Same Old Song And Dance

Siobhan Karam and Joshua McGrath are right where they want to be at the Canadian figure skating championships.
In more ways than one.
The Minto Skating Club duo finds itself in fifth place after today's senior compulsory dance. Keep it up, and the second-year seniors — who finished seventh at home in Ottawa last year — are right in target to hit their goal this week in Halifax.
“We want to get on the national team, and skate our best, as always,” said McGrath, 21.
Their seventh-place finish a year ago meant no senior Grand Prix assignments in the fall. But Karam said that wasn't exactly a bad thing.
“We've been together so long, if we compete once in a year or 10 times a year, it still feels the same,” she said. “It really doesn't make a difference. It just gave us more time to train.”
It wouldn't be a Canadians without a Karam and McGrath travel adventure story. At least Karam, who owns one of the best smiles in figure skating, can grin about it now.
“We're used to that,” she said.
Karam's flight from their training base in Detroit was delayed and she missed her connection to Halifax. So she found herself stuck at the airport in Newark, N.J., for nine hours. She finally got here after 11 p.m. on Tuesday.
“I just did homework,” she said. “I brought all my books, thank God. If not, I would have wasted my whole day.”
Did she run out?
“Oh no, I could do it forever,” said Karam, 20, a third-year student at the University of Windsor, although she admits the extra study time has her ahead of the game.
“We have 40 hours a week of homework,” said McGrath, also in third year.
McGrath's flight was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but his was delayed, too. So rather than endure a long airport wait, he went back home and hopped on the plane the next morning. He got here Wednesday afternoon.
“We just changed our practice time, so it all worked out,” said Karam.
Now they can focus on making it all work out on the ice.
So far, so good in that area. And it could get better. With 29.00 points in the bank, Karam and McGrath are just 1.82 out of the bronze-medal position now occupied by Chantal Lefebvre of LaSalle, Que., and Moscow-born Arseniy Markov, who represents the Prescott Figure Skating Club. In between them, in fourth, are Lauren Senft of West Vancouver, B.C., and Winnipeg's Leif Gislason (30.70).
Worth noting: Canada can send three ice dance teams to the 2007 worlds in Tokyo.