Stars on ice gather in Calgary!

Two different kinds of sliders gathered on Thursday afternoon at the Glencoe Club in Calgary for some Canadian team bonding. Members of the Canadian bobsleigh and skeleton teams, who are preparing for national team trials this weekend at Canada Olympic Park, decided to head to the Glencoe Club for some team-building. And they had the pleasure of getting some curling lessons from two of the world’s finest curling teams, skipped by Olympic gold-medallist Jennifer Jones (third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer, lead Dawn McEwen) and two-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Rachel Homan (third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney, lead Lisa Weagle). And while some of the biggest stars in bobsledding — including Olympic gold-medallist Kaillie Humphries (who’ll make history this season by being the first woman to pilot a men’s four-man sled on the World Cup circuit), Jesse Lumsden, Chris Spring and Justin Kripps — clearly know their way around a sheet of ice, it was obvious that the flat, pebbled kind is a different beast than the twisty-turny and steep ice they’re used to. “We had a great time with them,” said Homan. “It’s always amazing to be around high-level athletes, regardless of the sport, and you could tell that they knew about curling and they enjoyed themselves. I was really impressed with how quickly they learned to slide; you could tell they’re pretty flexible.” “We got to know a lot of the bobsledders and skeleton athletes during the Olympics in Sochi, so it was wonderful to catch up with them here in Calgary,” added Jones. “And it was to show them a thing or two about our sport. Most of them were trying it for the first time, but once they got used to sliding and sweeping, they really had a great time, and so did we.” Both Team Jones and Team Homan will be participating in the 2015 World Financial Group Continental Cup, presented by SecurTek Monitoring Solutions, Jan. 8 to 11 at Canada Olympic Park. Also on hand was 2006 Olympic bronze-medallist Shannon Kleibrink, who is a vice-chair of the organizing committee for both the 2015 WFG Continental Cup and the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, presented by SecurTek Monitoring Solutions, Feb. 28 to March 8 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary