2023/24 Canadian Women: News & Updates

[Colonel Green]

Kaiya gets the YOG spot, after being just so slightly too young to go last time.

 

[Colonel Green]

4CC: Madeline gets assigned, other two spots TBD and will be announced on January 14th.

 

[Winnipeg]

New Canadian Champ - Kaiya Ruiter!

 

[danafan]

Well deserved. Good luck to her at YOG.
Other post nationals assignments will be interesting. Obviously Schizas, Dupuis and Miclette to 4CC as they have the minimums and Ruiter is already going to YOG. Probably Ruiter and Lin to junior worlds? Unless they prioritize a senior international for Ruiter to possibly be considered for worlds.

 

[Colonel Green]

Well deserved. Good luck to her at YOG.
Other post nationals assignments will be interesting. Obviously Schizas, Dupuis and Miclette to 4CC as they have the minimums and Ruiter is already going to YOG. Probably Ruiter and Lin to junior worlds? Unless they prioritize a senior international for Ruiter to possibly be considered for worlds.

Given the weight they’ve historically placed on the national title, I kind of think they will give Ruiter a crack at it. We could see a Challenge Cup skate off, which would double as an opportunity to earn the minimums.

 

[danafan]

Given the weight they’ve historically placed on the national title, I kind of think they will give Ruiter a crack at it. We could see a Challenge Cup skate off, which would double as an opportunity to earn the minimums.

I tend to agree, which due to the timing would take her out of junior worlds. It will be interesting to see if Skate Canada names the jr worlds team right away and who is on it.

 

[Karen-W]

Given the weight they’ve historically placed on the national title, I kind of think they will give Ruiter a crack at it. We could see a Challenge Cup skate off, which would double as an opportunity to earn the minimums.

I tend to agree, which due to the timing would take her out of junior worlds. It will be interesting to see if Skate Canada names the jr worlds team right away and who is on it.

Challenge Cup is a week before Jr Worlds this year.

Obviously, they'll be busy in 3 weeks at the WYOG & 4CCs. The following events are on the ISU calendar in February:

Dragon Trophy & Tivoli Cup - Ljubljana SLO - Feb 8-11
Lounakeskus Trophy - Tartu EST - Feb 8-11
Sarajevo Open - Sarajevo BIH - Feb 14-17
Abu Dhabi Classic - Abu Dhabi UAE - Feb 15-18
Tallink Hotels Cup - Tallinn EST - Feb 15-18
Bellu Memorial - Bucharest ROU - Feb 20-25
Challenge Cup - Tilburg NED - Feb 22-25
Merano Ice Trophy - Merano ITA - Feb 22-25

Jr Worlds - Taipei City TPE - Feb 26-Mar 3

I could see sending them to either Tallinn or Abu Dhabi and giving themselves and all of the impacted skaters a little extra time to prepare for whatever the outcome is. As of right now - here's how I see the initial assignments being announced -

Worlds - Kaiya Ruiter (pending TES mins); alternate - Maddie Schizas
4CCs - Maddie Schizas, Sara-Maude Dupuis, Justine Miclette; alternates - Katherine Medland Spence, Fiona Bombardier
Jr Worlds - Kaiya Ruiter, Lulu Lin; alternates - Hetty Shi, Aleksa Volkova, Uliana Shiryaeva

If Kaiya earns the Worlds TES min then she'll WD from Jr Worlds & Hetty Shi will go instead.

 

[Jarrett]

Challenge Cup is a week before Jr Worlds this year.

Obviously, they'll be busy in 3 weeks at the WYOG & 4CCs. The following events are on the ISU calendar in February:

Dragon Trophy & Tivoli Cup - Ljubljana SLO - Feb 8-11
Lounakeskus Trophy - Tartu EST - Feb 8-11
Sarajevo Open - Sarajevo BIH - Feb 14-17
Abu Dhabi Classic - Abu Dhabi UAE - Feb 15-18
Tallink Hotels Cup - Tallinn EST - Feb 15-18
Bellu Memorial - Bucharest ROU - Feb 20-25
Challenge Cup - Tilburg NED - Feb 22-25
Merano Ice Trophy - Merano ITA - Feb 22-25

Jr Worlds - Taipei City TPE - Feb 26-Mar 3

I could see sending them to either Tallinn or Abu Dhabi and giving themselves and all of the impacted skaters a little extra time to prepare for whatever the outcome is. As of right now - here's how I see the initial assignments being announced -

Worlds - Kaiya Ruiter (pending TES mins); alternate - Maddie Schizas
4CCs - Maddie Schizas, Sara-Maude Dupuis, Justine Miclette; alternates - Katherine Medland Spence, Fiona Bombardier
Jr Worlds - Kaiya Ruiter, Lulu Lin; alternates - Hetty Shi, Aleksa Volkova, Uliana Shiryaeva

If Kaiya earns the Worlds TES min then she'll WD from Jr Worlds & Hetty Shi will go instead.

I can’t imagine them leaving out Schizas of worlds. She is the best chance at getting two spots. Ruiter hasn’t broken 175 internationally.

 

[Karen-W]

I can’t imagine them leaving out Schizas of worlds. She is the best chance at getting two spots. Ruiter hasn’t broken 175 internationally.

Maddie's chances of getting two spots are about 5%, if that. Sakamoto, Hendrickx, Levito, Gubanova, Yoshida, Pinzarrone, C Kim, Ziegler/Thorngren (one or the other since the US only has 2 spots), Kaiser, Repond, & Lee (that's 11 women) are all ahead of her on the SB list as well as Petrokina (who knows if she'll be recovered by then - she has her cast off already per her IG). And that's not including Chiba or You who had mediocre fall seasons, plus all the wildcards like Serna, Kurakova, Joos, etc.

Now, I don't think Kaiya has any better shot at getting 2 spots but she did win Nats and I agree with those who expect that Skate Canada will give her another shot at getting the SP min before Worlds.

 

[fan]

If schizas wants to skate at the highest level, she needs a top level coach. Lemaire is a great developmental coach, but Maudie’s been limited for a few years now. She also needs to work on her posture

 

[coppertop1]

If schizas wants to skate at the highest level, she needs a top level coach. Lemaire is a great developmental coach, but Maudie’s been limited for a few years now. She also needs to work on her posture

Anyone specific you think she would benefit from?

 

[happycamper2554]

Anyone specific you think she would benefit from?

I think she could use a Tracey and Brian polishing. We know she can do the jumps.

 

[coppertop1]

I think she could use a Tracey and Brian polishing. We know she can do the jumps.

That's what I think. I needs that finishing touch.

 

[fan]

That's what I think. I needs that finishing touch.

Them, or Ravi

 

[puglover]

Congratulations to our new Senior Women's champion - Kaiya Ruiter! It must be such a huge high to skate well in front of family and friends and I thought she seemed genuinely thrilled on that podium. May she enjoy this success!

 

[Jay42]

Them, or Ravi

I've been wanting her to go to Ravi for a couple of years now. Tracey and Brian would probably be helpful too but I just feel like Ravi would give her that extra push she needs.

 

[coppertop1]

Them, or Ravi

I'm surprised Ravi isn't more in demand after his success with Kaetlyn

 

[Colonel Green]

I'm surprised Ravi isn't more in demand after his success with Kaetlyn

Relatively few skaters are interested in moving to Edmonton, I expect.

 

[coppertop1]

Relatively few skaters are interested in moving to Edmonton, I expect.

I think that's probably the case.

 

[Habs]

I think that's probably the case.

It surprises me a little that there aren’t more skaters flocking to the Ice Palace Club. Ravi is an excellent coach. And I think people forget that Ekaterina Gordeeva coaches there too.

 

[Winnipeg]

Edmonton is not that bad. If you are trying to improve your skating and are putting so much time and effort (and money) into the sport, moving to Edmonton hardly seems like a big sacrifice. Heck, Tara Lipinski lived in Detroit scream to get the right coaching for her skating.

You have to go where the training best fits what it will take to improved IMHO. Like starting a career, often people will go where the work is regardless of whether it is their number one place to live. I also believe a place is what you make of it in many regards (of course, not so if you love the ocean, surf, etc and need to be by the ocean).

In short, IMH, MS has reached a stasis with respect to her skating and she needs a change to break through to the next level. I think she CAN do this but some form of change is going to be required.

 

[Desperado]

I really like Ravi too but that would impact Madeline’s university studies. From what I heard in the broadcast, Conrad is still studying in Ontario (Toronto maybe) and trains in Edmonton, but that’s far from easy and although tangible progress has been made, Canadians were not a success for him.

 

[victorskid]

Relatively few skaters are interested in moving to Edmonton, I expect.

Yes, even Conrad was living/studying in Toronto and getting remote coaching

 

[honey]

Relatively few skaters are interested in moving to Edmonton, I expect.

I echo that this is likely the case as well. Of interest Rose Theroux recently moved from Quebec to Edmonton to train under Ravi and I was thinking about how that must be a huge change for her at 16 years old. Moving across the country like that is a massive change and not always easy to adjust to. And I suspect many skaters (and their parents) are just not willing to make the gamble to do something like that. It’s still early going for her with Ravi, but he seems to have helped her steady things somewhat after some lower points earlier in the season.

I also think Ravi is an excellent coach and think he has so much to offer.

For Madeline, I think her studies are at the forefront of her life and I don’t see her uprooting everything for skating at the expense of school. That’s fine if those are her priorities, but at a certain point people can only be stretched so thin and history has told us that typically skaters trying to balance full time university with school does not go great (Nathan Chen aside).

 

[Aaron MB Fan]

I’m glad that at least having the option to do both, compete in elite skating while studying in post secondary school, has kept some of our top skaters like Maddie and Conrad in the sport vs outright early retirement. I think this is aided by Singles in Canada being less competitive as a discipline.

Whereas in Ice Dance, we’ve lost great skaters like Natalie D’Allessandro and Emma Goodstadt to early retirement as pursuing their education in top schools at a young age is more appealing than investing a decade to climb up the Ice Dance racks.

 

[Colonel Green]

Edmonton is not that bad. If you are trying to improve your skating and are putting so much time and effort (and money) into the sport, moving to Edmonton hardly seems like a big sacrifice. Heck, Tara Lipinski lived in Detroit scream to get the right coaching for her skating.

I've got nothing against Edmonton. It's just the reality, for people in the Golden Horseshoe it's a long way away.

In general, our singles skaters don't tend to travel very far from home, at least in their teens. It's a bit different in dance and pairs out of necessity.

 

[made_in_canada]

It’s not like Edmonton couldn’t attract top skaters when Royal Glenora was in its heyday. I don’t think it’s the city. Not that I have any idea why ice palace isn’t more attractive to skaters. Maybe it’s just how chill Ravi appears to be? It’s definitely a trait not commonly associated with skating coaches

 

[Habs]

It’s not like Edmonton couldn’t attract top skaters when Royal Glenora was in its heyday. I don’t think it’s the city. Not that I have any idea why ice palace isn’t more attractive to skaters. Maybe it’s just how chill Ravi appears to be? It’s definitely a trait not commonly associated with skating coaches

Ravi is a really nice guy, an excellent coach, and is reasonably chill. But he’s not as chill as one might think.

 

[fan]

I’m glad that at least having the option to do both, compete in elite skating while studying in post secondary school, has kept some of our top skaters like Maddie and Conrad in the sport vs outright early retirement. I think this is aided by Singles in Canada being less competitive as a discipline.

Whereas in Ice Dance, we’ve lost great skaters like Natalie D’Allessandro and Emma Goodstadt to early retirement as pursuing their education in top schools at a young age is more appealing than investing a decade to climb up the Ice Dance racks.

A lot of ice dancer women are expected to pay for their partners. A lot of parents will do so until the end of high school, but no further

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Sakamoto, Hendrickx, Levito, Gubanova, Yoshida, Pinzarrone, C Kim, <strike>Ziegler/Thorngren</strike> GLENN (one or the other since the US only has 2 spots), Kaiser, Repond, & Lee

fixed it for you. GEEESHHHH