2012 Cup of Russia Free Dance

[WeakAnkles]

Ah, that makes sense. Neither D/W nor the Shibs strike me as folks that would completely burn ties with old coaches. I don't know about V/M, but there was some mention that they were uneasy about seeing Igor at SC, so perhaps there's more tension there for whatever reason?

I think "more tension" may be an understatement. In their remarks at the press conference after the RC, Virtue had some very interesting, and I think revealing, things to say:

The Canadian champions’ preparation for the season was affected by the fact that their long term coaches Igor Shpilband and Marina Zoueva parted ways. According to Virtue, it was a shock, but they believe in the end, it was all for the better.

“Obviously, it was extremely sad,” said the 23-year-old. “The circumstances were not ideal, and when you have such a great partnership, it is sad to see it end. But we had so much fun this summer training with Oleg Epstein, and also with Maurizio Margaglio. I think we have such a great team, the people that are around us now.”

“In fact, I just told Oleg a couple of weeks ago that he makes me like skating even more,” shared Virtue. “He brings so much passion, energy, and enthusiasm every single day, that it’s hard not to respond with equal energy. It’s nice to have a bit of a change. It’s easy to settle into something that is really comfortable, and we have been there for 8 or almost 9 years. Sometimes a bit of change of scenery is good. It really worked out well for us.”

This is the link to the article (it's from this site, so I think I can post the link--or at least try to!):
http://www.goldenskate.com/2012/11/v...cup-of-russia/

Apparently the dumping of IS "really worked out well for [them]." Classy .

Sounds to me like she's pretty much instantaneously embraced this new arrangement. But YMMV of course.