Local Sports

Young basketball players are celebrating a season of successes on the court. At the Chinook's Edge Northern Athletics Association (CENAA) championship March 1-2 the Innisfail Jr./Sr.

The Olds Grizzlys forced a fifth and deciding game in their Alberta Junior Hockey League playoff series with the Okotoks Oilers on Sunday, securing a 4-2 victory at the Olds Sports Complex. The fifth game is due to be played tonight in Okotoks.

Jessica Groeneveld sat in her kayak atop the 2013 Pan American Canoe Slalom Championships finals slalom racecourse in Tula, Mexico focusing her mind on the very first gate. “OK, this is going to hurt,” the former Innisfail resident thought.

The thrill of the circus is coming to the Innisfail Twin Arena as local figure skaters put the final touch on their year-end program Big Top on Ice. The 49th annual ice show will take place Saturday, starting at 2 p.m.

The Olds College women's varsity basketball team was feted last week at the Ralph Klein Centre for winning the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championship ñ and sent off to Truro, N.S., where they will compete this week for the Canadian title.

After a stellar performance at the 2013 55+ Alberta Winter Games Feb. 13-16, the Innisfail ladies carpet bowling team returned to the drop-in centre triumphant with bronze medals around their necks. “It feels wonderful,” said lead Denise Niegum.

Shooting towards the glass late on Friday, Feb. 15 in the sixth end against Notre Dame, Innisfail skip Courtney Rieberger launched a curling rock coming home with Sam Carr calling the line and Cassandra Livingstone and Jade Marshall sweeping.

The Central Alberta Amazons went down to Cowtown on the weekend and came back as first-round victors with a 3-1 win over the Calgary Warriors Feb. 2. “Overall we played well,” said Amazons coach Doug Demott. “The first game we had a slow start.

Despite losing three games to one in a best-of-five championship series, the Central Alberta Amazons have declared the 2012-2013 hockey season a success. "I couldn't be more proud of these girls," head coach Doug Demott said.

Amy Nixon, who threw third stones for the Shannon Kleibrink rink that earned a bronze medal for Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, was the keynote speaker at the wrap-up of the Olds Farmers and Farmerettes Bonspiel on Feb. 16.