Inspiration on ice

 As someone who went on to build a life around ice skating after putting on his first pair of skates at age 2, Glacier Skate International Training Academy Director Chad Goodwin knows the power of starting out young.

That’s why the two-time Alberta provincial figure skating champion is an enthusiastic proponent of the learn-to-skate classes through Glacier Skate, a new organization based out of the Stumptown Ice Den in Whitefish and also working through the Woodland Ice Center outdoor rink in Kalispell. 

“If you have a strong learn-to-skate program for any rink or any figure skating club, it helps figure skating, it helps hockey, it helps the facility,” Goodwin said. “It’s a feeder program to the rink, so it’s important to have a good one.”

As a competitive Canadian amateur figure skater, professional skating entertainer and instructor to both top-level figure skaters and hockey players, Goodwin, 33, knows what it takes to develop a thriving skating environment.

Much of it has to do with ice access, which, even with the enclosure of the Stumptown Ice Den in 2003, has always been seasonal in the Flathead Valley. The Whitefish ice facility has always been closed through the warmer months, but with Goodwin leading the charge for more ice time in 2013, the rink was open in August for the first time for Glacier Skate training seminars.

“I think the mentality is that things in the valley are seasonal — skiing, hunting, fishing,” Goodwin said. “But skating is one thing you can really do year-round.”

For competitive skaters in any discipline, Goodwin said, the summer months are crucial to training. Winter is for hockey games and figure skating competitions while summer is the time for honing skills and developing fitness — things that can’t be neglected for those hoping to move up in either skating world.

“What we [competitive skaters] do in December and January is completely different from what we do in July and August. For competitive figure skaters or hockey players, April, May, June and July are the biggest training months. If you’re not skating during those months, it’s hard to compete.”

Goodwin said five skaters from the Whitefish Figure Skating Club went to regional competitions in the fall, and all five trained during the summer at a year-round rink in Medicine Hat, Alberta. There were also skaters in Medicine Hat from smaller Canadian towns such as Cranbrook and Fernie, which also don’t have access to summer ice. 

“When we put on our skating seminars in August, a lot of those kids came down,” Goodwin said.

Glacier Skate offers skating and dance classes for all levels and ages for figure skating, as well as power skate sessions for hockey. Goodwin played hockey until age 13 and still loves the sport; he also works with some of the Flathead Flames teams based at Woodland Ice Center. 

Goodwin was born in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and moved to Strathmore, Alberta, a small town 30 miles east of Calgary, at age 6. 

His early aspiration was like that of many other Canadian boys — to play in the National Hockey League — so he participated in organized hockey as a young boy. At age 10, though, he became interested in figure skating after watching his sisters practice for hours. At that time, he was mostly interested in the skills that figure skating might bring to his hockey game.

So for a few years, he did both — until reality set in. 

“At age 13 I had to make a decision,” he said. “I couldn’t do both sports. It was too expensive and the traveling gets pretty crazy as well.”

Part of the reason he went the figure skating route, he said, was he was at the age to move into Peewee hockey, which in Canada is when the game starts becoming increasingly physical, and Goodwin was “a pretty short kid.” He also figured he could return to hockey more easily than he could return to figure skating.

He started competing and was successful.  

“As you work your way up the ranks in skating, it gets more demanding,” he said. “From five to 8 hours then 10, then 12, then 15 hours a week.”

Goodwin and his mother would make the 40-minute trip to the ice rink before and after school every day.

“My life through junior high and high school was skating,” he said. “I went to school, and skated before and after, and did my homework. I was just busy.”

At his highest levels of training in Calgary, Goodwin was coached by Michael Slipchuk, a 1992 Canadian figure skating champion and ninth-place finisher at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Slipchuk was Goodwin’s coach for five years of his competitive career.

Goodwin was Alberta provincial champion twice at the senior level, the highest level in the amateur system, in the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. His best finish in the Canadian national championships was 13th out of 40 competitors.

By age 23, Goodwin was ready to move beyond the competitive circuit and ended up getting a job with Willy Bietak Productions, a company that creates shows for Royal Caribbean Cruises. The cruise ships had a 2,400-square-foot rink made of plastic ice built into the middle of the ship. 

“I left thinking I was going to do one contract — each was six months — but I did it for about six and a half years,” Goodwin said. 

Goodwin was able to see a lot of the world with the cruise work — traveling to the Caribbean Islands, Europe, the U.S. East Coast, Mexico — and other ice productions took him through numerous states as well. 

Another reason Goodwin continued with the cruise shows was that his wife, Bethany, was a dancer with the cruise line. 

“Me being from Canada and her being from the states, working on the cruise ships was a great way for us to be together,” he said.

 The couple made their way to the Flathead Valley after falling in love with the area during a 2005 road trip. A few years after seeing the valley they purchased a house in Columbia Falls and rented it out until they decided to give up life on board cruise ships in 2010.

At that point, Goodwin took a job with Rand Enterprises, which produces ice shows on both real and synthetic ice surfaces. This required more travel for Goodwin throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. After a year and a half of that, though, he decided it was time to stay home. 

He had met local skating enthusiasts through the Whitefish Skating Club, but figured it would be tough to make any kind of living as a regular instructor with the rink’s short season. 

“The president of the club kept bugging me to come in and start teaching, and I ended up slowly working with some of the kids,” he said. “That’s when I made it a goal to develop a year-round program for figure skaters and hockey players in the Flathead Valley.”

His first-year efforts were successful, with the August camps bringing in skaters from throughout the country and Canada. He’s still working on the details of the 2014 schedule, which he expects will include even more summer ice time. 

Staying close to home is more important to Goodwin then ever, since he and Bethany (who is part of Glacier Skate as a dance and choreography coach) have a 22-month-old daughter, Gabriella. She has already taken her first steps onto the ice, Goodwin said.  

Goodwin, who also enjoys camping, hiking and horseback riding, is still an enthusiastic skater even after his own countless hours on ice. 

“Now that I’m trying to take this on, and being a dad, I haven’t found the time I used to for training and practice,” he said. “I’d also like to find time to play some more hockey.”

For more information on Glacier Skate International Training Academy, visit www.glacierskateacademy.org