News

Pairs Full of Surprises

By Laurie Nealin
Reporting for Skate Canada

HALIFAX -- Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison were the surprise first round leaders on Thursday night following the pairs short program at the BMO Canadian Championships.

They edged their Quebec teammates, three-time national champs Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin 59.94 points to 59.01. Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay, a Quebec-Alberta combination, ranked third (55.36) among 11 couples.

What made the result so surprising is that Dube and Davison have had a fraction of the training time Canada's other top pairs skaters have amassed this season.

Dube and Davison, who only returned to the ice in mid-November following surgery to repair her damaged knee, earned a personal best for their Flamenco-styled routine.

Marcoux and Buntin, fifth-ranked in the world, lost several points when she fell on a throw triple loop at the end of their saucy "Cherry Pink" routine, while Dube and Davison skated without major error.

This was the fourth time in a row that Marcoux and Buntin have made an error on the throw. They consider it a mental block that they have to figure out how to get passed.

The other surprises on Thursday included the fourth-place finish of brother-sister duo Kyra and Dylan Moscovitch, who are only 0.02 points out of third place. The Ontario couple, who won the junior title last year, is in an unusual situation concerning their eligibility for international competition. At 13, she has been too young to compete even in ISU junior events.

The ninth-place result of Elizabeth Putnam and Sean Wirtz was also shocking given that they had been so impressive at Skate Canada in November. She doubled the side-by-side triple salchow and their lift completely failed to launch. Their synchronization was off on the side-by-side spin.

Dube and Davison, the 2006 national silver medallists, have been on fast-forward the last two months, playing catch-up in their training after her injury put the couple on the sidelines for three months beginning in late summer. It was a replay of fall, 2004, when surgery on her other knee benched Dube. That season, however, they had not fully recovered prior to the Canadian Championships and withdrew after the short program.

That will not happen here. In Saturday's final, Dube and Davison are determined to earn one of three berths available for the ISU World Championships in Tokyo in March.

"Considering the year we've had, we were both very happy to get that out. We really enjoyed ourselves," said Davison.

"Coming into this competition, I thought we might have been a little more nervous because we haven't competed all year, but we went out there just like last year at Nationals, last year at worlds and at Olympics. We just relaxed and skated out best."

Davison and Dube made an impressive debut as seniors in the global arena last season -- 10th-place at the Turin Olympics, seventh at the World Championships.

Just prior to Christmas, they spent three days training in Edmonton with 2002 Olympic pairs champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

"Our confidence wasn't there. We were getting really nervous, so we went there and worked with them and they really, really helped us," said Dube, who also spent two weeks working with Sale and Pelletier last summer before her injury flared up.

Hendrix, Les Mis, and The Pink Panther

Two-time national champion Joannie Rochette grooved into first place with her short program set to the music of legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

Her performance was not without flaw, however, as she doubled the planned triple lutz. Rochette scored 56.89 points

Ontario's Lesley Hawker, who trains in Michigan, claimed second place with 53.57 points and lifted the 3800 fans from their seats to cheer her emotional Les Miserables program.

In third was B.C.'s Mira Leung, who delivered a solid series of jumps and spins in her new offering set to a very unusual musical rendition of the Pink Panther. The whimsical routine earned 52.50 points and the charming feline characterizations choreographed into the steps delighted the crowd.

Myriane Samson, the 2004 junior champion, and 2004 senior champion Cynthia Phaneuf, are within easy striking distance of the podium in fourth and fifth, respectively, with 51.94 and 49.67 points.

The women's final goes Friday.

"I was mad about the lutz, but the biggest disappointment was not doing the triple-triple (jump combination)," said Rochette, referring to her doubling the toe loop in combination with a triple flip.

Rochette, fifth at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, knows she can be competitive with the top women in the world, but getting the triple-triple done in the short is a means to that end.

Rochette said it is very important for her to win a third Canadian title this week. She has given herself a personal challenge to one day break Jennifer Robinson's record of six national championship wins.

"The pressure came from me tonight. I was expecting a lot from myself. Maybe, too much. Being in first is not a consolation (for me). I care more about the performance, not the result," Rochette said.

Leung was very pleased with the reaction to her program which was created only about two months ago. "I like how this program takes me to a completely different style. I've been a dramatic skater and Joanne wanted me to do something completely out of character," said Leung, who was second in this event last year and placed a credible 12th at the Olympic Games.

Her coach Joanne McLeod, with whom Leung reunited in November after parting ways with her long-time mentor in the spring, said of the unique music choice, "We were looking for something a little more flirtatious."

Henry Mancini's familiar Pink Panther is played in different styles -- first up is jazz, then classical, followed by a Beethoven-esque rendition on piano, a nod to Stravinsky, and concluding with the Mancini original.

Hawker reported that, a few days ago, she had been thinking about the standing ovation she got at her first-ever nationals in 2002 in Hamilton and drew inspiration from it for this event.

"I've heard standing ovations can be addictive," she said, noting she has had other standing Os since 2002, but most have been for her long program performances.

Asked if she was disappointed about not making the Olympic team last year, Hawker, the oldest of 10 children, said, "I'm from good stock. You don't quit because you fall on your butt a couple of times."

As for her long-range plan in connection with the 2010 Games, Hawker, 25, said she was too old to set long-term goals, but body willing, it was definitely a possibility.

Phaneuf, making her comeback from an injury-induced, 18-month layoff, was not pleased with herself after popping a planned triple lutz. Still, she was satisfied she was on track to hold down a top-five spot and regain her national team membership.


Copyright 2007 Laurie Nealin - This article may not be reproduced in whole or in part without permission of the author.