Hello, My Name Is ...

We were due for a big surprise at these Canadian championships.
But this one ... well, this was right off the map.
Everyone pretty much knew who would get the first two available Canadian ice dance spots for the world championships in Tokyo. Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon of Montreal would win their fifth national senior ice dance title, and rising stars Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of London would secure their first world team berth.
Check and check.
No. 3? Wide open, it seemed, with Chantal Lefebvre of LaSalle, Que., and Moscow-born Arseniy Markov considered the front runners, followed closely by Lauren Senft of North Vancouver, B.C., and Winnipeg's Leif Gislason.
Both faltered in today's free dance. And in more than just a bit of shocker, first-year team Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje emerged with the prized third ticket to Japan.
Who are these guys?
Glad you asked.
Poje formerly skated with Alice Graham out of the Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club. They were ninth as seniors last year, after winning a Canadian junior bronze in 2005.
Weaver is an American from Houston, Tex., whose only previous partner was Charles Clavey. They are previous U.S. junior medallists.
When both were in need of partners during the summer, friends of coaches paired them up. They are based at the K-W Club with coach Paul MacIntosh. Their programs were choreographed by former Canadian world and Olympic team members Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe.
While Weaver and Poje won two bronze medals on the Junior Grand Prix circuit during the fall, they came here with no visions of grandeur.
“We were happy to be in seventh after the (Golden Waltz compulsory), to be completely honest” said Weaver, 17. “Golden is probably our weakest program because we only had two months to train it.
“Then we said, we can get better as we go on, and it turns out we did.”
As the other contenders faltered in the free dance, Weaver and Poje kept watching their names climb up the leaderboard.
“It was unreal,” said Poje, 20, of Kitchener, Ont. “It was kind of like dreamlike. I went into the competition not thinking we would place where we are and all of sudden, (we went) higher and higher. We just sat there in amazement.”
Said Weaver: “We’re just really, really happy. It’s like ‘pinch me’ ... we don’t know it’s really happening. It’s just great fun for us.”
Now Weaver will begin the process of obtaining Canadian citizenship, so she will be eligible to compete for this country at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
“I think Canada’s great,” she said. “It’s really fun for me. Right now, I’m just on Cloud 9. It’s just a great experience. I love my country, USA, but I’m really happy to be here in Canada.”
She's going in the opposite direction of Tanith Belbin, who was born in Canada but got U.S. citizenship just in time to skate with Ben Agosto at the 2006 Turin Games.
“This is a little tradeoff for us,” said Poje with a grin.
One that's working quite well for one and all, thank you very much.