Skate Canada names 2020-2021 National Team

[danafan]

Skate Canada Announces 2020-21 National Team

OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada is pleased to announce the 2020-21 National Team. [...]

skatecanada.ca

To be named to the National Team, a skater must finish in the top three in senior men, women, pair and ice dance disciplines at the 2020 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships and/or a ranking of top 24 in the ISU World Standings, and must be competing in the 2020-21 season. Athletes can be added at the discretion of Skate Canada based on new partnerships of current and former national team members.

My first thought it - poor Alicia Pineault. She's never been named to the national team despite competing twice on the senior grand prix and being named to worlds this year

MEN
Roman Sadovsky, 21, Vaughn, Ont.
Nam Nguyen, 22, Ajax, Ont.
Keegan Messing, 28, Sherwood Park, Alta.

WOMEN
Emily Bausback, 18, Vancouver, BC
Alison Schumacher, 17, Tecumseh, Ont.
Madeline Schizas, 16, Oakville, Ont.

PAIR
Kirsten Moore-Towers, 28, St. Catharines, Ont. & Michael Marinaro, 28, Sarnia, Ont.
Evelyn Walsh, 19, London, Ont. & Trennt Michaud, 24, Trenton, Ont.

ICE DANCE
Piper Gilles, 28, Toronto, Ont. & Paul Poirier, 28, Unionville, Ont.
Marjorie Lajoie, 19, Boucherville, Que. & Zachary Lagha, 21, Saint-Hubert, Que.
Carolane Soucisse, 25, Chateauguay, Que. & Shane Firus, 26, North Vancouver, B.C.
Laurence Fournier Beaudry, 28, Montreal, Que. & Nikolaj Sorensen, 31, Montreal, Que.

 

[Sylvia]

Also unfortunate, funding-wise, for Joseph Phan, Nicolas Nadeau & Conrad Orzel (4th-6th at 2020 Canadians) who were on the National Team last year. At least Stephen Gogolev is on the NextGen team.

Madeline Schizas is the only skater named to both teams.

Skate Canada National Team

The National Team comprises those athletes who meet the following criteria: Top three in senior singles, pairs, and ice dance disciplines at the 2024 Canadian National Skating Championships Assigned to a 2024/2025 ISU Grand Prix event at the ISU Grand Prix Selection meeting Competing in...

skatecanada.ca

NextGen – Skate Canada

skatecanada.ca

 

[Catherine M]

I know they are trying to save money but not to have Pineault, Phan, Orzel and Nadeau on the team is kinda sad.

 

[honey]

Interesting to see Doug Leigh listed as one of Nam’s coaches. Haven’t seen Doug officially listed as coaching a top skater in a while.

 

[danafan]

It seems like a slap in the face to Pineault - to be named to the world team and not the national team. She also has the second highest ISU season best score of the Canadian women (just behind Schumacher and just ahead of Bausback).

 

[Colonel Green]

Basically they took the podiums + Laurence & Nikolaj - Liubov & Charlie (for obvious reasons).

I don't think there's anything remotely second-guessable about the pairs and dance picks.

Regarding the singles, I can understand just going with the podiums. For the men, there's a big gap between those three and the other guys (other than Stephen, but since he wasn't at nationals and didn't compete senior last year, that also makes sense; it was more unusual that he was on the team last season than that he's not now). The ladies field is a total mess, and with a few of the skaters that either have more historical track record or promise it'd be hard to design criteria to capture them without rendering the list completely arbitrary or broadening it a lot. Effectively this is a challenge to everybody left off to shape up this year.

 

[danafan]

I'll stop harping on this, but I feel like they could have easily added another criteria "and/or being named to the 2020 World Championship Team" to allow them to include Pineault. Of course assuming Pineault is planning to compete this season.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

It seems like a slap in the face to Pineault - to be named to the world team and not the national team. She also has the second highest ISU season best score of the Canadian women (just behind Schumacher and just ahead of Bausback).

Wow. That's rough.

Pineault skated a fantastic free skate at Four Continents and held her own against top athletes from the USA, Korea and Japan.

 

[barbarafan]

Also unfortunate, funding-wise, for Joseph Phan, Nicolas Nadeau & Conrad Orzel (4th-6th at 2020 Canadians) who were on the National Team last year. At least Stephen Gogolev is on the NextGen team.

Madeline Schizas is the only skater named to both teams.

Skate Canada National Team

The National Team comprises those athletes who meet the following criteria: Top three in senior singles, pairs, and ice dance disciplines at the 2024 Canadian National Skating Championships Assigned to a 2024/2025 ISU Grand Prix event at the ISU Grand Prix Selection meeting Competing in...

skatecanada.ca

NextGen – Skate Canada

skatecanada.ca

also unfortunate. Alicia Fabbri/Paul Ayer not named to official team. Just noticed Sales/Wamseeker not there as well. So they have 10 ice dance teams on Next Gen but can only have 4 on High Performance. Put your glasses on Skate Canada.
Also Gogolev should be on senior team as well. You made off like bandits on pairs....only 2. I smell a rat at Skate Canada.

 

[emilieh]

It's been my understanding that quite a bit of funding isn't directly related to being named to the national team in Canada: https://skatecanada.ca/skate-canada-high-performance-grants/

And the bulk of an athlete's funding comes from Sport Canada if they qualify. If they do qualify for one of the carding levels, they don't also get the grant/prize money that is tied to their nationals placement.

 

[Rock2]

It's been my understanding that quite a bit of funding isn't directly related to being named to the national team in Canada: https://skatecanada.ca/skate-canada-high-performance-grants/

And the bulk of an athlete's funding comes from Sport Canada if they qualify. If they do qualify for one of the carding levels, they don't also get the grant/prize money that is tied to their nationals placement.

I got messaged from a skater 15 mins ago asking me to post exactly this point. In this person's words, "SC gives ZERO funding to the National team."....and "being on the National Team means literally nothing".

So yes, the funding comes from other sources - Sport Canada, Own the Podium, etc.

 

[overedge]

I got messaged from a skater 15 mins ago asking me to post exactly this point. In this person's words, "SC gives ZERO funding to the National team."....and "being on the National Team means literally nothing".

But they get a nice team jacket out of it

 

[Rock2]

But they get a nice team jacket out of it

Actually that is.....exactly....it.

 

[Sylvia]

Bringing this over from the Canadian Ice Dance news thread (photo of Hannah LIM & Ye QUAN with Benjamin Brisebois):

NextGen camp is belatedly underway in Vancouver.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFm9Si9jW3T/

List of all NextGen skaters (Hometown/Residence/Section/Coach included in each photo)

Skate Canada NextGen Team

The Skate Canada NextGen Team and program was created to support the operations of Skate Canada’s high performance development system. The purpose is to ensure athletes and coaches advance at their maximum potential through development and training opportunities, in order to become competitive...

skatecanada.ca

 

[Sylvia]

Skate Canada's YT channel has these TSN "fluff" and Q&A videos of the National Team (5 so far):

Roman Sadovsky Q&A (TSN)

www.youtube.com

Skate Canada Best Laugh (TSN)

www.youtube.com

Skate Canada 2019-20: Best Fashion (TSN)

www.youtube.com

Q&A with Evelyn Walsh & Trennt Michaud (TSN)

www.youtube.com

Marjorie Lajoie / Zachary Lagha Q&A (TSN)

www.youtube.com

 

[danafan]

Skate Canada’s Instagram stories it seems there was a photo shoot of some kind in Toronto.

Watch this story by Skate Canada / Patinage Canada on Instagram before it disappears.

64.1k Followers, 471 Following, 2,798 Posts

instagram.com

 

[Colonel Green]

Skate Canada’s Instagram stories it seems there was a photo shoot of some kind in Toronto.

Watch this story by Skate Canada / Patinage Canada on Instagram before it disappears.

64.1k Followers, 471 Following, 2,798 Posts

instagram.com

Piper alluded to the same in her Stories.

The senior Canadian dancers at IAM had some kind of photoshoot on the weekend that Romain Haguenauer tagged with #skatecanada, so maybe that's related somehow, though the Montreal photos were rather different than anything I've seen Skate Canada do, so perhaps not.

 

[Judy]

I got messaged from a skater 15 mins ago asking me to post exactly this point. In this person's words, "SC gives ZERO funding to the National team."....and "being on the National Team means literally nothing".

So yes, the funding comes from other sources - Sport Canada, Own the Podium, etc.

My niece works for Own the Podium In Ottawa .

 

[greenapple]

Skate Canada’s Instagram stories it seems there was a photo shoot of some kind in Toronto.

Watch this story by Skate Canada / Patinage Canada on Instagram before it disappears.

64.1k Followers, 471 Following, 2,798 Posts

instagram.com

It was the annual Skate Canada national team photo shoot. Usually the same person does all the skaters at the national team camp but that was not possible this year.