Coach Marla is one tough cookie.

That’s what 40 locked-out NHLers discovered Tuesday morning at the St. Louis Park Rec Center. The no-nonsense, red-headed figure-skating instructor marched straight out to center-ice during a scrimmage and kicked the players off.

The NHLers, who rent ice four times a week, were scrimmaging on one sheet. Today’s large group included off the top of my head Cullen, Kassian, Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Cal Clutterbuck, Darroll Powe, Niklas Backstrom, Josh Harding, Clayton Stoner, Justin Falk, Nate Prosser, Stephane Veilleux, Paul Martin, Keith Ballard, Blake Wheeler, Ryan Carter, Jack Hillen, Andrew Alberts, Nate Thompson, Kyle Okposo and many others.

When the ice got chewed up, the players stepped off and walked to the next sheet over to continue.

That’s when Coach Marla “waltzed straight out to the middle of the ice and told us all to get off,” Falk, the locked-out Wild defenseman, said, laughing. “We have a tough enough time getting on the ice as it is, let alone having a figure skater kick us off.”

You see, Coach Marla apparently reserved one of the sheets between 11:30-12 in order to give a private lesson to 8-year-old, Sophie Ford.

Agent Chris McAlpine, a former NHL defenseman, tried to tell Coach Marla that she actually reserved the next sheet over. Coach Marla wasn’t hearing it, so McAlpine cowered, I mean, relented.

“It’s tough to speak back to a lady, so McAlpine was like, ‘OK, we’ll get off and go back to the other sheet,’” said Prosser, the locked-out Wild defenseman.

So one-by-one, the out-of-work, amused NHL players marched back to the other rink with smiles on their faces.

And little Sophie Ford tip-toed onto the rink for her half-hour lesson with Courageous Coach Marla.

via Michael Russo of the Star Tribune