Valentine's Holds Warm Memories For Skaters

TAMPA - Love will be in the air - and on the ice - Friday night when a skating couple who were engaged over Valentine's at the 1994 Olympics perform.

When Smucker's Stars on Ice descends on the St. Pete Times Forum at 7:30, a host of Olympic champions will be featured including Scott Hamilton, Alexei Yagudin and pairs champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

But it is when Jenni Meno and Todd Sand share the ice that a flame kindled at the '92 Olympics in Albertville, France, burns on through their slow and steady partnership.

On Feb. 13, 1994, in Lillehammer, Norway, Sand popped the question. The couple had been skating together for two years and were a few hours away from skating their short program when Sand proposed. "I didn't have a ring," Sand explained. "I just blurted it out."

"Both our families were there," Meno continued, "but the Olympic village was spread out and they weren't staying nearby. We had Valentine's Day off, then performed our free skate on the 15th."

"After our final event, I had the conference with Mr. Meno and asked his permission the old-fashioned way," Sand said, laughing, during a recent telephone interview from a tour stop in Cleveland.

They may have performed the proposal backward, but their on-ice duet garnered them a fifth-place finish and Olympic personal best.

"If anything," Sand mused, "I think the whole engagement thing took the pressure off because we were just enjoying our time at the Olympics and skating as well as we possibly could."

For this year's pro skating tour, they are taking their style in a new direction in their program, "I'm Your Man."

``It is really different for us because it's slightly comedic,'' Meno, 33, explained. ``The choreography is very difficult and we're playing to the crowd a lot.

``In our skating, usually Todd shows me off a lot. It's really nice because in this number, you get to see the funny side of Todd's personality.''

Sand, 39, added, ``The traditional classical or romantic number is definitely our comfort zone.

``If there's one thing I've learned from touring and working together so closely for so long, it's that you need to trust and be patient with each other.''

That delicate balance forms the foundation for pairs skating, where trusting your partner is essential to every move and disagreements or hesitation can prove catastrophic.

``I think Todd's more willing to push the envelope doing crazy things,'' Meno conceded. ``Both on and off the ice, our relationship is built a lot on trust and give-and-take with each other.''

``If there's a problem on the ice, we try not to bring it off the ice and vice versa. Our coach used to laugh because he'd see us fighting on the ice, then see us walking to the car holding hands.''

They also take different approaches in training and touring, Sand said. ``When we're training, or before the tour in the summer, there's a lot of give-and-take preparing new programs. Once we're on tour, everything is set and it's simple to give and take and help each other.''

Life on the road for six months at a time can take its toll on any skater, but Meno and Sand actually look forward to it.

``We know when the other one needs a little bit of space and some time apart,'' Meno said.

```We're traveling by bus this year so there's a lot of time to kill,'' Sand explained. ``When we're on the tour, it's like a family, and we both get to spend time with some of our best friends.''

Meno agreed. ``Sometimes we go home and you can't just pick up the phone and say, `You wanna meet downstairs in a few minutes?' I think we realize that this [touring] doesn't last forever. So, we try to really enjoy every minute of it because this is really the time of our life right now.''

The couple plans to tour next year for their sixth season with Stars on Ice, then possibly take time off to coach and start a family.

``I think we're kind of taking it as it comes,'' Sand said. ``We have to play it by ear, but it [a family] is definitely on the radar screen.''

The couple are in their 11th year as skating partners and in their seventh year of marriage.