Valeri Bure, former NHL hockey player and father of three, found a new appreciation for figure skating after joining the hit TV series Battle of the Blades. But he says it wasn’t easy to make the switch from professional hockey to skating alongside former world champion figure skater Ekaterina Gordeeva.
“It’s so different, in all aspects, not only the skating, the preparation and the presentation while you’re doing it in front of a live audience. It’s a very difficult thing to do.”
Bure told The Epoch Times that the figure skating aspect of Battle of the Blades takes him very much out of his comfort zone as it has completely different demands from hockey. In hockey it’s all about explosive energy and fast recovery, while figure skating focuses more on strength, a difference Bure says he loves.
Battle of the Blades is a Canadian live broadcast show that launched its first season on CBC last October and managed to reel in over 1.7 million viewers. In the show, former male professional hockey players are matched with former pro female figure skaters, and the pairs compete for the affection of judges as well as the television audience.
Bure says he feels fortunate to be working with double-gold medallist Ekaterina (Katia) Gordeeva. “If you put anybody next to her, she’ll make them look good.”
Little by little, Gordeeva is pushing the ex-NHLer to do the best he can, and he says he’s “starting to enjoy being up there.”
“It’s so different, in all aspects, not only the skating, the preparation and the presentation while you’re doing it in front of a live audience. It’s a very difficult thing to do.”
Bure told The Epoch Times that the figure skating aspect of Battle of the Blades takes him very much out of his comfort zone as it has completely different demands from hockey. In hockey it’s all about explosive energy and fast recovery, while figure skating focuses more on strength, a difference Bure says he loves.
Battle of the Blades is a Canadian live broadcast show that launched its first season on CBC last October and managed to reel in over 1.7 million viewers. In the show, former male professional hockey players are matched with former pro female figure skaters, and the pairs compete for the affection of judges as well as the television audience.
Bure says he feels fortunate to be working with double-gold medallist Ekaterina (Katia) Gordeeva. “If you put anybody next to her, she’ll make them look good.”
Little by little, Gordeeva is pushing the ex-NHLer to do the best he can, and he says he’s “starting to enjoy being up there.”
