Ski Tour Canada 2016 in Canmore

For the first time in history, the world’s top athletes will meet in Canada for the marquee and culminating FIS World Cup competition of the year.

The Ski Tour Canada 2016 – FIS Cross-Country World Cup will feature four iconic Canadian ski destinations as host venues. The first week of racing will feature four stages in Quebec (Gatineau, Montreal and Quebec City), while the second week will feature the final four stages and awarding of the FIS crystal globes in Alberta (Canmore). The members of Alberta Interscience Association were proud to be the part of this event.
At a glance

• 12 days
• 8 competition events
• 4 races in Québec
• 4 races in Alberta
• 25 countries represented
• 200 accredited media

Calling all volunteers – become a part of Canadian ski history

The Canmore leg of Ski Tour Canada and the Alberta World Cup Society wants you to be part of the action. Volunteer registration is now available online, so don’t hesitate to lend a hand and sign up for one the available positions. Become a part of Canmore’s proud ski heritage and be a part of the biggest ski tour in Canadian history. Follow the link below and sign up:

CANMORE VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION

http://www.albertaworldcup.com/

The Alberta World Cup Academy and the Capital Region Training Group have established a partnership to provide prospective athletes with a more diverse set of options as they consider their personal path to national and international excellence. The Alberta World Cup Academy consists of athletes from clubs across Canada that have decided to train full time with their primary goal being to qualify for a National level team and/or international competition. The Capital Region Training Group consists primarily of athletes from central and northern Alberta who are training more part time and are currently either going to school full time and/or working. The combination of the core AWCA Training Centre Team, based in Canmore, and the CRTG Team enhance the ability to provide the highest quality athlete support services possible to a wider geographic ski community while building more connections in the athlete development stream. In the first two year

s of this partnership the AWCA CRTG programs have connected team athletes and coaches to over 250 club level developmental athletes from over 12 clubs. In effect the Alberta World Cup Academy and CRTG form a unique network of athletes, coaches and clubs that merges the advantages of both professional volunteer capacities.

The Alberta World Cup Academy (AWCA) is a vibrant, inclusive training Centre that offers high quality programming, in a cost effective manner. We are partners with Cross Country Canada, Cross Country Alberta, and the high performance ski community in Canada. We provide opportunities to those athletes who show the aptitude to become internationally successful.

Website:

http://www.albertaworldcup.com/

Capital Region

Training Group

(CRTG) is a team of dedicated high performance cross country ski racers who reside in Alberta’s Capital Region; are from various youth development clubs; train together regularly; and who aspire to someday be national and international cross country ski champions. The CRTG was conceived of by athletes to create a platform to support their training and competition goals while they also pursued education and/or work related goals. In addition to regular high performance support systems, CRTG athletes are also engaged as ski leaders through both coaching at clubs and through a series of athlete development camps where they coach and inspire younger athletes in the Capital Region.

CRTG Website:

www.capitalregiontraininggroup.com

CRTG Facebook Group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/capitalregionxctraining

Ski Tour Canada 2016 in Canmore – Video-1

Ski Tour Canada 2016 in Canmore – Video-2

Ski Tour Canada 2016 in Canmore – Video-3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberta_Interscience_Association

AB Interscience Google Plus Photos

AB Interscience Google Plus Posts

A Taste of Winter, 2016

Pavlina Sudrich

Join us for A Taste of Winter, an evening of fine dining in support of Canada’s top athletes
This evening affair consists of a four course dinner with wine pairings. Dinner will be prepared by Canmore’s very own Top Chefs Stefan Kuhn and Patric Settler, with wine pairings artfully selected by Sommelier Jaz Nadeau
Enjoy the experience of fine dining while getting to know Canada’s up and coming National & Junior Team athletes.
Complimenting dinner will be a silent auction with fantastic prizes, including the once in a lifetime opportunity to be part of the upcoming Ski Tour Canada 2016 & be seen  by an estimated 40 million people worldwide!
A Taste of Winter takes place on the evening of Friday, February 26th from 6-10:30pm.
Tickets are $100/plate or a table of eight for $720.

	Menu- A Taste of Winter, 2016	Wine Pairing
First Course	Cauliflower and beet appetizer with a roast apple garnish	Sommelier surprise
Second Course	Stuffed Ravioli (Canmore Pasta Co.) with olives, with a tomato relish	Sommelier surprise
Main Course	Goat cheese and fig stuffed chicken, with winter vegetables and a red wine demi	Sommelier surprise
Dessert	Chocolate torte with raspberry sauce	Sommelier surprise

Silent Auction list coming soon!
The proceeds from this event go directly towards helping Alberta World Cup Academy athletes achieve their high performance goals.

Todd McLellan and Mike Babcock: Similar Tale of Two Coaches

In his latest blog, Gene Principe blogs about the similar paths of Todd McLellan and Mike Babcock

Wednesday, 02.10.2016

On Thursday night, Edmonton will kick off a six-game homestand. The half-dozen games they have at Rexall Place from February 11-23 will equal the same amount they had from December 29-January 10. This lineup of action in the Alberta capital ties a season high of hockey at the arena situated on Wayne Gretzky Drive. It involves three teams from the Central Division (Winnipeg, Minnesota, Colorado) one from the Pacific (Anaheim) and two from the other conference (Ottawa and Toronto). With 14 wins at home this season, which is only one away from the 15 they had all of last season, this should prove to be an entertaining two weeks.

The game I'm looking forward to the most happens first. Toronto comes to town, which brings with it a unique brand of excitement, entertainment and circus-like atmosphere. There's always something going on when the Maple Leafs wander out West. This year is no different with the mega move they made with Ottawa that involved their Edmonton-born captain Dion Phaneuf. There was also the Nazem Kadri throat slash gesture directed at the captain from Calgary. I'm sure one or two or 32 people will want to talk to Connor McDavid about the childhood team he grew up watching and will play against for the first time. However, I’m interested to see the clash of the coaches on the respective benches.

It will be the second meeting this season of two men with career paths that have crossed over and led them to the task of rejuvenating a pair of Canadian franchises. The journey for both began in the spring when Mike Babcock and Todd McLellan departed from their long-time teams. One said, “so long” to Detroit, while the other waved goodbye to San Jose.

The first to land was Babcock in Toronto. Not long after, it was McLellan in Edmonton. So began the task of two Saskatchewan-born coaches to take their success from previous stops and bring it to their most recent change of address.

They grew up in the same province, but because of their handful of years difference in age Mike Babcock and Todd McLellan didn't play hockey against each other. That didn't mean they didn't know who the other was. Players of some success on the ice but both eventually better suited to be off it. Each left home to find his way in the coaching ranks. After criss-crossing leagues, they finally ended up in the same place— Detroit.

Mike Babcock got the head coaching job and he hired Todd McLellan to be his assistant. Todd was working in Minnesota's organization as their AHL coach in Houston. He won a Calder Cup and now Babcock wanted him to help Detroit win a Stanley Cup. They did so in 2008.

I remember Todd talking at the start of the season about the transition that took place for him when he went to the ‘Wings. From head coach to assistant coach, he wasn't the big boss anymore. He had to stand back while Mike took over the team. They worked well together, so well that McLellan branched out on his own for the job in San Jose. Over the years they have met many times, like they will Thursday night. Sometimes the teacher and sometimes the pupil has come out on top. Now they find themselves side-by-side in the standings and in the race to be the best.

Two dedicated, successful coaches who won't stop working until they find the winning ways they cultivated as coaches on other teams. I'm sure they'll have a word with each other and share a laugh or two. It's been a tough season for both but they are too proud as people and too good as coaches not to lead their clubs back to where they once were.

Maureen Hall ·

University of Alberta

Just a bit of fact checking. Todd McClellan was hired by the Oilers on May 19th and was, howbeit briefly, the most highly paid coach in the NHL. On May 20th Mike Babcock took over that designation when he was hired by the Maple Leafs. It was my theory at the time that he was hoping for an offer from the Oilers, thus his dithering. They are both great coaches but I am very happy with the one we got.

John Vandervalk

Very disappointed in McLellan so far, I thought the Oil could at least be .500 and not the flat out worst team in the league. When will this team ever start caring and actually try?!? 3 goals in 3 games with all this 'offensive talent'. It's offensive that they suck so bad. Giving up 15 in the last 3 games, the worst team on the road by a country mile. Every player should be up for trade bait minus Connor and maybe Leon. Nurse has been brought in a bit early too, but it's not like he has any competition for a top six spot anyway. Davidson has been ok too. But the rest need a serious shake up. PC sleeps well at night and doesn't seem to bothered that they have taken yet another step backwards.

Dustin Trydal ·

Might want to take a step back and look at a different perspective. Oilers are slated to finish with more points this year than last year. They are in more games than last year where they gave up early on themselves. They are playing actually pretty good for having a shaky defence as well. Overall their team is structured better than last year, and with some consitency behind the bench, I think the Oilers will be far more improved. Not to mention they have not had McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins, and Eberle all in the lineup together at the same time. If the entire team was healthy for the vast majority of the year, maybe then they would be sitting around the .500 mark. They have the most man games lost due to injury this year. So John, as a matter of fact. They have actually taken a significant step forward this year. You look for excuses to bash the team instead of signs of optimism.

John Vandervalk

Dustin Trydal so you're happy huh? Biggest blowout in a decade or so in Brooklyn. They didn't play too bad against NJ, but Montreal and NYI was nothing short of pathetic. That's on the players and the coach. He could have benched some of them, but losing is accepted here it seems. Based on your theory of improvement the other bad teams have all improved at a better rate then, still leaving Edmonton dead last. Hard to be positive after a decade of crap on ice. But every time I get more optimistic they play awful for a stretch. Injuries hurt, yes, but other teams have a lot of games lost...See More

Dustin Trydal ·

Surveyor's assistant/Legal Drafter at Beairsto & Associates Engineering Ltd.

How many games this year have the Oilers had where they were completely blown out? Not many compared to last year. This last weekend was an absolute write off. There is no excuse for how poor they played. But overall, they have at least played better. If the Oilers can find themselves a top d for next year, and with Brossoit and Talbot as their goalies next year, I can see the Oilers improving a lot more from this year. Let's not forget also that defence usually take longer to develop with a couple exceptions. Nurse was thrown in there because they didn't have much for solid options to play other than him. Also Edmonton has a much younger d-core than any other team in the league. So there will be some growing pains over the course of the next year or so, maybe less if they can land that top defensemen everyone is looking for.

2016 World Juniors a success

http://www.worldjunior2016.com/en/

Kapanen gives Finland gold

Finns win second title in last three years

Published 05.01.2016 23:43 GMT+2 | Author Lucas Aykroyd

HELSINKI, FINLAND - JANUARY 5: Finland's Mikko Rantanen #15 carries the puck out from behind the net with Russia's Yegor Voronkov #22 chasing next to goaltender Alexander Georgiev #30 during gold medal game action at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship. (Photo by Matt Zambonin/HHOF-IIHF Images)

In a tense and thrilling climax to the 2016 World Juniors, Kasperi Kapanen's overtime winner at 1:33 gave host Finland a 4-3 gold medal victory over Russia.

In the Russian zone, Aleksi Saarela found Kapanen, who eluded defenceman Sergei Boikov and circled the net to score on a wrap-around as goalie Alexander Georgiev reached haplessly with his stick.

This is Finland’s fourth World Junior gold medal of all time. They also won in 1987, 1998, and 2014. They have now earned gold at two out of the last three tournaments.

This is the greatest era in Finnish U20 history.

It was a euphoric moment of redemption for Kapanen, who had faced some criticism for scoring just once in last year's World Juniors. His OT winner will live forever in Finnish hockey lore.

Finland's dynamic top line produced again. Patrik Laine and Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist apiece, while Jesse Puljujarvi added two assists. Captain Mikko Rantanen got a late power play goal to put Finland up 3-2 with 2:09 left.

Andrei Svetlakov scored twice for Russia, including the tying goal with just six seconds remaining, and captain Vladislav Kamenev added a single. Defenceman Ivan Provorov had two assists.

En route to the title, the Finns scored 35 goals. It equals their offensive output in 1998, when they also defeated Russia in overtime for gold in Helsinki. Puljujarvi (17 points), Aho (14 points) and Laine (13 points) finished 1-2-3 in tournament scoring.

Despite the disappointment of settling for silver, the Russians can take pride in their consistency. They medaled for the sixth straight year, a current streak unmatched by any other nation. Their last gold medal was in 2011 in Buffalo under head coach Valeri Bragin. When using Bragin, they have always made the final (2005, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016).

Finnish head coach Jukka Jalonen added to his growing legend. He was also behind the bench when Finland won its last IIHF World Championship gold medal in 2011, defeating Sweden 6-1 in the final in Bratislava. Jalonen captured the Finnish championship with HPK in 2006.

The Finns outshot Russia 29-25, and there was intrigue around the starting goalies.

Finland’s Kaapo Kakhonen took over the net from a shaky Veini Vehvilainen during the 6-5 quarter-final win over Canada. Ilya Samsonov, who played just once in the round-robin, shone in the 2-1 semi-final win over the U.S. after Georgiev stumbled in the 4-3 quarter-final overtime win versus Denmark. However, Bragin, well-known for juggling his goalies, reverted to Georgiev for the final.

The game got off to a torrid, physical start in front of the fired-up crowd of 13,479, including Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, at Hartwall Arena.

Georgiev fought the puck early on, but Kahkonen made the game’s first error, putting the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty. On the Russian power play, Kamenev scored his team-leading fifth goal with a one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle that beat Kahkonen glove side at 4:50.

Russia cleverly dominated possession for long stretches. The Finns couldn’t convert their first man advantage late in the opening stanza, as the Russians blocked shots like men possessed. Shorthanded, Svetlakov raced around top-scoring Finnish blueliner Olli Juolevi and flicked one off the crossbar.

The Puljujarvi line started to turn the tide with a dominant forecheck midway through the game. Rantanen came within a hair’s breadth of setting up the equalizer when he found Roope Hintz right in front.

Just 24 seconds into the third, Finland drew even on a spectacular rush. Aho sent a deft backhand to Laine and he whizzed the puck over a kneeling Georgiev on the stick side. The goal was Laine's seventh, tying him with the U.S.'s Auston Matthews for the tournament lead.

Russia had an answer 1:17 later. From the left faceoff circle, Svetlakov zapped a high shot over Kahkonen's glove to make it 2-1. He celebrated wildly, clutching the national crest on his jersey. The go-ahead goal came just seconds after Antti Kalapudas was denied on a glorious chance at the side of the Russian net.

The hosts tied it up at 2-2 at 10:07. Laine bumped defenceman Alexander Mikulovich behind the goal line and Puljujarvi grabbed the puck and circled out to send a beautiful cross-ice feed to Aho that he banged home.

Russia ran into penalty trouble late in the third. With 4:08 left, defenceman Dmitri Sergeyev got caught pulling down Aho, and Jalonen called his time-out to strategize.

It paid off, as Finland's top-ranked power play finally clicked. Rantanen skated in front of Georgiev and tipped home Vili Saarijarvi's wrister from the centre point at 17:51. Hartwall Arena went ballistic. Kamenev was kicked out of the game for unsportsmanlike conduct, violently protesting after the goal and smashing his stick.

But the never-say-die Russians weren't done. Bragin pulled his goalie with 1:23 remaining, and the gambit paid off. Provorov moved into the middle and lofted a shot that deflected in off Svetlakov to make it 3-3 at 19:54.

The final result emphasizes that anybody can beat anybody in today’s World Juniors. No team has won back-to-back titles since Canada’s record-tying run of five straight (2005-09).

In the big IIHF picture, Finland and Russia have broken each others’ hearts on several occasions recently. It goes beyond Yevgeni Kuznetsov’s heroic three-point effort in Russia’s 4-3 overtime win over Finland in the 2011 World Junior semi-finals.

At the 2014 Olympics, Finland famously eliminated host Russia with a 3-1 quarter-final win. The Finns also spoiled the home-ice party in Moscow at the 2007 World Championship with Mikko Koivu’s 2-1 semi-final OT winner, and won 3-0 with Mikael Granlund’s “lacrosse” goal in the 2011 semis in Bratislava before taking gold.

The Russians dominated Finland 6-2 in the 2012 World Championship semi-final en route to gold, and won 5-2 in the 2014 final in Minsk.

Only three countries have ever won the World Juniors on home ice. They are Canada (1991,1995, 2006, 2009, 2015), Finland (1998, 2016), and Russia (1983).

Finland will kick off its defence of its World Junior title on December 26 at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship in Canada (Montreal and Toronto).

05 января 2016, 21:30

Россия U20 3 : 4 Финляндия U20

1:0 - Владислав Каменев (Иван Проворов, Максим Лазарев), 04:50 - бол
2:1 - Андрей Светлаков, 41:41
3:3 - Андрей Светлаков (Иван Проворов, Егор Рыков), 59:54
1:1 - Патрик Лайне (Себастьян Ахо, Ессе Пульюярви), 40:24
2:2 - Себастьян Ахо (Ессе Пульюярви, Патрик Лайне), 50:07
2:3 - Микко Рантанен (Вили Саариярви, Антти Калапудас), 57:51 - бол
3:4 - Каспери Капанен, 61:33

СУДЬИ: Бретт Айверсон, Кристофер Питошия
Хельсинки, Хартвалл-Арена

Interviews USA 5 Jan. Russia vs. USA SF (2-1) Interviews Russia 4 Jan. Sweden vs. Finland SF (1-2)