Amazing Race Canada: Olympians laugh off hockey challenge woes
It wasn’t a golden moment for Team Canada Olympians Meaghan Mikkelson and Natalie Spooner, but the pair say they’re not too worried about their combined struggles to hit the “five hole” during the latest episode of The Amazing Race Canada.
“It’s funny, we were just talking about it, but we haven’t gotten many messages at all from teammates or coaches or anyone giving us any problems,” Mikkelson said Wednesday afternoon from Alberta, less than 24 hours after the popular pairing on the reality game show needed an embarrassing 56 shots to hit the five hole on a cutout goalie during a challenge seemingly made for them.
“It’s been pretty positive, we’re receiving a lot of support, so it’s not as terrible as some people might think.”
Most viewers probably felt the way Mikkelson and Spooner did when the showpresented participants with the option of making perogies or taking shots on the ice at a cutout goalie similar to the popular “shooter tutor” hockey training aid.
The choice was a no-brainer for a pair of players who helped bring home a gold medal for Canada with a thrilling comeback victory over the arch-rival U.S. at the Sochi Olympics. All contestants needed to do was shoot a puck through holes in all four corners of the cutout goalie, then shoot the puck through the cutout’s legs (or five hole).
“It’s kind of a challenge made for us,” Spooner, 23, said on the show.
“I want to wear this all day,” the 29-year-old Mikkelson added when she strapped on her helmet.
Everything pointed to an easy win for the gold medallists, but it was anything but.
They breezed through the top- and lower-shelf shots, but needed an astounding 56 shots to finally put a puck between the cutout goalie’s legs.
By contrast, Sukhi and Jinder Atwal, the brother-and-sister team from Terrace, B.C., needed just 39 shots. And the Atwals had difficulty just standing up on skates to begin with.
“Do you know how to skate, Sukh?” Jinder asked his sister.
“No, (but) how hard can it be?” she replied.
The siblings didn’t know, or care much, if they were left- or right-handed shots, either.
And so the embarrassment mounted for the Olympians, but afterward, Mikkelson and Spooner managed to keep a healthy athletic perspective on the whole episode.
“Everyone playing hockey realizes it’s a shooter tutor — you can hit the post a ton of times,” said Mikkelson. “So everyone who plays hockey understands it can happen, but (as Olympians), they expect more of us. We’re not worried about it, we’re gold medallists, it’s not ruining our hockey credibility.”
In fact, Mikkelson and Spooner were trying to have fun with the entire thing amongst themselves.
Spooner blamed “the stick” on the show, but said Wednesday they were just kidding.
“We weren’t blaming the stick, just joking … it was some old piece of two-by-four with a crazy curve so we were just trying to have fun with it,” Spooner said.
Added Mikkleson: “I guess when we got there we figured we’d just get through it quickly, then the five hole … and not hitting it got frustrating. We knew we’d get it, so we kept at it.”
With a television audience tuning in, it was apparent the embarassment was mounting for the Olympians, but Mikkleson noted the show didn’t mention some background info. For instance, Mikkleson broke her hand in Sochi, and the 29-year-old from St. Albert, Alta., played through the Games with her injury, and assisted on Brianne Jenners third period goal that sparked Canada’s comeback from a two-goal deficit in the gold medal game.
“Well, what they don’t mention on the show is that my hands were a mess,” Mikkleson said.
“I was trying to raise the puck and I had trouble holding onto the stick, so it kinda cuts your odds in half. I had broken my hand four days before the gold medal game and I had surgery before (The Amazing Race Canada began filming). Basically, neither one of us had been on the ice since Sochi and I had complications with my hand just before the Race, I had to see doctors and (Spooner) was just so supportive in dealing with it.”
Spooner, of Toronto, and Mikkelson, from St. Albert, Alta., plan to be at the Real Sports Bar and Grill on York St. next Tuesday for an Amazing Race Canada viewing party.
“We’re glad our fans have been supportive and understand these things happen,” Spooner said.
Source:http://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/2014/08/13/canadian_olympians_less_than_amazing_in_reality_show_challenge.html
