Almost from the day they were paired, the whispers began.
Junior Grand Prix champs, world junior silver medallists, Canadian junior champions ... it all happened so quickly. And every big leap Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison began to suggest that it just might be true.
That they would be the next ones.
Maybe even (gasp) the next Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
Isn't it ironic then, don't you think, that the 2002 Olympic gold medallists played a hand in Dube and Davison finally seizing something that had at one time seemed so inevitable: Their first Canadian senior pairs crown.
“We’re almost speechless. This is a real surprise for us,” said Davison, 20, of Cambridge, Ont.
About a month ago, it seemed a real longshot to them. They missed a month of training when Dube had suffered a right knee injury that needed surgery on Sept. 25.
As Christmas approached, the clock was ticking against them. Dube and Davison were wondering if it would run out before they reached Halifax.
But a three-day session they spent with Sale and Pelletier in Edmonton just before Christmas turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.
“It opened our eyes to how ready we really were,” said Davison. “We were kind of running around, I guess you could say like chickens with our heads cut off. They screwed our heads back on, and helped us get ready for nationals.”
Sale and Pelletier also added a bit of flair to their programs, flair that veteran skating observers surely noticed in today's free skate final.
“They added detail, basically,” said Davison. “It’s more the way we present to each other, and the chemistry they display on the ice that we’re trying to take from them. The little things, like the way I present my hands to Jessica, those are the little things we’ve learned from Jamie and David.”
When it was over, when they had dethroned three-time champions Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, Que., and Craig Buntin of Kelowna, B.C., the Dube and Davison camp knew it had one important phone call to make right away.
“I think Annie (Barabe, their coach with Sophie Richard and Yvan Desjardins) already called them to tell them the news,” said Dube, 19, of St. Cyrille de Wendover. Que. “I think (Sale and Pelletier) are very happy for us.”
Showing posts with label Gatineau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gatineau. Show all posts
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Thrills Near Citadel Hill
They sure know how to build drama at Canadians.
Take a look at the draw for tonight's senior women's free skate at the Metro Centre: The final three skaters (in order) are Vancouver's Mira Leung (currently 3rd after the short program), Lesley Hawker of Barrie, Ont. (2nd) and two-time defending champion Joannie Rochette of Ile-Dupas, Que., who closes the show.
It'll be the same deal in Saturday's pairs free skate: Toronto's Kyra and Dylan Moscovitch, a surprising 4th in Thursday night's short program, followed by Jessica Dube of St. Cyrille de Wendover, Que., and Bryce Davison of Cambridge, Ont. (1st after short), Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que., and Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta. (3rd), and Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, Que., and Craig Buntin, of Kelowna, B.C. (2nd), who are aiming for their fourth straight title.
We know one thing: CTV and TSN have to be loving this.
*** We're guessing the Canadian championships remains necessary programming for the folks at Jack Astor's in Barrie. When Hawker worked there, her fellow staffers were always sure to tune in (as CBC showed during a special it filmed last season). As Lesley once put it (as only Lesley can), “they discovered the girls wear short skirts when we skate.” Now Langlois is a waitress there (taking the torch from Hawker, no doubt), so it's a good bet the pairs short program was on at least one TV in the joint Thursday night.
*** A most reliable Halifax source informs your faithful blogger that a 'pole dancing' fitness class that's just started up in this fine city teaches participants a move called 'the skater.' Nice to see they've caught the spirit of the week, one might say.
Take a look at the draw for tonight's senior women's free skate at the Metro Centre: The final three skaters (in order) are Vancouver's Mira Leung (currently 3rd after the short program), Lesley Hawker of Barrie, Ont. (2nd) and two-time defending champion Joannie Rochette of Ile-Dupas, Que., who closes the show.
It'll be the same deal in Saturday's pairs free skate: Toronto's Kyra and Dylan Moscovitch, a surprising 4th in Thursday night's short program, followed by Jessica Dube of St. Cyrille de Wendover, Que., and Bryce Davison of Cambridge, Ont. (1st after short), Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que., and Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta. (3rd), and Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, Que., and Craig Buntin, of Kelowna, B.C. (2nd), who are aiming for their fourth straight title.
We know one thing: CTV and TSN have to be loving this.
*** We're guessing the Canadian championships remains necessary programming for the folks at Jack Astor's in Barrie. When Hawker worked there, her fellow staffers were always sure to tune in (as CBC showed during a special it filmed last season). As Lesley once put it (as only Lesley can), “they discovered the girls wear short skirts when we skate.” Now Langlois is a waitress there (taking the torch from Hawker, no doubt), so it's a good bet the pairs short program was on at least one TV in the joint Thursday night.
*** A most reliable Halifax source informs your faithful blogger that a 'pole dancing' fitness class that's just started up in this fine city teaches participants a move called 'the skater.' Nice to see they've caught the spirit of the week, one might say.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
All Right, We'll Call It A Draw
The champs face an uphill climb to run their streak to four.
But it isn't exactly a mountain standing in front of Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin.
Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison were the winners of the senior pairs short program tonight at the Metro Centre. But their edge over three-time Canadian champions Marcoux and Buntin is razor thin: 59.94 points to 59.01.
“It's within a point, so basically it's going to be whoever goes out there and does it Saturday (in the free program),” said Buntin, 26, of Kelowna, B.C. “So we're ready to go out there and do our jobs.”
The champs had it going last night until their bugaboo element of the moment — the throw-triple loop, which has been a bit of an albatross for them lately.
“I guess it's one of those things that's not working,” said Marcoux, 26, of Gatineau, Que. “This is four competitions in a row that I've missed it. I don't know what to tell you, but I know tonight we felt good out there.”
Said Buntin: “That element, for us, is just now maybe becoming a bit of a mental block. When we set it up, we got this feeling that 'we have to do this because we've missed it.' As competitors, you can never have that in the back of your mind. So we're going to do some work over the next couple of weeks to get that (thought) out of there and get this going, because it is consistent in practice.”
After going to the Turin Olympics and Calgary worlds together last season, the top two pairs have become rather friendly. They got a little too close in warmups: Buntin nearly collided with Dube and Davison as they flashed by him.
“I just warming up a double toe and I turned around and there were two skaters speeding at me. I have no idea where they came from,” said Buntin. “It happens. It was neither of our fault and we apologized.“
But, he quipped, “it would have been a different story if Bryce pulled my shirt over my head and started punching me hockey style.”
Uh-huh.
Both put themselves in solid position to head to another world championships together, in March in Tokyo. Their efforts in Calgary opened up a third pairs spot for Canada at these worlds and right now, Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que. and Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta., hold the lead in the chase for it.
Langlois and Hay skated a clean program and earned 55.36 points, about two better than the surprise fourth-place finishers, the brother-sister team of Kyra and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto (53.34). St-Leonard, Que. based Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau are also in hailing distance at 52.48.
But it isn't exactly a mountain standing in front of Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin.
Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison were the winners of the senior pairs short program tonight at the Metro Centre. But their edge over three-time Canadian champions Marcoux and Buntin is razor thin: 59.94 points to 59.01.
“It's within a point, so basically it's going to be whoever goes out there and does it Saturday (in the free program),” said Buntin, 26, of Kelowna, B.C. “So we're ready to go out there and do our jobs.”
The champs had it going last night until their bugaboo element of the moment — the throw-triple loop, which has been a bit of an albatross for them lately.
“I guess it's one of those things that's not working,” said Marcoux, 26, of Gatineau, Que. “This is four competitions in a row that I've missed it. I don't know what to tell you, but I know tonight we felt good out there.”
Said Buntin: “That element, for us, is just now maybe becoming a bit of a mental block. When we set it up, we got this feeling that 'we have to do this because we've missed it.' As competitors, you can never have that in the back of your mind. So we're going to do some work over the next couple of weeks to get that (thought) out of there and get this going, because it is consistent in practice.”
After going to the Turin Olympics and Calgary worlds together last season, the top two pairs have become rather friendly. They got a little too close in warmups: Buntin nearly collided with Dube and Davison as they flashed by him.
“I just warming up a double toe and I turned around and there were two skaters speeding at me. I have no idea where they came from,” said Buntin. “It happens. It was neither of our fault and we apologized.“
But, he quipped, “it would have been a different story if Bryce pulled my shirt over my head and started punching me hockey style.”
Uh-huh.
Both put themselves in solid position to head to another world championships together, in March in Tokyo. Their efforts in Calgary opened up a third pairs spot for Canada at these worlds and right now, Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que. and Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta., hold the lead in the chase for it.
Langlois and Hay skated a clean program and earned 55.36 points, about two better than the surprise fourth-place finishers, the brother-sister team of Kyra and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto (53.34). St-Leonard, Que. based Utako Wakamatsu and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau are also in hailing distance at 52.48.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
A New Beginning
Every time I walked past Amanda Billings at last year's world championships in Calgary, I couldn't help feeling a touch of sadness.
Not that Billings didn't have a blast playing volunteer at such a big event in her home town (she'll tell you she soaked up every minute of it). But you know, somewhere deep down inside, she wished it was her out there on the ice, living the biggest of dreams in the arena first made famous by the 1988 Winter Olympics.
The poor girl just never had a chance.
Billings showed up injured at the Canadian championships two months earlier in Ottawa, having badly sprained an ankle during a freak off-ice accident. The gutsy Albertan gave it a shot anyways, but the pain was too great after she endured the qualifying session. So up went the WD beside her name. Not to suggest Mira Leung wasn't a deserving world team member (with two-time national champ Joannie Rochette), but a healthy Billings certainly would have been a worthy challenger in Ottawa for both the Olympic and world teams.
It's with that backdrop that a smiling Billings talked yesterday about being happy to be back in the game again.
“It's just great to be injury free,” said Billings, 20, who finished fifth in yesterday's women's qualifying session to advance to Thursday's short program. “It was a whole different experience, not to have to be worrying about an injury in the back of your mind.
“Just to get back here was a great experience.”
One final women's qualifying note: Gatineau's Kim Caissy, a former Canadian juvenile and pre-novice champ, snagged the 14th of 15 available spots for the short program.
Not that Billings didn't have a blast playing volunteer at such a big event in her home town (she'll tell you she soaked up every minute of it). But you know, somewhere deep down inside, she wished it was her out there on the ice, living the biggest of dreams in the arena first made famous by the 1988 Winter Olympics.
The poor girl just never had a chance.
Billings showed up injured at the Canadian championships two months earlier in Ottawa, having badly sprained an ankle during a freak off-ice accident. The gutsy Albertan gave it a shot anyways, but the pain was too great after she endured the qualifying session. So up went the WD beside her name. Not to suggest Mira Leung wasn't a deserving world team member (with two-time national champ Joannie Rochette), but a healthy Billings certainly would have been a worthy challenger in Ottawa for both the Olympic and world teams.
It's with that backdrop that a smiling Billings talked yesterday about being happy to be back in the game again.
“It's just great to be injury free,” said Billings, 20, who finished fifth in yesterday's women's qualifying session to advance to Thursday's short program. “It was a whole different experience, not to have to be worrying about an injury in the back of your mind.
“Just to get back here was a great experience.”
One final women's qualifying note: Gatineau's Kim Caissy, a former Canadian juvenile and pre-novice champ, snagged the 14th of 15 available spots for the short program.
Nineteen Candles
There are those teenage girls who always seem to find a way to come up with some rather elaborate birthday plans.
And then there is Cynthia Phaneuf, whose 19th birthday wish was a rather simple one.
“That was my gift to me,” the former national champion from Contrecoeur, Que., said after celebrating her big day by laying down the best skate of women's qualifying yesterday at the Canadian figure skating championships.
The crowd was sparse at the Metro Centre, but it didn't matter to Phaneuf, who hadn't skated in a major competition since the 2005 world championships in Moscow. First a stress fracture in her ankle wiped out her 2005-06 season, then a wonky right knee made this season start to seem iffy (she didn't start full training until late August) until she finally hit the competition ice in November for Quebec sectionals in Gatineau.
The road back has been long and hard for Phaneuf, who seemed like the next big thing in Canadian women's skating when she won the Canadian title at age 15 in Edmonton in 2004 (she turned 16 the following week). But it's literally been just like starting over for the ex-champ, who's had to deal with the normal body changes of a teenage girl and a three-inch growth spurt (she's now 5-foot-6) while trying to get past the injuries.
“I cried a lot,” she said of literally having to regain all her triple jumps. “When I started back, nothing was working. And I definitely didn't want my career to stop. I worked a lot, a lot, a lot. Sometimes it was very hard, but my goal was to get back here.”
Phaneuf still isn't confident enough in her triple loop or triple flip to put them in her programs (coach Annie Barabe said her skater is probably “six months away” from being in top form again). She only landed three triples cleanly yesterday, and put a hand down on a triple lutz. But given everything she's been through, no wonder Phaneuf could smile afterward and say “I'm very proud of what I did.”
Her goal this week is a modest one — top five, which would put her back on the national team, and into the international mix again next fall.
Let's just say this birthday gift was a great way for her to start.
And then there is Cynthia Phaneuf, whose 19th birthday wish was a rather simple one.
“That was my gift to me,” the former national champion from Contrecoeur, Que., said after celebrating her big day by laying down the best skate of women's qualifying yesterday at the Canadian figure skating championships.
The crowd was sparse at the Metro Centre, but it didn't matter to Phaneuf, who hadn't skated in a major competition since the 2005 world championships in Moscow. First a stress fracture in her ankle wiped out her 2005-06 season, then a wonky right knee made this season start to seem iffy (she didn't start full training until late August) until she finally hit the competition ice in November for Quebec sectionals in Gatineau.
The road back has been long and hard for Phaneuf, who seemed like the next big thing in Canadian women's skating when she won the Canadian title at age 15 in Edmonton in 2004 (she turned 16 the following week). But it's literally been just like starting over for the ex-champ, who's had to deal with the normal body changes of a teenage girl and a three-inch growth spurt (she's now 5-foot-6) while trying to get past the injuries.
“I cried a lot,” she said of literally having to regain all her triple jumps. “When I started back, nothing was working. And I definitely didn't want my career to stop. I worked a lot, a lot, a lot. Sometimes it was very hard, but my goal was to get back here.”
Phaneuf still isn't confident enough in her triple loop or triple flip to put them in her programs (coach Annie Barabe said her skater is probably “six months away” from being in top form again). She only landed three triples cleanly yesterday, and put a hand down on a triple lutz. But given everything she's been through, no wonder Phaneuf could smile afterward and say “I'm very proud of what I did.”
Her goal this week is a modest one — top five, which would put her back on the national team, and into the international mix again next fall.
Let's just say this birthday gift was a great way for her to start.
Monday, January 15, 2007
The Gang's All Here
Here's what I love about Canadians.
(well, one of many things)
I go over the Delta Halifax to pick up my accreditation, and who do I see but Gatineau's own Valerie Marcoux and her dashing partner Craig Buntin, the three-time defending pairs champions. We exchange pleasantries like we've known each other for years. Well, because we have (10 and counting in Val's case).
I'm not down the hall a few steps and I run into some coaches (David Graham of Nepean) and skaters (Nepean's Brooke Paulin and Minto's Annie Claire Bergeron Oliver) I know from Ottawa, all with that smile of satisfaction you get when you've earned your way to the big show. Michelle Leigh from Barrie's haven of skating talent, the Mariposa School of Skating, wanders over to say hello. So does that charming two-time Canadian women's champion, Joannie Rochette, who's just arrived from Montreal a few days after turning 21.
See, it's not so big that it doesn't have that feel of a family reunion. Lots of folks you only see once or twice a year, but always let you know they're happy you're here, too.
That goes for the small group of us in the media who cover these events regularly (this is Canadians No. 15 for me). Haven't crossed paths with any of my fellow scribes yet, but the action gets rolling at the rink tomorrow.
The stories will soon begin to be written. Or get told.
Of that, I have no doubt.
(well, one of many things)
I go over the Delta Halifax to pick up my accreditation, and who do I see but Gatineau's own Valerie Marcoux and her dashing partner Craig Buntin, the three-time defending pairs champions. We exchange pleasantries like we've known each other for years. Well, because we have (10 and counting in Val's case).
I'm not down the hall a few steps and I run into some coaches (David Graham of Nepean) and skaters (Nepean's Brooke Paulin and Minto's Annie Claire Bergeron Oliver) I know from Ottawa, all with that smile of satisfaction you get when you've earned your way to the big show. Michelle Leigh from Barrie's haven of skating talent, the Mariposa School of Skating, wanders over to say hello. So does that charming two-time Canadian women's champion, Joannie Rochette, who's just arrived from Montreal a few days after turning 21.
See, it's not so big that it doesn't have that feel of a family reunion. Lots of folks you only see once or twice a year, but always let you know they're happy you're here, too.
That goes for the small group of us in the media who cover these events regularly (this is Canadians No. 15 for me). Haven't crossed paths with any of my fellow scribes yet, but the action gets rolling at the rink tomorrow.
The stories will soon begin to be written. Or get told.
Of that, I have no doubt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
