Compelling
Competition

Arctic Edge-based ice-dancing teams prepared to strike gold

BY ED WRIGHT
Dec. 26, 2009, 7 p.m.

  There's a good chance you've crossed paths with one of them at a local convenience store, or sat in the booth across the aisle from them at a south Canton restaurant.

  You may have executed a double-take in their direction while they were practicing their unique talents at Canton's Arctic Edge ice arena, thinking to yourself, "Wow, they're good!", not knowing how good they really are.

  You may have been in the company of four of the most prolific ice dancers in the world without even realizing it -- because if you live in Plymouth or Canton, Meryl Davis, Charlie White, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir train in your own back yard, so to speak.

  The foursome -- Davis and White skate for the United States; Virtue and Moir for Canada -- routinely put in 40-plus-hour weeks at Canton's Arctic Edge, the state-of-the-art Michigan Ave. facility that gained international fame in 2006 when Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto captured a silver medal at the XX Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

  Belbin and Agosto have since moved on to train in Aston, Pa., but their departure hasn't left a void.

  With the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C. less than two months away, the Davis-White, Virtue-Moir teams are ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the world, so it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the training partners shared space on the medal stand on Feb. 22, the night of the ice-dance finals.

  "Both of the teams have had great seasons," said Igor Shpilband, who coaches the skaters along with Marina Zoueva. "They've definitely raised the bar as far as the level of their competition compared to previous years.

  "Based on the scores they've been putting up, they're not chasing other teams -- they're being chased."

N'ICE' FRIENDSHIP
  The fact that the teams train at the same facility with the same coaches will make for a compelling storyline once the Olympic ice-dancing competition commences on Feb. 19.

  With the Belbin-Agosto duo also in the mix, the event is sure to be must-see, edge-of-your-seat TV for millions of people around the world -- regardless of whether you can tell the difference between a Choctaw turn and a camel spin.

  "It's unique to have such a great friendship with two of our biggest competitors," noted Virtue. "We've followed pretty much the same path as Charlie and Meryl the past several years, so it's nice to have other people right there every day who understand what we're going through."

  "Having Scott and Tessa training with us has really enhanced our experience," Davis agreed. "They're our main competition -- along with Tanith and Ben and a few other teams -- but we're all great friends. We get along well."

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