A First Time For Everything

There's only one first time at HomeSense Skate Canada.
All the more reason for a couple of pairs teams to savour their first opportunity to wear the red maple leaf in front of the home country crowd this weekend at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.
No wonder, then, and Mylene Brodeur and John Mattatall wore the widest of smiles after one fine free skate that lifted them into fourth place in the final standings. Their total score (149.14 points) topped their previous best number by nearly eight points.
"Yesterday (short program) was more stressful than today," said Brodeur, 21, of St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. "In the long, we feel more comfortable and it's less stressful. Today, it's so great."
Brodeur and Mattatall were originally slated to make their senior Grand Prix debut next weekend at the Cup of China in Beijing. But when Canadian champions Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay were forced to withdraw because of injury, Brodeur and Mattatall got the call to fill in.
"It was really nice to have (Cup of China)," said Mattatall, 26, of Wallace, N.S. "Knowing that we could have another one ... it was just kind of a waiting game to see if anything was going to happen. It's kind of a horrible situation to be brought in when someone gets hurt but at the same time, just to be here and be part of all of this is pretty amazing, for sure."
Now the Montreal-based duo has to come down from this high, board the plane to China on Monday morning and do it all over again next weekend.
"Next week, we're going to know more about a Grand Prix," said Brodeur. "We're just ready to go. We're anxious to do the next one, too, and we're going to get some sleep on the plane and it's going to be fine."
The new experience was also special for Rachel Kirkland and Eric Radford, who also got their introduction to the senior Grand Prix circuit on home soil.
"Definitely a special experience for us, being in front of a home crowd for our first Grand Prix," said Radford, 23, of Toronto.
The 16-year-old Kirkland couldn't say enough about the home support.
"The energy out there is incredible and feeding off the energy of the crowd really takes your skating to another level," she said.