Midget AAA Hockey League. Faceoff is 6:45 p.m. at Callingwood Arena.
Last month the Centennials (9-6-6) downed the Flyers 3-2 in St. Albert.
The Flyers (13-5-5) are two points up on the Leduc Oil Kings (14-7-1), Spruce Grove Saints (13-6-3) and SSAC Bulldogs (13-6-3) in the competitive north conference. The top team is the Lloydminster Rage (16-4-2).
The Flyers are 2-1-2 in their last five games after beating the last-place Vikings 5-2 in Camrose last weekend.
