Craig Buntin and Meagan Duhamel - Your thoughts?

netnuts · May 28, 2007

It's official: Duhamel and Buntin announce partnership

It is reported that Craig Buntin is going to partner with Meagan Duhamel, training in Montreal.

How do you guys feel? I don't think they are a good match. Meagan is a more powerful skater. But well, that may be the best he can find in Canada at the moment.

A couple of Meagan Duhamel's skating clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8vXxyHfBk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh15kkAinXQ

I hate her wrapped leg!

http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/news_views/press_room/news_releases/2007/jun7.cfm

nadster · May 28, 2007

Duhamel is definitely the best partner available. I could see matching lines being a problem initially but she has the required power and technical skills.

Is this a good match? It is hard to say. If anybody has eyes at the Quebec summer competition please tell. I am sure they'll compete there barring injury.

The main problem is that there is a lack of good ladies that can compete well at the senior level in pairs. Many senior Canadian pairs have strong men held back by much weaker lady partners who can't even do a triple jump.

Buntin did try out with Billings but it didn't work out. I thought Billings might be a better match linewise but her lack of speed and power ( esp. compared to Duhamel) would be a problem. Besides Billings is even less consistent with jumps then Duhamel. Duhamel soundly beat Billings at Canadians this year despite having very limited time to train due to a spate of injuries.

Joesitz (RIP) · May 28, 2007

Duhamel does have speed but it is all too rushed giving the appearance that it is not controlled.

I don't like leg wraps either but there is not that much sbs jumps in Pairs. She seems to be a little on the heavy side for Pairs.

Craig has his work cut out, imo. I hope it works.

Joe

netnuts · May 28, 2007

Joesitz said:
Duhamel does have speed but it is all too rushed giving the appearance that it is not controlled.

I don't like leg wraps either but there is not that much sbs jumps in Pairs. She seems to be a little on the heavy side for Pairs.

Craig has his work cut out, imo. I hope it works.

Joe

According to her previous pairs website, she's about 150cm, but weighs about 110lbs.

http://www.geocities.com/megduhamel/megryan.html

That's pretty compact body type. Although we should not advocate Pang's ultra thinness, 110lbs is a good chunk for Craig, who himself is not particularly bulky.
I think their lift will suffer, it will be hard for them to do some level 4 lifts. Lifts are traditionally strong aspect of Canadian pairs.

Their big items may be fine. They may have stronger sbs jumps and throws though. Meagan seemed to be consistent in throws of her prior pairing. It's a shame that Meagan's multiple triple jumps will have no use.

The other elements such as spirals & spins also need lots of work. M&B used to have great spirals, textbook death spirals and good 2twist.

nadster · May 28, 2007

netnuts said:
That's pretty compact body type. Although we should not advocate Pang's ultra thinness, 110lbs is a good chunk for Craig, who himself is not particularly bulky.
I think their lift will suffer, it will be hard for them to do some level 4 lifts. Lifts are traditionally strong aspect of Canadian pairs.

Their big items may be fine. They may have stronger sbs jumps and throws though. Meagan seemed to be consistent in throws of her prior pairing. It's a shame that Meagan's multiple triple jumps will have no use.

The other elements such as spirals & spins also need lots of work. M&B used to have great spirals, textbook death spirals and good 2twist.

I do think the lifts will be OK. Buntin has far more upper body strength ( and better control of the blade underneath) than Ryan Arnold ever had. Believe me watching Ryan lift Meagan was scary.

I don't think the twist will be weak. Duhamel is not exactly flexible though so the spirals are definitely a concern.

SK8LUVR · May 28, 2007

She was sitting next to us a Nationals in Halifax and she is pretty small. Not as small as say Annabelle Langois but petit none the less. I watched her skate as well and I too feel that she is so rushed in her jumps and landings. But you never know maybe they can work it out and they can get their timing right. There are not allot of Canadain women who would qualify to skate pairs in my opinion. I say give it a shot.

Oh and netnuts I hate her leg wrap too. Hopefully, they will do something with that. All in all they have their work cut out for them and I'd say get snappin' at it. I would hate to see Craig have to retire just because his partner retired.

She is cute too! I can wait to see them skate!

netnuts · May 28, 2007

SK8LUVR said:
She was sitting next to us a Nationals in Halifax and she is pretty small. Not as small as say Annabelle Langois but petit none the less. I watched her skate as well and I too feel that she is so rushed in her jumps and landings. But you never know maybe they can work it out and they can get their timing right. There are not allot of Canadain women who would qualify to skate pairs in my opinion. I say give it a shot.

Oh and netnuts I hate her leg wrap too. Hopefully, they will do something with that. All in all they have their work cut out for them and I'd say get snappin' at it. I would hate to see Craig have to retire just because his partner retired.

She is cute too! I can wait to see them skate!

I guess it's a trade-off. Craig obviously does not think he can just sit around and wait for Ms. Right. I really hope things will work out fine for him since he's changed a million partners already and time is running short. It will, however, take lots of hard work, and some luck to even go back to his previous top 5-6 ranking in the world.

Does Meagan also have a leg wrap in her 3toe? It appears to me that Japanese girl's wrapped leg is more obvious in lutz and flip jumps, but less obvious in other jumps. Maybe Meagan is the same? I assume she and craig will only do 3toe and 2A as sbs jumps.

I still think their lifts are going to suffer. On a positive note, their throws may be very powerful judged by the brief clip above.

Kypma · May 28, 2007

I'm not sure about this match. Sure, she might be the best right now, but there are some things that won't seem to work out for me:
1- Craig was so high up in the rankings with Valerie, so he'll have to work hard are hetting back to the top. Furthermore, how will people react when seeing a former National Champion possibly be out of the medalists? I'd hate to see him off the National Team, though.
2- Different styles; Meagan is much more powerful and into the athletic side; she has a rather compact body, good for high power moves such as jumps, while Craig I see as more lyrical (I think Valerie had said he was more artistic than her), and he has better flow out of his jumps. Matching lines could also be problematic
3- Timing. As much as I think you can adjust to some point, Meagan does look rushed into her elements, especially her jumps, while Craig normally takes the time to set it up (well, he did with Valerie).
4- Spiral sequences. Valerie and Craig had a really nice one, while Meagan is not very flexible, and Craig has pretty good flexibility for a man. It would be really weird to have the guy hit nicer positions.

As much as I would love to see Craig come back and achieve his goals, this match is dubious for me. I'll just wait and see how they fare together. I just don't see them as a team, I guess.

Kypma

PS How would Meagan react to comparisons to Valerie? I'm sure there would be some comparisons made by fans, commentators, etc. Since Craig and Val were a top pair.

netnuts · May 28, 2007

Kypma said:
PS How would Meagan react to comparisons to Valerie? I'm sure there would be some comparisons made by fans, commentators, etc. Since Craig and Val were a top pair.

I think Meagan is thrilled to partner with Craig. Her skating career in both singles and pairs has stalled, so this is a great opportunity for her. I did hear she's a hard worker, so maybe they will bring some pleasant surprises to us. I do believe their throws will be quite good, maybe even as powerful as the Chinese and German pairs.

M&B did have some excellent elements. I love their spirals, textbook death spirals. Their 2twist and lifts were also quite solid. It's too bad they split since they were starting to regularly medal in grand prix circuit last season.

scs · May 28, 2007

I am thrilled with this pairing. Craig and Meghan are both strong skaters who have experience, albeit that Craig has much more in pairs. Since they had to agree to skate together, I would presume that there is a committment to being successful. This may be just what both of these skaters needed to reach their potential in skating. Good luck to them!

Antilles · May 29, 2007

Other top Canadian skaters have lost partners and then gone on to do rather well. Anabelle Langlois and Jean-Sebastien Fecteau come to mind. Marcoux as well. She went to Worlds once with her former partner, Bruno Marcotte, before joining up with Craig. Lloyd Eisler way back when. Even Jamie Sale, although she had a big gap between successes. They might have a couple of years of growing pains, but it could work. I wish them luck.

Kypma · May 29, 2007

Antilles said:
They might have a couple of years of growing pains, but it could work.

That's the problem... the couple of years, because they only really have two to prove themselves, since Craig wats to go to the Vancouver Olympics. I really hope they can work it out, because I don't want Craig stuck in an unsuccessful match and then 'lose' a year, if it can be said in that manner.

Kypma

netnuts · May 29, 2007

Kypma said:
That's the problem... the couple of years, because they only really have two to prove themselves, since Craig wats to go to the Vancouver Olympics. I really hope they can work it out, because I don't want Craig stuck in an unsuccessful match and then 'lose' a year, if it can be said in that manner.

Kypma

I agree with you. Craig has already changed like one million different partners. I really like him, and hope he did not rush for the sake of just finding anyone to skate with.

Having said that, if his goal is to compete at Vancouver, Craig does not have lots of alternatives in Canada. Meagan may be the best he can find at the moment. What can he do? Unless he expands the search overseas, I don't he can find anyone better. But the reality is if he finds a good partner, let's say in U.S., Japan etc, he is certain to miss 2010 due to strict citizenship rules.

Kypma · May 29, 2007

netnuts said:
Having said that, if his goal is to compete at Vancouver, Craig does not have lots of alternatives in Canada. Meagan may be the best he can find at the moment. What can he do? Unless he expands the search overseas, I don't he can find anyone better. But the reality is if he finds a good partner, let's say in U.S., Japan etc, he is certain to miss 2010 due to strict citizenship rules.

That's what's so sad about his situation... had Valerie hung on just three more years (which is a lot when you think of it, especially if she has no motivation), they would have been perhaps contenders for an Olympic medal. Now, either way, whether his partner is Canadian or not, Craig has much smaller chances at making a run at, say, the top five. He'd also probably want to compete for Canada, and citizenship rules would make it impossible for his partner to become a citizen in time.

Kypma

feraina · May 29, 2007

netnuts said:
A couple of Meagan Duhamel's skating clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8vXxyHfBk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh15kkAinXQ

There are more on Meagan's website. Here's one of her skating with Ryan Arnold at the 2005 junior worlds just after Canadian national's where they landed the first sbs 3-lutz. They land the first clean throw 3-lutz in this competition, and you can see how much she improved in however many weeks between nationals and jr worlds!

http://meagan.skatetoday.com/videos/2005JrWorldsDuhamelArnoldFS.wmv

I find it interesting that she seems so much calmer and settled in pairs programs than in her singles programs. Perhaps with a better partner, she would've chosen to focus on pairs rather than singles last season. But never mind, here calms Craig! :clap:

I like this girl, she seems really sweet and energetic and positive. I think this new team can go far!

dancindiva03 · May 29, 2007

Seems like an odd pairing to me but I wish them lots of luck.

netnuts · May 29, 2007

feraina said:
There are more on Meagan's website. Here's one of her skating with Ryan Arnold at the 2005 junior worlds just after Canadian national's where they landed the first sbs 3-lutz. They land the first clean throw 3-lutz in this competition, and you can see how much she improved in however many weeks between nationals and jr worlds!

http://meagan.skatetoday.com/videos/2005JrWorldsDuhamelArnoldFS.wmv

I find it interesting that she seems so much calmer and settled in pairs programs than in her singles programs. Perhaps with a better partner, she would've chosen to focus on pairs rather than singles last season. But never mind, here calms Craig!

I like this girl, she seems really sweet and energetic and positive. I think this new team can go far!

Thanks for the link. Seems to me her jumps and throws are quite secure and impressive. That will definitely help the new team hit the ground fairly fast.

feraina · May 29, 2007

Considering how much progress she made with Ryan after just six months of pairs skating (placing 8th at Canadian nationals), one can probably be optimistic that she will also progress quickly with Craig. Supposedly she landed the first two throw triples that she ever tried! (at the try-out with Ryan.) :bow:

Tinymavy15 · May 30, 2007

netnuts said:
It is reported that Craig Buntin is going to partner with Meagan Duhamel, training in Montreal.

How do you guys feel? I don't think they are a good match. Meagan is a more powerful skater. But well, that may be the best he can find in Canada at the moment.

A couple of Meagan Duhamel's skating clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8vXxyHfBk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh15kkAinXQ

I hate her wrapped leg!

She gets huge height on her jumps.. good for the throws. she looks like she would skate pairs. her extensions aren't that good and her spins nothing great. I think that she is ideal for pairs... She looks a little large....hard to say how tall she is though.

Ladskater · May 31, 2007

Well Meagan has had experience as a pair skater. I wonder what happened to her other partnership? Anyway, I think she and Craig will be a good match. Craig is an athletic skater and she is also very athletic. Looks like she has great speed when she skates as well. I can't see why this will not work. I am looking forward to seeing Craig and Meagan in the upcoming season - if this is true.

Craig Buntin and Meagan Duhamel - Your thoughts?

netnuts

Match Penalty

nadster

Joesitz (RIP)

netnuts

Match Penalty

nadster

SK8LUVR

netnuts

Match Penalty

Kypma

netnuts

Match Penalty

scs

Antilles

Kypma

netnuts

Match Penalty

Kypma

feraina

dancindiva03

Match Penalty

netnuts

Match Penalty

feraina

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win

Ladskater

~ Figure Skating Is My Passion ~

Similar threads

Connect with us