Stars on ice

When Todd Eldredge was 5 years old, Santa Claus brought him what probably every other boy in Cape Cod, Mass., got for Christmas that year -- a shiny new pair of ice hockey skates.

Three weeks later, Eldredge asked to exchange those hockey skates for a pair of figure skates -- and the rest is figure skating history.

Eldredge has racked up an incredible competitive figure skating career during which he has piled up more than 30 international medals, six U.S. National Championships, three Olympic appearances and five Skate America Championships.

If Eldredge seems to still have that Christmas-morning boyish twinkle in his eye and smooth carefree glide, it is because at age 31, he is now officially retired from competitive skating. Come 7:30 p.m. Friday, he begins the Smucker's Stars on Ice show at the Huntington Civic Arena.

The Huntington stop is the first on a four-month tour for Stars on Ice.

Eldredge, who joined last winter's and spring's tour earlier this year for about 45 dates, said it was nice not worrying about those fur-coat-wrapped, steely-eyed judges anymore.

"It's a really nice transition because you're just enjoying yourself and having fun with the crowd," Eldredge said this week by phone. "All of us have been judged for so long that it is nice to just enjoy the pureness of skating."

This 17th edition of the Smucker's Stars on Ice show is based around the theme of power -- athletic power, star power and the power of a dream.

Eldredge, who skated in his third Olympics in Salt Lake City earlier this year, is stoked about the star-studded skaters accompanying him on the tour.

Some of those skaters include 2002 Olympic champion Alexei Yagudin; 2002 Olympic pair champions Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada; two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt, world champion; four-time world champion Kurt Browning; three-time U.S. national pair champions Jenni Meno and Todd Sand; three-time U.S. national pair champions and world bronze medalists Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman and two-time U.S. national dance champions Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur.

The skaters, who trained together for three weeks in September in Connecticut and then another two weeks in November in Lake Placid, N.Y., all embody that sense of power, Eldredge said.

He said he thinks it is one of the strongest tours ever, with such athletes as Yagudin, a 2002 gold medalist who chalked up the highest single score in Olympic history.

"Everybody brings a little something different to the show," Eldredge said. "From Alena and Anton and Jamie and David who are so exciting to watch with the big lifts and throws to Alexei (Yagudin) who has all of the big jumps. Everybody really has something great to contribute."

The 2002 Olympic pair champions also contribute a spirit of true unity.

Figure skating fans will never forget the judging scandal of the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City at which both pairs wound up getting a gold medal after a teary-eyed drama and ensuing investigation that revealed some bizarre, back-door politics at the judging table.

"They all get along great, and it is kind of funny because we have a number in the show where both pair teams skate together, and I am on the ice at the same time reading a poem about judging and what it takes to get to that level," Eldredge said. "It is pretty cool."

That kind of staging is headed up by the show's producer, director and choreographer Sandra Bezic, who lets the skaters crank up music that ranges Elvis to Ozzy and Tony Bennett to Will Smith.

Eldredge will skate to a Buddy Rich drum solo song and a classical piece by Italian opera singer Andrea Boccelli.

"It was definitely a much more exciting and enlightening process trying to put it together from scratch and working with the choreographers," Eldredge said.

All of the skaters are on the ice for the opening and closing number, and Eldredge said there are a lot of interesting combinations that include all the men skating, the dance teams and other combos to wow the crowd.