Interesting Matt - You've got the Americans moving on up in dance discipline. It would be nice to keep the discipline moving on up.
I'm not so sure of Vise/Kole in pairs. They are good but much better in practice than under fire. This is another discipline the americans have to thing about seriously to get them moving on up.
As I said, Pairs was a complete and total guess on my part...I have not been following the Juniors that closely at all. I wouldn't write off Vise/Kole completely, though. With Vlassov/Meekins on the circuit as well, and both teams making the JGP Final (Vise/Kole medaled, IIRC), the Americans should be a factor (are the Canadians out, btw, Dube and Davison?)
Canada sending some strong juniors-Dube/Davison, Duhamel/Arnold, Virtue/Moir, Chris Mabee. Hoping to see at least one podium finish there, possible several.
my prediction is that virtue and moir gain at least a silver medal at worlds, barring any mistakes. if they skate as they did at canadians, they could possibly beat the US dance team. we'll see.
Dennis Phan has still not recovered from the injury that kept him out of Nationals. He is being replaced by Wes Campbell. Jordan Brauninger is probably the US's best hope for a medal, but he, too, has been injured this season and hasn't been skating his best.
Kimmie Meissner will be defending her silver medal from 2004, and it'll be a tough battle with Yu Na Kim. You can't count out Korpi and the other Japanese ladies Sawada and Kitamura, either.
I have hopes for Miller/Brubaker in Pairs. Dube/Davison are strong, but she has been battling an injury all season and may not be in condition yet to medal.
Matthews/Zavozin will try to hold off Virtue/Moir for gold. I am encouraged by the fact that M/Z jumped from 6th in the CD and OD to 4th in the FS at US Senior Nationals. V/M beat M/Z twice in the FD at the JGP, but M/Z won gold based on their leads in the CD and OD. Their jump at Nationals shows that M/Z have been working hard on their FD.