No Cold Feet as Couple Takes Vows on Ice in Farmington Hills

When Laura Vogel met Michael Ellis they were both taking adult hockey class called the “Breakfast Club.”

Classes meet once a week at 6 a.m., with participants in full hockey gear doing skills and drills. It’s not the first place that one would think about meeting a future spouse, but for Vogel and Ellis it was magic on the ice.

After weeks of working on their cross-overs and backwards skating, Michael finally worked up the nerve to ask Laura out for coffee, only to be turned down flat. But by the time the next session of 6 a.m. hockey classes came around a few months later, Vogel had a change of heart. The relationship blossomed, though it definitely made for some good-natured ribbing from their classmates.

In February of 2012, Ellis asked Vogel to marry him, and they immediately thought of the perfect place for the wedding – the place where they met over their shared love of the game: Suburban Ice Farmington Hills.

WDIV-TV covered the Ellis-Vogel wedding, with video of the ceremony.

The date was soon set for Thursday, June 28 at 6 p.m. and preparations were underway. Seating plans were charted out on “Coach Mate” boards; so that penalty boxes, face-off circles and the Zamboni entrance could all be accounted for.

Their on-ice hockey instructor, Lyle Phair, morphed into their on-ice wedding officiant to proclaim them man and wife. The guests put on skates to get to their seats, with rentals available for those who didn’t have an array of Warrior or Bauer in their closets. For the skating-impaired, seating was also available on the home and away benches. And after the vows, the newly married couple skated off through the “Tunnel of Hockey Love” formed as their guests each held up hockey sticks for them to skate under.

Summer is the season for weddings, but this marriage is sure to be one that is not soon forgotten.

--This story was submitted by Suburban Ice Farmington Hills.