The Secret to Extreme Skating: Don't Crash

Avid hockey player Harrison Rigsby didn't quite know what to expect.

This would be his first time auditioning for a Red Bull Crashed Ice Qualifier, which was held at Tampa Bay Skating Academy (TBSA) earlier this month. 

Harrison Rigsby races through the Red Bull obstacle
course at Tampa Bay Skating Academy recently.

The event presented skaters with an intense obstacle course designed to separate those who would move on to the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship…from those who would, well, crash. 

The event was also a first for TBSA. However, rink manager Glyn Jones couldn’t pass up the chance to host it, calling it “good entertainment” for fans of what might be called extreme skating.

But the moment Rigsby, a resident of Orlando, entered the Oldsmar rink, something inside felt familiar…something just clicked…

"I never tried out for one of these things before but the moment I tied my skates, I thought I had a chance at it," he said. "I kind of got tears in that moment." 

Those tears of joy were precognitive. Rigsby won the qualifying event that had him and 18 other skaters from all over the world - even one from as far as Germany - maneuvering tight turns and stops, jumping over and under hurdles, all while going as fast as possible. 

Rigsby holds his ticket to the World Championship.

"Trying not to disqualify myself was the biggest challenge," the 22-year-old said. "If any part of your jersey touched anything you were disqualified."

With an overall best time of 24 seconds, Rigsby, a junior at University of Central Florida and a forward on the college hockey team, earned his spot at the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship, held in Saint Paul, MN, Jan. 24 - 26, 2013.

Red Bull Crashed Ice is a combination of ice hockey, downhill skating and boardercross. The first-ever Ice Cross Downhill race began in 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden. Since then, the competition has grown into one of the most breathtaking of extreme winter sports.

Aerial of 400-meter-long Red Bull Crashed Ice World
Championship course in Saint Paul, MN., where Rigsby
and some 200 others competed. 

Rigsby was one of about 200 competitors to advance to the world championship, out of thousands of skaters who had tried. Once there, Rigsby experienced another skating first: racing down a steep 400-meter-long course of razor-sharp hairpin turns, bumps, jumps, rollers and obstacles. 

"It was exhilarating,” he said. “There's about a 50-foot drop in the beginning where you can't see where your feet are supposed to go. You're going about 20 to 30 mph. The only way to enjoy it was to be fearless.”

Rigsby was only a couple tenths of a second from being in the top 36 finishers.

“I'll be getting a lot further next year, that's for sure," he said.

TBSA is also looking forward to the event next year. This was the first-ever Red Bull Crashed Ice Qualifier to be held in Tampa Bay. And TBSA was the first rink in the area to get the job of hosting the event.

Glyn Jones, TBSA manager.

The Oldsmar rink met all the requirements Red Bull event organizers needed, such as an NHL-size rink and the best ice time. 

"They looked at all the rinks in this area and they finally decided on our place," Jones said. "They were very professional. They came in and set it all up. (The obstacle course for the qualifying events) are all set up the same way."

Jones said he would be happy to host another Red Bull event in the future.

Athletes from all over made the trip to TBSA to compete.
Fellow competitors congratulate Rigsby, in blue jersey.

Tryouts are held in various cities all over the country leading up to each of the five World Championship events. 

A strong showing of competitors came to the Oldsmar qualifying event. Athletes from as near as Tampa, Orlando, and Coral Springs made the trip, as well as competitors from Kansas, Chicago and New York.

Even Michael Hoffmann, a very determined German, didn't let the fact he didn't win in the Dallas qualifying event deter him. He rented a car and drove to Tampa to compete again.

But the obstacle courses that competitors skate through to qualify are no match for the real thing. At the world championships, competitors begin the race in groups of four, standing shoulder to shoulder, as they push, slide, wrangle and hurtle down steep ice. High speeds and a twisty course make for a lot of action and a good amount of crashes. 

Canadian Kyle Croxall won the World Championship race in Saint Paul. Rigsby ran into Croxall during his stay there.

Rigsby, third in line at top of hill, starts his descent
down the track in downtown Saint Paul.  

"He said when he heard I was from Florida he thought I was going to die going down the hill," Rigsby said, laughing.

Fortunately, Rigsby did not crash and lived to skate again. 

And as you might expect, deep down, he has a familiar feeling that he’ll be back to audition again next year, quite possibly at the Tampa Bay Skating Academy.

For the Love of Ice: Trading Cayman Islands' Breezes for a Good Game of Hockey

On a recent Saturday morning at Tampa Bay Skating Academy in Oldsmar, the unrelenting cold of the north rink seems miles away from the warm, off-shore breezes of the Cayman Islands — about 520 nautical miles, actually. But the four members of the hockey team Breakaway are doing their best to be ambassadors of the tropical paradise — all for the love of ice.

The team practices at Tampa Bay Skating Academy.
From left to right, Bill Messer, Norm Klein,
Joe Stasiuk, and Tim Derksen.

"Today the ice here was perfect," Norm Klein says.  

Klein and members Bill Messer, Joe Stasiuk and Tim Derksen are happy to train in the "more northern climes" of Tampa Bay as they prepare for the 12th annual World Pond Hockey Championships being held in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, Canada, Feb. 7 – 10, 2013. 

Participating in the international event, which focuses more on camaraderie and trading stories rather than on winning at all costs, is a tradition with the group since they started nine years ago. 

The team of Canadian expatriates will join about 120 other teams from around the world to play four-on-four, without goalies, outdoors on frozen bodies of water. 

Bill Messer

"That's how you learn to play hockey, on a lake, as a little kid," Messer says. 

But the Cayman Islands, where all four have lived for many years, doesn't have frozen lakes—or even an ice rink. It's located in the western Caribbean Sea. So each year they fly up for several weekends during the months prior to February to practice at the ice rink in Oldsmar. 

"We play here the most because they give us the best ice times," Klein says.

On this day, the four are playing two-on-two on the north rink. The puck is hard to follow but it's not too long before Stasiuk winds up for a slap shot. The puck hits Messer's thigh and flies into the net. 

"That's how Bill gets all his goals," Derksen jokes. 

Tim Derksen

Derksen, who's in his early 40s, and the other two seem to enjoy taking shots at Messer, but it's all in good fun. They know the Cayman Breakaway Hockey Club wouldn't exist if it weren't for the team's brainchild. 

After all, it was Messer, 50, who came up with the idea after reading about the World Pond event in the Wall Street Journal. He pitched it to the others at a sports bar one night. 

"I thought he was nuts," Stasiuk, 53, says. "I hadn't played in eight years. But the more beer, the better the idea became."

"By the end of the night, Bill was a genius," Klein, 49, adds. 

Norm Klein

All four started playing hockey at a very young age. They had continued playing into adulthood, but had then hung up their skates. Messer, the team captain, and Klein are now attorneys. Derksen is an accountant; Stasiuk, an engineer. 

Even though team Breakaway competes against hockey players younger and better than they are - some who are retired National Hockey League players - the team holds its own. 

Joe Stasiuk

"Last year, we were one goal away from making playoffs," Stasiuk says. "We made the playoffs once and we'd like to do it again."

Only the top 32 teams make the playoffs. 

The Breakaway team is sponsored by Cayman Airlines and the Cayman Islands Tourism Department. When they visit Oldsmar and aren't on the ice, they make sure to take in the local sights and restaurants. Bern's Steak House, Mise en Place, Lee Roy Selmon's and Jack Willie's are just some of their favorite hot spots.

"We do our best to stimulate the economy," Derksen says, smiling.

But for now, on this Saturday morning, miles away from home, it's all about hockey…and the love of ice.