Take A Deep Breath

It took a while for a lot of folks who follow this sport — including yours truly — to get a handle on the "code of points" judging system.
Even now, a quick look at a detailed scoresheet can boggle the minds of anybody except perhaps the most seasoned of observers.
One thing you have to love though, if you're a fan: There's no question about the separation between one team and the next. If it's really close, you know it.
Today's pairs free skate final at HomeSense Skate Canada was one of those nailbiters.
Even the quickest of mathematicians might have had to wait until the final standings were posted on the Scotiabank Place scoreboard to know for sure that Russia's Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov had indeed hung on for the gold.
The Russians' final overall total — 176.97 points — was a scant 0.43 better than Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, the reigning world bronze medallists. Now, a guy (or a girl) could drive themselves batty trying to figure out where they might have gained the extra point between winning and losing. But Dube and Davison, who trailed by 4.88 points after the short program, didn't even try to go there.
"It was super tight and we couldn't have asked for more," said Davison, 22, of Cambridge, Ont. "I thought it was fair. We didn't see all of the Russians' skate but they're very good skaters and we know what they can do. Unless I sit down and go over every little detail with a fine-toothed comb ... no, it was fair. It was exactly what we expected and five points is a lot to make up.
"We did our job and they did theirs and they came out on top today."
For Dube and Davison, it meant a second straight silver medal. But the Canadians, who stood third behind Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, didn't give up the gold without a fight.
"I think we're really proud about how we came out," said Davison. "We attacked that long really well and stayed in the character of that program (skated to music from Carmen) better than we thought we would . To be honest, that was a better long that we were expecting."
The Carmen theme was a departure of sorts from the style Dube and Davison usually present on the ice. But 18 months out from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, they're in a bit of an experimental mood.
"We wanted to see going into next year, the Olympics, what kind of programs suit us best," said Davison. "We thought something aggressive would be good for us. We really like the program. It's fun to work on and I think it's something that's very interesting for us because we're seen as a classical, romantic team. It's fun to skate outside of our box."
It was almost good enough for gold here, too.
Yeah, we'll agree. That was super close. And exciting, don't you think.