Tough guy Georges Laraque says he’s pinning his hopes on the “sympathy vote” to get him through the CBC-TV competition, Battle of the Blades.
He’ll have plenty of that from Oilers’ fans, no doubt, whose support for him transcended his departure from Edmonton in 2006 after 10 years with the team. Still, for Laraque, the prospect of competing in a TVshow that requires him to throw a woman in the air and then catch her — while balancing on figure skates, no less — is, well, a bit of a nightmare. Add a live audience to the mix, and an average of three million or so TV viewers from across the country, and the nightmare disappears. After all, one has to sleep to dream, and he hasn’t been doing much of that lately.
He has been skating, though, faithfully. Every day for weeks now, Laraque, 33, has headed to Edmonton’s Glenora Club to prepare for his debut, spending hours on the ice.
“How’s it going? Um, it’s going, that’s about all I can say,” said Laraque following a practice session this week. “Listen, when I was in the NHL I wasn’t known as the smoothest skater, and figure skating is one of the most technical sports ever; it’s different from everything I was taught all my life. It’s really hard.”
He says he’s as ready as he can be for the show, which begins airing Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET from Toronto on CBC. Now in its second season, it pairs professional hockey players with champion figure skaters in an eight-week series in which the skaters compete for a $100,000 prize, to be donated to the winners’ charity of choice.
Last year, two Edmontonians, Olympian Jamie Sale — who’s returning again this year — and former Edmonton Oilers great Craig Simpson skated away with top honours, and donated their prize money to the Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Centre Society.
Every couple who competes receives a $25,000 donation to the charity of their choice which, in the end, was what broke the big man down.
When the show’s producers first asked him be part of the show, he said no, partly out of fear, but mostly because he’s so busy. Laraque, who spent most of his 14-year NHL career in Edmonton, retired from professional hockey earlier this year and is involved in several projects. He makes his home in Edmonton but travels often to Montreal, where he co-owns two vegan restaurants. He’s also involved in Terrasphere, a vertical farming movement, and PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), plus he’s also a deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada.
What’s nearest and dearest to his heart, though, is the Grace Children’s Hospital in Port-au-Prince, which he’s helping to rebuild. When producers of the show promised to shine a spotlight on hurricane-stricken Haiti (where his parents were born), it was an offer he simply couldn’t resist.
“If it helps in the rebuilding of the hospital and keeps Haiti in the news, it’s the least I can do,” he says. “It will be worth it, for as bad as I will look doing the show.”
He won’t say who his partner is — the pairings will officially be revealed during the first show — but you can’t keep a secret in Edmonton, especially if you’re Georges Laraque. Everyone knows Georges, and they’ve seen him at the Glenora Club practising with former Canadian pairs figure skater Anabelle Langlois.
“I can’t say who it is, but I can say she’s very, very patient,” says Laraque, “and she has taught me a lot.”
It’s no secret who Jamie Sale’s partner is, either. She and Theo Fleury have taken to the ice at the Glenora Club in recent weeks, for all the world to see. Another secret about Sale? Born in Calgary and raised for at least part of her life in Red Deer, Alta., she was a Calgary Flames fan growing up. It was Sale who convinced Fleury to compete when she ran into him at a charity function earlier this year in Toronto. And it was Fleury who told producers he would only take part if he could be partnered with Sale.
Sale said the decision to do the show again was a no-brainer for her.
“I like the process, I like the journey, I like the challenge, and I like the fun,” said Sale.
More than competing, she says, she loves to perform. And even more than that, she loves to teach, especially professional hockey players who have never laced up a pair of figure skates. Not that Fleury is teachable, of course.
“He’s pretty hard to give advice to because he’s so stubborn,” said Sale. She laughs when she says it, though; the two have established a good rapport. Sale says she has a great deal of respect for Fleury, who wrote about his personal struggles as a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of former coach Graham James in a recent book, Playing With Fire.
“He’s a fantastic skater,” says Sale.”He’s also a very strong-willed character and he has his mind set on winning.
“We’re all a bit like that, because all of us have won something in our careers, but I told him: ‘We have no control over that; it’s a popularity contest.’ You can be the best skater, but you have to be yourself; you have to be real.’ “
David Pelletier is returning to the show, too, as a choreographer/coach. He and Sale split up earlier this year, but still maintain a professional working relationship. There’s a decidedly international flavour to the field this year. Two-time Olympic gold medallist and four-time world champion Ekaterina Gordeeva will be part of the group, as will former U.S. champion Kyoko Ina. They will be joined by Violetta Afanasieva, Shae-Lynn Bourne, Isabelle Brasseur and Christine Hough-Sweeney. Other former NHLers in the series are Valeri Bure, Patrice Brisebois, Kelly Chase, Russ Courtnall, P.J. Stock and Todd Warriner.
Battle of the Blades returns to CBC for a new season on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 8 p.m. ET.
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