Battle of the Blades

Not sure if I have mentioned this before, but even if I have, they have finally finalized the cast of professional skaters and former NHLers who will take part, so it's worth another mention.

Basically, CBC is going to show a seven-week competition this fall, similar to ABC's hit Dancing With The Stars, in which former NHLers are paired up with female professional figure skaters in a figure skating competition. One pair gets eliminated each week, etc, etc. If I'm not mistaken, FOX in the States already tried something like this several years back, but with D-grade celebrities rather than former NHLers.

I think it's shlock - like most of what CBC airs that isn't hockey - but CBC must want it to succeed since they are bringing out the heavy hitters, having added Ron MacLean as the host. For us hockey fans, that is bad news since it means we're going to have to listen to Don Cherry needle MacLean about it every week next season.

I offer one prediction on the competition: Ron Duguay will have better hair than whichever female skater he ends up paired with.