Canadian women taking ‘big strides’
TORONTO Skate Canada high-performance director Michael Slipchuk is a long-suffering Edmonton Oilers fans, so he knows what a clunker on ice looks like.
Still, an excited Slipchuk approached a Toronto writer at the pre- Skate Canada media conference this week and exclaimed: “How about those Oilers this season?”
The young Oilers have exploded out of the gate by going 6-1 as of Thursday and Slipchuk, an Edmonton native, is on Cloud 9. He’s also thrilled by what he has been seeing on the ice in terms of his own sport, figure skating.
With the return of former Olympicand world-champion ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and three-time men’s singles world champion Patrick Chan to the fold this season, Slipchuk said the Canadian team is as strong as it has been in years, perhaps ever. Also still around and gearing up for another world title is the pairs team of Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford and double world dance medallists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje.
But what’s really turning Slipchuk’s crank is the emergence of skaters in ladies singles. Not since Joannie Rochette’s silver at the 2009 world championships in Los Angeles has a Canadian woman won a medal in singles. Cynthia Phaneuf in 2010 was the last to crack the top five. But Slipchuk sees light at the end of the tunnel. With the return of two-time Canadian champion Kaetlyn Osmond of Marystown, Nfld., to full health following a broken leg suffered in September 2014, the Canadian senior team now has three women ready to push each other to new heights. Osmond, who lives and trains in Edmonton, and current Canadian champion Alaine Chartrand are both 20, while Newmarket, Ont.’s Gabrielle Daleman, the 2015 national champion, is 18.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had three strong ladies like that,” said Slipchuk. “They’ve beaten a lot of past world champions, past medallists, the last couple of weeks. They’re definitely positioning themselves for the (2017) world championships and the two that go there have the potential to both be in that top eight, which would be remarkable.”
After that, added Slipchuk, hopefully on to a medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“They’ve taken big strides forward and they’re cracking into that top eight consistently. And once you get into that — and we found that with Joannie, once she hit top five — then a medal is within reach. And I think that’s where we are. And if they can get in that range this season, then for Olympic year it bodes well,” he said.