I posted this over in the Gays in Sports thread where there was already a discussion topic about Skate Canada trying to butch up figure skating to attract more male athletes. This story has an obvious hockey angle too.

Apparently there has been a drop-off in participation levels among young males in figure skating across Canada. I think the 'toughening' up of the image was largely a response to that. Now starting tonight it goes to an entirely new level. Tonight CBC will present live coverage from historic Maple Leaf Gardens of Battle of the Blades.

It is the first night of a series that will see eight pairs battling against one another over the next several weeks in a contest along the lines of a So You Think You Can Dance contest.

The twist is who the participants are. The 8 pairs will be a female figure skater paired up with a former NHL Player - including a few hockey players with a real 'tough guy' image. The eight pairs will be:

1 - NHL Tough guy Claude Lemieux paired with Shae Lynn Bourne. http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair1.php
2 - Glenn Anderson and Isabel Brasseur - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair2.php
3 - Stephane Richer with Marie-France Dubreuil - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair3.php
4 - Ken Daneyko and Jodeyne Higgins - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair4.php
5 - Unreal - Tie Domi with Christine Hough-Sweeney - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair5.php
6 - Even more unreal - Bob Probert with Kristina Lenko - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair6.php
7 - Craig Simpson with Olympic Gold medalist Jamie Sale - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair7.php
8 - Ron Duguay with Barbara Underhill - http://www.cbc.ca/battle/pair8.php

Ron McLean (Hockey Night In Canada host) will host the series with Kurt Browning. Judges include Sandra Bezic and Dick Button. This should be a hoot!

It's nice, in a way, to know that Canadian television is as capable of making craptacular TV as the US networks. I guess that if there's an agenda of trying to get more men into figure skating, that would explain why there are no female hockey players with male skaters.

I need to have a look at how the hockey players are performing. It's a bad evening to have put this for me, I already watch The Amazing race and then Mystery on PBS at that time.