Skating with Olympian Sasha Cohen

Olympic figure skater & 2006 U.S. National Champion Sasha Cohen observed local figure skaters associated with Bay State Blades' programs throughout Massachusetts at a special event at the Simoni Arena in Cambridge this afternoon.
The petite, Olympic silver medalist also was in Massachusetts to promote the Champions on Ice show, of which she is one of the stars. The show is coming to the TD BankNorth Garden Sunday, April 22 at 2 p.m. (See ticket information below.)
Bay State Blades, an advertiser with Bay State Parent magazine, by special invitation only selected three skaters per club to be critiqued by Cohen ala American Idol. The 22-year old was more like Paula Abdul than Simon Cowell with her opinions. Each skater performed one or two elements.
Sasha had planned to skate with those invitation-only skaters and another 60 Bay State Blades program skaters in a public skate after the critiques; but due to an airline mishap, Sasha was without her figure skates.
The Bruins, in particular Dennis Wideman, lent her a pair of hockey skates and a Bruins shirt to skate a few spins around the rink. Wideman even doned figure skates and did a few twirls & spins for the crowd.
Afterwards, Sasha posed for a few photographs and signed autographs, including a few pairs of skates, for the hopeful Olympians.
Bay State Blades runs more than 20 skating programs throughout the Commonwealth. Girls and boys, as young as age 3, can join the organization's skating clubs in Natick, Gardner, Greenfield, Everett, Marlboro, Taunton, etc. For more information visit www.baystateblades.com
Please visit Bay State Parent magazine's photo gallery (link on the rightside of this page) for more photos from today's event.
Sasha is one of a dozen of skating's biggest stars performing in the 29th Champions on Ice coming to Boston on April 22. Others include Reigning World Champion* Kimmie Meissner, Three-time U.S. Champion Johnny Weir, Two-time World Bronze Medalist Evan Lysacek, Olympic gold medalists Shizuka Arakawa and Evgeni Plushenko, Two-time Olympic medalist Irina Slutskaya, Olympic and World medalists Viktor Petrenko, Rudy Galindo, and Surya Bonaly, and the fan favorite specialty acts performed by Irina Gregorian. Tickets ($27.50, $52.50, $77.50, $97.50, & $152.50) are still available by visiting the TD Banknorth Garden box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, or by calling 617-931-2000.
--Susan