It’s that time of year again when folks welcome guests into their homes, the abundance of holiday spirit creating a setting where comfort and hospitality flourishes non-stop.

Within local figure skating circles, volunteers with the Nickel Blades Skating Club are rapidly developing a reputation as the “hosts with the most”.

For the third consecutive year, roughly a month out from Christmas Day, the Garson-based group assembled competitors and coaches, parents and friends, to what is now the George Armstrong Arena for a Skate Ontario event.

Provincial Series #4 would find thirty different clubs from across the province sending representatives to the Sudbury region last weekend, with travellers from Newmarket and Williamstown (just east of Cornwall), from Whitby to Hearst – and several points in between noting the top-notch work that was done by the Nickel Blades committee.

At the end of the day, skaters could focus solely on their skating, which is all that the hundreds of youngsters in attendance could ask for.

Leah Guller and Christina Kozlowska made the trek up from Orillia, the second straight year in which they have travelled north to enjoy a relatively early season glimpse of their progress to date.

“I skated more events last year, with elements and stuff, and we all stayed in one hotel, so it had more of a team feel to it – but we are going out for dinner with the team,” said Guller, a 14 year old grade 10 student at Orillia Secondary School.

Recalling a particularly memorable number as the Wicked Witch of the West in a Wizard of Oz show routine, the young lady who returned to skating in recent years following some time on the nordic ski trails acknowledged that there is simply something special about being out on the ice for her – even if she has to deal with all that accompanies the setting that is competitive skating.

“I really like performing, showing people what I can do; family and friends,” said Guller. “I try not to think about being nervous because that just messes me up a bit and makes me more nervous. I try and visualize me landing everything well.”

Friend and club mate Christina Kozlowska was taking an equally balanced approach into her rendition of Once Upon a December (from the Disney movie, Anastasia), preparing to live with the good and the bad - and learning from it all.

“If I land most of my jumps, that would be good,” noted the Patrick Fogarty Secondary School junior with a smile. “I like to think of it in terms of having fun. I just recently landed my axel and that is definitely one of the jumps where you need to get out of your mind.”

“You can’t be scared of falling; you just have to prepare to fall, sometimes.”

As for her music selection, Kozlowska runs somewhat counter to many other skaters her age prefer, those who veer towards the more upbeat tempo of recent pop hits and such to find inspiration.

“I enjoy skating to more classical music and instrumentals,” she said. “It feels so graceful, so emotional. It’s easy to interpret and skate with.”

That all makes sense to Valley East Figure Skating Club member Brigitte Perron - but still doesn’t stop the 13 year old grade 8 student at Ecole Publique Hanmer from stepping on to the ice in Garson to perform to the Queen classic, “Can’t Stop Me Now”.

Perhaps this draws on an introduction to dance the middle of three children received prior to beginning her skating career some three years ago. “I find I know timing better, counts and stuff from dance,” said Perron. “In figure skating, my dance helps a lot – and you get to connect with the music, with the ice.”

A star 2 competitor when she entered the Blades 2023 festivities, Perron has bolted from the blocks quickly since partaking in Can Skate sessions to start her journey in the sport. “I have kept moving up really fast, learning a lot of cool tricks,” she said. “My coaches inspire me, telling me that I have improved a lot.”

Throw in a healthy dose of natural determination and it should be fun to see where the Star 4 skater will progress in years to come. “My mom says I never give up on anything,” stated Perron.

“I will keep working on something until I get it right.”

Mom was also a skating centerpiece for Kristen Kutchaw, the 12 year old representing the host Nickel Blades in Star 5 events, both free skate and artistic. “My mom was a skater in Chapleau and I started skating because of my mom – and started skating here because of my sister,” she said.

As she prepared for a pair of performances on her home ice, Kutchaw found herself more aligned with the “upbeat” skating camp than the slower more elegant approach. “I like my free skate more just because I like jumping more and the music (“Please Don’t Stop the Music” by Rihanna) fits me better than my artistic music,” she said.

Jumping, in her mind, is where it’s at – even as she looks to re-introduce a second axel back into her routine – and then continue to grow from there.

“I wasn’t fully landing the second axel,” Kutchaw explained. “Once I am more comfortable with it, my coaches will put it back in – and maybe add a double salchow. I am so close, but I can’t pull my foot up and land it, consistently.”

The host club featured a number of weekend highlights, including new personal best scores from Jenna Kutchaw and Sasha Gilchrist (both in Star 5 Free Skate), the first in-competition landed axel for Rebecca Ryan and a stirring rendition of “Hallelujah” by Star 8 champion Nathan Cameron.

Olivia Mask, Katelyn Ryan and Penelope Tibble all skated Star 4 Free Skate and Star 5 Artistic for the first time and the infectious and permanent smile of Star 2 participant Audrey Wicklander was not to be missed.

Highlights for the Copper Cliff Skating Club included a bronze medal collected by Brooke Campeau (Star 8 Free Style), recording a personal best score as well a third place finish for Jenna Eastman in the Star 5 Non-Qualifying Free Style section.

Other skaters raising the bar in terms of their best ever scores included Claire Nesseth (Star 3 Silver), Samantha Howard-Smith (Star 3 Silver), Sofie Lampi (Star 3 Bronze), Charlotte Telfer Hill (Star 2 Bronze), Emma Del Olmo Cryderman (Star 2 Silver), Georgina Gagné (Star 2 Bronze) and Riley Mascioli (Star 2 Bronze).

Athletes from the Sudbury Skating Club combined to produce no less than 19 personal best scores, with the event serving as an inaugural one for a handful of their entries and a chance for others to hit the ice after frustrating battles with injuries.

“We have never had so many personal best scores at one event,” noted Sudbury head coach Heather Basso. “And some of the scores achieved are strong in comparison to other events that have taken place and those achieved at provincial championships last season.”

All of which never happens, of course, if the good folks at the Nickel Blades Skating Club do not extend their special brand of northern hospitality to local skaters and out-of-town contenders alike.