• 11 December 1998 Report
• 12 December 1998 Report
• 13 December 1998 Report

11 December 1998

Junior Men Short Program

This is mainly the competition of Fedor Andreev, Adam Colville, and Jeff Franklin, who ended up 1,2,3 last night. My notes with the placing after the name:

• Eric Ritter(8) - fall on 3 lutz, slow on fly camel, 2 loop, combo spin that nearly failed, 1 axel, change sit
• Eric Gee(13) - none of his jumps were successful, all opened up in the air,landing forward on 2 feet, 2 1/4 flip - 2 toe (2 foot), 2 1/4 loop, 1 axel with 2 foot.
• Jonathan Payette(9) - a weird music mix of various bits of Micheal Jackson intrumentals, fall on 3 loop. 3 lutz (2 feet and hands) - 2 toe (fall), 2 axel with leg wrap
• Mark Butt(7) - 3 sal -2 toe combo, fall on 2 loop, clean 2 axel
• Fedor Andreev(1) - unfortunately, this program mostly faces the judges, who are on the opposite side of the arena from the seats. The music is Nightmare, which Sebastien Britten skated to at World Pro in Jaca last spring. A really neat program cleanly done. 3 lutz -2 (or 3) toe (I couldn't really tell and I thought the juniors couldn't do a triple-triple in the short.) 3 loop and 2 axel fine, although not alot of flow on the landings. Great spins.
• Clinton Petersen(11) - step out of 2 lutz, 1 axel and I found the program so dull I actually missed the loop completly. I find him a much more interesting skater in pairs.
• Mark Lauzon(10) - opened out of the lutz and nearly hit the boards. Fall on 3 loop. Spin out on 2 axel.
• Nicholas Young (4) - fall on 3 lutz, step out on 2 axel, 3 loop fine. I thought he was a nice skater with poor jumps.
• Jeff Franklin(3) - I first saw Jeff at Minto this summer and really enjoyed watching him skate. Both he and Fedor have so much more attention to detail that really makes them stand out among the sometime generic junior male choreography. His music was Robin Hood. 3 loop fine, 3 lutz-2 toe, step out on 2 axel. He looked a bit nervous and tenative at the start but actually loosened up and started to smile after the double axel problem.
• Carl Issariotis(5) - 3 lutz (step out) - 2 toe, 3 loop, he has nice speed and edges but no posture or carriage. 2 axel fine and a split loop in footwork (awww!,I have a soft spot for split loops....)
• Tommy Morin(6) - completely mismatched costume and music, fall on 3 lutz, nice 3 loop, held on to 2 axel, nice spin positions
• Ludovic Wagner(12) - hands down and step out on 3 toe - 2 toe, step out on 2 loop, fall on 2 axel
• Adam Colville(2) - 3 lutz - 2 toe (huge jump but really bent over on take off), 2 loop, nice 2 axel.

And that was it for Junior Men. I didn't take too many notes on compulsory dance. The Babbs are skating only as guests, they apparently get a bye straight to Nationals. Dubreuil/Lauzon are miles ahead of the rest of the field, esp. in the Tango Romantica. Piche/Denis in second and Fuller/Bradshaw in third, despite a few slips in the Tango. Mineau/Grant in 4th, although they looked very nervous in the Ravensburger, the first dance but loosened up for the second one. Balkwill/van Lueven tied in 5th with Currie/Smith and Davis/Grin in 7th.

12 December 1998

Novice Men Long
• Aaron Cameron - He started with some edge moves that he didn't quite have the polish to pull off. 2 axel - 2 toe. 2 lutz - 2 toe. flying camel. a 2 sal that was probably intended to be a triple, he clicked his blades on takeoff and was lucky not to fall. 1 axel (2 foot and landed forward). 2 lutz (wild landing). 1 flip. Combination spin with better back sit than forward.
• Tyler Cochrane - one of the littlest ones there. Combo spin. 2 axel (2 foot and hands) - 2 toe (toe-axel). 3 toe (fall). Flying camel. Underotated 3 sal. 2 lutz - 2 toe. Held on to 2 flip. pop on loop and fall. 2 flutz. 2 axel and steps to 2 toe. Combo spin with back sit on the wrong edge.
• Tony Broughton - He skated to Star Wars, which I found exceptionally endearing. Opened with a 3 lutz but that was his big trick. 2 flip and steps to 2 toe. Flying sit. Underotated 3 sal. 2 foot on 2 axel. Fall on 3 loop. Very little fly or extension on flying camel. Hand down on 2 axel. 3 toe (fall). Rather poor combo spin.
• Nathan Furniss - nice speed in a 2 flip - 2 toe. 2 axel. 2 lutz - 2 toe (underotated). Fall on 3 sal. Death drop huge but hands down. 2 loop (fall). Good flying camel. 2 flip - 2 toe, walley to 2 lutz. 2 axel (fall). combo spin a bit slow. Overall, a nice edge quality.
• Allen Chung - 2 lutz. 2 axel. flying sit. 3 toe (fall). Just held on to 3 sal. 2 loop. 2 axel - 2 toe (landing messy). Spiral to 2 flip. flying camel. Nice straight line footwork. Inside axel. 2 lutz and steps to 2 toe. Good combo spin
• Trevor Farquarhson - tano 2 lutz. Lovely 2 axel with steps into 2 toe. fall on 3 sal. Combo spin. Another fall on 3 sal. 2 flip. good flying camel. 2 loop from circular footwork. 2 axel. combo spin. Rather tenative going into jumps and seems very nervous.
• Matt McMurdo - 2 axel (fall). 3 toe (fall). combo spin with jump over. 3 loop. 2 lutz. 3 sal (fall). flying sit. 3 toe. Fall on very underotated 2 axel. Combo spin with layback.
• Maxim Lippe - He rotated so fast I couldn't tell if it was a 2 or 3 flip but I'm guessing it was a triple. 3 sal - 2 toe. A huge death drop but both the hands and the free foot were on the ice. Some rather frentic footwork. 2 axel. Combo spin with jump over. 3 loop. 2 axel (hands) - 2 toe (fall). 3 toe (hard fall). 2 lutz with another hard fall. 3 sal with possible 2 ft. He kinda petered out at the end but the strong start was enough to win the long and competition.
• Leo-Paul Dufour - 2 axel. Death drop. 3 toe. a 2 sal with both a 2 foot take off and landing. Combo spin. Nearly fell on a pivot. 1 lutz. 2 loop. Flying spin. 3 sal (fall). waxel. scratch spin. Got rather disasterious by the end.
• Matthew Bueno - 2 axel - 2 toe axel (not even a hint of a toe loop). Nice feet, esp. for a novice. 3 sal - 2 toe (fall). Flying camel. 2 lutz. 3 loop (step out and hands). 3 toe (hands). Flying sit. 3 sal. 2 axel (nice!). Really well done straight line footwork, crisp and fast. Combo spin. A really well skated program but the few problems made him 2 in the long and third overall.
• Alexandré Hamel - He was having a great deal of trouble with the 3 loop in warmup, falling several times. Started with nice 3 toe. 2 axel. 2 sal that just didn't work at all. 3 loop that was probably 2 foot (it was hard to see from the seats.) 1 lutz. combo spin. 3 toe (step out) - 2 toe. Waxel. 3 sal (hand) - 2 toe. Flying camel. The program got a bit crazy at the end, although I liked the choreography alot (spy theme) and he dropped to 3rd in the long and second overall.
• Mark Dunleavy - 1 flip or toe (I missed it). 2 axel (very nice). 3 sal (2 foot and underotated). combo spin. 2 axel - 2 toe. 2 toe. 2 flip. 3 sal. 2 axel (step out). A combo spin that went horribly awry and he barely stayed upright. 1 toe steps into 1 toe. The whole program was pretty much a disaster and he seemed quite discouraged at the end.

Once the Novices were over, we went up to Ed Sackfield Arena, the secondary practice rink and the main home rink of the YRSA Club, to watch the Senior Men practice. There was just one ice sheet and almost no spectators. Angela said it was family members and us, the nutty fans. The men overall were not very inspiring. The first group was the Quebec skaters and Hugh Yik. I'm sure no one was working too hard with the short programs that night but everyone seemed way off. I had been told that Daniel Bellemare had gotten his triple axel back but it seemed pretty marginal. He was falling on it alot and never really jumped up. Jean-Françios Hebert had a really nasty fall on the triple axel during his run-through. He was short of rotation when he came down and his feet twisted hard. It looked very painful and he doubled over, grabbing his ankles and shouting something as well. He didn't skate much more of his program and was very tenative on the ankle for the rest of the practice. Hugh Yik nearly wiped himself out on some footwork too close to the boards. Finally, Jayson was having a rough time on the lutz combination. I didn't see him try the lutz-loop at all but landed some lutzes with the foot in front and didn't take off for a loop. He only tried triple axels at the end and was grimacing alot when he landed one. In the second group there were a number of skaters I didn't know. Derek Schmidt was the only one to look sharp, I did see a 3 axel with an underotated 3 toe. No one else really stuck out.

Back to Thornhill Community Center for the Novice Pairs Long and Junior Pairs Short. The novices were not very inspiring. No gory accidents but alot of miscues and some lifts coming down early. In the final group, every team was a large man and a small woman. The junior pairs were a bit more inspiring. None of them seemed extremely young and there were no mismatches, like Poirier-Sakaly and Provost at Quebec Sectionals. (They went to Atlantics).

Junior Pairs Short
• Mailhot/Poitras - Lift stayed with two hands but good position. sbs 2 axels. Spins lost and then regained unison. 2 twist fine. Pair spin a bit slow. Footwork got off unison. sbs back shoot the duck into death spiral, good position by her. Nicely done. I didn't write down the music but I think it was a Charleston.
• Lussier/Lussier - Austin Powers music. Lift simple but well done. sbs 2 axel, she 1 axel. spins lost unison. Good spiral extension. The same death spiral entrance as Mailhot/Poitras but her position was not as good with a bent knee. Pair spin average.
• Butchart/Petersen - Music was All that Jazz. I saw them this summer when they must have been together only a short time (he used to skate with Jaime O'Reilly, they were junior pairs bronze medalists at 98 Canadians.) and they were really having trouble, including a fall in the pair spin in the short program. Since then, they have really improved but she seems to still be coming up to his level. They did clean sbs 2 loops. Very good 2 twist. Lift to 1 hand position. Good positions in spins. death spiral. Pair spin still messy but much better. Good speed on the ice.
• O'Reilly/Mollenkamp - They seem to have gelled as pair faster than Butchart/Petersen and mastered more difficult skills. Great 2 twist followed by very nice sbs 2 axels. Pair spin well done. Great lift with her in an upside down position with legs split. Spins lost and regained unison. Nice spirals. Good ice coverage and speed. death spiral very good. Music is Schindler's List.
• Leedle/Johnson - nice 2 twist. She fell on sbs 2 axel. Bit wild on camel positions in sbs spins. Spirals, both have very good extension. footwork a bit scratchy. Lift a bit shaky. Pair spin had nice positions. Music was Impromptu.

Senior Mens Short
• Derek Schmidt - Derek is now being coached by Marina Zueva and I think it is a good change for him. The short program was very lyrical and enjoyable to watch. However, not all the jumps were there. 2 foot and hands down on 4 toe out of footwork. Fall on 3 axel. Flying sit. Combo spin with outside camel. 2 axel. Change sit.
• Hugh Yik - The same program as last year to Bach Tocatta. A very nice 3 flip from footwork. 3 lutz (hands) - 2 toe and he still has the tendancy to break at the waist when he jumps, esp. on the lutz. Great positions in combo spin. very low positions in change sit. Good 2 axel. Death drop. Very well done, though without a triple axel.
• Jean-François Hebert - I liked the music alot, mainly drums and early music instruments. However, it was pretty much a disaster of a program with the opening axel turning into a single. 3 lutz. Change sit. circular footwork. Combo spin. Straight line footwork good but not full diagonal of rink. Fall on an axel that was probably intended to be a replacement 3 axel. Death drop. Ended off the music. I found the program very uneven, part of it was interesting with great footwork and other times it just died off and become crossovers into jumps.
• Micheal Pride - Mack the Knife. Change sit very low but traveled. 3 flip. 3 lutz (2 foot) - 2 toe (2 foot). Scrapey straight line footwork. Death drop. 2 axel. He needs to point his toes.
• Yvan Desjardins - 3 lutz - 3 toe (no flow on landing). 1 1/4 flip (ouch). Gorgeous change camel. straight line footwork. 2 axel. circular footwork was not very difficult. Combo spin good positions. Death drop.
• Guilano Cosentino - 2 axel. 3 lutz (fall). Death drop. straight line fw rather scrapey. Change sit. serpentine footwork not on strong edges. 3 flip ( 3 out). Combo spin had poor positions.
• Simon Larochelle - Change sit nice. Fall on 3 lutz. Not much fly on flying camel. 3 flip (fall). Combo spin. I couldn't tell if he was trying a 3 axel or not but he did fall. He seems like a nice skater but slowed down alot into the jumps and seemed a bit out of his depth.
• Paolo Vaccari - As an astronomer(for the time being), I was very amused by his outfit; a black unitard with sparkly spiral galaxies on it. I don't know what it meant in relationship to the music, which might have been JFK or some related soundtrack. (I later found out it was the soundtrack to the movie, Contact.) Underrotated 3 axel but nice height. 3 lutz. Combo spin. Death drop. 2 axel from steps (and a step out). Change sit.
• Sacha Lalonde - straight line footwork. 3 lutz - 2 toe. (Nice outside edge takeoff). 3 flip (2 foot) but good steps into it. Change sit. Serpentine footwork. Flying sit. 2 axel (2 foot and steps out). Combo spin slow.
• Daniel Bellemare - same music as last year but different structure to the program. 3 lutz - 3 toe. The lutz was basically off an inside edge and the toe might have been 2 footed. Almost got the 3 axel but underotated and 2 foot. He still needs to jump up on this. straight line footwork. Combo spin. circular footwork. 3 flip. Change sit.
• Jayson Dénommée - I told Angela he would have yet another shirt for this program and I was right. Dark blue long sleeve in some silky material. I liked it the best of the 3, I think it suits the music best. Hand down on the 3 axel. 3 lutz - 2 toe great. Change camel included finger snaps on the back camel. Serpentine footwork a bit slow but seems more difficult than before. Overall, I thought I saw more stuff in the program, footwork and choreography both. Death drop fine. He looked like he had the 3 flip but fell out of it. More footwork into the combo spin, which also had some changes in it.

That was it for the Senior men. No one was outstandingly clean and Bellemare was probably deserving of first given the triple-triple combination. The biggest suprise was Hugh Yik in third without a triple axel but I guess that is part of the new short program rules. I hardly know what to expect anymore.

Ending the evening was Senior Original Dance. I watched the first group but pretty much zoned out on the second group. Dubrueil/Lauzon were very strong but I thought their waltz was just a romantic continential tango ala Bourne and Kraatz's tango in 96/97. Piche/Denis are skating to La Traviata and I love the music but they seem a bit overwhelmed by it. Fuller/Bradshaw remained in third place despite her falling over backwards near the very end of the dance. Balkwill/van Lueven really moved up from the compulsory dance and I was extremely happy that they picked the Shoshtikovich waltz, that I just love. Amongst the remaining dancers, I really like Mineau/Grant but they were rather slow. Currie/Smith may be talented but I find very dull. The Babbs need to find a style that suits them and that is not overly dramatic numbers! Davis/Grin I note skated to Caurosel waltz.

Finally, a few medal ceremonies, including Novice Mens and the day was over.

13 December 1998

Senior Mens practice and Junior Mens long programs almost coincided, we watched Paul Wirtz switching bewteen coaching Daniel Bellemare on the ice and preparing Nicholas Young to go on the ice. We did watch both groups of men practice but the set up of glass and hockey booths made it hard to see what was going on. Angela and I both thought Jayson looked muched stronger than yesterday, landing a nice triple axel and even the dreaded triple sal. The only other skater I noticed in particular was Guilano Cosentino, who was having a tough time with the lutz right in front of where we were sitting.

Dashed across the hallway and, in perfect timimg, found seats just as the resurface was finishing for the final group of Junior Men. Notes follow.

• Nicholas Young - 3 lutz (rather flutzy). 3 loop not much flow on the landing). 3 flip - 2 toe (just). 3 toe - 3 or 2 toe (hard to tell, he rotated very fast). flying sit very low. 3 sal a bit underotated but okay. 2 axel. flying camel to sit. 3 lutz -2 toe ( a bit underotated). Straight line footwork. 3 flip (underotated and 2 foot). Combo spin. It wasn't very clean but he did whip off alot of triples. I also noted that his jump setups were rather long.
• Jeff Franklin - 3 lutz - 2 toe. flying camel to sit. 2 axel ( no snap to it.) 3 loop (hand). Possibly a sit spin (my notes are almost unreadable for 2 words). 3 flip (3 out). combo spin. 3 toe from footwork. Just held 3 flip. 3 lutz. Held on to 2 axel with steps to 2 toe. Flying sit. The program got stronger at the end. I wasn't really sure if this was the same program I had seen him do this summer, my notes aren't much help. I didn't think it was the same and seemed to lack some of the finese and smoothness of the short.
• Fedor Andreev - 2 axel. 3 lutz. 3 flip. 2 toe-2 toe. Hamel camel. 2 axel. 3 loop. 3 lutz - 2 toe. Combo spin with sit to camel and other cool stuff. 2 axel - 2 toe. Straight line footwork. 3 sal steps to 3 toe. Split jumps to Arabians. Death drop. It got a bit ragged at the end but was still a great program. I would guess that the 2 axel at the begining of the program is where he tried the triple axel internationally.
• Adam Colville - 3 loop (fall). 3 lutz. 2 axel (hand). 3 toe (skidded landing). very good fly on death drop but needs more stretch. 3 flip. 2 lutz. combo spin. 2 sal. 3 loop. flying camel. 3 sal (step out and hands.) - 2 toe.
• Carl Issariotis - Some kind of split move. 3 flip (step out). 3 lutz (step out). Change sit. 3 loop (fall). 3 toe and steps to a second 3 toe, which he fell on. Flying camel to sit. Nice edge quality but needs to work on posture and extension. 3 lutz (hard fall). 2 axel. 2 sal, with 2 foot and other problems from doubling a triple. Combo spin.

We took a much needed lunch and caffeine break and came back to see the last few junior ladies longs, which I didn't take notes on.

Junior Pairs Long

• Leedle/Johnson - 2 twist. Both held on to 2 axels. Throw 2 axel (2 foot and lean but no fall.) Very good spin unison though the sit postions left something to be desired. 2 handed lift. FI death spiral. Throw 3 sal (2 foot). SBS 2 sal (he fell). Pair spin travelled. 2 flip - 2 toe sequence. Hip axel lift with flip out. Slight miscue on pair spin.
• Lussier/Lussier - Swan Lake with her in a white dress with candy pink sash. BI death spiral, her knee bent. Nice 2 twist. Press or lasso lift. SBS 2 axels , she singled and he stepped out. Hip axel lift to platter. Fall on throw 2 sal. SBS spins. Throw 1 loop. 2 flip to 2 sal sequence that he had a terrible time with. Back press lift. Footwork very out of unison. SBS 2 lutz okay. FI death spiral again with bent knee. Pair spin.
• Butchart/Petersen - Fine 3 twist. Throw 2 sal. 1 hand star lift. SBS 2 loop. Pair sit spin. Very mistimed sbs 2 axel. Throw 2 axel (2 foot and step out.) Upside down lift. FI death spiral, nice arch in her back. SBS Flying camel out of unison to sit okay. Platter lift to split position. 2 flip to 2 toe sequence messy. Pair spin. They tried some good moves but they just don't quite seem like a team yet.
• O'Reilly/Moellenkamp - 3 twist nice. Good SBS 2 axels. 2 handed lift. 2 foot on throw 3 loop. SBS 2 axel - 2 toe (he hand). Spin lost unison. Throw 3 sal (3 out). Upside down lift. SBS 2 flip. Hip axel lift. FI death spiral. Pair spiral got slow. Although they had some troubles the speed was really good and the program has difficult things in it. They were very happy when they were done! Clinton Petersen stayed to watch them and was the first to congratulate her when they got off the ice.
• Mailhot/Poitras - 2 twist. Held on to 2 axel then steps to 2 toe. Lasso lift. Fall on throw 3 sal. Spins lost unison. Platter lift came down early. SBS 2 axel (he singled, she 2 foot). Nice throw 2 axel. Lift. FI death spiral, her knee bent. SBS 2 flip. Pair spin. They seemed rather out of sync with each other the whole time.

Senior Men Long

• Simon Larochelle - The music is Titanic. Spread eagle. 3 toe. Hand down on 3 flip. Flying sit okay. Fall on underotated 3 axel. 1 loop. Death drop. Hand on 3 sal. 2 lutz. combo spin. 2 flip. Straight line footwork. 3 sal (hands). 2 axel. 3 toe. death drop. He just seemed lost out there.
• Guilano Cosentino - I'm not sure what the music was but the theme seemed to be "Mafia" with much stereotypical Italian gesturing, a long portion in the middle of the program where he seemed to be carrying a machine gun around, and a shot in the back death scene to end. I think he needed to concentrate less on that and more on the skating. 3 lutz - 2 toe. Fall on underotated 3 axel. 3 sal might have been 2 foot and no flow out of it. 2 flip. Very starnge entrance to 3 sal. Combo spin. Cross foot spin. 3 loop (2 foot). Death drop. fallon 3 lutz. 2 flip. Combo spin.
• Jean-François Hebert - Tango. 3 axel (3 out)-2 toe. 3 toe. 3 lutz (possibly 2 foot). Flying sit. 3 sal. Change camel nice. Slipped on the entrance to a flip and never did the jump. 3 axel (fall). Combo spin. 2 loop. Step out on 2 axel. 3 loop (2 foot). Death drop. The program had some interesting choreography but with the mistakes, I was rather suprised at the high marks he got.
• Micheal Pride - Blues guitar. 3 toe (nice speed). 3 flip. 2 axel. Combo spin with cannonball position. 2 lutz. 3 sal (2 foot take off). 3 loop. Good flying camel. 3 lutz (maybe 2 foot). Death drop. Straight line footwork. 3 toe-2 toe. Change sit.
• Paolo Vaccari - 1 lutz. 3 toe. 1 axel with long set up (I'm assuming a 3 axel was intended). Flying camel to sit. 3 flip (2 foot). I missed the next jump entirely. 1 loop. Chnage sit. Another triple I missed. (Sorry, Paolo, I was getting tired!). 3 toe. Nice height on flying sit. Change sit.
• Derek Schmidt - He was dressed in cream satin from head to foot and when you are very tall this can be considered a Bad Idea. 2 foot on 4 toe (entrance leaning forward alot). 3 axel (2 foot and almost fall). 3 flip-2 toe. Flying camel. 2 axel. Combo spin, travelling in the forward camel. Very slow cross foot. 1 lutz. 3 flip (2 foot). 2 sal. 3 toe. Change sit. Overall, it was pretty much a disaster but the few things he got were enough to keep him in the top six for Nationals.
• Jayson Dénommée - Hazel asked me if I got nervous when Jayson skated and I had to admit I did. I always get nervous when skaters I like skate, it makes no sense whatsoever but I do. So, I tried to be calm by taking some pictures. 3 axel and it looked like he was going to put his hand down but pulled himself back up and did a 2 toe without much speed out of it. 3 flip. Flying camel. 3 lutz (3 out) - 2 toe. footwork. Spirals. 3 axel (almost fall but held onto it.) 3 loop. Flying sit. Hard fall on 3 lutz that took him a bit to get up from. Death drop. 3 sal clean. Split jump. Combo spin. The warmup had gone very well but the program a little less so. I also wondered why he took out the triple toe at the end and put in a split jump. That was new to me.
• Yvan Desjardins - 3 lutz (hands). Death drop. 2 axel (3 out). Flying sit. 3 flip (hands). 2 loop. 2 toe - 3 toe (2 foot). Combo spin with layback. 3 loop (step out). Flying camel into combo spin.
• Sacha Lalonde - This summer Angela and I noticed that at each competition we went to, there had to be someone skating to a soundtrack skated to by Todd Eldredge and Sacha was the one here, skating to First Knight. 2 axel. Bad fall on 3 lutz. 1 flip with steps to 3 toe. 1 sal. Combo spin with poor camel position. 2 loop. Almost fell on another jump I missed. Combo spin. Straight line footwork. 2 sal. 3 lutz (flip out and hands down.) Very nice split jump. Fall on 2 axel. 2 flip. Flying sit. He really had a chance to qualify for Nationals but fell apart completely.
• Daniel Bellemare - Underotated 3 axel. 1 1/4 lutz. 3 flip (held on). 3 toe (even more of a held on than on the flip). Death drop. 3 loop. Flying camel nice position. 2 sal (step out). Change camel. 3 flutz (when the lutz for a CCW skater takes off in the CW corner, it's usually an inside edge take off). Straight line footwork. Combo spin. Well, even with the problems Jayson had, it was pretty clear that Daniel was not going to beat him with that so the only challenge left was up to...
• Hugh Yik - who is a lovely skater but not quite up to it. 2 axel. None of us spotted whether it was 3 toe-3 toe or 3 flip - 3 toe. 1 1/4 lutz. 3 flip. Gorgeous change camel. Spread eagles. Back spiral that he nearly fell on. 3 loop. Combo spin with slung under sit spin. Death drop ( free foot down) 3 lutz (hand). 1 sal. Split jump to Death drop. 2 axel. So, he didn't try the 3 axel (which we had seen him try at Minto Summer Skate) and had some mistakes but with alot of mixed ordinals it was Hugh in second and Daniel in third.

• Davis/Grin - The music sounded vaugely Native American to me but the dance was fairly undefinable
• Babb/Babb - The costumes make me think it is some kind of pirate number but the music is fairly vauge and the dance even more so.
• Currie/Smith - An Arabian number. They had a fall.
• Mineau/Grant - The same free dance as last year, to techno-industrial music. They skated this very well, with lots of speed and attack.

The second group of dancers came out for warmup. There are usually some near misses in dance but this one didn't miss. I didn't see all of it but Balkwill/van Lueven were headed stright down the ice with her coming off a lift on his shoulder and Piché/Denis were making an circular pattern on the end, with her also in a lift and none of them could stop in time. Kristy Balkwill fell off her partner and onto the ice with him landing on top of her and it seemed like she might be hurt badly but it was Josée Piché, who was thrown off to the side by the force of the impact, who was lying on the ice and not moving. After a few seconds of confusion, the warmup was stopped and medical help came out on the ice. Eventually Kristy was helped off the, holding the side of her face and clearly in great pain. Josée, however, was put onto a backboard and taken off the ice into an ambulance. This took near to an hour and the ice was resurface and a new warmup started for the remaining two teams. Needless to say, some of the enthusiasm was gone for the two teams left.

• Dubrueil/Lauzon - I thought this was a big departure for them, a dance to Arabian Passion by Peter Gabriel. It was very well performed, fast and completely seamless. I think this could move them up to the podium at Canadians this year.
• Fuller/Bradshaw - A swing jazz dance that would have looked fine in most competitions but was rather pedestrian compared to the previous dance. I think they are still adjusting to each other as I team and I still feel as if she is dancing around him alot.

Junior Men, Senior Men, and Senior Dance