Muir’s dedication to perfecting her figure skating saw her spend long hours at the rink in her hometown of Trenton, Michigan, eventually catching the eye of Pete Zancanaro, father of two scrappy identical twins, Tony and Brad Zancanaro. At just 15 years old, Pete was immediately impressed by Muir’s skating prowess, Pete knew Muir could be used as a weapon to give his players a competitive advantage. She could help teach them the ability to outskate any opponent they faced. Muir, who skated light on her feet and was efficient with her strides and footwork, didn’t have a hockey perspective to lean on like the athletes she coached, but she used her expert skating techniques to help her athletes see the game from a different angle.
Under Muir’s tutelage, the Zancanaro twins went on to have successful college hockey careers at Boston University and Providence College, with Tony captaining the Friars and Brad holding co-captain honors for the Terriers in 2005.
Muir realized after training her first two athletes that she had an opportunity to help athletes from all facets of the game. The birth of her program “Can’t Skate, Can’t Play,” quickly turned into a prosperous endeavor, growing from just the Zancanaro twins to over 200 eager athletes in just six months. The long hours spent in hockey rinks watching her brothers growing up allowed her to dissect the game and use this knowledge in her power skating lessons, informing her students of ways to tweak their skating just slightly to execute more effectively on the ice.
“When giving lessons, my defensemen have to be the best at agility. They may not be the fastest, but they should be equally fast as the forwards,” Muir said. “My forwards probably aren’t as good at lateral movement. So, we spend a lot of training time on lateral movements. I don’t care what position you play; you’re going to be an all-around skater when you train with me, especially for my goaltenders.”
Muir’s resume of athletes she has worked with is formidable, from a host of former and current National Team Development Program athletes, including 2023 Under-18 Men’s Worlds Championship gold-medalists Trey Augustine and Zach Schulz, to working with the Detroit Red Wings and the Carolina Hurricanes.
“When I worked with the Carolina Hurricanes, their goalie coach had me work with the goaltenders, and I learned so much about skating for goalies that fast forward, now we run our own goalie camps, specifically focusing on power skating for goalies,” Muir said. “When you talk to pro goalies, they will all say they have to be the best skaters on the ice. There are so many variations of skating, and goalies have to be skilled at multiple forms of them.”
Muir has been a power skating coach since 1990 and has seen the game grow and evolve. Therefore, Muir has worked to adapt her coaching techniques as well. Watching the game transcend into a speedier, more technically skilled sport, Muir has worked to transform her own focus. Although she enjoys seeing the fruits of her labor illustrated on the ice, her greatest accomplishments are the bonds she makes off the ice.
“As a coach, the highest level of gratification for me from what I’ve done in the 30-plus years that I’ve been coaching is the relationship that I have with students.” Muir said. “I have a particular athlete that this is probably the most relatable to. Matt Roy’s playing with the LA Kings right now and I’ve coached him since he was 5 years old. I’ve been at his high school graduation, his NHL draft, his wedding and the baptism for his kids. When you are part of that journey and someone wants you to be there in the most poignant and vignettes of their lives, that’s the privilege, that’s when you feel like you’ve made it. Not the NHL teams I have worked with, but that someone wanted you along their whole journey and still see you as that valuable in their life, as a human being, not as a coach.”
