Lynda and Rosey’s Fantabulous Skating Adventures: Day 1

Senior Women’s Short Program
Lynda: The women’s short program brought us the return of the lovely Cynthia Phaneuf to national skating. She has been working her way back from an injury, and word on the street was she was not quite at the top of her game. She put down a charming performance which featured gorgeous arm movements and lovely musical expression. It wasn’t technically brilliant, but it put her in good position for the free skate. We saw her sitting with her mom before skating and then we saw her warming up across the rink. FYI: she has Betty Boop skate guard covers
Rosey: The highlight of the women’s short was Lesley Hawker’s solid skate. It’s always great to see hard work rewarded, and Lesley was clearly delighted by the crowd’s response to her performance – she got the only standing ovation of the evening.

NOTE: Part way through the afternoon we realized we had the BEST SEATS EVER when both Victor Kraatz and Brian Orser sat in the section in front of us. The conversation went something like this:
Rosey nudges Lynda: “Holy crap, that’s Victor Kraatz!”

Ten minutes later Lynda nudges Rosey: “Oh my God, that’s Brian Orser!”

Ten minutes after that Rosey says to Lynda: “Is it just me, or is the BMO Bear flirting with us?”


Senior Pairs’ Short Program
Lynda: Hometown favourites Brodeur and Mattatall brought the crowd to their feet with their spirited short program, despite the fact that their death spiral slid away from them. They were pretty decent considering that this is their first year together, and she has never skated pairs before. Give them time, and they might be pretty good.
Rosey: Lynda told me I was going to love Dube and Davison, and was she ever right. Watching them skate is like eating Lindt chocolates (the really creamy ones that come in the red wrappers). As they entered their death spiral, Davison cradled Dube’s head in one hand and I fell in love. There are few things in skating I adore more than beautiful death spirals.
Lynda: So, we were slightly creeped out by the brother/sister Moscovitches. First of all, she’s only 13, but she looks like she’s 22. And I certainly would not want either of my brothers grabbing me in the places that he was grabbing her. That being said, they did have lovely unison in their side by side pair spins, which is something that all the other pairs failed to accomplish.
Rosey: And finally, we both noticed that 14 year old Rachel Kirkland bears an amazing resemblance to Dee, except she’s even smaller! (And we didn’t know that was possible!) She’s so teeny that her partner looked like he was scared he was going to break her.

Some very obnoxious younger skaters sat behind us for the pairs’ short program. At first we didn’t know who they were, we just knew they were opinionated. One of them was making fun of a pairs skater who was bigger than average, saying, “His arm’s the size of my leg!” An annoyed Lynda leaned into Rosey and commented, “Actually, his arm’s the size of that guy’s big mouth.”

For Day 2's adventures, including a run-in with a rain storm, see Lynda’s blog.