 Matt and Natalia Smith moved from San Diego California to achieve their dream of owning an ice rink. They met 4 years ago and have been married for just over a year and a half. They have extensive backgrounds in Hockey, Figure Skating and rink management. Matt grew up in Toronto, Canada playing hockey and figure skating. Originally figure skating was to help his hockey, but he happened to end up being pretty good at it. At the age of 14 he figured his team mates were getting much bigger than he was and the chances of making the NHL were most likely not in the cards for him. So, he decided to dedicate himself to the sport of figure skating. He won the National Junior title of Canada in '92 and was on Canada's National Team for a few years. He represented Canada at several international competitions. In his repertoire of abilities, at one time he could do triple/triple combinations, triple axels and both the quad sal cow and toe loop. At the age of 26 he retired from amateur sport and began his coaching career. He taught numerous figure skaters and power skating to hockey players and teams. He moved to Minneapolis to coach in '96. After a great year in Minneapolis professionally he decided once and for all to get out of the cold. There began his chapter in Southern California. California was good to him. His first stop in California was Orange County. He coached Olympians alongside the famous coach John Nicks. Some of the athletes he worked with included Olympic Silver Medalist Sasha Cohen, US Pairs Champions Johnny Baldwin and Rena Inue, as well as countless others. A couple of years later the opportunity to head up a rink in San Diego presented itself. It was San Diego where Matt developed one of the most successful skating schools in the USA, managed youth hockey programs and played a major role in the Adult Hockey program, not to mention he also met his wife in San Diego. Across a crowded rink in front of the skate rental counter at the UTC Ice rink is where he got his first glimpse of who was to become his future wife. The now Mrs. Smith formerly Natalia Kanounnikova has a fantastic and interesting background as well. Natalia grew up in Moscow Russia and trained as a figure skater at the famous Red Army Club. At the age of 18 she was recruited by the Moscow Ballet on Ice. The Ballet troop was contracted by Cypress Gardens in Florida. Her first impression of America was that of amazement. The troop left a snowy, freezing, dreary Moscow and arrived in Florida in the middle of the night. When she woke up the next morning she saw palm trees, green grass and birds chirping, in other words paradise. Florida holds a special place in her heart and when the decision to move back to Florida came up, it was an easy one for her. Over her career Natalia has coached at the famous Chelsea Pier rinks in NY City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. She stared in the WE TV show series "Skating's Next Star" and holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest spin on ice ever recorded. Most recently she assisted in coaching Max Lake, the 3rd best Juvenile Boy in the country to his bronze medal. For the past 4 years she played an integral role in the UTC Ice shows, Skating School and Competitive Team. When the Smiths left UTC Ice in San Diego there were over 700 kids in the skating school, over 150 kids in youth hockey and 400 adult hockey players on 38 teams. Although California had been good to the Matt and Natalia, they were looking for a change. They knew they wanted to be in warm weather, but closer to his Matt's parents who still live in Toronto. The Florida beaches and the huge boating community ain't so bad either. Florida is where Matt and his family spent many winters and spring breaks so moving here was a natural fit. For both of them, Florida felt like home immediately. It was one year ago this past August that Matt reached out to the Ninkos about the purchase of Space Coast Iceplex. Finally on September 9th of this year the Smiths were able to close on the deal. He and his wife are looking forward to an awesome future on the Space Coast at the Iceplex!
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