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Gold for Rochette and Bronze for Dubé and Davison at HomeSense Skate Canada International

(November 21, 2009 - KITCHENER, ON) – The ladies, mens and pair events came to a conclusion today at HomeSense Skate Canada International.

Joannie Rochette, 23, Île Dupas, Que., took home gold, successfully defending her Skate Canada title and impressing the crowd of over 4400 people at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium.  Joannie gained 112.90 points in the free program to bring her overall total score to 182.90 points.

Always looking to improve, Joannie analyzed her performance by saying, "There are still details to work on - the levels, transitions.  The last minute of the program is really demanding physically and it's lacking a little bit of power so I will work a lot on that.  There's something positive I will take away from this performance and it's that I didn't give up, I continued to fight for each element.  It was a good program but at the same time I know it's not the performance I want to do next February (at the Olympics)."

American Alissa Czisny held on to a second place finish overall despite falling to fourth place in the free skate with 100.01 points.  She had 163.53 points total.  Winning the bronze medal was Laura Lepistö from Finland with the second highest free program score of 102.78 and an overall score of 158.52.

Canadians Amélie Lacoste, 20, Delson, Que., and Cynthia Phaneuf, 21, Contrecoeur, Que., finished in sixth and seventh respectively.  Amelie earned 86.03 points in the free program for a total of 141.13 and Cynthia gained 76.90 for a total of 132.48.

In a close race for the men's title, Jeremy Abbott of the United States placed second in the free program with a segment score of 153.99 but thanks to his lead after the short program, he finished in first overall with 232.99 points.  Japan's Daisuke Takahashi won the free with 155.01 points and ended up in second overall with 231.31 points.

Patrick Chan, 18, Toronto, Ont., finished in sixth place in the free with 130.13 points and sixth overall with a total of 198.77.  Joey Russell, 21, Labrador City, Nfld., was eleventh with 106.89 in the free and tenth overall with 168.71 points.  Jeremy Ten, 20, Vancouver, B.C., was twelfth with a free program score of 103.82 and 148.96 overall.

Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy won the pairs competition with a world record score total of 206.71, earning 132.55 in the free program.  Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia finished with the silver medal - a score of 185.71 overall and 119.91 in the free.

Jessica Dubé, 22, St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que., and Bryce Davison, 23, Huntsville, Ont., captured the bronze medal with a score of 109.03 in the free program and 166.93 overall.

"We felt that our long program, artistically, was better than (Trophée Eric Bompard) in Paris but technically we left a lot of points on the table and made a lot of mistakes.  The pairs spin at the end was very costly - we don't even know what happened," explained Bryce.  "We're happy with where we're going with the season and in general we love our programs.  We're looking forward to continuing to grow the programs and building maturity.  It's been a good start to the season."

In fourth overall with 159.95 points are Anabelle Langlois, 28, Hull, Que., and Cody Hay, 26, Edmonton, Alta.; They earned 104.43 with their free program.  Kirsten Moore-Towers, 17, St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch, 25, Toronto, Ont., were crowd favourites in the free, earning 95.77 and 146.91 overall which put them into sixth place.

The original dance portion of the ice dance event took place today with Tessa Virtue, 20, London, Ont., and Scott Moir, 22, Ilderton, Ont., in the lead with an overall score of 101.26 with 60.57 points in the original dance.  Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France are almost ten points behind in second place with a total of 91.60 and 56.05 points in the original dance.

Kaitlyn Weaver, 20, and Andrew Poje, 22, of Waterloo, Ont., placed fourth in the original dance with 51.18 points but held on to third overall with a combined score of 83.36.  Andrea Chong, 22, Toronto, Ont., and Guillaume Gfeller, 24, L'Annonciation, Que., are in eight place with an original dance score of 40.39 and a total score of 64.66.

The dance event concludes tomorrow with the free dance.

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Skate Canada, the national governing body responsible for the development and administration of skating in Canada, is the largest figure skating association in the world. With skating programs for athletes of all ages, offered at 1283 clubs and 54 skating schools* across the country, Skate Canada is an association dedicated to providing every Canadian the opportunity to learn life skills while experiencing the power, strength and creativity of one of Canada's premier sports.