Calgary skier Trevor White, a member of the Canadian alpine ski team, underwent successful knee surgery last week, and is expecting a full recovery in six to eight weeks.

“(The recovery) is coming along super quick and super well,” said White. “I can already bend (the knee) more than I could before surgery so I think it should be successful.”

The 28-year-old slalom specialist, who competed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in 2006 and broke off a piece of his tibia. Despite surgery to repair the ACL, the tibia grew back malformed.

“My tibia grew back in sort of a horn and for the last three years I just assumed that was the condition of my knee and I’ll just deal with it,” said White, who was second in men’s slalom at the Canadian championships last month in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que.

Bobsledder Pierre Lueders and speed skater Jeremy Wotherspoon, two of Canada’s greatest winter athletes, were among the inductees named Thursday to the class of 2012 into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Lueders is a five-time Olympian who won 85 medals on the World Cup circuit in two-man and four-man events. The Edmonton native, who trained at WinSport Canada’s sliding track at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park, also won eight medals at the FIBT world championships.

Wotherspoon, a native of Red Deer, is the most successful male World Cup speed skater in history, with 67 victories. He won a silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, set 10 world records during his career and won four world sprint championship crowns. He trained at the Unviversity of Calgary’s Olympic Oval, which is funded largely by WinSport.

Also named to the class of 2012 were figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier; hockey player Scott Niedermayer; rower Derek Porter, soccer player Charmaine Hooper; and sport builders Marion Lay and Daryl (Doc) Seaman. 

The class of 2012 will officially take their place in the hall on Oct. 18 at the Telus Convention Centre. The Hall, which opened its doors last summer at Canada Olympic Park, now consists of 529 members, representing 60 winter and summer sports.

WinSport Canada and the Four Points by Sheraton Calgary West proudly handed out $1,000 cheques on Wednesday to 17 winners in the inaugural 2011-12 Athlete WinSport/Sheraton Grant program.

Nearly 100 applications were received for the grant program, with WinSport Canada and Four Points by Sheraton staff selecting the winners based on achievement, athletic goals and financial need.

“We are happy to be partnering with an organization such as the Four Points by Sheraton to help Canadian athletes ease the burden in their quest to excel at their given sport,” said WinSport Canada president and CEO Dan O’Neill. “There were a lot of very qualified candidates for these grants and it was a very difficult decision to narrow it down to this year’s recipients.”

The grants are restricted to winter sport athletes who use a WinSport Canada facility to train.

“The Four Points by Sheraton Calgary West is very pleased to be a partner in this funding program to assist up-and-coming athletes,” said Four Points by Sheraton Calgary West owner Ed Behanji. “Our organization has been a passionate supporter of all sports for many years and we are pleased to work directly with WinSport Canada to help young athletes with this financial boost.”

Named winners for the inaugural WinSport and Sheraton award are:

Eric Mitchell (ski jumping)

Thomas Fiselier (freestyle skiing)

Michele Long (bobsleigh)

Heidi Widmer (nordic skiing)

Lauren McGuire (speed skating)

Jaden Bos (snowboarding)

Tyler MacRae (snowboarding)

Keaton Carlson (freestyle skiing)

Garett Northey (freestyle skiing)

Tony Naciuk (alpine skiing)

David Law (alpine skiing)

Kurt Layton (snowboarding)

Matty Herauf (ski cross)

Daniel Tanner (freestyle skiing)

Heather Clarke (short track speed skating)

Katie Babick (speedskating)

Jack Van Lierop (ski jumping, Nordic combined)

Luge athlete Alex Gough, the inaugural winner of the $5,000 Sarah Burke Performance Award, also received her cheque during Wednesday’s presentations. She became the first ever Canadian to win a World Cup luge gold medal on home soil, when she took top spot back in December. She then spent nearly four months competing overseas, so Wednesday was her first opportunity to receive her cheque.

As the presentations nearly wrapped up, O’Neill reminded the athletes to thank their parents for all they have done to get them to that point in their athletic endeavours. It goes beyond writing cheques and this video from Proctor and Gamble says it all. Check it out: http://www.ittybittyurl.com/d2w

This past weekend’s Scotiabank Pro Am hockey tournament at WinSport Canada’s Athletic and Ice Complex in Calgary was a huge success, with $1.5 million raised in support of the Gordie and Colleen Howe Fund for Alzheimer’s. The Calgary event was the most successful tournament to date.

Participating teams raised a minimum of $25,000 to take part in the tournament, which ran throughout the weekend.

CityTV’s Breakfast Television was at the AIC on Friday morning to promote the tournament, with former Flames Jamie Macoun and Theo Fleury joined by former NHL tough guy Marty McSorley doing live segments on Arena A.

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In case you missed it, Canada’s national women’s hockey team regained the world title, with a 5-4 overtime victory Saturday in Burlington, Vt.

Alternate captain Caroline Ouellette scored less than two minutes into overtime as Canada won gold for the 10^th time at the IIHF world women’s championship. It was Canada’s first title since 2007 in Winnipeg, snapping a three-year American reign.

The team includes defenceman Meaghan Mikkelson, who is a member of the Alberta team in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League that makes its home at WinSport’s Joan Snyder rink.

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Some familiar faces can be seen Monday morning around the Athletic and Ice Complex, with Hockey Canada making Brent Sutter available to the media. Sutter, whose contract wasn’t renewed by the Calgary Flames, will coach Canada’s men’s team later this month at the world championship in Sweden and Finland. Edmonton Oilers president of hockey operations Kevin Lowe, who is the GM for Canada’s worlds team, will also be at the AIC.

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Calgary lawyer Colin MacDonald was named Monday as the new chairman of the board for Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. MacDonald has been a member of the Hall’s board since April 2011. He helped to oversee the completion of the Hall’s building here at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park.

MacDonald is also a former board member for CODA, which is now WinSport.

Mother Nature has provided some nice decoration and WinSport Canada has found the perfect way to cap off the 2011-12 season this weekend at Canada Olympic Park – cheap lift tickets.

WinSport is offering skiers and snowboarders one-day hill tickets for just $10 or $20 for family tickets. They are available Saturday and Sunday (April 14-15) – the final weekend of COP’s ski and snowboard season. Discover and Next Step ski and snowboard lessons, which include equipment rentals, a hill ticket and a 90-minute lesson, are also available for just $39.

The park is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day through Sunday. Discounts continue at the retail shop with savings of up to 70 per cent on a wide variety of items.

Sunday is also the final day to take advantage of WinSport’s Extreme Early Bird sale, with savings of up to 25 per cent on 2012-13 season passes. The Extreme Early Bird pass also provides free skiing for the final days of this season.

Congratulations to WinSport Canada board member Cassie Campbell-Pascall, who was one of five honourees named Tuesday to the Order of Hockey in Canada.

She is in some select company, with Jean Beliveau, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and Gordon Renwick (amateur and international hockey) also being named to the newly created Order. They will be honoured June 25 in Toronto.

Cassie, 37, was a member of the national women’s hockey team from 1994 to 2006 and was the captain of two Olympic gold-medal winning hockey teams. In addition to her work at WinSport, she works for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, is a host and spokesman for the Chevrolet Safe and Fun Hockey program and is a member of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League board of directors.

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Canada’s national women’s hockey team earned a bye to Friday’s semifinals at the IIHF world women’s hockey championships, after a 14-1 drubbing of Russia on Tuesday in Burlington, Vt. The Russians spent time at WinSport’s Athletic and Ice Complex in November during an Alberta tour and are hoping to improve their calibre of play in time for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The Canadians are looking to regain the world championship crown from the Americans, who are the three-time defending champions.

Meaghan Mikkelson, who plays in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League with the Alberta team that is based at the AIC, had two assists in the victory.

***

One of the world’s top moguls skiers had decided to take his next career to new heights.

Canadian star Pierre-Alexander Rousseau, who competed in 147 FIS World Cup events during his 15 seasons on the national freestyle team, is retiring from skiing to devote more time to sky diving.

“Now my life will revolve around professional skydiving and BASE jumping and teaching,” said the 32-year-old, who had 23 World Cup podium finishes and was 16^th at the Freestyle Grand Prix at Canada Olympic Park back in January. “I’m so lucky and so grateful because so few athletes who retire have something that can drive them with more passion than their sport.”

It may seem like spring has arrived in Calgary, but there’s still plenty of skiing left at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park.

The hill will remain open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Sunday, April 15

Day camps will be held next week in conjunction with the Calgary Catholic School District’s spring break. The camps are available for kids six to 15 years olds, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Late pickup is also available. Call guest services at 403-247-5452 or visit www.winsportcanada.ca.

There are also Discovery and Next Step lessons availabe April 14 and 15 for just $39 (plus GST). It’s also a great opportunity to check out WinSport’s terrain park

In case you missed it, WinSport Canada was announced last week by the Calgary Stampede as one of four locations for a city-wide massive fireworks display that will be held for six of the 10 nights during the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. The Light up the City event will feature a synchronized pyrotechnics display with accompanying music on the radio. Displays will also be held at Heritage Park, McCall Lake and Elliston Park. The Stampede will shed more light on the details of the display sometime in June.

Calgary skier Brad Spence has traded in his ski poles for crutches after undergoing knee surgery last week in London, Ont., to repair damaged cartilage.

The slalom ace, who works out at WinSport Canada’s Bob Niven Training Centre in Calgary, has been bothered by the knee all season. But despite the pain, he had nine top-30 finishes on the World Cup circuit.

“This year it became pretty apparent that it was something I had to do. The pain was so bad, the knee was giving me so much grief, that I couldn’t do my job,” said Spence, who recovered in Ontario this past weekend before returning to Calgary. “The (problem) had been there for a year and a bit. I kind of knew it was going to have to happen.”

Spence is a 2010 Olympian and will use the 2012-13 season to gear up for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

·        At the provincial freestyle championships at Sunshine Village, WinSport’s Robyn Sansom and Corbin Lefebvre were second in their respective slopestyle events, while Meagan Fiselier and Zain Tirmizi also reached the podium, with third-place finishes.

• Darcy Sharpe of Comox, B.C., captured a silver medal Saturday in the slopestyle event at the FIS snowboard junior world championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. Ottawa’s Natalie Allport was ninth in the women’s category. WinSport club members Brooke Voigt (10^th, slopestyle) and Erin Lee (12^th, halfpipe) also took part.
• Canada’s Mark Arendz was fourth in Sunday’s 12.5-kilometre pursuit race at an IPC Biathlon World Cup race in Vuokatti, Finland, finishing second overall during the season. Arendz, who won a gold and silver earlier in the week, finished the year with six medals. Brian McKeever and Erik Carleton of Canmore combined for 11^th in the visually impaired division on Sunday, while Quebec’s Sebastien Fortier was 22^nd in men’s sit-ski.
• In Winter Park, Colo., Canada’s Dustin Cook took the super-G title at the U.S. national alpine ski championships. It was the third U.S. championship race in the past two years captured by a Canadian skier.

Brian McKeever of Calgary joined forces with guide Erik Carleton to capture first place in the 1.2-kilometre classic-skiing sprint race Thursday at the IPC cross-country World Cup finals in Vuokatti, Finland.

The 32-year-old McKeever arrived in Finland on Wednesday after taking part in the Canadian championships in Quebec.

“I was a little jet lagged, but we had a good day today,” said McKeever.“I came here with a good game plan that we executed really well today.”

Meanwhile at the national championships in Quebec, Canmore’s Chandra Crawford won the gold medal Thursday in the women’s skate-sprint, with teammate Daria Gaiazova of Banff winning silver.

In the men’s event, Alex Harvey edged Devon Kershaw for gold in the men’s 1.4-kilometre sprint, with Phil Widmer taking the bottom step of the podium.

Speed Skating Canada is holding its first ever online auction with a few cool items up for bids.

Check out the following link to make your bids or to check out the items: http://www.speedskating.ca/auction

Among the items available:

- Speed Skating National Team Training and World Cup Experiences

- NHL Packages

- Madonna Concert Tickets / Hotel package

- Mexico Trip (includes flights)

- Okanagan Winery Weekend

- Rogers Cup (Tennis Canada) Tickets

- Various Autographed Sports Memorabilia (Hockey Canada, Rugby Canada, SSC, NHL jerseys, etc)