Musselman's Family Skating Tribute in State College Pennsylvania

Professional Skater John Zimmerman

Earlier this month my hubby and I took a road trip up to State College in Pennsylvania. If you are unfamiliar with that area, it is the same State College where Penn State plays their home football games. You will also find the Bryce Jordan Center, Beaver Stadium, the University of Pennsylvania and other local attractions and destinations.

Just this year Penn Stated opened up the brand new Pegula Ice Arena where Penn State plays their hockey home games, home of the Penn State Figure Skating Team, etc. The Pegula Ice Arena was host to the Musselman's Apple Sauce Family Skating Tribute back on November 3rd, 2013.

John Zimmerman

This Family Skating Tribute will air nationally on TV on your NBC channels on November 24th, 2013 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm EST. Please check your local listings for channel and times. It will also be rebroadcast on AXS TV (dates & times to be determined). You can find additional information about this event by visiting the Disson Skating web site.

We decided to make our little road trip into a "date night" and reserved a night at the Sleep Inn in State College. You can find our lodging review on the Sleep Inn right here on our blog under the Pennsylvania section. Briefly I will say that we were very pleased with our accommodations!

Hosts - Kristi Yamaguchi and Michael Weiss

The hosts for the Family Skating Event were Kristi Yamaguchi and Michael Weiss. I had been a fan of their's for years and I absolutely love professional figure skating, so I was pretty excited to see both of them up close and personal. Our seats were in the 5th row and at center ice. Fabulous seating!

The musical guests for the skating event was country music star Sara Evans. I will admit, I am not a huge country music fan but hubby & I both enjoy listening to Sara Evans and her beautiful voice. Hubby was really in his "glory" every time she came out on-stage to sing. He adores her!

Country Music Star - Sara Evans

The event featured several professional national and Olympic skating champions! We got to see Michael Weiss, Kristi Yamaguchi, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Paul Wylie, Kurt Browning, Ilia Kulik, Irina Slutskaya, Naomi Lang, Isabelle Brasseur, Rocky Marvel, Silvia Fontana and John Zimmerman. 

The professional skaters incorporated some of their children into their skating routines which was really fun to see. I really enjoyed seeing Kurt Browning's two boys which were hilarious out on the ice. You can tell those two boys really take after their father with their humor and ability to clown around and entertain.

Ekaterina Gordeeva 

My favorite performance of the evening was when Ekaterina Gordeeva hit the ice. Oh my gosh, she is so beautiful and elegant when she skates. I could hardly take my eyes off her as she danced and floated around on the ice. I have always enjoyed watching her but she is even more beautiful when you see her skate live. 

Hubby has always enjoyed seeing Rocky Marvel skate and wow...did he put on a beautiful performance! Super entertaining to watch and he is a lot taller than what he appears on TV. It was great to see Isabelle Brasseur & Rocky Marvel skate together and was one of our favorite moments at the family skating event.

Isabelle Brasseur and Rocky Marvel

The event started at 5:00 pm and we didn't get out of the Pegula Ice Arena until around 9:00 pm. About halfway through the event they had a 20 minute intermission and we were able to grab a quick bite to eat and something to drink. Just be forewarned, food and beverages at the Pegula Ice Arena are pretty pricey!

We had a great time on our "date night" to see the Musselman's Family Skating Tribute at the Pegula Ice Arena in State College, Pennsylvania and we hope to go up to see the event again next Fall when they are back in the area. If you ever get the chance to see one of these professional skating events, we highly recommend that you jump on the opportunity!

Disclosure: We were provided with 2 complimentary tickets to the Musselman's Family Skating Tribute at the Pegula Ice Arena by the sponsor Musselman's Apple Sauce. We did not receive monetary compensation. Our thoughts & opinions about the skating venue are 100% our own and your thoughts and opinions may differ.