2014 Worlds Junior Ice Dance - Free Dance

Ryan O said:

It will be interesting to see whether Edwards & Pang begin to overshadow their Senior training mates, Orford & Williams. To some extent they have already begun to do so since E&P were named to the Senior World team as alternates when O&W didn't have the minimum TES score.

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I agree. As a team, E/P are already much better than O/W, and I think E/P are still so young with tons of potential. I think O/W achieved their peak last season, and will have a hard time holding off a number of strong developing teams. There are strong points about G/P for sure, and they would be wonderfully incredible if they made strong improvement in their team skills (matching lines, matching edges, close holds, etc....the dance parts instead of the tricks parts), but part of me wonders what Orford/Poirier would look like.

Ryan O said:

I'm surprised at how poorly Bent & MacKeen did at this event. They seemed very confident all season and had a lot of momentum from winning the Junior Dance title at Canadians in January.

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Me too. It seems like a bit of a fluke. I don't think they've fallen like that in competition all season. They seem to be a bit "hot and cold". Sometimes they win a JGP event, and sometimes they don't medal at all. It was a season like that for them. I think they are both quite young for Senior. I have a feeling they are going to have to climb the ladder at Senior, which will take some patience over a few years. Canada is rich in talent. I hope they find programs more like their tango last year. This year, I wasn't fond of the cheesefest.

NorthernDancers said:

I agree. As a team, E/P are already much better than O/W, and I think E/P are still so young with tons of potential. I think O/W achieved their peak last season, and will have a hard time holding off a number of strong developing teams. There are strong points about G/P for sure, and they would be wonderfully incredible if they made strong improvement in their team skills (matching lines, matching edges, close holds, etc....the dance parts instead of the tricks parts), but part of me wonders what Orford/Poirier would look like.

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O&W are doing okay considering they have only been at the Senior level for a few years, so perhaps people are expecting too much of them. One has to remember that the reason they made the Canadian podium in 2013 was because W&P were absent and because P&I wiped out. Ordinarily they probably wouldn't have got to the podium until after V&M retired, but you may be right that they have peaked.

Perhaps E&P have the potential to move up the ranks quickly the way Crone & Poirier did when they were teenagers. We will see. I guess "Orford/Poirier" can go on the thread in the other forum where people name alternative teams they'd like to see. Not sure Nicole & Paul would have the same type of chemistry as Piper & Paul, though.

NorthernDancers said:

Me too. It seems like a bit of a fluke. I don't think they've fallen like that in competition all season. They seem to be a bit "hot and cold". Sometimes they win a JGP event, and sometimes they don't medal at all. It was a season like that for them. I think they are both quite young for Senior. I have a feeling they are going to have to climb the ladder at Senior, which will take some patience over a few years. Canada is rich in talent. I hope they find programs more like their tango last year. This year, I wasn't fond of the cheesefest.

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Mackenize is still young (I don't think she turns 17 till later this Spring), but Garrett turns 20 this week I think, so he's not too young for Seniors. Several other dance teams have moved into Seniors at younger ages (eg. Crone & Poirier, Virtue & Moir, etc.) but perhaps that's because they were above average in ability and moved more rapidly through Juniors. Afterall, Tessa was only 20 when she went to the 2010 Olympics, and Poirier was only 18. (and Crone 19, I think). But I guess it is different for each team and the trajectory is different in each case.