ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: Skate Canada Preview

Here is a preview of the skaters you will see at the ISU's second Grand Prix of Figure Skating Event next weekend, Skate Canada in Kingston, Ontario. It is important to notice that Canadian Ice Dance team and Olympic/World gold medalists Virtue/Moir will not be competing due to Tessa's injury. Fellow Canadian and Olympic bronze medalist Joannie Rochette will also not be be competing in the event. Top Canadian pairs team Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison also announced yesterday that they are withdrawing from the competition due to Bryce's injury. Even without their top skaters, Canada will still have a large presence in this competition with 11 entries. Patrick Chan, Canada's top man has the potential for greatness so it will certainly be interesting to see if he can live up to expectations, or if he will cave under pressure. Young American Adam Rippon is also someone to watch and he seems hungry to take the place of Lysacek and Weir among the top American men. In Ladies, your guess is as good as mine among the top competitors. Suguri is aging and hasn't done much in the past few years. Canadian Phaneuf was poised to become a top competitor but fizzled out a few years ago. Csizny has the potential to be spectacular, but often falters under pressure. We'll see how a recent coaching change affects her at the competition. And Ksenia Makarova has the hopes of all of Russia behind her, but in my opinion, she lacks the talent of the world's best. Definitely keep you eye on the young American Agnes Zawadzki. She is immensely talented and has the potential to be the best female skater the US has produced in years. Most of the pairs teams in this competition are young and lack experience, so this event will be a total craps shoot. In dance, the British team of Kerr/Kerr and the Canadians Crone/Poirier are certainly favorites, but we'll have to see how Sinead Kerr's shoulder injury effects her. Also look for Americans Chock/Zuerlein, another up and coming Marina Zoueva & Igor Shpilband team, to make the podium.

When the broadcast times are announced for each event, I will update this post.

UPDATE: Skategate and I have chosen our Skate Canada fantasy teams so here goes! Interestingly enough we have 0/3 of the same picks for MEN, 1/3 for LADIES, 2/3 for PAIRS, and 3/3 for DANCE. Quite the progression we have going here! The letter next to each skater, for those unfamiliar with Fantasy Skating, is the pool they are in. Skaters are grouped in pools based on world rankings and overall performance. Competitors choose one skater from each pool. The system is set up this way so that fantasy competitors cannot simply choose the three skaters or teams they expect to make the podium, but rather one from each ability level in the competition.

BackStage Barbie Skategate Shared Picks

Men:

1) Patrick CHAN (Canada) A
2) Kevin REYNOLDS (Canada) B
3) Jeremy TEN (Canada) C
4) Alban PREAUBERT (France) B
5) Paolo BACCHINI (Italy) C
6) Yasuharu NANRI (Japan) C
7) Nobunari ODA (Japan) A
8) Artur GACHINSKI (Russia) B
9) Javier FERNANDEZ (Spain) B
10) Kristoffer BERNTSSON (Sweden) C
11) Grant HOCHSTEIN (USA) C
12) Adam RIPPON (USA) A

Ladies:

1) Amelie LACOSTE (Canada) C
2) Cynthia PHANEUF (Canada) A
3) Myriane SAMSON (Canada) C
4) Valentina MARCHEI (Italy) B

5) Haruka IMAI (Japan) B

6) Fumie SUGURI (Japan) A
7) Ksenia MAKAROVA (Russia) A
8) Sonia LAFUENTE (Spain) C
9) Alissa CZISNY (USA) A
10) Alexe GILLES (USA) C\
11) Agnes ZAWADZKI (USA) C 
**Sarah Meier has withdrawn due to injury  
Pairs:
 
1) Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD (Canada) B
2) Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS (Canada) C
3) Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS/Dylan MOSCOVITCH (Canada) C
4) Huibo DONG / Yiming WU (China) B
5) Stacey KEMP / David KING (Great Britain) B
6) Lubov ILIUSHECHKINA / Nodari MAISURADZE (Russia) A
7) Anastasia MARTIUSHEVA / Alexei ROGONOV (Russia) C
8) Marissa CASTELLI / Simon SHNAPIR (USA) C
9) Britney SIMPSON/Nathan MILLER (USA) C


Ice Dance:

1) Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER (Canada) A
2) Alexandra PAUL / Mitchell ISLAM (Canda) C
3) Pernelle CARRON / Lloyd JONES (France) B
4) Stefanie FROHBERG / Tim GIESEN (Germany) C
5) Sinead KERR / John KERR (Great Britain) A
6) Lorenza ALESSANDRINI / Simone VATURI ITA (Italy) C
7) Kristina GORSHKOVA / Vitali BUTIKOV (Russia) B
8) Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN (USA) B
9) Rachel TIBBETTS / Collin BRUBAKER (USA) C