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TSN Figure Skating Analyst

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National titles are wide open at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Kingston. In the last 20 years at the Nationals, only once has there been just one returning champion.  Patrick Chan is taking a year off, so too are Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir; who are working as part of our TSN crew, and Kaetlyn Osmond is out with injury.  The one returning champion is the pairs team of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford who are going after their fourth title. So it is safe to say in all certainty that there will be new Canadian champions crowned in three disciplines and that fact is creating quite a buzz heading into Kingston.  

There are, of course, spots also on the line for the World and National team, but it is the national title that is the ultimate prize and in the running for the titles are a wonderful blend of popular veterans and fresh faced newcomers.

The most fiercely contested title will be for the Men's champion. At least four guys will be in the mix. Three-time Canadian silver medalist Kevin Reynolds is back in action after being out all season due to an ankle injury and boot problems. Last year he struggled with boot problems too, but was still able to qualify for the Olympic team and was instrumental in Canada's silver medal win in the team event at the Games.  So one can't count Kevin out but he will be pushed in Kingston and as Kevin alluded to in a pre-event interview, he will have to deliver his best.

So, what about the boots and why is this plaguing him? He has said that he has been through a dozen pairs of skates this season in an attempt to find the right fit for his unique and unusually shaped foot. The good news is, he thinks he has found a pair that he can rally in and he has five5 weeks of solid training under his belt. These facts have him feeling confident in his quest for the title.

While Kevin has been on the sidelines, 16-year-old Nam Nguyen has risen dramatically in the ranks and has had the top scores of the Canadian men this season; scores so good he has won a Grand Prix medal.  He has been able to incorporate a quad into his program, back it up with consistent triples, and has grown into a more mature performer this year. Nam has the benefit of momentum on his side as he is coming in with a stellar Grand Prix season under his belt.

Two immensely popular veterans will also be challenging for the title.  Jeremy Ten and Elladj Balde are both charismatic performers who have had their careers derailed by untimely injuries, but have worked their way back now into top form.  For Jeremy Ten, whose only luck has been bad luck in the injury department, this year is about unfinished business.  It is a well-deserved opportunity to see what he can produce unencumbered by injury.  I really like Jeremy's material this year and also the new material of Elladj Balde. This is the first time in many years that I have watched Balde's material and felt it was worthy of his talent and capabilities, where as in other seasons I thought that his programs had let him down.  Elladj has been getting his quad out in competition this season, a significant fact and the key to his challenge for gold.  

In Kaetlyn Osmond's absence there are two skaters who have distanced themselves from the pack in the point's race this season. Gabby Daleman and Alaine Chartrand are both young - 17 and 18, respectively - and both relatively inexperienced as they have just completed their first year on the Senior Grand Prix circuit.  Daleman is a two-time national silver medalist, finishing just behind Osmond the last two years and was the youngest member of Canada's Olympic team in Sochi. Chartrand was fifth in the country last year but is coming into this event with a bronze medal win at a Grand Prix in Russia where she had the highest total scores of Canadian Ladies this season.  They are both so close in so many ways but the one factor that will differentiate them will likely be the intangible of dealing with the idea of becoming "Canada's next champion." No doubt the title has been the motivating force for them in practice for some time now but in order to deliver the precision they need to win, they will have to detach themselves from the prize and focus instead on the here and now and getting the job done. It will be a battle of nerves, adrenaline and emotions with a lot on the line for two promising teenagers.

Defending champs Duhamel and Radford have exceeded their own lofty expectations and goals this year. Typically, as the saying goes, they shoot for the moon and hope to land in the stars. Well, this season they nailed it. They "hit the moon!" Meagan said that for the first time they had the luxury of taking a Christmas break. A part of the reason for this was their impressive results but a large part was due to the fact that their longtime rivals Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch are no longer a pair. In fact, only two teams out of the seven Canadian teams from last year are still together. I have to admit that about nine months ago the Pairs situation in Canada appeared to be in dire straits but then it quickly turned itself around with a host of new pairings. Moscovitch is back in a charming new partnership with Lubov Ilyusheshkina, formerly of Russia.  They had the highest scores at the qualifying event for Canadians. Moore - Towers is with Michael Marinaro, who we saw as a team for the first time at Skate Canada. They were paired with longevity in mind in the hopes of competing through the next two Olympic cycles.  Added to the mix are a couple of young and up and coming teams including the newly crowned Junior Grand Prix Final champions, Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau, who have been building experience, turning heads and are undefeated on the Junior Circuit.  Canada has qualified three teams for the World Championships in Shanghai, so the battle within the battle will be securing one of those spots.

Like Duhamel-Radford in the Pairs, Katlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje in the Ice Dance hold the top scores in the world across the board. They are also coming into the Canadians off a win at the Grand Prix Final against the World's top six teams.  Weaver and Poje will be looking to build mileage, gain presentation experience and receive valuable feedback from the judges and audience alike in their quest for a World title in March.  They were silver medalists at the World's by a breath last year and are clearly in the driver's seat this year going undefeated so far.  While this competition is a very important next step in the process of becoming the world's best, their hearts and emotions will be centre ice in Kingston as they go after their first Canadian title.

Another Canadian team who made it to the prestigious Grand Prix Final was Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier. Their heartbreak of missing the Canadian podium and the Olympic team last year has fuelled their performance this year. Key to this season's  success  has been their well-received programs and the quality of their preparedness from the first competition on which has allow them to break through into the mix of the top teams in the world.  

On the other hand, Olympic team members who finished in the top ten at the World's last year, Alexandra Paul and Mitch Islam have fought to find the right vehicle for themselves this season.  After receiving a lukewarm response to their material they have spent the last couple of months reinventing themselves for nationals.  They will debut a free-dance choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle to music by Peter Gabriel. Buttle has shown that as a choreographer for single skaters he has an immense talent and I for one am looking forward to what he will bring to the world of Ice Dance.  

My partner in the booth, Rod Black, always eagerly anticipates Canadians because out of all the sports he covers, it is one of his favourite events. It's about the team jackets, hometowns and provinces. It's about the sport's future, the kids meeting their heroes, the leaders in the sport. It is an event filled with innocence, intrigue, excellence and emotion.  This Canadians promises to live up to its billing.