Thank You, Ottawa ... Next Stop, Kitchener

It's never easy saying goodbye.
But the blog, as it always must, shuts it down when the lights go out on the competition. And so it is with the 2008 HomeSense Skate Canada International, which wrapped up a frenzied run at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa a little more than an hour ago.
This is the part where your humble blogger usually devotes a moment or three to praising the people he's met in a new part of the country that he's discovered. But for reasons detailed earlier, this one is ending a little differently.
No plane to catch. No shuttle bus to the airport. Just the same 25-minute or so drive home from the rink that I've made numerous times over the past 13 months.
That being said, we'd hardly be against another figure skating event of major proportions landing in the building we call home sometime in the near future. While Skate Canada CEO William Thompson noted today the capacity of the NHL-sized rink is probably too steep to place a BMO Canadian championships within its walls anytime soon, he didn't entirely rule out bringing the world to the building.
The world figure skating championships, you see, are a "different animal," with fans travelling from all over the globe to attend. They'd surely travel in greater numbers than the 16,000 plus who turned out over three days for Skate Canada International.
It is almost a certainty that the next worlds held in Canada will occur in the eastern part of the country, given that the last three contested here all took place in Western Canada (Edmonton 1996, Vancouver 2001 and Calgary 2006). Let's just say Scotiabank Place proved it's a worthy candidate to own the host's nod for that worlds, likely in 2012 or 2013.
First things first, though. Next year, this event heads a few hours west to Kitchener, Ont., with dates of Nov. 17-19. That's two weeks later than usual, but the Olympic year has turned the Grand Prix schedule for 2009 on its ear, with a reversal of the usual order of things (it'll start in Asia, with Skate Canada the series finale).
Until then, though, it's au revoir from Ottawa.
We'll see you again soon from the other end of Canada's most populous province.

Better Than A Medal

From the day the announcement first came down, the void was massive.
Not just here this weekend at HomeSense Skate Canada International, but in the ranks of men's figure skating in this country in general.
You can't have a world champion retire unexpectedly and not feel it.
But if Shawn Sawyer can fill the gaping hole left by Jeffrey Buttle's absence as well in the future as he did today at Scotiabank Place, we'll really have something here.
Sawyer astonished everyone by winning the free program with a 142.36-point total that surpassed the number rung up by all three medallists. But because he came into today's proceedings sitting seventh after the short program, the 22-year-old from Edmundston, N.B., couldn't climb any higher than fifth in the final standings. He wound up a little less than three points back of bronze-medal winning Evan Lysacek of the U.S.
"You don't expect to see a score like that go up before the final warmup," said American silver medallist Ryan Bradley (212.75), who used the word "wow" to describe his immediate reaction.
That about summed up Sawyer's thoughts afterward, too.
"When the score came out, I couldn't believe I could get that score with that program," said the 22-year-old from Edmundston, N.B., whose previous personal best with it came a week ago at Skate America (135.84). "That's incredible. I've been third before in segments of the competition but winning a segment of a Grand Prix — and not the short but the long program — that's unbelievable. It's something I didn't think I could achieve.
"It's not a medal but it feels better."
Not bad for a guy who's only here because Buttle bowed out of eligible skating less than two months before this competition.
"At first, I only had one Grand Prix (Skate America in Everett, Wash., where he placed fifth)," said Sawyer. "But I ended up doing something very good with it and used it to my advantage."
After Patrick Chan — who snared the gold today with a 215.45-point overall total) upset Buttle last January at the Canadian championships in Vancouver, it seemed we were on the verge of another of those great men's skating rivalries. But buoyed by his performance here today, Sawyer is game for jumping into that picture.
"Why not?" Sawyer said when asked whether a Canadian title is possible for him in January in Saskatoon. "Patrick is an amazing skater and an amazing competitor. I have a little bit more experience than him and it does cross my mind sometimes but I don't want to put too much emphasis on it.
"But after skating a solid program like that, why not go for it?"

They've Only Just Begun

They're the reigning world bronze medallists in pairs skating.
Not to mention the highest-rated duo in their discipline at HomeSense Skate Canada International this weekend at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. So it might seem a little disconcerting to the average fan to see Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison sitting in third place after today's short program.
Mind you, with 60.14 points in the bank, they're a mere 0.52 out of second place, currently occupied by Americans Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker. Even the leaders, Yuko Kawaguchi and Alexander Smirnov of Russia (65.02), are still within hailing distance for this plucky Canuck duo.
No wonder, then, that Dube and Davison had a bit of a 'what, us worry?' attitude about them afterward. And let's face it, this is the first event of the season, not the last.
"Just come out and do a free," Davison, 22, of Cambridge, Ont., said when asked how they'll approach Saturday's free-skate final. "You can't change what happened today and you don't change your gameplan going into the free because of what happened in the short. We've just got to come out and attack, really."
Said Dube, 21, of Drummondville, Que.: "I felt a little bit shaky but that's something we'll work on tomorrow."
Understand, too, that they've been here before — and not all that long ago. You might recall the 2008 BMO Canadian championships back in January in Vancouver, when Dube and Davison blew their short program but rallied strongly in the free and almost snatched the crown away from short program winners Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay.
The experience galvanized Dube and Davison for what turned out to be a run to their first appearance on the worlds podium two months later in Gothenburg, Sweden.
And let's face it, Dube and Davison have much bigger fish to fry, so to speak, in the months that lie ahead. We speak, most specifically, of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, where the Canadians hope to stand on the highest step of them all.
So it wasn't cockiness talking when Davison said "we're not too worried about the other teams right now."
"Especially this year," he added. "It's a year to make ourselves better and get ourselves ready. You can never worry about what the other teams are doing because you do your best that you can do and if they're better than you, that's just the case. And if you end up being world champion, it's because you were your best."