November 26 – Canada-on-Ice Day

November 26, 2021

Posted on November 26, 2021

This is an update of my post published on November 26, 2010:

On this day in 1975, Canadian ice dancer Patrice Lauzon was born in Montreal, Quebec. With his wife and partner Marie-France Dubreuil, he became the world silver medalist in 2006 and 2007, competed in the Olympics twice, and 4-time gold medalist of Canada.

On this day in 1981, Canadian hockey player Gina Kingsbury was born in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. She ranks second all-time in scoring among the St. Lawrence Skating Saints.

And on this day in 2009, Canadians worried about thinning ice!

The effects of global warming are very evident and already somewhat dire for people in the far north of Canada. Apparently houses are built based on the PERMAnent nature of permafrost, and so porches and houses are beginning to droop as the permafrost melts. Major flooding has been occurring in some communities, and hunting and berry production is down in some locations because of the disappearance of permafrost. Some residents comment that the land looks a lot like a desert now.

Enjoy ice…

Go ice skating today.

There are many ways to enjoy ice skating—going around and around a rink is great exercise and, with music, a lot of fun.

Some people love learning figure skating moves and competing, and a hot, relatively new form of this sport is synchronized skating. (Watch this YouTube video if you’ve never seen synchro skating—it’s really cool, and it definitely should be made into an Olympic sport!)

Some people love speed skating, and of course the rough-and-tumble version of speed skating, short track, is a favorite of Olympic viewers.

And then there is the most important game on ice skates: hockey! This sport is popular at all levels—even at the become-a-You-Tube-star-at-age-9 level.