Ever wonder what would happen if you took a hockey player, stuck them into a pair of figure skates and told them that they have to learn to use a toe pick while skating backwards and lifting a woman in the air? Well now you can watch what would happen on tv. No, I'm not talking about that brilliant piece of classic 90s film The Cutting Edge (say it with me - toe pick!) and you won't see D.B. Sweeney making an appearance here (at least I don't think...). I'm talking about Canada's brand new reality tv offering, Battle of the Blades.

While The Cutting Edge was very much a work of fiction Battle of the Blades is anything but. We have taken honest to goodness female figure skaters, including Olympians, and paired them with hockey players. Yes. Tie Domi. In tights. Though unlike the movie, I don't think anyone expects the winners of this show to go on to win the Olympics.

I honestly can't decide if this is insane or brilliant so it pretty much follows that it is insanely brilliant. But it leads to one question, which Lose that Girl also wonders - why on earth did it take Canada, aka The Great White North, so long to do this?

Before this series took to the ice, I don't think anyone with any sports knowledge could picture tough guys, Tie Domi or Bob Probert on figure skates gracefully lifting *anything*, spare the Stanley Cup, high into the air. Now these hockey stars are orchestrating death spirals and overhead lifts with (almost) the greatest of ease. The resulting program is downright addictive!

I know you want to be skeptical. I do too. I haven't seen it yet though I'm hoping I can catch up online. (I'm bad at watching pretty much anything on tv. I suck at tv.) Auntie Fashion doesn't normally watch the CBC and well, she just made me laugh.

Although I normally swear off the CBC like I swear off white leather pants and home perms, I think I’ll watch this show.

Oh, come on. Whether you are a fan of CBC or not (and really, I am) you have to find that funny, especially since it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that you'll find both white leather pants and home perms if you happen to watch CBC on the right day.

One of the kind of fun things about this show is that the people competing are fairly familiar figures. Lori Beth at The Road Less Travelled had her favourites picked out before the show started.

I'll admit I have a soft spot for Barb Underhill and Ron Duguay -- if only because they're probably the ones closest to my age (46 & 52 -- the other skaters have been referring to them as "Grandma & Grandpa"). When I heard Duguay was on, I thought, "Good Lord, he was playing hockey when I was in high school!" -- I checked, and he was!! But they are also proving to be a great pair to watch. Duguay still has some Studio 54 moves in his repetoire ;

And bad/awesome 90s movie connection aside, many of the participants really are reminiscent of 80s and 90s culture so it's perfect blog material for Tammy 80s and 90s nostalgia blog.

Try as I might I can only think of one thing to sum up how I feel about Battle of the Blades. All together now - TOE PICK!

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.