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Songs from the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships

Add these 10 hot music tracks to your skating playlist!

Lyrics were heard for the first time at the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. There were a lot of great songs. Here are 10 that you have to hear!

1. James Brown – It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World
Elladj Baldé (Senior Men / Hommes senior)

New faces, new teams, new tricks keeping Canadian skating exciting

KINGSTON, ONTARIO – The effects of the post-Olympic season showed up at the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships: name skaters taking a year off, team splits, new pairings, new tricks, and new faces emerging.

Most of all, said Michael Slipchuk, high performance director at Skate Canada, new and young faces aplenty stepped up to the bar and earned their way onto World, Four Continents and Junior World teams.

The women started it off on Saturday, with new national champion Gabby Daleman and free program winner Alaine Chartrand seizing opportunities (with Kaetlyn Osmond out with injuries) and both scoring more than 180 points. “They showed competitive fire,” Slipchuk said.

And without seven-time Canadian champion Patrick Chan and the injured quad king Kevin Reynolds, Nam Nguyen, all of 16, got some good advice from coach Brian Orser: stop looking up to others. “You are the best out there,” he told his pupil early in the week. And Nguyen skated like that, winning the title with 256.88 points, more than 34 points ahead of his closest competitor.

Only a year ago, Nguyen was floundering in Junior Grand Prix events, finishing 23rd in his first one. Four months later, he won the world junior championships. And he’s adding quads at a rapid pace, pushing himself, and according to Orser, actually working harder than his more famous training mates, Yuzuru Hanyu and Javier Fernandez.

“He just lit it up,” Slipchuk said. “He gives us that legitimate top-10 threat (Orser figures he could be in top eight) to keep our numbers up.” And Jeremy Ten, who hasn’t been on a world team since 2009, has returned rejuvenated, with great programs and a quad, exceeding his goals just to have a final skate at a Canadian championship.

Slipchuk figures it’s a realistic goal for pairs champs Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford and ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje to finish on a world podium if not win the entire thing altogether. Some of the others are unknowns, he added.

The unknowns are exciting: new pair team Lubov Ilyushechkina and Dylan Moscovitch delighted the Kingston crowds to take the silver medal, but they’ve only been to one senior B competition in Poland.

Other highlights: new senior team, Julianne Séguin and Charlie Bilodeau, bronze medalists here, have made both the junior and senior world teams: their goal is to win the world junior title this year. Slipchuk says they’ve come into their own this season, improving their scores by 40 points and turning to dance choreographers Marie-France Dubrueil to give them a different look.

They will, however, give up the Four Continents assignment to Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro, who finished a close fourth in the pair event.

“Let’s see where these guys fit into the world scene,” Slipchuk said. “We have two that have proven themselves. The rest, we’ll have a better idea after Four Continents.”

Meanwhile, former world champion Patrick Chan is hanging in the wings, and was the first to congratulate Nguyen as the new senior men’s champ.

Indications are that Chan will return next year. Slipchuk has seen him training in Detroit, and he still has his quads, has kept his technical prowess and even has improved in some ways. Chan still has it: he won Japan Open earlier this year with one of the highest free program scores of the season.

Asked if he misses being out there, going toe to toe with other Canadians, Chan said: “A little bit.” You could see it in his eyes.

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje looking for their first Canadian title

KINGSTON, ONTARIO – Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje say they’ve been working nine years for this moment: to win the Canadian title at the 101st Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships.

They remember their first meeting, when they agreed to a cross-border tryout in 2006. It was July, late in a season to be finding a partner. But suddenly, Weaver discovered that her “dream partner” was available and she found herself driving to Canada, all pins and needles. She had resigned herself to skating by herself for the next season.

Weaver didn’t say a word the first day, but she had plenty of thoughts. “I remember thinking this was the real deal,” she said. “This might be something really good…I thought this might be the opportunity I was looking for.”

“My first thought was, this girl was quiet,” Poje said.

Weaver admitted she was intimated by the 6-foot-3 “gorgeous” Poje, who was more accomplished in his skating career than she was at the time. Weaver called him her dream partner. Now Poje says that he feels lucky to have Weaver as a partner and “now she proves to me every day that she is better than me.”

Coach Rebecca Babb took Weaver aside and told her: “Kaitlyn, it’s okay to smile.” Weaver had been so intent and so nervous about winning Poje’s hand that she forgot to be herself.

On the second day of the tryout, Weaver began talking (and hasn’t stopped since.) “From the beginning, we knew it was something unique and something we definitely knew would take us far,” Poje said.

It didn’t take long at all for Weaver, born in the United States, to feel like a Canadian. “The people of Waterloo and Andrew’s family made me feel so much at home immediately,” she said. I was so nervous, thinking I was an outsider. I didn’t want to be the American in the crowd. I didn’t want to stand out. And they took me in right away. Those kids at the rink, I can’t thank them enough.”

Weaver and Poje had their first international completion only six weeks after they joined forces. Right then, Weaver felt like part of the Canadian team.

The secret to their success is their friendship, Poje said. They complement each other. “We are not the same people,” he said. “We’re opposites in some ways, but that definitely helps us when we are going for that gold.”

“We seem to know what each other is thinking before the other knows it,” Weaver said.

Some people never find what Weaver and Poje have. And it has taken them far.

They are two of hundreds of skaters who have shown up this week in Kingston. They helped Canada win an unprecedented 29 medals this season in both junior and senior competitions.

Canada will welcome three new senior champions on Saturday and Patrick Chan, sitting out the season, will be in the arena on Saturday to watch.

Sponsors such as Canadian Tire, Sony, Via Rail, In Bloom Flowers, Black Dog Hospitality and Pita Pit and others are the wind beneath Skate Canada’s wings at this event. Kim Saunders, vice president of sport properties for Canadian Tire calls this championship a “special event.”

Among other things, Canadian Tire is financing a series of skating bursaries for novice and junior champions to the tune of $1,500 for each. “These kids will put this money to good use,” said Skate Canada CEO Dan Thompson.

There will be 20 hours of television coverage of the event on CTV/TSN. A Japanese network is picking up the feed. Thompson said that 12 million Japanese viewers watched the Skate Canada International gala from Kelowna, B.C. last November.

All-event tickets for the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships on sale tomorrow

OTTAWA, ON: All-event tickets for the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships will go on sale Friday, May 16, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. (ET). The event will take place from January 19-25, 2015 at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1.855.985.5000 or in person at the Rogers K-Rock Centre box office.

The Senior Competition Package includes all senior practices, competition and the exhibition gala from January 23-25, 2015. This package costs $160-$185 plus applicable surcharges. Seating for this package is reserved.

The Junior Competition Package includes all novice and junior practices and competitions from January 19-22, 2015. This package costs $40 plus applicable surcharges. Seating for this package is general admission. Children aged 12 years and under are invited to attend the novice and junior events free of charge.

The event will feature approximately 250 skaters in the men’s, women’s, pair and ice dance disciplines, competing in three levels: senior, junior and novice.

Athletes will vie for spots on the Skate Canada National Team and the Canadian teams that will compete at the 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, the 2015 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and the 2015 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Kingston to host the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships

OTTAWA, ON: Skate Canada and Canadian Tire announced Kingston, Ontario as the location of the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships. It will take place from January 19-25, 2015 at the Rogers K-Rock Centre. The event will feature approximately 250 skaters in the men’s, women’s, pair and ice dance disciplines, competing in three levels: senior, junior and novice.

This will be Kingston’s first time hosting the championships. In 2010 Skate Canada International was held in the city for the first time as well.

“The Canadian Tire National Skating Championships is the highlight of the season for many skaters. This is where we will see hard work pay off as these athletes who began in our CanSkate program now compete to become champions,” said Dan Thompson, Skate Canada CEO. “We are excited to be able to bring this historic event to Kingston for the first time. We know the city and Skate Canada Eastern Ontario will be tremendous hosts as we celebrate 101 years of champions.”

“The Canadian Tire Family of Companies has celebrated skating for over 90 years and we are extremely proud to be title sponsor of this event for the third year in a row,” said Kim Saunders, Associate Vice President, Sport Partnerships, Canadian Tire Corporation.  “The Canadian Tire National Skating Championships is a part of Canada’s heritage and brings much pride and accomplishment to athletes, families, coaches and communities across the country.  We look forward to bringing this exciting event to Kingston in 2015.”

“Kingston is proud to have been selected as the host community for the Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in January 2015,” said Mayor Mark Gerretsen. “We look forward to welcoming athletes, coaches, family members, fans, sponsors, and volunteers to Kingston and watching these tremendous athletes showcase their talents.”

“We are extremely delighted that Skate Canada will return to the City of Kingston, building off of the success of the 2010 Skate Canada International event. We are very fortunate to have a supportive figure skating community, state of the art facilities, and a proven event hosting resume to support this event. We look forward to welcoming athletes, coaches, and spectators to Kingston in 2015,” said Rob Carnegie, Director, Tourism Kingston.

Athletes will vie for spots on the Skate Canada National Team and the Canadian teams that will compete at the 2015 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, the 2015 ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and the 2015 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

Event ticket packages will go on sale this Friday, May 16, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. (ET).  Tickets can be purchased online at www.ticketmaster.ca, by phone at 1.855.985.5000 or in person at the Rogers K-Rock Centre box office.

The Senior Competition Package includes all senior practices, competition and the exhibition gala from January 23-25, 2015. This package costs $160-$185 plus applicable surcharges. Seating for this package is reserved.

The Junior Competition Package includes all novice and junior practices and competitions from January 19-22, 2015. This package costs $40 plus applicable surcharges. Seating for this package is general admission. Children aged 12 years and under are invited to attend the novice and junior events free of charge.