01 May 2008 22:11:58

Jeff Buttle - Skating tour provides a different set of challenges

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 REGINA -- Although world figure skating champion Jeff Buttle is part of the Stars on Ice figure skating tour stopping in Regina Thursday, he's the one who's starstruck. The bronze medallist at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games is skating alongside his idol Kurt Browning, a four-time world champion. "It's surreal," the 25-year-old said. "I remember going to skating competitions when I was a kid and just watching Kurt and standing in line for his autograph. Now I'm skating right next to him and touring on a bus with him. It's weird. It's so weird." The pair is joined on tour by 10 other skaters, including 2002 Olympic Winter Games pairs figure skating gold medalists Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. The skaters take to the Brandt Centre ice Wednesday at 7 p.m. "Everyone's got a great rock number," Buttle said. "The group number is actually glam rock and it's fantastic. It's high energy and the audience always gets into it and enjoys it." The 11-city tour began in Halifax on April 17 and wraps up in Vancouver on May 7. Performing more than practising is gruelling, he said, but the tour is a highlight after an intense competitive season. "It's completely different," he said. "Every night we're expected to go out and perform, whereas during competition we train day-in and day-out and it's all about one moment on the ice. It's a very different mentality and it's very challenging in its own way." But which does he like better? "They both offer something really cool," he said. "You obviously get the adrenalin rush from a competition that maybe you just wouldn't get the same amount from the show. But I can't decide. I don't want to decide. I want them both." After his fourth year on the tour, he has noticed that not every audience is created equal. "Sometimes you come across, what we call, a corporate audience and they're a little more business-like and very respectable and maybe aren't the loudest." But Regina is great crowd, he said. "The rink itself is smaller than the Air Canada Centre but it definitely gives it a more intimate atmosphere," he said. "It always seem a lot louder in a venue like that, which is great." http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/local/story.html?id=1e35fa47-a1af-4884-9dee-7897b6a07475