This just seems like a natural fit for Jeremy Roenick. The man who did a great job during the Olympics and Stanley Cup Final for NBC now becomes a permanent judge joining the very lovely choreographer Sandra Bezic as a fixture on the show. Battle of the Blades pairs former hockey players with current and past figure skaters to become a figure skating team. The show became a big hit on CBC last year and I feel Jeremy is perfect to be a judge.
Here’s the announcement from CBC.
NHL ALL- STAR JEREMY ROENICK JOINS BATTLE OF THE BLADES CAST AS A PERMANENT JUDGEAnnounced today at CBC’S BATTLE OF THE BLADES press event held at Pinewood Studios in Toronto, NHL fan favourite Jeremy Roenick joins the hugely popular hit series as a permanent judge. Starting this Sunday, Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. Roenick will join head judge Sandra Bezic as the critical voice, judging the eight formidable pairs of female figure skaters and ex-NHL hockey players competing to win the hearts and votes of Canadians nationwide.Throughout Roenick’s 20 year professional hockey career he scored 1216 points in 1,363 games playing for the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks. A favourite of hockey fans and teammates alike, Roenick was awarded the Bobby Clarke Trophy (MVP) and Yanick Dupre Memorial (Class Guy) team awards. His brash and honest assessment and reputation for speaking from the heart as well as his experience as an analyst for NBC during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and 2010 Stanley Cup Finals are sure to result in a season full of entertaining and controversial sound bites from the judging booth.Bezic and Roenick, joined by a rotation of celebrity guest judges, will score the pairs using the 6.0 system. Following the live performance show viewers nationwide have the opportunity to vote. The two pairs with the lowest number of votes will compete the following evening in the official Skate Off during the live BATTLE OF THE BLADES results show on Monday nights at 8 p.m. The judges then determine which pair deserves a second chance to continue on in the intense competition and which pair will hit the bench.Canadians nationwide can vote by mobile phone text message, web or phone after each Sunday performance show until 2 a.m. ET on Monday mornings. Text voting costs 15¢ per text message. Proceeds (after carrier costs) from text message votes will go to the voted for pair’s charity. For more vote information, please visit http://www.cbc.ca/battle. In addition to videos and behind-the-scenes photos, the site offers viewers the opportunity to become fans of their favourite pair and track each participant’s activities as they strive to win the competition.BATTLE OF THE BLADES is the brainchild of Kevin Albrecht, with development by Sandra Bezic. BATTLE OF THE BLADES executive producers are John Brunton, Barbara Bowlby and Kevin Albrecht. It is produced by Insight Productions in association with CBC Television. BATTLE OF THE BLADES airs live on Sunday and Monday nights at 8 p.m. on CBC Television.
Now with Jeremy on the show, I’m now screaming for an American outlet to pick this up to show it in the States.
