After a perfect 6.0, Craig Simpson crowned figure skating champ

He did it: without all the usual padding, and in a pair of bona fide figure skates! And though his elegant crystal trophy lacks the weight of a Stanley Cup, it seems that for Craig Simpson, it carries the same sweet victory. On Monday, former Edmonton Oiler Craig Simpson was crowned the winner of CBC’s Battle of the Blades, which paired eight former figure skaters with ex-NHL players in a figure skating championship. Simpson and his partner, Olympic gold skater Jamie Sale, scored consistently high throughout the seven-week competition. A favourite performance was the Austin Powers-esque routine that the pair danced two weeks ago. [Simpson played the part in a blue crushed velvet suit.] But the pair set the bar with the “Simpson-Sale Jugular,” in which Sale swung freely from her partner, with only her skates wrapped around his neck. In his finale performance, Simpson, who beat out hockey legends like Claude Lemieux and Stephane Richer, scored a perfect 6.0. His prize earnings, totaling $100,000, will go to the Spinal Cord Injury Treatment Centre.Toronto Sun