Saturday’s National Skate Championships at the Canadian Tire Centre was an important day for the men, women, pairs and dance skaters competing. Decisions on final Team Canada spots would be made or influenced here, so the pressure on the athletes must have been quite incredible. While many succumbed at times through missed jumps or falls, each athlete showed the calibre of talent and professionalism worthy of skating at the national level.

For me, this was an amazing opportunity to experience my first live figure skating competition. Why not start at the National level?? While I have always enjoyed watching the sport on TV during the Olympics, and am familiar with the big names, I realized what I was missing out on at once. Gone was the tinny music from the television speakers, the continuous commentary and the multi-camera shots. The acoustics of the arena brought accompanying music to concert quality, and seeing the skater fly from one end of the arena to another gave you a much better sense of how fast they were going and a fuller understanding of the choreography. And, while the accompanying commentary on TV is helpful, informative and at times entertaining, the lack thereof allows one to get lost in the artistic merits of the performance, leaving it to you alone to interpret. Add the ingredient of competition to the mix, it became quite exciting.

Anyhow, back to the show! I of course was most excited to see Patrick Chan, probably the most familiar name in current figure skating competition. I was only able to watch two categories, and with luck, the Senior Men Free Program was one. I am definitely no armchair critic, and I found every male skater was terrific. The pressure was apparent, however, when most stumbled/fell on the first jump of his program, but quickly recovered. Like everyone else, I found myself holding my breath as the skater led up to a major jump, and clapping for each successful landing. Live performance can be quite absorbing.

Patrick Chan was the last of the men to perform in the Free Program, and immediately proved why he is the champion of Canada. This performance locked in his 7th consecutive National Championship. He was captivating and at ease, landing each spectacular jump and owned the competition. Second place belonged to Kevin Reynolds, whose costume and persona reminded me of a wood nymph, with wild blond hair and pert nose. A charismatic young guy with lots of fans and oodles of talent and I look forward to seeing him in Sochi. Third was Liam Firus, a more serious type, dark-haired and boy-band handsome, who was quite theatrical and strong, definitely deserving a medal on the podium. He definitely had a female following as well.

One funny ritual – after each performance, young fans would run down the aisles to the ice and throw stuffed puppies, teddies, frogs and more on the ice in lieu of flowers – it was hilarious. Then suddenly a flock of girls on skates would swarm the ice, collecting the plush toys nearly quickly as they were thrown, buzzing around like efficient little collector bees, all very professional. I wondered what happened to all those toys at the end of the night (I could hardly imagine Patrick Chan, or any of the other guys, lugging bags of stuffed animals back home) and was informed that the proceeds of the toys go to Jumpstart Charities, and the plush toys themselves will be donated to a variety of children’s hospitals and wards.

Senior Dance was the final event of the evening and it was an entirely different production to watch. It was an intimate dance of expression, speed and intensity, with a little fairydust tossed in. Not quite the edge-of-your seat performances of the men, but enchanting nonetheless. I wouldn’t have been able to pick a winner out of the five pairs I saw, but Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir took home the gold and I look forward to seeing them perform in Sochi very soon.

It was also nice to see GG David Johnson there with his wife, handing out the medals to the winners on the podium. There was even a Mountie standing guard during the ceremony, adding more Canadian flavour to the event, which also marked 100 years of Skate Canada.

Kelly McTavish for Front Page News