by Anne Calder | Photo by Daphne Backman

U.S. ice dancers Elliana Peal & Ethan Peal have made several recent changes in their lives.  The siblings have moved to London, Ontario Canada to train with the Ice Academy of Montreal coaching staff. The team made their senior debut at the recent LPIDI event and finished sixth of the twenty-one competitors.

Elliana and Ethan spoke with ice-dance.com in Lake Placid, NY about their recent experiences.

IDC: Tell us about moving to London, Ontario CAN, and what the experience has been like.

Ethan: Last season by a biometrics standpoint was very successful. We achieved our personal best score, we made the Final, and we won a JGP.  Personally we were stuck in a rut. It wasn’t necessarily anything that was specifically wrong, it’s just that we were at a point in our lives where so many things were changing externally around us. Elliana graduated high school; we both had a discussion.

Elliana: Also our skate at Nationals felt very good to us. Then not making the Junior World Team was a big stepping stone to us making the decision to move. In my opinion, I think that maybe if we had made the team, we wouldn’t have decided to make the move.

Ethan: I don’t know. It was something we’ve discussed for a while, but it was never serious because she was in school. Her finishing her education was very important to us; my school is very important to me. That made it a little more complicated about figuring it out.

IDC: Did you check out other sites or was this the goal?

Ethan: In March just before [2025] Senior Worlds we went to Montreal and trained there for a week. I had been to Montreal several times. We just wanted to see it. It was a great time. We got to see all the teams preparing for Worlds. It was very inspiring.

Elliana: It was very motivating.

Ethan: Obviously, they were very busy. We had a discussion with them. It was an option to go there, but we felt maybe we would tryout at Ontario to see if we would like it there, too. That’s ultimately what we did.

Elliana: We went there in April to get choreography and decided, “I think this is where we want to be”.

Ethan: It was originally going to be a temporary thing – for just a few weeks.

Elliana: Then, maybe we’ll go to Montreal.

Ethan: As we trained, we found a home there.

Elliana: And we got connections with the coaches.

IDC: You already knew Madison Hubbell.

Ethan: A little bit. They’ve been so welcoming – not just in skating. They’ve helped me grow a passion and love for training. I’m really grateful to them for that. We are just exploring change and loving it.

Elliana: The coaches are very youthful. They’ve only retired a couple of years ago. . They have a very fresh look on the sport.

Ethan: Every day feels like a bit of a competition in the best way. These are our idols and to skate in front of them you want to impress them.

Elliana: They make training really fun.

Ethan: Every day is still evolving, and we’re continuing to have conversations with them about what the future is going to look like. Ultimately we’ve decided to stay with them for the foreseeable future rather than move over to Montreal.

IDC: Ethan, what will happen with school?

Ethan: Right now I’m taking a few on-line classes. Then ultimately I’m about 75% done with with my degree. I’ve kind of made the decision to basically stretch out the remaining over the next couple of years. My plan currently, which could change, is essentially next Spring during the off-season after Nationals to go back to Nashville for three months to take some classes in person, where we’ll train. Obviously we’ll go back to [Ontario] to do choreography. I’m planning to do that during the second semester. I’m in no rush to graduate.

Ethan: It’s important for me to continue to develop and move along in my education. I’ve also been looking into taking some classes at Western University, which has a program there that could transfer credits over. If I have to drag it out two more years, it’s not a big thing.

IDC: Elliana, are you also attending school?

Elliana: Yes, I’m enrolled in on-line school through Arizona State University, majoring in sports-business. I actually start next week.

IDC: Ethan, I understand you have added an outside internship to your schedule.

Ethan:  I’m interning at a company organizing data. It’s important for me to do multiple things and also to have something outside of skating that I enjoy.

IDC: So what’s it like living in Ontario?

Elliana: Everyone is super welcoming. It’s nice because I kind of knew some of the teams that we had competed against in the past.

Ethan: A lot of the skaters in Ontario are transplants from other places, so it’s a very welcoming environment.   No one feels too territorial.

IDC: This sounds like is a great new adventure.

Ethan: Yes, and we’re just excited to be exploring it together.

Elliana: It’s a new journey.