Results! Laurie's Log Laurie's Practice Photos of Alexei Laurie's Impressions of Skate Canada Klara's Notes The Men's Free Skate The Ladies' Free Skate The Free Dance The Exhibition

Skate Canada is my favorite Grand Prix event. Even though this one was very inconvenient due to having to drive everywhere (thanks, Leigh!), it was still a lot of fun. Thanks to Ina, I was smart enough to change my hotel reservations to be closer to the hotel I had really wanted to stay at but simply had been too late in planning to get a reservation. It might have been a long two blocks away, LOL, but by car it was nothing. It is interesting to see the different ways different venues or organizations run things. At Skate America, if you didn't bring food with you to the venue for practices, you were plumb out of luck and would starve to death - practices run for hours and hours, with no breaks. At Skate Canada, some enterprising soul always makes sure at least one snack bar is open, for those desperate for coffee and hot chocolate (trust me, Hershey Centre is *cold!*). The really desperate could go for hot dogs and fries, LOL.... Anyway, I had a blast, as always. Non-skating highlights.... Seeing skaters everywhere you go, of course. We saw lots more of Alexei at Skate Canada - must have been the lure of the pool tables....basically, if you wanted your off ice Alexei fix, you always knew where to find him, LOL.... Meeting new friends and seeing old ones. Had the pleasure of meeting quite a few people I see online but had never met before. It's nice to be able to talk non-stop about skating to people who want to talk about skating - not like home, where your friends, co-workers, and family roll their eyes at the mere mention of the topic, LOL.... Skating highlights.... Alexei's fantastic long program performance to "Gladiator" - the best I've seen him skate, I think. He was totally immersed in the program, presentation-wise, and technically a marvel. I can't believe I was lucky enough to see this live. I will never forget that last footwork sequence - he had to have been very tired after a quad and eight triples, but he came up with the energy somehow and just blazed through his footwork. Unforgettable. Finally seeing what the fuss was about with Fedor Andreev. What a cutie, and he has such presence and charisma on the ice. His practices were usually dismal, LOL, but he can really turn it on in front of the audience and judges. He needs to do more difficult jumps, but if he can get those down, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Always a pleasure to see European and Canadian skaters rarely shown on U.S. TV. Great to see Todd Eldredge do so well after being away from the strictly eligible track for two years. I think he has nowhere to go but up, and the judges are taking him very seriously. And he's such a nice guy, too. It was fun to watch him and Alexei joking around so much. I loved watching Chait & Sakhnovsky - their footwork is so much fun to watch and they have an energetic and lively presentation I like. Seeing Gwendal Peizerat in person is amazing, LOL. He is quite the charismatic individual. As much as I love Michelle, she didn't seem to be really there. She was there in body, but I'm not sure in spirit. I'm wondering if college and the GP circuit is just too much for her. Irina Slutskaya tore into her programs with determination and passion, and I think she deserved the win. Sale & Pelletier are a marvel. Every move seems so finished and well thought out. Laurie