The Anaheim Ducks have posted individual photos of the members of their Ice Crew! Click here to check ‘em out.

Kings Vision was on hand for the 11-12 Ice Crew calendar photo shoot! Check out this profile featuring Ms. December, Arsee!

[LA Kings Ice Crew]

These are some of the cutest holiday outfits I’ve ever seen on any team. Adorable! Click here for more photos if the Ice Girls during the Stars’ 12/22 face off against the Flyers.

By Mellany Armstrong
WDEL.com
December 22, 2011

Some of the Flyers on the ice score points with shovels, not sticks.

20-year-old University of Delaware student Brittany Sullivan is an Ice Girl for the Philadelphia Flyers. She found out it’s not all glamour and flashy outfits.

“They were like, ok, here’s your shovel, and it was actually really heavy, and it was kind of hard to skate with at first. I was not used to it at all,” she says.

Ice Girls have to look good and do hard work in quick fashion.

“So, you’d be going out skating with a shovel, then you would do some turns, and then, you know, a nice smile to the crowd, and then go do your job, still within like ten seconds, it was nuts,” she says.

If it’s not done correctly, the team can be fined $10,000.

“I’ve gotten yelled at a few times. We all have, but we finally got it under control,” she says.

There are nice perks — Brittany gets to go to the Winter Classic.

“We’re going to be in our little uniforms out in the cold, so, hopefully we won’t freeze to death. But it will be fun. It will be exciting,” she says.

Click here to watch the video

I was at Thursday’s (12/15) Lightning overtime win versus their Stanley Cup foes, the Calgary Flames. In between play I seized the opportunity to snap off a few photos of the Lightning Girls. Hopefully, after the Bucs season, we can obtain access to re-visit the Tampa Times Forum (new name) for a full photo-shoot of these energetic young ladies as they hop all over the arena mingling with the fans. Check back with us.

Tricia

Captain Megan, Tricia & Donna

Crystal, Donna, Lindsey, Megan, Desiree, Tricia & Brooklyn

Desiree, Crystal & Brooklyn

Brooklyn

[Lightning Girls Gallery]

[Tampa Bay Lightning Girls]

Click here to check out photos of this year’s Islanders ice crew!

From left: Janine, Chanel, Paulina, Christina, Stephanie, Samantha, Victoria, Cristi, Ashleen, and Danielle.

Molly performs during the October 23rd Titans game

When Nashville pro sports fans noticed the dancer/cheerleader rosters for this season’s fall sports, there was a bit of sad news, followed by some GREAT news! First the sad, this season’s NHL Nashville Predator Ice Girls did not include Molly, who had been skating for the Preds since 1999 (reaction=’Awwwww’). But fans’ heads spun at the speed of a death spiral when seeing Molly was now a rookie member of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders. What?! Molly, who has had an international career as a figure skater, traded in her blades for some boots? Molly shared with UltimateCheerleaders how this big switch happened, adding a new phase to a career that has taken her all over the world, including being a professional skater paired with a celebrity in the UK TV competition show, Skating on Ice, and being a character in a Wii game.

So much has happened to Molly, it is hard to know where to start. Reality shows, singing, picking catfish off of the ice for the Preds. So we better start at the beginning, during a time before Molly can even remember. Growing up in New Hampshire, Molly started playing on a hockey team with her brothers when she was three, so does she even remember NOT skating? “I really don’t remember not being able to skate,” replies Molly. “I feel as though I have been blessed gliding through life with graceful ease!”

Even Molly’s first hockey games showed her inclination to enjoy the spotlight and entertain the fans at rinkside. “I started out playing hockey at the tender age of three,” explains Molly. “My two older brothers played and the third kid was free, so my parents signed me up! We have an old VHS home video of all the kids on my team at one end of the ice, and little Molly in front of all the parents through the plexy glass posing and looking for attention. Thankfully, my parents recognized this and switched me over to figure skating around six/seven years old, where I then took Basic Skills classes, then on to private lessons and competing.”

It seems like world class figure skaters are so young, they must begin REALLY, REALLY young! Molly, what is the oldest someone can start lessons with a chance to be a world class skater like you? “You can start skating at any age, but chances are you’ll go further if you start young, because you will need time and experience to help you pass all the requirements needed for elite skating,” replies Molly.

Often skaters need to leave their hometowns to train away from their family, but in Molly’s case, her first time “away from home” actually made her less homesick. “At twelve years old, my father’s job transferred to the Hampton Roads, Virginia area,” describes Molly. “It was very sad and hard for me to leave friends and family in New Hampshire and head down south. My skating took a bit of a setback as well due lack of competitive skating in the area. My first summer after moving to Virginia (thirteen years old), I traveled back to my home rink in Acton, Massachusetts, to train with my coaches and skating friends, while living with my grandparents in Hollis, New Hampshire. It’s hard to say I was homesick being so busy training on the ice, as well as being with my friends and family for whom I was more homesick for while in Virginia, and knowing it was just for the summer.”

For a young person, committing to skating requires a lot of tough choices at a very young age, and these decisions eventually brought Molly to Nashville. After Molly’s training in Massachusetts, “Throughout the year competing, I had made new friends a little closer to home, so the following summer I trained at the University of Delaware (fourteen years old),” describes Molly. “Deciding which path my skating would need to take was very difficult at that age. My freshman year in Virginia was fun cheerleading on my school’s JV squad and playing indoor soccer, although my skating was suffering. I knew for my dream, I had to do something extreme! The following year I heard about an opportunity to audition for pair skating in Nashville. I went to a tryout during spring break with a boy named Bert Cording. The tryout went fabulous so, I decided to head to Nashville at fifteen. We had a great summer of training and we came along way in such a short time. Our future looked bright! As fall came around, I started tenth grade in Nashville. Soon after, having no family around, I was homesick. My mother moved (to Nashville) knowing that when I graduated from high school, she would go back to Virginia. During that time we housed other skaters who were living away from home.”

Though initially homesick in Nashville, Molly experienced the hospitiality that would someday make Molly embrace Nashville are her own hometown. “Nashvillians are AMAZING…I love calling it home,” comments Molly. “It’s a Mini L.A. or Nash’Vegas as I like to call it! I don’t know what it is about this place, but people are so warm and inviting. They will take their shirt off their backs for anyone. I think it’s the South in general. Being a Yankee and all, I really see the difference when I’m home in New England. The first summer I trained here, I was welcomed with open arms by my coaches, Olympian Bill Fauver, his wife Laura Sanders, and their daughter Christine, as well as all the skaters of the Nashville Figure Skating Club. They all took me under their wings.”

Continue reading Go Figure, Skater Molly Jumps from the NHL to the NFL’s Titans Cheerleaders