Home and Away Ice Stars

Previously on Ice Stars...

She said it was touch and go,

but they have decided to put you in the skate team.

Yay! I am happy!

She's really upset, isn't she?

His face was kind of really disappointed.

I knew it was not a positive thing.

Coming up, Aren heads to Quebec with the England team

for the biggest match of his career.

You definitely want to not let your country down.

That is exactly what I mean.

Asiyah and her team battle it out at the British Championships.

And Ella decides there is life on the ice after Adriano.

I am going to use the opportunity with Adriano to find a new partner.

For some ice sports, you need elegance.

For others, poise.

But there is one that requires lots and lots of brute force.

Ice hockey is one of the fastest games.

If you have the puck, anyone can come and take you out.

Aren and his big brother Rais like nothing more

than clashing on the ice.

If he is near me and I've got the puck,

I know that he will definitely hit me!

I tell you, I don't go easy on him.

What is that?!

He's just tough on me because he knows that if he goes

easy on me, it won't make me better.

Make sure you follow and look up, yeah?

That was nice.

Rais's tough love must have done some good...

Go for that.

-Yeah?

-..because Aren has been selected for the England team.

He will travel 2,000 miles to Quebec in Canada for an incredible

ice-hockey experience.

We are going out to Quebec to play in the biggest tournament for my

age group in the world.

There will be international teams

such as Hong Kong and Japan -

it'll be really tough competition.

Although it is Aren who will be playing in the tournament...

..his mum and dad are turning the trip

into their annual family holiday.

It's going to be really cold.

Getting kit for someone Rais's size

is so much cheaper in Canada that the money saved

goes towards the cost of the holiday.

Being really tall in Britain,

equipment is not the easiest thing to get.

In Canada, they have got to have larger sizes

because there are so much more people that play it,

so it'll be cool to go to the shop and see my size in shorts or skates.

But Rais isn't just going for the shopping.

He has always wanted to experience a different sort of ice hockey,

one he can't do back in the UK.

Are you looking forward to going on pond hockey?

Yes, I'm looking forward to it. I've never done it before,

and I hear it is a really good experience to do.

Pond hockey is, every basketball court at the end of the road

gets frozen over by parents,

they put boards around and nets out.

Just going back to the way hockey was originally played,

in the elements.

Shall I go and tell Mum that we're done?

-Yeah, sure.

-All right.

While the boys finish packing for their adventure...

..across town Ella is thinking about her future

after her split from partner Adriano.

Flour, egg, yes.

Flour, egg, breadcrumbs.

How do you feel now it's all a bit official?

I'm still a bit upset, but... it happens.

Yeah, I'm upset, too.

When I found out that Adriano was leaving, I was upset.

It was obviously not a nice thing to hear,

that your partner was going back to his country.

Right, what are we going to do, then?

We need to get back on the ice in the morning, yeah?

I think you need to see everybody.

I'm going to carry on and keep positive.

Now we can think about new things.

I obviously wasn't just going to quit,

because I really like doing ice dance.

I'm going to use the opportunity with Adriano to find a new partner.

At the end of the day, Adriano came from nowhere, didn't he?

So you never know what might happen.

It's absolutely not the end for Ella in terms of finding a partner.

Hopefully someone will come along soon.

What do you think, Millie,

-do you think she makes good chicken nuggets?

-Mm-hm.

In the world of ice dance, girls outnumber boys ten to one.

Something that Ella and her friend Lauren know all too well.

You see all these people that do have partners,

it feels really cruel sometimes.

In six years of ice dancing, Lauren has never had a long-term partner.

Obviously, I've been skating on my own for a long time.

There's lots of solo girls in ice dance and when we all get together,

we all have a bit of a joke,

"You two girls should skate together,"

but in reality it wouldn't really work.

If you had two girls,

you couldn't connect as much because you couldn't do the lifts,

because weight-wise it would be a little bit difficult.

And the skating styles would be too similar with the same gender,

so it would look more like synchronised skating

rather than dancing.

So even though it would solve the problem of girls not having any

partners, I feel like the sport is not at that point yet

to make such a big decision.

Last season,

Lauren and her friend Kershia both searched for partners,

but didn't find anyone who was right.

They are just not the right age and level

and it's not really going to happen.

This season, Kershia has decided to go back to figure skating,

which is solo, but you need to be able to do jumps.

Lauren just wants to dance.

How's your skating going, then?

Yeah, really good.

I've got a partner tryout thingy in a couple of weeks, so...

I've been to them before.

All of the girls, there's 20 girls, we get on the ice,

and there's about three boys.

We have to go there, try really hard,

when we're trying out with them,

and then we just have to sit back

and wait for them to either pick us or not. Like...

I tried out with this boy and the coaches were like, "Yeah,

"you two match really well," and Sophie had to go, "Excuse me,

"how old is he?" "12."

"She's 16, so that's not going to work!"

Lauren works so hard.

As soon as she finds the right person, she'll excel so much.

I'm really nervous about the partner-search event,

because I have to try and showcase

what I can do in just a short amount of time.

Having a partner, I am so determined to get that,

that is my main end goal.

After 20 hours in the air and on the road,

Aren and the England team finally arrive in Quebec.

Rais and his parents head for a hotel.

But the hockey team are all staying with host families.

Aren and his team-mate Logan

have been billeted together with 12-year-old Joel's family.

-JOEL:

-This is not...it's not a lot of snow.

Last time we went to minus 20.

It's better than England, just rain.

Right now, it would be raining.

'The first morning when I woke up, it was just white everywhere.

'I have seen that much snow on movies before,

'but never seen it in real life.

'Obviously, we went over there to play hockey,

'but also to experience, like, Canadians' way of life.'

Oh, you do it like that!

They ended up just giving me a jug with a bag of milk in,

and I was confused, like, "What is this?"

I've never seen milk in a bag before.

It's also an early morning start for big brother Rais,

who can't wait to get outside.

For years he's dreamed of playing pond hockey.

It's my first time playing outside.

It's really good, I like it.

It's really cold, though, it's, like, minus 11.

It's the way hockey was originally done, in the elements.

Over here, it's the norm.

Wind rushing into your face, with snow.

If I could have stayed out all day, I would have stayed out all day.

This is our boys' dream come true, this is.

Amazing. To them, it's like winning the Lottery.

-It is.

-It is, it's amazing.

Back in Nottingham, the rink is buzzing.

It's the British Synchro Championships.

Really fun, because you get to see loads of different synchro teams.

It's amazing, the rink is so big.

Everyone's really competitive.

The older team, the Icicles aren't competing yet.

Today is all about the younger team, the Silhouettes.

Chasse, chasse, hold.

-Chasse, chasse...

-Yeah, just chasse, chasse.

And their newest skater Asiyah

hopes she can help them defend the title they won last year.

Being in, like, the proper team, it's been quite hard

and challenging, because I've got to stand out.

Come on, Asiyah, up you get!

It feels really nerve-racking, just thinking about going on the ice.

6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

Still missing four.

For me, it was really important

to, like, be part of the team that defended the title.

Three, two, one and back.

Four, three, two, one...

Of course it will be more pressure,

because they want to keep in first place,

but there's some really good teams that are quite close to them in

competitions.

Oh, dear.

Winning the British Championships may not be as straightforward

as it was last year.

Meet the Whizz Kids,

the Silhouettes' biggest rivals.

We do lots of tricky things in the routine,

like wheels and circles and moves.

We've been training every week, just to make sure it's perfect.

And low.

Pull the faces.

When we saw, like, Whizz Kids, they looked really confident,

and, like, they knew they were going to beat us.

We're going to come first.

I think, yes, we MIGHT come first.

We ARE going to come first!

They're an up-and-coming team that looked absolutely great,

so the girls know they have to skate good,

because it's a close competition between those two.

With so much at stake,

some of the Icicles have come to offer their support.

We wanted to wish you some good luck,

and remember to perform and smile,

and remember you're performing to a big arena, so keep your head up,

and be careful of your feet.

It's your rink, so own it.

ALL: Go...Silhouettes!

WHOOPING

Good luck!

Every year, ice dancers looking for partners

can go along for a day of tryouts.

Are you nervous, Lauren?

Yeah. I was trying not to think about it.

Lauren has been before,

but she's hoping that this year there may be some newcomers.

I hope that there's lots of different boys and less girls,

cos that just makes my job a lot easier.

Lauren gets to the rink early,

and it looks like someone else has had the same idea.

It's Ella! Ella's here!

I didn't even recognise it was her because I never see her in a skirt.

Come here!

How are you?

Ready, then?

Yeah! No?

Come on, then, pal.

I knew I wanted a partner, so if I was going to get a new partner,

I needed to put myself out there, so that's why I went to the tryouts.

With more and more girls arriving by the minute,

Lauren and Ella are going to have to fight to get noticed.

Good morning, skaters.

This is not a guarantee of getting a partner.

There were loads and loads of girls

and there was about five or six boys.

When you actually say it like that,

you don't realise how crazy the numbers are.

Let's just get on with it.

Push, chasse, hold, and the other way.

Push, chasse, hold.

OK. Then we'll just do the same kind of conveyor belt, OK?

With over 30 girls now in the session,

there just don't seem enough boys to go around.

Chasse, left, right, chasse, right.

Next batch of ladies in.

-LAUREN:

-The atmosphere is really tense.

Everyone's trying to judge what everyone's like.

You have to just push forward if you want to get a go.

I wouldn't be shy, ladies,

cos you may not get much opportunity to skate with these guys.

At the beginning of the session, I was a bit shy.

Go ahead.

It was so soon after Adriano went back home to Italy.

Lauren was pushing me to the front a bit more.

I found it really nice that she was trying to help me.

Give your very, very best effort when you're on with your boy.

When we got onto the ice, I got a bit more confident.

Double left, inside.

Double right.

I think the tryout was a good way

for me to start trying to find a partner.

And I'm really glad I went.

Don't be shy, there are boys here. Grab a boy, grab a boy.

In the end, I just started shouting, I was like, "Hey,

"I'm going to go with you now."

So you just have to put yourself forward.

Lauren performs beautifully.

But she's met all these boys before,

so she knows they're not quite right for her.

ALL: Thank you.

Skated actually OK,

but I don't think anything's going to come out of it.

I don't know what keeps me going.

Maybe just the hope that it might actually happen,

but I'm getting old now!

In Quebec, Aren is about to take on a team

who are way more experienced than him.

OK.

On a rink that feels more like a theme park.

It was a rink in the middle of a shopping mall.

Then there was a massive roller-coaster

at the top of the mall, and a ferris wheel.

You never get something like that in England.

As Aren and the team start to warm up...

..Rais grabs his chance to kit up.

Time to shop.

This shop is absolutely huge.

I heard the shops were big over there,

but I wasn't expecting that big.

It's like a warehouse, almost, just full of hockey kit.

There had to be a whole wall full of hockey gloves,

at least five aisles, I think, of sticks, different sizes.

-For starters, these are way too small.

-Small.

They're in the wrong bit.

They had walls of skates, it was insane, they had everything.

This is a good skate for him because that's not a large skate,

the skate is pretty close to the feet.

So for him, that's a good choice.

They're way more expensive in England.

You're just picking and choosing.

The prices were really good as well.

39.

So 20 quid?

Yeah. £70 at home.

I think I'm 6'4, nearly 6'5 now.

At home, I could not find any shorts that fit me.

Yeah, they're the right size.

So, for me it was my chance to get the equipment I needed,

in the right sizes that fit me.

I could have spent maybe four or five hours in that shop.

But time is running out for Aren,

who is warming up for the performance of his life.

He's got a group stage to get through before moving on to

knockout rounds. His first match is against the Colorado Avalanche,

who won the tournament two years ago.

They will be very skilful,

and we need to be on our A game to have a good game and beat them.

England are going to have to play better than ever before.

If someone told you that England were going to beat that team,

they would probably laugh in your face.

This is for real, it's going to be a tough game.

The guys have told you what they want to do,

they're going to be hard on you all the time.

You definitely want to not let your country down.

It's a real, real long way to come and not try 110%, OK?

Because you're never going to get this time back.

No good coming off the end of each game saying,

"I could have done this," or, "I should have tried harder at that."

-Cos you won't be able to do it.

-Put energy into it.

Good, fast changes.

And let's enjoy the game, guys.

ALL YELL

I saw that they were a big, strong,

fast team. But none of us were scared of them.

We were all up for the challenge.

Straight away we just went into their zone.

Aren's number 14.

And only seconds into the game, he scores.

I saw that we had a few players in front of the net,

screening the goalie's view.

So I knew that I needed to shoot straightaway, so I just shot it.

He just took a one-time slap shot.

Like, I taught it before he went.

His first England goal, 15 seconds into his first proper England game.

I was really proud of him, I thought it was really good.

INDISTINCT

A good team just doesn't give up.

So we knew that they were just going to come straight back at us strong.

At the start of the second period, the score is still 1-0.

But then the Colorado Avalanche begin their comeback.

We were playing well, but so were they.

And, um, they scored.

With the scores tied, England fight to claw back their lead.

We all went full out.

We wanted to show them that England aren't a bad country at ice hockey.

Minutes later...

..and England score again.

The Colorado Avalanche pull together and push England back.

But then England surge forward...

..and get a third goal.

Can they hold on?

There are just seconds left.

KLAXON Yes!

They've done it!

Them people, they should absolutely...

they should have hammered us.

I was extremely proud of Aren and the team.

They were just playing so well together.

We went out there and made England proud.

What a start to the tournament.

England went on to win another six games and draw two.

Not bad, Aren.

To win away feels fantastic.

To lose at home would be a disaster for the Silhouettes.

But before any skating, there's the little issue of Asiyah's eyelids.

Everyone's fanning me because my eye make-up has to dry.

Everyone looks really different with make-up on their eyes.

It's really, like, wet.

And if you open it, you're going to smudge it.

Shimmering and smudge-free, the girls' look may now be perfect...

..but in their final training session

their performance is far from it.

We cannot fall over.

We need to look where we're going.

If we did it like this, we'd probably come last.

It only takes one fall to knock a point off

and another team to win.

It's constant falling with this team.

And we just really need to try and stay on their feet.

I hope that none of us fall or get the steps wrong,

because they can cost us a lot of points.

We can do this. We just need to really go out there,

skate as good as we can.

You've just got to concentrate, OK?

It only takes one person to do the wrong steps

for someone to be tripped up.

While the girls try to calm their nerves, their biggest rivals,

the Whizz Kids, finish their routine to a massive applause.

LOUD APPLAUSE

The Silhouettes don't know it yet,

but the Whizz Kids have equalled their winning score from last year.

I think we've got it this time, haven't we, girls?

-ALL: Yes.

-Are you sure?

-ALL: Yes!

-Shall we do a chant?

-ALL: Yes!

ALL: One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!

One, two, go, Silhouettes! Whooo!

Right, line up.

Just one good clean skate stands between them and the trophy.

They'll need over 28 points to win.

-ASIYAH:

-I saw the crowd watching...

and I just felt really scared.

-You OK?

-Yeah.

You can do it.

Go, Silhouettes!

-Come on!

-WHOOPING

Come on, girls!

Please welcome from Nottingham, the Silhouettes.

Stay on your feet today.

-Oh, no.

-Disaster strikes.

That is exactly what I mean.

With the falls in training and then the falls in the lead-on,

a win for the team now seems impossible.

When both of the people fell, I felt really, like, nervous.

I just got really scared.

Everyone was thinking, we've just got to concentrate now.

I was trying to concentrate really, really hard.

I tried to smile through the whole thing

because it could have got us extra points.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Yes! They've smashed it.

No falls, but have they done enough to beat the Whizz Kids?

They need to get more than 28 points to lift the trophy.

And the scores for Silhouettes,

total segment score...

-..35 points.

-SCREAMING

They've done it!

I'm super happy because Silhouettes just won! Whoo!

We're British champions again

and we held our title, and I feel really, really happy.

WHOOPING

Gold - so that means we won first place.

Absolutely amazing that Silhouettes have come first.

I'm so happy and I'm so proud of them.

Next time on Ice Stars...

Lauren and Ella brush shoulders with the stars.

-I'm Lauren.

-Nice to meet you.

I really like your costumes.

Izzy fights for a full-time place on the Olympic squad.

She needs the grit and determination to make sure she gets a good result.

And when our ice stars give up skating for baking,

it gets messy in the kitchen.

Urgh, it's lumpy.

We're hockey players. We don't do baking.

I don't do baking.