Canadian Pairs 2017/2018 Season News and Updates

[canadianskater]

Speaking of Dylan, he is a class act. Saw his instagram stories and posted pictures of all three pairs competing and congratulated them on awesome skates. I can't imagine how hard it must be for him to watch and not be there in person competing. His post on how happy he was for his best friend Eric made me tear up a bit.

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

I would sooo love to see Moore-Towers skating with Bruno Massot. She is a diva, she is a great pair skater, she is just not with the right partner for her to reach her full potential. Don't throw rocks at me, she has done a fait job with Marinaro, they have come a long way... but he ain't Massot or these great pair guys. That's my own fantasy...

ETA : (Note to myself) We ought to spell skaters' name right...

 

[barbarafan]

Speaking of Dylan, he is a class act. Saw his instagram stories and posted pictures of all three pairs competing and congratulated them on awesome skates. I can't imagine how hard it must be for him to watch and not be there in person competing. His post on how happy he was for his best friend Eric made me tear up a bit.

He is so amazing as a person and a role model. He just rises above everything. I was devastated by their bad luck (and crappy decisions by skate canada) and now am totally humbled by his class and grace. I can only hope that in some way the lemons get turned to lemonade.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I sure am gonna miss Duhamel & Radford.. One of my absolute favorite teams!!!!!

 

[Rafter]

He is so amazing as a person and a role model. He just rises above everything. I was devastated by their bad luck (and crappy decisions by skate canada) and now am totally humbled by his class and grace. I can only hope that in some way the lemons get turned to lemonade.

What crappy decisions by Skate Canada?

 

[rvi5]

I sure am gonna miss Duhamel & Radford.. One of my absolute favorite teams!!!!!

Not a competition, but they will be in CSOI. The entire team event skaters are in that show. It would be nice if they get special mention. Especially at the TV broadcasted Hamilton show. In addition, Elvis, Buttle, Kaitlyn/Andrew, and Javier are in the show.

 

[fsfann]

I would sooo love to see Moore-Towers skating with Bruno Massot. She is a diva, she is a great pair skater, she is just not with the right partner for her to reach her full potential. Don't throw rocks at me, she has done a fait job with Marinaro, they have come a long way... but he ain't Massot or these great pair guys. That's my own fantasy...

ETA : (Note to myself) We ought to spell skaters' name right...

Not gonna lie. I was thinking this exact same thing last night, and was going to post the same thing. I think KMT & Massot would be an amazing team. But then I read today that he is planning to step away from skating. Can you imagine those two for the next 4 years?!

 

[honey]

I think KMT has the potential to be a star if she had the right partner. She has the necessary performance quality, skating skills and jumping ability to be right at the top. As far as they have taken Marinaro, I just don’t see it ever happening fully for them. But she made her choice four years ago and I don’t see her starting over again. And it’s not like there’s a magic male pair skater just hanging around for her to skate with anyway.

Very happy for Duhamel and Radford to end their career this way. I have not always cared for their skating but their bronze was well deserved last night and I’m happy for them that they ended on this note

Very impressed with S/B and MT/M as well, both skating beautiful programs. Will be interesting to see if either team can develop a quad element over the summer. Their current elements do not look ripe for the makings of quads, but stranger things have happened.

 

[clairecloutier]

Very impressed with S/B and MT/M as well, both skating beautiful programs. Will be interesting to see if either team can develop a quad element over the summer. Their current elements do not look ripe for the makings of quads, but stranger things have happened.

Considering Julianne has had multiple concussions and Kirsten a major concussion, I kind of hope neither team tries quad throws. I think it would be a very big risk for little gain, especially if the ISU goes ahead with devaluing quads in the off-season. And I don't know if I see a quad twist happening for either team. S/B possibly??, at some point?. MT/M, definitely not.

 

[Rafter]

I don’t see a quad twist for either team. Neither gets enough height. You need to get Savchenko or Tarasova level height on a triple to even consider a quad. I could maybe see KMT trying for a quad throw sal.

Regarding S/B, I hope someone in their team (Marie-France?) can get her to do some ballet classes or something. She needs more more extension/toe point in the lifts and transition moves.

 

[mag]

This may have been posted already, but if there was ever any question about the level of respect these athletes have for each other, or any question about how badly the “want” it, watch this:

https://www.facebook.com/sven.authorsen/posts/10155720199499748

Oh, and Megan and Eric should carry the flag in the closing ceremonies. I know they won’t be chosen, but if anyone totally and completely embodies the Olympic spirit it is Megan Duhamel.

 

[Sylvia]

Beverley Smith: SEGUIN AND BILODEAU: NOT A MEDAL BUT A WIN
Excerpt:

And then along came Julianne Seguin, a tiny girl who skated with joy. With Seguin, Picard found the joy of teaching again. She was 11 when Picard first saw her, a girl with shining eyes and only an Axel and a double Salchow. Picard knew she had a lot of work to do. But what she saw in Seguin is what she saw in herself: a passion for skating and a love for it, too. This joy thing.
Picard decided that Seguin would become her final project. She would put the entire force of her knowledge and effort into taking her as far as she could go. Seguin had come from a small skating club in Montreal, and her coach – a part-timer who had a full-time job elsewhere – could see that this tiny girl wanted to skate pairs. So Picard opened a new club in Chambly, and now has lots of coaches working under her, developing the little ones. But Seguin is her full-time project that she started nine years ago.

Excerpt about Meagan and Eric from Bev Smith's Pairs FS recap in her blog:

In the free, skating to Adele’s “Hometown Glory,” they laid it out so deftly, they actually finished second in the long program to the Germans. They landed a throw quad Salchow, a first in Olympic history. They drifted into it slowly and carefully, and for a few fleeting moments, it appeared as if it could not possibly happen. But Duhamel willed the landing and the Chinese judge gave them a +2 for it.
...
“It feels like gold,” Duhamel said. She hopped up and down on the third-level podium.
“I couldn’t have dreamed it that much better,” she told reporters afterward. “I mean, I could have dreamed it without my hands down on my triple Lutz. But we came to the Olympics and we just delivered four amazing performances. Four out of four.”
“We saved the best for the last,” Radford said.

 

[Rafter]

Thank you, Sylvia. I had no idea Picard coached Osmond.

Curious if anyone here has seen Justine Brasseur and her Ukrainian partner yet?

 

[Catherine M]

Curious if anyone here has seen Justine Brasseur and her Ukrainian partner yet?

No but I did see a cute clip on Vanessa Grenier's instagram of Mark Bardei trying to speak french so he seems to be settling into life in Montreal ok.

 

[barbarafan]

Considering Julianne has had multiple concussions and Kirsten a major concussion, I kind of hope neither team tries quad throws. I think it would be a very big risk for little gain, especially if the ISU goes ahead with devaluing quads in the off-season. And I don't know if I see a quad twist happening for either team. S/B possibly??, at some point?. MT/M, definitely not.

s/B- Sky is the limit. Their technique is sound and if their injuries are now behind them they could start to add more difficulty again. Mtm2 just got their technique corrected on the triple throws...They are now doing assisted jumps...before Mike was doing all the work and results were not good. He is really developing into a great pair guy and his confidence seems to be on track now.

 

[Parsley Sage]

Thrilled for Meagan and Eric.

The radio station I listen to in the morning started their Olympic report by playing a clip of Hometown Glory.

 

[JoannaLouise]

Megan & Eric will be doing a Facebook Live session on the CBC Olympics Facebook page, starting at 8:15 tonight (so about 25 minutes from now).

 

[ChiquitaBanana]

Thank you, Sylvia. I had no idea Picard coached Osmond.

Curious if anyone here has seen Justine Brasseur and her Ukrainian partner yet?

Circa 2005, Picard coached the Osmonds (Natasha her sister was a pair skater and that's why they had moved into Quebec) and brought Kaetlyn to her first national title, in juvenile. They then moved to Edmonton because of the father's job.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Dylan Moscovitch did a photo shoot; see link in this tweet:

Had a great time with this shoot! Thanks recourtphoto !! #Repost recourtphoto with… https://www.instagram.com/p/BfjBanVnulw/ ​

 

[Rock2]

Lots of love for KMT on here and truly I'm a fan. But a few words of caution on this lovefest before you send her off to another partner to win Olympic gold.

She and Mike don't have a great twist. Much of that inferiority is attributable to her. It's less of a strength issue because a. Mike is actually super strong and can push a lot of weight in the gym and 2. Dylan is one of the strongest pairs skaters in recent history and their twist was small, too.

Why? She has a big issue that has two components. She starts turning (rolling) her twist literally as she's leaving Mike's hands. What she's supposed to do is keep her body straight and do a split so that Mike can push her straight up. She doesn't do this so Mike can't launch her vertically as she begins to twist as he's lifting. He loses his leverage. So did Dylan.
She doesn't have the strength and technique to open her body in a split and pull it in super tight near peak air position to crank 3 revs.

If Bruno was pitching her you'd see something similar to what she does with Mike only a little bit more height. Forcing her to split would turn her twist into something like Berezhnaya/Sikhuralidze. She tried to do the split but couldn't pull in tight enough to get rotation done that well either. They had a very high twist but it often had a barely-rotated/crashy landing. Based on where she is now, that's what you'd end up with, most likely. You wouldn't be impressed.

Aside from the twist, I'm not convinced she's quite strong enough to land a huge throw like Aljona. I'll believe it when I see it. In Korea she looked to be in really good shape. Maybe they'll try quads this summer. They definitely need to upgrade their throws so let's see what she's ready to handle.

Net net if you put KMT and Bruno together you may be disappointed, while appreciating even more the talent Aljona brings to that partnership that just isn't present in other pair girls.

A note on sbs jumps. KMT has up to 3L based on her junior skating. Mike had up to 3Z in junior men's if memory serves. Advantage, Mike. I have seen KMT working on the 3F in video along with Mike so I wouldn't be surprised if that gets added in soon. Yay for that.

All being said I think KMT will reach her potential with Mike and of course some more development.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Considering that Massot talked about disc issues and how he'd like to coach, I think we'd see KMT with Savchenko first

 

[oleada]

I know I've been a D/R hater throughout the years, but I actually wanted to say that Meaghan's attitude throughout the team event and during the pairs long was so positive and infectious. I actually sat down and watched TSL (and I hate Dave Lease!) and I really appreciated her insights and was so impressed at how well she knew the system in and out, like down to how the Chinese lose levels on the spins. It was also great to hear her impressions as a competitor. I think she will make an excellent coach

Plus, I think the rescuing Korean dogs thing is very cool. So I'm eating my words, and while I never will love their skating, their long program was really good and I'm happy they won a medal. They really won me over at these Olympics.

 

[Rock2]

I know I've been a D/R hater throughout the years, but I actually wanted to say that Meaghan's attitude throughout the team event and during the pairs long was so positive and infectious. I actually sat down and watched TSL (and I hate Dave Lease!) and I really appreciated her insights and was so impressed at how well she knew the system in and out, like down to how the Chinese lose levels on the spins. It was also great to hear her impressions as a competitor. I think she will make an excellent coach

Plus, I think the rescuing Korean dogs thing is very cool. So I'm eating my words, and while I never will love their skating, their long program was really good and I'm happy they won a medal. They really won me over at these Olympics.

Well said. You don't always have to 'like' but you can definitely respect.

Meg is a huge nerd and fan of the sport. I think she and Eric knew long ago that they weren't likely to out-PCS the competition, so given they have lofty goals they needed to exceed through hard work while picking apart IJS to strategize their path.

She'll have many options for her career. She has ambitions in business, coaching, wellness, and TV as well as other things. On that last one I'm curious to see what happens to broadcasting teams next year in Canada. If I'm Kurt or Carol Lane I'd be nervous. Tracy is likely to be safe but I can see adding a third to that team. I can easily see Scott, Tessa, Meg and/or Dylan killing it in front of the camera. Lots to choose from.

 

[IloveFS]

I would sooo love to see Moore-Towers skating with Bruno Massot. She is a diva, she is a great pair skater, she is just not with the right partner for her to reach her full potential. Don't throw rocks at me, she has done a fait job with Marinaro, they have come a long way... but he ain't Massot or these great pair guys. That's my own fantasy...

ETA : (Note to myself) We ought to spell skaters' name right...

I totally agree - Michael Marinaro doesn't have the ability of other male pairs skaters. I think that she should look for a new partner if she wants to move up in the rankings.

 

[Rafter]

I don’t see KMT starting over with a new partner AGAIN. Who would she skate with? Drew Wolfe is the only one I can think of and I dont see it happened. Wolfe isn’t even doing a 3twist with his current partner. Mike M has improved and will continue to improve under Gauthier and Marcotte. I would like to see them branch out and use someone other than Julie M for even one program next year. I doubt it will happen but I can hope.

As for Duhamel after listening to her TSL interview it seems to me like she’d be an amazing coach.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I know I've been a D/R hater throughout the years, but I actually wanted to say that Meaghan's attitude throughout the team event and during the pairs long was so positive and infectious. I actually sat down and watched TSL (and I hate Dave Lease!) and I really appreciated her insights and was so impressed at how well she knew the system in and out, like down to how the Chinese lose levels on the spins. It was also great to hear her impressions as a competitor. I think she will make an excellent coach

Plus, I think the rescuing Korean dogs thing is very cool. So I'm eating my words, and while I never will love their skating, their long program was really good and I'm happy they won a medal. They really won me over at these Olympics.

Shantay, you stay!!!

 

[wickedwitch]

For years, I have rooted for D/R largely because I think Meagan is so awesome. If Meagan wants to start her skating vlog, skating blog, or religion, I am there.

Other things I am there for, given that this is the Canadian pairs thread: 4 years of S/B's dominance.

 

[dramagrrl]

Other things I am there for, given that this is the Canadian pairs thread: 4 years of S/B's dominance.

I am already starting my prayers and voodoo charms to keep them free of injury, especially any more concussions.

 

[Parsley Sage]

If I had to a pick a skater that would have no issues transitioning to post competitive life, it would be Meagan.

 

[shutterbug]

More Meagan awesomeness: https://www.instagram.com/p/BfkAnmmhCTv/?taken-by=meaganduhamel

Drew Wolfe is the only one I can think of and I dont see it happened. Wolfe isn’t even doing a 3twist with his current partner.

FWIW, Drew and Natasha Purich had the start of a nice 3twist. It wasn't huge yet, but the technique was good. The thought of he and Kirsten pairing up post 2018 Olys crossed my mind, but I don't they'd be a great match stylistically. Would love to see him with someone who didn't struggle with the jumps though.