TORONTO - The figure skating community is getting a hoot out of "Battle of the Blades."

Liz Manley has been tuning into the Sunday and Monday evening instalments of the elimination-style pairs competitions teaming former NHL players with accomplished figure skaters.

"The show has been a riot to watch," says the Olympic figure skating silver medallist. "I have always been a huge hockey fan so it's fun to watch them try to do figure skating moves."

Manley coaches at the Ottawa-region Gloucester Skating Club and says she'd have jumped at the chance to participate in CBC's "Battle of the Blades."

"Being married to a (former OHL) hockey player, I would have loved to have done it with him," she says.

Canadian champion Patrick Chan of Toronto has been training in Florida so uses his laptop to check out the show.

"I don't get CBC on TV but the day after the premiere I went on YouTube to check it out," Chan said during a visit home to Toronto. "I watched Tie Domi skate and I've never been so nervous watching other people skate.

"The hockey players looked so funny but I'm happy to see a show like this happen. Maybe viewers will have a greater appreciation for figure skating and understand how challenging it is."

National women's champ Joannie Rochette has watched some of the shows.

"I was really impressed with what they could do, especially the lifts with Marie-France (Dubreuil and Stephane Richer)," Rochette said after practice in the Montreal region. "That must be difficult to learn for a hockey player.

"I'll have to watch more."

Debbi Wilkes, an Olympic pairs silver medallist and now director of marketing and communications for Skate Canada, will certainly be watching more. She was in Maple Leaf Gardens for the premiere and has returned for another live show.

"I am absolutely loving the show," says Wilkes. "After all these years of figure skating and hockey competing against each other for ice time and attention, we've come together at last to show how skating can be celebrated as a lifelong achievement."

With the exception of Dubreuil and Shae-Lynn Bourne, the other participants have been out of competition for years and "it takes real courage to skate back into the spotlight, particularly for the hockey guys who've never had to perform like this -- no team, and to music."

"My respect for them is off the charts," says Wilkes.

The brief performances on "Battle of the Blades" are shorter than those at top-level competitions and the technical aspects are vastly inferior to those exhibited by national-level pairs skaters and not even remotely approaching the talents needed to enter the world-class realm of the International Skating Union, which is understandable given the short time the retired hockey players have had to dabble in pairs skating in preparing for the TV show.

"The level of skating is nothing close to ISU competition," says longtime Montreal-region pairs coach Richard Gauthier. "You have the girls who are very good but most of the partners are really bad skaters.

"I feel sorry for all those girls. They have to pull them around, hold them, so they don't fall."

Gauthier sounds as if he'll be pulling the plug on "Battle of the Blades."

"I don't really enjoy watching this show," he says. "It would have been okay for one show but I can't watch this every week."

Wilkes can, and gladly.

"Of course the difficulty of elements is not as great as what we'll see in eligible competition today but that doesn't take away from the quality of the basic skating -- how the bodies move with ease, the edge work, the ability to power up, the control," she points out.

"The figure skaters are clearly showing their superior skills at figure skating and all that entails but I'm not so sure our girls would be so stunningly good if the cultures were reversed and they had to prove their hockey skills.

"Okay, Barb Underhill would probably by an MVP but she's an exception. All in all, I'd have to say that there's never been a better opportunity for the Canadian public to understand what it takes to be a great skater.

"The comparison of hockey to figure has shown without a doubt that learning to skate well is a special skill that takes good coaching, top notch programs, special dedication and real talent, whether it's to score artistic and technical point or goals."

Five of the eight couples who began Battle of the Blades remain in contention for the $100,000 grand prize that'll go to charities of the winners' choice. First to go were Bob Probert and Kristina Lenko. Glenn Anderson and Isabelle Brasseur followed and, most recently, Underhill and Ron Duguay were iced.

Former world champion Don Jackson will be at the Gardens on Nov. 1. He knows the figure skaters and he's also met some of the hockey players through his between-periods exhibitions during NHL Legends charity hockey games over the years.

"I really have to give these guys credit for taking on something so different," says Jackson, who coaches at Ottawa's Minto club. "They're very good sports to try figure skates, which are very different."

The picks on the toes of figure skating boots are mainly for jumping and can trip up even experienced figure skaters. Hockey players on "Battle of the Blades" who've tried using figure skates certainly gained an added dose of respect for figure skaters as they picked themselves up off the ice.

"That's good for our sport and especially for men that take up figure skating," said Jackson. "On the other side of the coin, it is good for young hockey players to be able to see their idols skate without a hockey stick and to see what good skaters they really area. This series has been good for both sports and I find it is very entertaining."

A big test for the hockey players will be trying lifts while turning and changing feet like real figure skaters do, says Jackson.

"I think they could do it from the way they have improved as the series has gone on," he says.