Fixing the Canadian Ladies Program

[Erin]

Osmond moving up is a good choice IMO. I hope they have a skate off for the third spot.

I still have mixed feelings - with only one GP spot at a tough event, Osmond is not going to get very much in terms of ISU points on the GP. Skate Canada better send her to some Senior B events so she can rack up some points. Otherwise she is going to be buried in the World rankings for a while. That said, I think that she's the best skater we've got, so it's good to get her some senior experience. Plus it opens up more spots on the JGP for skaters like Daleman, Chartrand, Seguin, etc.

I was rewatching Jr. Worlds the other day and as I watched Osmond, I really wished there was some way SC could have put her on the World team. Her score from Jr. Worlds, unadjusted, would have put her 13th at Worlds. If you take into account that senior programs have the choreographed spiral sequence as an additional element and add that to her score, it puts her around 11th. If she did a triple flip (her best jump) in the short instead of a double lutz, that puts her score in 8th, ahead of Marchei. I realize that you can't compare across competitions and her PCS score might have dropped, as it's sometimes judged more generously in juniors than seniors, but her overall score without accounting for the extra element or the flip in the short was still 8 points higher than Lacoste. Plus we would have been getting a talented young skater some experience.

I think it would have been difficult to put Osmond on the World team unless SC had said up-front that they were going to wait until Jr. Worlds. And if she's the real deal, she'll show it this coming season. I really hope that the consistency she magically found last season continues this coming year.

[Marco]

I am glad they are giving Phaneuf her much needed ass kick by not immediately giving her Skate Canada.

Let's face it - at this stage, Osmond is the best bet by Canada for a top 10 finish at Sochi, barring a Rochette comeback.

[Rafter]

Here's some potential:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gihj...1&feature=plcp

I believe Seguin used to skate pairs as well with Andrew Evans.

Anyway, it's refreshing to see a Canadian lady not look completely scared out of her mind out there. Between her and Osmond, there may be some hope after all.

[Habs]

Here's some potential:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gihj...1&feature=plcp

I believe Seguin used to skate pairs as well with Andrew Evans.

Anyway, it's refreshing to see a Canadian lady not look completely scared out of her mind out there. Between her and Osmond, there may be some hope after all.

Julianne was very impressive at Canadians last year as well. She has some fight in her.

[danafan]

Gabrielle Daleman skates with a lot of attack too. I think our juniors will do well on the JGP this year. Séguin got off to a great start.

[danafan]

Chartand's short program from Lake Placid JGP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxuiPhYmSqU

She fell on her combo but showed great attack otherwise. Good international debut IMO.

[algonquin]

Chartand's short program from Lake Placid JGP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxuiPhYmSqU

She fell on her combo but showed great attack otherwise. Good international debut IMO.

Indeed, thanks for posting.

[Erin]

She fell on her combo but showed great attack otherwise. Good international debut IMO.

I agree - glad to see her fight to get in the double toe after struggling with the lutz. Great to see both Canadian ladies out on the JGP so far attempting both the triple lutz and triple flip in the short program...and doing reasonably well with them, too (i.e. not hail mary attempts). It will be interesting to see if Daleman goes for the flip in the short next week, too.

It appears that Skate Canada is focusing on the new generation based on the way the senior assignments have gone, and with Osmond, Chartrand, Seguin, and Daleman, there's actually a decent starting point with the younger ladies. There were some other bright spots last season, particularly Jayda Jurome in novice at the Challenge, so hopefully that pool can expand.

[danafan]

Daleman was very successful with her triple flip in both programs at Thornhill.

[triple_toe]

Chartrand's JGP debut was much more impressive than Seguin's IMO. Good job. Chartrand needs to work on the flip though, it's really on the outside edge.

[hohoho]

I actually found Chartrand better than Seguin. Not by much. Mostly in the spins. But good to see SC going with the younger skates and that these skaters are showing the "never give up and go for everything attitude". Overall good debuts by Seguin and Chartrand.

Has Jurome recovered totally from her injury. She didn't seem to skate that well t BC Summerskate?

[shutterbug]

Has Jurome recovered totally from her injury. She didn't seem to skate that well t BC Summerskate?

In the SP she attempted a 3lutz-2toe combo and a 3flip and fell on both. Landed a nice 3lutz-2toe in the FP, but not much else. Looked to me like both programs were still quite new.

[danafan]

Chartrand attempted 7 triples in her free program at Lake Placid JGP today!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXWrD...e_gdata_player

[flowerpower]

^
Good for her! Love to see the Canadian junior ladies going for it!

[Erin]

Great skate for Chartrand! And she actually met the TES minimum for Worlds with that program - if she can clean up the SP at the next event, perhaps we will have someone other than Osmond who has met the criteria.

Chartrand and Seguin have both met the minimum TES scores for Jr. Worlds in both programs and Chartrand also met the 4CC minimums.

[hohoho]

Question is, will Chartrand get a second JGP to try and get the TES minimum? Even if she does get it, would you send her to Worlds over Osmond? Chartrand may get the TES score, but she is struggling with the PCS score.

[Erin]

Question is, will Chartrand get a second JGP to try and get the TES minimum? Even if she does get it, would you send her to Worlds over Osmond? Chartrand may get the TES score, but she is struggling with the PCS score.

Chartrand has been assigned to Croatia, at least provisionally. I think that she'll probably keep the assignment. Most of the skaters on the sub list for Croatia are not doing both the triple lutz and triple flip, aside from Seguin (already has a second assignment to Slovenia) and Daleman (probably will get a second assignment to Germany if she does reasonably well in Austria). And if Skate Canada decides to pull the second assignment for someone to give one of the subs a chance, I think that Chartrand deserves a second assignment over Seguin - both had 7th place finishes, but Chartrand was in a tougher field and had a higher score.

I'm not saying that Chartrand should be sent to Worlds over Osmond, it's way too early to be making those kind of predictions. But it would be nice to have more than one option - what if Osmond were injured, became inconsistent, etc, etc. The more skaters that meet the minimum, the better IMO.

[hohoho]

Well SC in their wisdom have assigned Shelepen (Russia) to the TBA for SCI. What a slap in the face to Canadian Ladies Skaters. That is 4 spots not used for Canadian Senior skaters - SCI, Finlandia, Ondrej Nepela, and SLC. What a joke SC is becoming.

[chantilly]

I think to fix it, they need to send them to train with coaches in US or Japan. There are at least five girls in each country who could beat any of our top two. But honestly we have never been great in the ladies since the early eighties. Even those with great potential were a disappointment. Joannie was the only bright light and she was very inconsistent. Her win at the Olympics was a bit controversial even. Although she did have more difficult transitions, choreography etc. and I believe her next rival was downgraded. I do deserve she should have won the bronze after all. But I can understand the confusion as to why she did. But I would need to watch it again side by side to really judge accurately.

[hohoho]

Why send them to US and Japan when some of those skaters train or used to train in Canada.