BMO Canadian Skating Championships

[Mowich]

Our Canadian skaters are currently competing for slots in the Olympics. The men’s short program was held yesterday and there are some excellent young skaters who show great potential.

Vaughn Chipeur from Edmonton, AB was simply outstanding, IMHO. From the minute his program started, I knew I was watching something special. Vaughn’s skate was flawless. He commanded the ice throughout the entire program. This kid is definitely a contender and I was truly surprised when Patrick Chan scored higher points than Vaughn did, especially as Pat at one point touched the ice after a jump.

Joey Russell is another young fellow who we will be seeing a lot of in the future. His, also flawless skate, earned him third place in the standings after the short program.

The standings right now are Patrick Chan, Vaughn Chipeur, and Joey Russell.

Pairs free, Ladies’ free, and Original dance programs are being televised today.

Go Canada! :canada:

 

[talloola]

I'll watch it today, haven't been keeping up with the skating lately, but I will now, especially with Olympics
just around the corner.

 

[#juan]

Our Canadian skaters are currently competing for slots in the Olympics. The men’s short program was held yesterday and there are some excellent young skaters who show great potential.

Vaughn Chipeur from Edmonton, AB was simply outstanding, IMHO. From the minute his program started, I knew I was watching something special. Vaughn’s skate was flawless. He commanded the ice throughout the entire program. This kid is definitely a contender and I was truly surprised when Patrick Chan scored higher points than Vaughn did, especially as Pat at one point touched the ice after a jump.

Joey Russell is another young fellow who we will be seeing a lot of in the future. His, also flawless skate, earned him third place in the standings after the short program.

The standings right now are Patrick Chan, Vaughn Chipeur, and Joey Russell.

Pairs free, Ladies’ free, and Original dance programs are being televised today.

Go Canada! :canada:

My wife and I watched the skating last night and we wondered about the scores as well, until we rewound and watched all the skating over again. Even with the touch down Chan was superior to the rest of them and all the judges agreed. They might be accused of giving Chan a little room because he is our reigning champion but I think he is our best shot at a medal.

 

[talloola]

They do come into competitions with individuals rankings,
which can give them a little more room for error, but they have earned that favour in the past from high quality performances and wins etc.

It's the same as seeding teams or individuals in a
tournament, as they also have paid their dues in the past,
with wins and great performances.

 

[Mowich]

My wife and I watched the skating last night and we wondered about the scores as well, until we rewound and watched all the skating over again. Even with the touch down Chan was superior to the rest of them and all the judges agreed. They might be accused of giving Chan a little room because he is our reigning champion but I think he is our best shot at a medal.

Really, Juan??? Vaughn skated a flawless program - no touches, no glitches, just a fabulously exciting skate. I am a big fan of Patrick but in this case I think he was given points simply because he is our champion. But then, that's just my opinion. :smile:

Will be really interesting to see what happens in the long program.

 

[Mowich]

The final Pairs competition just finished and the winners are:
1rst place: Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison
2nd place: Megan Duhamel and Craig Buntin
3rd place: Anabelle Langlois and Jodi Hay.

Was not all that impressed with the over all quality of the skates in this program. There were little glitches in all of the competitors programs. Hate to be picky but after all this is for the Olympic roster and we only want to see the best of the best.

 

[Mowich]

Original Dance competition is scheduled to air on CBC at 1 p.m. PST.

 

[Mowich]

Whoa! The Pairs Original Dance was simply awesome. Tessa and Scott shone. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier were flawless as were Weaver and Poje. These kids are really good.

 

[Mowich]

Winners of the Ladies Free Skate were:
Joannie Rochette
Cynthia Phaneuf
Myriane Samson

Cynthia was leading the competition after the compulsory figures and the short program but Joannie managed to come back with an almost flawless skate in the Free Dance, to overtake Cynthia and keep her title.

 

[Mowich]

The Men's Free Skate is on right now. This skate will determine who will go to the Olympics. Patrick Chan has about a 12 point lead over Vaughn Cipheur and Joey Russell is currently in third position.

Those standings could change with this competition, especially in the third rank position. We have some really talented young skaters just now coming into the rankings.

 

[Mowich]

BMO Skate Gala is on tonight. It starts at 4:30 p.m. on Bold, not sure about other channels. This is a good chance to see who we are sending to the the 2010 Olympics. We have a great team of young skaters this year - all champions in their own right. I congratulate all our skaters for a wonderful competition and wish every single one of them the very best.

Patrick Chan skated as well as I have seen him do this year. He had a couple of wobbles but landed over 90% of his jumps cleanly. Patrick is so graceful on the ice - it is as if he is gliding over it, barely touching. His choreography was superb as always. Congrats on nailing it Pat. You are number one for a reason.

Vaughn Chipeur ranks second and put on a fabulous skate. Vaughn is very in tune with his music and uses it well in his performances. He has amazing height on his jumps and great speed in his spins. I think this kid is only going to get better. Another mark in his favor is that he really looks like he is having fun out there.

Kevin Reynolds was probably, IMHO, the most exciting of all the skaters I watched today. As the commentator mentioned, Kevin doesn't telegraph his jumps, as do most of the skaters, he simply jumps and you can be taken by surprise, especially when you see how efficiently he lands them. He has real command of the ice. I expect to see more of this young chap in the future.

Winners and Rankings of the Men’s BMO Skating Championship

Patrick Chan/BC – 268.02
Vaughn Chipeur/AB – 222.10
Kevin Reynolds/BC and Yukon Terr – 216.49
Shawn Sawyer/Que – 210.35
Joey Russell/Nfld – 202.16
Ian Martinez/BC and Yukon Terr – 184.99
Sebastien Wolfe/Que – 169.15
Ronald Lam/Yukon – 169.13
Marc-Andre’Craig/Que – 168.48
Patrick Kwong/BC and Yukon Terr – 144.93

Only two skaters from the mens and ladies, and two pairs from Ice Dance and Pairs, get to represent Canada in the Olympics.

Representing the Men are Patrick Chan and Vaughn Chipeur.
From the Ladies, we have Joannie Rochette and Cynthia Phaneuf.
From the Ice Dance,, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir; Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier

Not completely sure who will represent Pairs, yet.

 

[#juan]

Really, Juan??? Vaughn skated a flawless program - no touches, no glitches, just a fabulously exciting skate. I am a big fan of Patrick but in this case I think he was given points simply because he is our champion. But then, that's just my opinion. :smile:

Will be really interesting to see what happens in the long program.

I have watched all of the Canadian Skating Championships and I thought Chan was given a few points, maybe because of the injuries he had early in the season. If I had to pick two of the men to come to Vancouver and get us a medal, I don't think I could do better than what this competition gave us. Chan and Vaughn Chipeur. Chan had quite a large cushion after the short program but I think he might have added to it in the free skate.

 

[talloola]

I have watched all of the Canadian Skating Championships and I thought Chan was given a few points, maybe because of the injuries he had early in the season. If I had to pick two of the men to come to Vancouver and get us a medal, I don't think I could do better than what this competition gave us. Chan and Vaughn Chipeur. Chan had quite a large cushion after the short program but I think he might have added to it in the free skate.

I only saw those two, and if you take out all of the jumps,
and just watch their skating, chan is a more polished skater, better edges, in my opinion.

 

[#juan]

I only saw those two, and if you take out all of the jumps,
and just watch their skating, chan is a more polished skater, better edges, in my opinion.

Yeah, smoother, better footwork, and faster. If I was asked to pick one skater of these two to win a medal, I know who I would pick. Another thing I noticed tonight was that Chan skated a lot closerto the edge than the other guy, in that a few of his combination jumps were almost out of control but he held onto them.

 

[Mowich]

Patrick's skate in the long program proved once again why he is number one in Men's skating. I am glad to see that he was able to hold on to those two jumps and land the rest cleanly.
With both Patrick and Vaughn at the Olympics, we have a good chance of winning medals.

 

[#juan]

Patrick's skate in the long program proved once again why he is number one in Men's skating. I am glad to see that he was able to hold on to those two jumps and land the rest cleanly.
With both Patrick and Vaughn at the Olympics, we have a good chance of winning medals.

Mowich

We will be sending a great team to the Vancouver Olympics. I predict we will win medals in all of the events, Pairs, Dance, men's and Women's. Maybe even a gold medal in there somewhere. (likely pairs)

 

[Mowich]

Mowich

We will be sending a great team to the Vancouver Olympics. I predict we will win medals in all of the events, Pairs, Dance, men's and Women's. Maybe even a gold medal in there somewhere. (likely pairs)

You are absolutely right, Juan. We are sending a great team to the Olympics. However, after watching both the pairs and ice dance competitions, I think we might stand a better chance of gold or silver in the ice dance category. Virtue and Moir are simply outstanding, but then that's just my opinion.

 

[#juan]

You are absolutely right, Juan. We are sending a great team to the Olympics. However, after watching both the pairs and ice dance competitions, I think we might stand a better chance of gold or silver in the ice dance category. Virtue and Moir are simply outstanding, but then that's just my opinion.

I mispoke. I should have said ice dance. Virue and Moir were spectacular. Neat how they changed her dismount to stay within the rules.

 

[Mowich]

I mispoke. I should have said ice dance. Virue and Moir were spectacular. Neat how they changed her dismount to stay within the rules.

It was, wasn't it. I remember the first time they did that - it was in a gala performance (rules are not so strict) and the crowd just went nuts. They have been on the leading edge of innovative moves for years now.