Kingsville athlete set to take the ice in CBC's Battle of the Blades
Team Canada Olympic hockey player Meghan Agosta of Kingsville will hit the ice along with several other athletes in CBC's season 6 premiere of Battle of the Blades Thursday.
Agosta will join seven other Canadian athletes in the reality show competition, which has hockey players and figure skaters pair up to perform on-ice dance routines for an audience and judges. The winners get $100,000 in prize money that they donate to charities of their choice.
"What an amazing opportunity and challenge this is going to be," Agosta told CBC News. "I was up for the challenge. So it's been a lot of fun. There's been a lot of ups and downs because of COVID and people testing positive."
The season was expected to premiere Oct. 8, but production was postponed after a person involved in the production tested positive for the virus.
Producers of the show said the person who tested positive was asymptomatic and would return to the production after completing their quarantine.
Trading in her hockey gear for figure skating attire
Agosta, who is from a small town in Kingsville called Ruthven, has been a member of Canada's National Women's Team since 2004. She has played in four Olympic Winter Games, winning gold at Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010, and Sochi 2014, followed by silver at PyeongChang 2018, according to Team Canada's website.
After years of moving around the ice in hockey skates and protective padding, Agosta said part of the challenge with the show is adjusting to what figure skaters wear.
"I figure skated when I was four till about six, but I don't remember," she said. "So to trade in my hockey equipment and skates for now, like tights and a skating dress and figure skates with toe picks is definitely totally out of my comfort zone. But then again, I'm up for the challenge and it just goes to show you, if you don't try something, you're never going to know and don't be afraid to fail."
Agosta is paired with Canadian figure skater Andrew Poje.
The pair has decided that their charity of choice is British Columbia's Children's Hospital Foundation.
Agosta said she chose that charity because she loves kids, and wanted to give back to a place that helped her when her daughter was born premature and had to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit.
The season premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. and will be hosted by Keshia Chanté and sportscaster Ron MacLean.
"I'll give the viewers one hint, Celine Dion, that's the only hint I'm going to give. And the second thing is, is I will be in a figure skating dress," she said. "I'm totally going to be out of my element."
