Battle of the Blades 2010

[Artemis]

Woo hoo, only a couple more weeks to go! The season starts Sept 26, and I can hardly wait.

The skaters include about half the field from last year (Jamie, Isabelle, Shae-Lynn, and Tuffy), plus 4 new competitors: Katia Gordeeva, Kyoko Ina, Violetta Afanasieva, and Anabelle Langlois.

Full lineup here: http://www.cbc.ca/battle/bios.html but the actual partnerships will I think be announced on opening night.

[amice]

I was wondering when it would start, thanks.  Looking forward to it!

[Artemis]

So it started last night with a behind-the-scenes episode, showing all the players learning their moves. They didn't pair the teams up until the end of the boot camp, supposedly based soley on what they saw on the ice. But I have some suspicions that other marketing factors came into play as well. No matter, it's a great lineup, and I can hardly wait to see them all perform next Sunday.

Here are the pairs, and the charities they're skating for:

~ Violetta Afanasieva & PJ Stock (One x One)
~ Shae-Lynn Bourne & Patrice Brisebois (Make-a-Wish Foundation/Sainte-Justine UHC Foundation)
~ Isabelle Brasseur & Todd Warriner (The Heart & Stroke Foundation)
~ Ekaterina Gordeeva & Valeri Bure (Cardiac Kids/Hospital for Sick Children/Compassion Canada)
~ Christine Hough-Sweeney & Russ Courtnall (The Archie Courtnall Centre)
~ Kyoko Ina & Kelly Chase (Children's Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan)
~ Anabelle Langlois & Georges Laraque (Hockey for Haiti)
~ Jamie Sale & Theo Fleury (The Men's Project)

[Artemis]

The final 3 came down to Shae/Patrice, Katia/Val, and Izzy/Todd. And the winners were ... Katia & Val.

Talk about comparing apples to oranges to pears! Izzy & Todd were all about the fun show tricks, Katia & Val were smooth as silk pairs, and Shae & Patrice were fabulous dance & footwork (with a few lifts and even a throw thrown in for good meaure).

Anyway, congrats to all 8 teams, and thank you for donating your time and energy to help out all these worth charities, and to entertain us. Bring on season 3!

BTW, most if not all of the performances are up on YouTube. Some of my favourites:

Shae & Patrice - Jai Ho: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYCOqRu3gIA

Shae & Patrice - L-O-V-E: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ucQmfTkxxc&feature=related

Shae & Patrice - Monster Mash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBJH6OSM68Q&feature=related

Izzy & Todd - Black Betty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnImidaV0Hs

Katia & Val - From Russia with Love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiQaBbs30Js&feature=related

Violetta & PJ – House of the Rising Sun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oStd25H-W_E&feature=related

Kyoko & Kelly – All Star:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYOzue8LFC0