Sault mayor, former NHL player teach skating to international students

Embracing a favourite pastime of many Canadians, dozens of international students took to the ice to give skating a try.

For the third week of Your Neighbourhood Credit Union's (YNCU) Motivate 2 Skate program in the Sault organizers brought out some special guests – Mayor Matthew Shoemaker and former NHL player Aaron Gavey.

The mayor said he learned to skate at a very young age and frequents the Soo PeeWee Arena, where the event was held, to bring his five-year-old to hockey practice and added that his two-year-old will soon be on skates as well.

"(Skating) is something that is omnipresent around you if you're living in the Sault, so to partake in it makes you part of the community," said Shoemaker.

Gavey said he was happy to take part, joking that "I'm kind of hoping they can maybe help me, I haven't skated in a little while myself either."

However, once on the ice, the veteran of 360 NHL games instantly found his teaching voice.

"Use the boards as your friend,” he said.

“For me, the biggest thing is keeping your head up, you can't look at the ice, you've got to look up. Regardless, we're going to have some fun and make sure we help some people."

Among the many participants Wasa Lil Rabuya from the Philippines.

She told CTV News that she had tried roller-skating back home, but her skills didn't transfer to the ice.

"It was actually really fun, but at first I was quite nervous because I fell like 5 times," said Rabuya.

The Sault College Civil Engineering Student credits the Soo Thunderbirds players who taught her the basics of skating for her progress.

She said had such a good time in her first skating experience that she had to tell her three roommates all about it.

"I was the only one who went here on the first day,” said Rabuya.

“I told them about it, that it was fun and stuff... now they're actually here."

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This is the second year of the 'Motivate 2 Skate' Program, which runs every Friday until Nov. 24.

Shaylan Spurway, YNCU Sault Ste. Marie’s manager of marketing & community education, said her team was happily surprised at the difference a year made in the program's popularity.

"The first day of the program was a very small number – we had three, which did grow after a few weeks. This year on the first day we had over 40 students show up for the first day of lessons and it's grown every week,” said Spurway.

“We're seeing more and more still signing up and wanting to be a part of the program."

Spurway said that YNCU staff had to go out and purchase new skates as a result of the busy first session.

Program organizers said they are still looking for donations of adult-sized helmets and skates – which can be dropped off at any YNCU branch in the city.