David Wilson Calls for New Leadership at Skate Canada

[Judy]

I have been watching NHL games taking place in Canada. I have just checked how many games will take place tomorrow, Feb 15th. 3 games for Canadian teams: Ottawa - Toronto, Winnipeg - Edmonton and Calgary - Vancouver. This is just for one day. I think the whole Canadian figure skating championships is equal to these three games in terms of number of involved people. I understand that hockey has different kind of money, but it has also different scale in terms of number of involved people. It's just difficult to buy the argument re protecting lives when hockey season continues, and hockey is a group sport and in that respect is much more risky than figure skating. If you follow hockey, you know that they constantly talk about players sent to quarantine. For some reason, they find this risk acceptable - in Canada.

The Canadian teams with the NHL - for the first time ever - are in a bubble and only playing against each other. They are not leaving Canada. They have their own airplanes to fly their players. There are no fans in the stands. There is likely consistent covid testing for them and I think a huge amount of rules for them to follow. I know our Ontario premier spoke about it last week when he was discussing the reopening for us. I can find the link if you like.

 

[_Lola_]

The Canadian teams with the NHL - for the first time ever - are in a bubble and only playing against each other. They are not leaving Canada. They have their own airplanes to fly their players. There are no fans in the stands. There is likely consistent ********* testing for them and I think a huge amount of rules for them to follow. I know our Ontario premier spoke about it last week when he was discussing the reopening for us. I can find the link if you like.

Excellent. Why isn't it possible to do the same for figure skaters? They don't need a personal plane, you just need to test them once they are on site.

 

[Judy]

Excellent. Why isn't it possible to do the same for figure skaters? They don't need a personal plane, you just need to test them once they are on site.

Here is an article that explains further.

Personal plane = you are not exposed to the general public where the risk would increase. We know travel has had a huge effect on infection.

The NHL has a LOT more money and figure skaters are from all over Canada. It doesn’t take much to understand it would be more difficult to contain a bubble for them.

As NHL deals with COVID-19, players in Canada thankful for North Division

At one point this week, five NHL teams in the U.S. were sitting idle because of the league's COVID-19 protocols. Players and coaches in Canada are thankful the story is much different here, but are also aware it's no time to let their guard down.

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[Dave of the North]

What is that perception based on, exactly?

Also, Skate Canada put a lot of work into hosting their virtual Challenge, so they very obviously were not just hoping things would work out.

Well they would have seen the success of Skate America, in a place with 4 or 5 times the per capita cases of YKW compared to Ontario. Of course, they (SC) may have been bound by contractual obligations that would make it difficult to look for alternatives, and had to stay with the plans for nationals until the health officials gave them the out to cancel without penalty.

Yes the Challenge worked very well.

CTV covers Skate Canada and Nationals (I've not heard that it will not be doing so in future).

CBC had a contract for Worlds for a number of years, but it expired and was not renewed. The only reason CBC was to broadcast Montreal Worlds was that the host country needs to provide a host broadcaster.

Probably no more Canadian coverage of Worlds in the foreseeable future. Thank goodness for You Tube and Eurosport.

Rod Black was spared in the recent Bell/TSN layoffs, so we have that to look forward to in CTV coverage.

 

[Colonel Green]

Well they would have seen the success of Skate America, in a place with 4 or 5 times the per capita cases of YKW compared to Ontario. Of course, they (SC) may have been bound by contractual obligations that would make it difficult to look for alternatives, and had to stay with the plans for nationals until the health officials gave them the out to cancel without penalty.

What would Skate America have to do with it, since that was allowed due to public health authorities in Nevada, and the regime here is very different?

 

[MsZem]

Here is an article that explains further.

Personal plane = you are not exposed to the general public where the risk would increase. We know travel has had a huge effect on infection.

Do we? Obviously this was the case in the early days when CV was just spreading, but back then there was no distancing and no masking. It's also an issue when people travel to and from places that do not have adequate health-related precautions (in Israel's case, travel to Dubai has been a debacle), but that doesn't seem to describe Canada.

Honestly, it's fine to say that more money is invested in hockey so they can afford enact best practices. But the issue is not that sports competitions are inherently unsafe, even in Canada. It's that some sports are seen as more valuable or better able to handle required health measures.

 

[sap5]

CTV covers Skate Canada and Nationals (I've not heard that it will not be doing so in future).

CBC had a contract for Worlds for a number of years, but it expired and was not renewed. The only reason CBC was to broadcast Montreal Worlds was that the host country needs to provide a host broadcaster.

Probably no more Canadian coverage of Worlds in the foreseeable future. Thank goodness for You Tube and Eurosport.

I really don’t understand the Canadian attitude towards figure skating. In the US, half the country doesn’t see snow, so I understand why figure skating isn’t a huge priority. Yet we still are making it happen. Your country is covered in snow for half the year, you have rinks everywhere, and yet there is no interest in covering the World Championships?!

 

[Colonel Green]

You keep posting about how hockey has such a priority over figure skating, and I’m wondering why that is? Canada won the team medal in 2018– you’d think that would stir some national pride in figure skating and the country would want to encourage people to join the sport. But it seems that you’re saying that the country prioritizes hockey over skating, and that to me is a huge failure in a country where figure skating should be a big deal.

Hockey is the country's most popular and culturally important sport -- we have more registered players than the United States despite its being ten times larger. Nothing compares.

 

[Colonel Green]

I really don’t understand the Canadian attitude towards figure skating. In the US, half the country doesn’t see snow, so I understand why figure skating isn’t a huge priority. Yet we still are making it happen. Your country is covered in snow for half the year, you have rinks everywhere, and yet there is no interest in covering the World Championships?!

There was interest in covering the World Championships, but the ISU decided to try to raise the cost of the TV contracts last season and the CBC couldn't afford that. They've since come down on that (see: Eurosport getting coverage back), so it's possible that coverage will resume, but there hasn't been any word on that either way.

 

[sap5]

Hockey is the country's most popular and culturally important sport -- we have more registered players than the United States despite its being ten times larger. Nothing compares.

Why can’t Canada have more than one sport that is culturally important?

 

[MsZem]

Why can’t Canada have more than one sport that is culturally important?

Canadians are allowed to decide which sports are more important to them. Even boring sports like hockey

 

[_Lola_]

Here is an article that explains further.

Personal plane = you are not exposed to the general public where the risk would increase. We know travel has had a huge effect on infection.

The NHL has a LOT more money and figure skaters are from all over Canada. It doesn’t take much to understand it would be more difficult to contain a bubble for them.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nhl-deals-*********-19-players-canada-thankful-north-division/

Are you trying to say that it is safer to play a group game for months, with multiple people being face-to-face on the rink than to bring figure skaters and coaches and test them once they are on site once a year for Nationals? Even if someone from the skaters and the coaches are positive, they can quarantine at the hotel, as it was the case with one of the skaters in the US. What is super-expensive about that? You don't need a bubble in figure skating, because there are no teams. The bubble certainly helps for hockey, but only to some extent, since players are still getting infected, and this risk doesn't prevent the management from continuing and no one probably thinks about Shpilevaya's case - even if it is proved that men are more inclined to show stronger symptoms. If you're afraid of public transportation - drive a car. Canada is a huge country, but we just saw how Hubbell and Donohue went from Las Vegas to Montreal by car.

 

[Japanfan]

You keep posting about how hockey has such a priority over figure skating, and I’m wondering why that is? Canada won the team medal in 2018– you’d think that would stir some national pride in figure skating and the country would want to encourage people to join the sport. But it seems that you’re saying that the country prioritizes hockey over skating, and that to me is a huge failure in a country where figure skating should be a big deal.

Hockey is Canada's sport. The number of people who watch it and play far exceeds the number of people who watching figure skating or figure skate. Kids play hockey on backyard rinks. Everyone watches, or most people. I grew up in a northern Canada town and hockey was the thing. I always wanted to be at the games, developed huge crushes on some of the players, and hockey player pictures posted on my wall for a time. Eventually, I grew out of it.

'Hockey Night in Canada' on Saturday is a national traditional - or used to be? Think it is still going strong?

My mom used to get so angry that my dad would resist going out on Saturday nights during hockey season, back in the day when there was no video or computers.

 

[Judy]

Do we? Obviously this was the case in the early days when CV was just spreading, but back then there was no distancing and no masking. It's also an issue when people travel to and from places that do not have adequate health-related precautions (in Israel's case, travel to Dubai has been a debacle), but that doesn't seem to describe Canada.

Honestly, it's fine to say that more money is invested in hockey so they can afford enact best practices. But the issue is not that sports competitions are inherently unsafe, even in Canada. It's that some sports are seen as more valuable or better able to handle required health measures.

Of course travel still has an effect. We have our first confirmed case of a Nigeria variant in B.C. Due to the person travelling to Nigeria. Yesterday I was very much wtf why are we allowing travel like this. We have the U.K. and South African variant.

Similar to NBA, baseball, football, basketball .. they are owned by billionaires.

You can equate american football to hockey in Canada.

You can kinda nitpick all you like. Try to use some rational logical thinking though. I can easily turn it around and say why was the super bowl allowed to happen with spectators. Oh yes I personally can’t stand football = boring. To each their own.

 

[Dave of the North]

What would Skate America have to do with it, since that was allowed due to public health authorities in Nevada, and the regime here is very different?

SC could have used it as an example to help convince health authorities that they could do it safely. But I realize they had other considerations such as skaters in different provinces not having access to adequate ice time due to local regulations.

SC might not mind having an event with no audience - can use a smaller cheaper arena. Wasn't it someone from SC that said fs fans weren't the image SC wanted to portray - they were all overweight women and seniors.

 

[Colonel Green]

SC could have used it as an example to help convince health authorities that they could do it safely.

One imagines the American example did come up; that doesn't mean the health authorities would be convinced (and indeed, the USFS got a bit lucky there; their screening standards don't rise to the level of what Canadian provinces have generally been requiring).

 

[Colonel Green]

You don't need a bubble in figure skating, because there are no teams.

You do need a bubble, because you're bringing a bunch of people together from disparate locations to be in close quarters (and rinks are one of the worst environments for spreading things around).

 

[MsZem]

Of course travel still has an effect. We have our first confirmed case of a Nigeria variant in B.C. Due to the person travelling to Nigeria. Yesterday I was very much wtf why are we allowing travel like this. We have the U.K. and South African variant.

See below:

Do we? Obviously this was the case in the early days when CV was just spreading, but back then there was no distancing and no masking. It's also an issue when people travel to and from places that do not have adequate health-related precautions (in Israel's case, travel to Dubai has been a debacle), but that doesn't seem to describe Canada.

Is this true for domestic travel in Canada? Because that's what holding Nationals would involve.

You can equate american football to hockey in Canada.

You can kinda nitpick all you like. Try to use some rational logical thinking though. I can easily turn it around and say why was the super bowl allowed to happen with spectators. Oh yes I personally can’t stand football = boring. To each their own.

I'm not American, and having a difference of opinion does not make either of us irrational.

 

[_Lola_]

You do need a bubble, because you're bringing a bunch of people together from disparate locations to be in close quarters (and rinks are one of the worst environments for spreading things around).

You can create the bubble on site - as it was in the US, right? I should have probably add "long-term bubble" as in case of hockey.

I understand that this conversation goes nowhere, because it is how it is - no Nationals, period. The management has their own rational. So does David Wilson. I just feel bad for Canadian skaters, coaches, choreographers.

 

[Judy]

Canadians are allowed to decide which sports are more important to them. Even boring sports like hockey

Figure skating is important to Canada and always has been. Different sports are important here .. the Raptors, Blue Jays, CFL football. Soccer is big for the kids. But every kid grows up with hockey. Women hockey too. It’s the most dominant sport for sure.

 

[Karen-W]

Can the people who keep dismissing the bubble the USFS employed for both SkAm and US Nats that worked as "they got lucky"? It worked because everyone involved took the bubble requirements seriously since they wanted the event to succeed.

The ISU and other sporting orgs are successfully holding bubble events, indoor ones even!

 

[kwanfan1818]

Why can’t Canada have more than one sport that is culturally important?

Ahem, curling.

Although when I was getting Canadian citizenship, the edition of the test prep booklet, "Discover Canada," had photos and captions of hockey teams and players and figure skaters and no curlers

The social and community aspects of hockey and curling -- team sports, lots of local competitions, alcohol for adults, lifelong programs -- are greater than for figure skating for a lot more people.

 

[_Lola_]

The social and community aspects of hockey and curling -- team sports, lots of local competitions, alcohol for adults, lifelong programs -- are greater than for figure skating for a lot more people.

Can it also be a matter of gender dimension? Figure skating as women's sport? Who cares about it in the men's world?

 

[Colonel Green]

Can the people who keep dismissing the bubble the USFS employed for both SkAm and US Nats that worked as "they got lucky"? It worked because everyone involved took the bubble requirements seriously since they wanted the event to succeed.

The USFS system would not catch travel-related infections, most obviously.

 

[Japanfan]

Wasn't it someone from SC that said fs fans weren't the image SC wanted to portray - they were all overweight women and seniors.

Well, too bad for SC. Those old and overweight women contribute a lot of $$ to the sport - especially the Japanese women. Those old ladiezz often join tours, although the number of old ladiezz going on their own is worthwhile financially.

 

[skatingguy]

I think the thing that is getting missed here is that aside from the World Junior Hockey Championships, and the NHL Canadian teams, and perhaps the national curling championships in the next few weeks, there are basically no other sporting events taking place in Canada. All international competitions, including all winter sport world cups that would normally occur, have been cancelled for the past year. Other professional sports leagues like the Canadian Football League have not been playing. Junior league hockey, which is big part of small city/town live in Canada, has been cancelled, and even minor league sports have been limited. Sometimes kids teams can practice, but often competitions have been cancelled & tournaments are not allowed. I appreciate that other countries have been able, or are willing to go ahead with these types of events, but here in Canada public health measure have restricted many activities. In Ontario we're only just starting to come out of a 'Stay-at-Home' order for the past month which restricted non-essential travel which would make most sporting events impossible.

 

[Judy]

Can the people who keep dismissing the bubble the USFS employed for both SkAm and US Nats that worked as "they got lucky"? It worked because everyone involved took the bubble requirements seriously since they wanted the event to succeed.

The ISU and other sporting orgs are successfully holding bubble events, indoor ones even!

I am sure they did. But I have NO idea what the U.S. is doing compared to Canada. We are in a lot of ways different countries. I can barely keep up with what’s going on with my city.

I really don’t understand the Canadian attitude towards figure skating. In the US, half the country doesn’t see snow, so I understand why figure skating isn’t a huge priority. Yet we still are making it happen. Your country is covered in snow for half the year, you have rinks everywhere, and yet there is no interest in covering the World Championships?!

I am sure worlds will be covered.

The whole country isn’t covered by snow lol. Which has nothing to do with figure skating.

 

[manhn]

Can it also be a matter of gender dimension? Figure skating as women's sport? Who cares about it in the men's world?

A lot of women in Canada play hockey or curling.

Canada is not even playing NBA and MLB games.

If the idea of poor leadership is that figure skating in Canada is less popular than hockey, what are these sports with good Canadian leadership? I am sure there are plenty of people who want to see a change in leadership within Hockey Canada.

 

[MsZem]

Canada is not even playing NBA and MLB games.

Well, it's not even spring training yet but I guess the Blue Jays will again be playing elsewhere?

 

[kwanfan1818]

Can it also be a matter of gender dimension? Figure skating as women's sport? Who cares about it in the men's world?

Could be, in that figure skating is considered a female sport, but there was 24 years between 1947 and 1948 European Champion and 1948 Olympic Gold Medallist Barbara Ann Scott and 1972 Olympic Silver Medalist and 1973 World Champion Karen Magnussen, and then over 30 years between Magnussen and Joannie Rochette, and then a dozen years between Rochette and Osmond.

Canadian Men have had contenders in every decade since Donald Jackson (late '50's, early '60's), Cranston in the early '70's, a medal from Pockar in '82 and Orser in the '80's, followed by Browning, Stojko, Buttle, and Chan. Plus they've been half of every medal-winning Pairs and Dance team, and heavily represented among figure skating commentators.