2016-2017 State of Canadian Figure Skating | Golden Skate

2016-2017 State of Canadian Figure Skating

Mango

Royal Chinet 👑🍽️
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Apr 5, 2016
Welcoming all fans (and critics) of Canadian figure skaters and figure skating here.

Because we can't keep clogging up fan fests with our discussions. And because there are only a handful of top skaters in each discipline so individual threads would be kind of useless. However, we do have a ladies thread and a juniors thread which can be found in various states of life and death.

Medal standings for the season so far (international ISU events only):

5 Gold
Brittany Jones/Joshua Reagan @ 2016 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic – Salt Lake City, U.S.A. in Pairs
Julianne Séguin/Charlie Bilodeau @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Pairs
Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Ice Dance
Edrian Paul Celestino @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Junior Men
Aurora Cotop @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Junior Women

5 Silver
Lubov Iliushechkina/Dylan Moscovitch @ 2016 Nebelhorn Trophy in Pairs
Roman Sadovsky @ 2016 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating – Tallinn Cup in Junior Men
Alaine Chartrand @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Women
Olivia Gran @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Junior Women
Kevin Reynolds @ 24th Ondrej Nepela Memorial in Men

4 Bronze
Alexandra Paul/Mitchell Islam @ 2016 U.S. International Figure Skating Classic in Ice Dance
Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier @ 2016 Nebelhorn Trophy in Ice Dance
Gabrielle Daleman @ 2016 Nebelhorn Trophy in Women
Iliya Kovler @ 2016 Autumn Classic International in Junior Men

Competing this week

At JGP Dresden: Iliya Kovler, Conrad Orzel, Sarah Tamura, Justine Brasseur / Mathieu Ostiguy, Evelyn Walsh / Trennt Michaud, Alicia Fabbri / Claudio Pietrantonio, and Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha

At Finlandia Trophy: Patrick Chan, Kaetlyn Osmond, Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford
 

4everchan

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Mar 7, 2015
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Thank you Mango for starting this thread!!!!

I have to admit that I am not a follower much of junior but I was standing in line with Celestino at Autumn Classic. I liked his personality. I will definitely try to watch him online... I hope there's something.


I CANNOT WAIT to see Patrick's LP.
 

Violet Bliss

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Joined
Nov 19, 2010
What's up with W/P and V/M not at Finlandia? Canada's A team is there getting acquainted with Helsinki ahead of Worlds 2017 but without any Ice Dance team!
 

4everchan

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V/M were just at ACI... so that's understandable and they withdrew a while back... weapo were last spotted in Russia...
What's up with W/P and V/M not at Finlandia? Canada's A team is there getting acquainted with Helsinki ahead of Worlds 2017 but without any Ice Dance team!
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
V/M were just at ACI... so that's understandable and they withdrew a while back... weapo were last spotted in Russia...

Duh. IOW, they are not in Helsinki.

Ah well, V/M just skated like they never left, so what's the big deal about casing out the joint before hand, eh?
 

Mango

Royal Chinet 👑🍽️
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Apr 5, 2016
Could be a few things about WeaPo. My ideas were:

1. Feedback from High Performance Camp was not good, and they need time to rework their dance(s).
2. Minor injury.
3. Wanting to keep things mysterious. Why show your cards if you're being doubted? Show up to your first GP and deliver a KO.

But these are optimistic guesses. Someone needs to flag down Morozov and ask him what's really happening.
 

4everchan

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Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
Could be a few things about WeaPo. My ideas were:

1. Feedback from High Performance Camp was not good, and they need time to rework their dance(s).
2. Minor injury.
3. Wanting to keep things mysterious. Why show your cards if you're being doubted? Show up to your first GP and deliver a KO.

But these are optimistic guesses. Someone needs to flag down Morozov and ask him what's really happening.



I mean... all we know is that they were spotted in Russia... training with Morozov I guess... considering their first event is in Russia, it makes sense they'd spend time there but it's not like Finland is far away if they are based there for now... And of course, are they even based there now?

Weapo have been quite mysterious all year and even more so this summer.

Last year, in the fall, many people mentioned that they were injured and wouldn't do GP series... well they did...
Then rumours started flocking about new coaching.... it took forever before anything got out...

Perhaps they do not want to be included in the media craziness or want to indeed keep things a bit secret...

I am not even sure I remember if they have revealed or not their programs' music ? (will go check that very useful thread)
 

4everchan

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Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
answering my own ???

Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje CAN
SD Black Velvet' by Alannah Myles and 'Swingin’ by LeAnn Rimes
FD Concierto de Aranjuez by Rodrigo
 
Joined
Mar 29, 2016
I'm from the US and normally don't follow Canadian figure skating super-closely, but after watching some of the videos from the last few weeks of events, I have to say that I am really looking forward to Canadian nationals... possibly even more so than US nationals! There were just so many upbeat, joyful programs: Gilles/Poirier's disco, Virtue/Moir's Prince program, Duhamel/Radford's Seal program, both of Seguin/Bilodeau's programs... and I loved watching Alaine Chartrand's recent performances, especially in the free skate: she looked like she was having so much fun out there! I do appreciate skaters who do classical/serious programs, of course, but it's lovely to be able to watch so many high-quality, happy pieces for a change.

Go Canada! :luv17:
 

TGee

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 17, 2016
Thanks Mango for responding to my pleading for a location to bring all the interest and energy towards Canadian skaters, and training sites within Canada. :hap93:

And thanks for the season to date summary of Canadian skaters' achievements in the OP.

Encouraged to see new interest from outside Canada, I'd like to add a few more resources to the base for this discussion for those of us who don't already have them bookmarked. ;)

Skate Canada

International assignments page https://skatecanada.ca/national-team/international-assignments/

Feature stories, including new Behind the Blades blog reports from national team members https://skatecanada.ca/category/feature-stories/

Official Twitter page https://twitter.com/SkateCanada?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Twitter media resources

TSN Skate https://twitter.com/skatetsn

PJ Kwong https://twitter.com/skatingpj?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Jackie Wong /RockerSkating https://twitter.com/rockerskating
 

4everchan

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HAHA

my corny side likes both of these pieces but i reserve the right to not appreciate the music cuts or the choreo on these ;)
What is intriguing me more is if they will go for the slow movement of Aranjuez, the famous part, or if they will use more of the flamenco type of music. They seem good with intense music... so I'd hope they don't only go for the slow and lyrical stuff
:palmf: at these music choices
 

TGee

Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 17, 2016
Out to mango....trying to respect [and trying not to be trying] his graciously taking on being moderator of this thread...

Uhm, so, how are we defining Canadian figure skating for the purposes of this thread?

[a] represents Canada


trains in Canada

[c] originally from or once trained in Canada

[d] a and b

[e] any and all of the above...


As an example of the challenge, here's a "family photo" taken at AIC2016

https://www.facebook.com/DuhamelRad...571387391480/1053145428067400/?type=3&theater

Does it say something about the state of Canadian figure skating? I think so....but not sure it belongs here.

IMO Canadian skating benefits when folks from other countries train in Canadian centres. It raises the level of coaching and related training resources for everyone in the Canadian system. And how well skaters who train in Canada excel is a reflection of how well the coaching teams are doing. Not sure that I can make the case for Canadians who skate for other federations and train elsewhere [ie neither represent Canada nor train in Canada], other than as an indication of historical Canadian depth. It's hard to make a link between what they do now and their history in Canada.
 
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4everchan

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Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
wow at meagan looking so good there!

I think that i have a good compromise for your question ...

What about we keep the OP for athletes representing Canada only, but in the discussions, we could mention some of these international athletes in passing... i mean I wouldn't want to make this thread all about the Montreal dance centre or the Cricket club... i agree though that the fact that these athletes are here are making the skating in Canada better .

Mango? What do you think?
Out to mango....trying to respect [and trying not to be trying] his graciously taking on being moderator of this thread...

Uhm, so, how are we defining Canadian figure skating for the purposes of this thread?

[a] represents Canada


trains in Canada

[c] originally from or once trained in Canada

[d] a and b

[e] any and all of the above...


As an example of the challenge, here's a "family photo" taken at AIC2016 https://twitter.com/mhjd_85?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

Does it say something about the state of Canadian figure skating? I think so....but not sure it belongs here.

IMO Canadian skating benefits when folks from other countries train in Canadian centres. It raises the level of coaching and related training resources for everyone in the Canadian system. And how well skaters who train in Canada excel is a reflection of how well the coaching teams are doing. Not sure that I can make the case for Canadians who skate for other federations and train elsewhere [ie neither represent Canada nor train in Canada], other than as an indication of historical Canadian depth. It's hard to make a link between what they do now and their history in Canada.
 

Violet Bliss

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
I'd go for all Canadian skaters, whether or not they compete internationally thus representing Canada, including very young up and comers, with interest in Canadians who are now representing other nations.

I don't see how training in Canada alone would make someone a Canadian, even if they were "adopted" and well loved in Canada.
 
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Mango

Royal Chinet 👑🍽️
Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 5, 2016
I'm going to agree that we keep this thread for option [a] as listed by TGee. Anyone who wears or has solely worn the maple leaf. I am happy there are many great skaters who train here from around the world but they get so much attention anyways on this forum that we don't really need to highlight them again in this thread. Instead we can discuss all the Canadians, from pre-juvenile to the retired, skating at 76 Donald Jackson. Discussion about Canadian coaches and training centres is also welcome. I suppose you can talk about skaters who represent other nations as part of that, though ideally we would discuss the Canadians. I am not sure if there's any big club in Canada that is solely training foreign skaters. Even Richmond Training Centre, the hotbed of skaters who are no longer representing Canada, has a few Canadians.
 
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