Competition Aside, Skaters Excell As Entertainers

Discover Card Stars on Ice Sunday, Jan. 7, at the Arena

Remove the motivation of competition and some athletes just go through the motions of performing. That was not the case Sunday night at the Discover Card Stars on Ice show at the Spokane Arena. The 12 skaters - all winners of world-class competitions - hit the ice and skated to the edge of their abilities for more than two hours.

On this tour, their mission is entertainment and they were winners at this, too. The crowd, which numbered more than 10,000 at this sold-out event, popped out of their seats for a standing ovation even before the skaters completed the finale. But the adulation was nearly constant from the sound of the first skate blades scraping the ice.

Veteran skater and Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton wasn’t the whole show, but he was much of it, and his enthusiasm was apparent even when he wasn’t on the ice - little wonder since he’s the skater who got this tour off the ground 10 years ago.

And clearly he’s the crowd favorite, because of his antics in routines such as “Hair,” but also because he just has so much fun doing these shows. Sunday night he was everywhere - flying across the ice doing backflips and jumps, in the audience coaxing women to dance with him in the aisles (to no avail), pausing at center ice to lavish praise on Spokane’s new Arena.

But there were many other high points in this performance, among them the skating throughout the evening of Canadian pairs Christine Hough and Doug Ladret, who were most stunning in “I Hate You” by the artist formerly known as Prince, “Apollo 13” skated by Paul Wylie and “Brick House” performed by Kurt Browning. While I’ve seen some of these same numbers on TV skating specials, to watch the skaters perform them live adds layers of richness.

The figure skating community has Hamilton to thank for building the bridge between amateur figure skating competition and viable professional careers for skaters.

, DataTimes