And doris is right to allude to politics within the federation. Skate Canada must ,must , must, just stand back and let the chips fall where they may this year. Ignore the ludicrous scores from last year's nationals and look at the international scores this year ..there really is no daylight between G/P and P/I ,and not all that much between G/P and O/W ...
G/P's scores:
174.53 (68.27+106.26) 2012 Canadians, 01/12
146.90 (55.98+ 90.92) US Intl Classic, 09/12
136.74 (53.71+ 83.03) SCI, 10/12
135.77 (51.99+ 83.78) TEB, 11/12
P/I's scores
146.48 (57.30+89.18) Canadian Nationals, 01/12
143.76 (55.86+87.90) US Intl Classic, 09/12
137.92 (54.50+83.42) Nebelhorn, 09/12
O/W's scores
145.53 (56.58+88.95) Canadian Nationals, 01/12
124.96 (51.44+73.52) CoR, 11/12
130.10 (49.76+80.34) NHK, 11/12
R/H's scores
147.51 (58.92+88.59) Canadian Nationals, 01/12
130.42 (53.79+76.63) Nebelhorn, 09/12
126.60 (50.00+76.60) SCI, 10/12
It appears that Paul/Islam's National scores were closest to reality and G/P's the farthest away. And these two teams are very close indeed based on this season's scores.