I agree that Nam Nguyen is definitely one to look out for in junior men. He looks like the successor to Patrick Chan.
It is a pity that he is too young to go to junior worlds this year. His score at BC sectionals (162.20) was higher than any of the scores any of our JGP bound guys scored this year , even domestically.
The other pity is that Balde is still injured. He also ages out of junior internationally this season so it is sad that he couldn't even register an international score for GP consideration next year. That is too bad especially as he made the JGPF in 2008.
It looks like in mens the JW world team will be Kevin Reynolds ( last chance for him to compete junior internationally ) and one of Lam, Rogozine or Firus. Lam also ages out after this season. Shaquille Davis could be a dark horse for the second spot.
Don't forget that Junior Worlds placements matter for the number of JGP slots a country earns for the following season...When it comes down to it, Jr Worlds really doesn't matter that much.
I only really know the BC guys, and then Liam the most, as a skater anyway. If he skates up to his abilities (no pops, jumps landed cleanly) he's fantastic. He has amazingly soft knees and when his jumps are landed cleanly, they're to die for. Nam's great too, and Ronald could probably top them all, but he's actually competing Sr nationally this year. I agree that the Jr Worlds team will probably be Kevin Reynolds plus someone else. Who knows though? Kevin hasn't improved his Jr Worlds results at all. Maybe SC will decide that they've had enough and send two newbies to gain experience. When it comes down to it, Jr Worlds really doesn't matter that much. I'd love to see Liam go, but I think some other guys will go unless he skates light out at Nationals. Who knows...he could! He was 3rd after the short in one of his JGP events. He can compete with the other guys on the circuit, he just needs to make sure his head is in the right place.
Back to the Challenge ...
Are these advancement numbers correct for Senior?
Top 12 Sr men (13 if Joey Russell places in the top 12)
Top 14 Sr ladies
Top 9 Sr dance teams
All 5 of the Sr pair teams that not already byed through (the 3 GP pairs, including Duhamel/Buntin who are likely to withdraw due to her injury)
The only reason I see Skate Canada picking Kevin is because of the need to have someone finishing in the top 3 countries. If Balde were healthy, I could see SC not sending Kevin at all.
I actually think a healthy Balde would do better than Reynolds at JW ( he did last year ) simply because his triple axel is far more consistent. Alas, he is injured.
Sooo...my mum is in Mississauga and she said that Liam did not have a good long, but stayed in 2nd (3rd in long). NAM WON!! She said he did a 6 or 7 triple program. He could be on his way to his fourth national championship in a row!!!
Just looking at the results from challenge Kathryn Kang was 15th does she not qualify for nationals?
Only the top 14 ladies at the challenge qualify for nationals as there are 4 byed skaters ( Rochette, Phaneuf, Lacoste and Szmiett ) and Skate Canada does not allow more than 18 ladies to compete at nationals.
So Kang misses nationals. Hardly a surprise since she is capable of completely imploding in competition.