Silver for Crone & Poirier at Skate Canada international!!!!

What a week it has been for junior world silver medalists Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier! Competing in their first ever senior grand prix event, they danced away with the silver medal at Skate Canada, held in Ottowa, Ontario, October 31st to November 2nd 2008.

With the withdrawal of top Canadian team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, due to Tessa's injury, Crone and Poirier were thrust into the spotlight, and they handled themselves with great poise (Paul did entire interviews in French!) To the delight of a wonderfully supportive crowd, they moved up in each portion of the event and ended up with a very unexpected silver medal. They now move on to their next assignment in Paris, where they face very tough opposition, but as the "new kids on the block" they are looking forward to it as a great learning experience. Read their reports soon!

Octoberfest

Congratulations to all our teams who competed at the "Octoberfest" invitational in Barrie Ontario, October 17th-19th 2008. Here are the results:

Junior Dance

Olivia Martins & Alvin Chau
1st - compulsory Dance
1st - original Dance
2nd - Free dance

Abby Carswell & Jason Cusmariu
4th-Compulsory dance
4th Original Dance
5th- Free Dance

Novice Dance (combined event)

Kelly Oliveira & Jordan Hockley - 1st
Alexandra Kourkounakis & Chris Lettner - 7th

Pre-Novice Dance (combined event)

Mackenzie Bent & Garrett Mackeen -2nd
Briar Koski & Nick Lettner-3rd
Katie Desveaux & Dmitre Razgulajevs-4th

Juvenile Dance (combined event)

Abby Savoie & Dennis Romanenko - 4th

Also competing that week were Nikki Yorgiadis & Graham Hockley, who were in Sheffield England at their second JGP assignment, where they once again cracked the top 10, and made a very good impression for themselves while representing Greece. Well done everyone!

Autumn Skate Results

During a very busy September some of our teams competed at the Autumn Skate event in Ottawa, Ontario, accompanied by Donna Iijima. Here are their results, and congratulations to all teams, you did a great job!

Joanna Salvagna & Marc-Andre Servant  -  Novice Dance Comp: 8th
FD: 2nd
Overall: 5th

Mackenzie Bent & Garrett Mackeen  -  Pre-Novice Dance Comp: 2nd
FD: 3rd
Overall: 3rd

Briar Koski & Nick Lettner - Pre-Novice Dance Comp: 7th
FD: 5th
Overall: 7th

Abby Savoie & Dennis Romanenko  - Juvenile Dance Comp: 3rd
FD: 2nd
Overall: 2nd

Junior Grand Prix results 

Ostrava, Czech Republic, September 17-21st

A word of congratulations for Olivia Martins and Alvin Chau, who placed 6th out of 17 teams in their first ever Junior Grand Prix assignment in Ostrava, Czech Republic, September 17-21st. Olivia and Alvin have moved up from Novice this year, and received many compliments on their strong transition to the junior ranks. Read their report from the event in the reports section.

Nikki Yorgiadis and Graham Hockley also received their first ever JGP assignment,in Madrid, Spain, September 24th-28th 2008. Nikki and Graham improved thier placing at every stage of the event, placing 10th overall out of 19 teams. Nikki and Graham will be representing Greece for their international career, and their next stop will be their 2nd JGP assignment in Sheffield England October 15th-18th 2008. Their reports are coming soon.

Well done and good luck!

2 for 2!

Congratulations to Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill on their 2nd silver medal in the Junior Grand Prix this year. Skating at high altitude in Mexico City from Setember 10th-17th, Kharis and Asher bettered their scores from Couchevel, and staked their claim for a place in the JGP final to be held in South Korea in December. Watch the upcoming JGp's to see if they make it! Their team mates Abby Carswell and Jason Cusmariu placed 9th in their first JGP assignment. well done teams!

Results from Courchevel, France

At their first JGP assignment in Courchevel, France, Kharis Ralph & Asher Hill proudly watched the Canadian flag raised as they received their first ever JGP medal! Skating a smooth compulsory, an inspired original dance, and a sultry blues free dance, Kharis and Asher danced away with a silver medal. The highlight was receiving level 3 step sequences in both their programs, representing a significant improvement from last year.They move on to their next assignment in Mexico City with renewed energy and inspiration. Best of luck!

IDE International Squad

Ice Dance Elite is very proud to present its International Squad for the 2008-09 season. For the first time in our history, we will have 5 teams at the junior and senior level travelling to Junior and Senior Grand Prix events all over the world. We are very proud of our hard working talented skaters, and wish them all the best of luck in their up coming events in the fall.

Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier- Senior Grand Prix

Skate Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Oct 31st - Nov 2nd 2008
Trophy Eric Bompard, Paris, France Nov 13th-16th 2008

Kharis Ralph & Asher Hill - Junior Grand Prix

Courchevel, France, August 26th-Aug 31st 2008
Mexico City, Mexico, September 10th-13th 2008

Abby Carswell & Jason Cusmariu - Junior Grand Prix

Mexico City, Mexico, September 10th-13th 2008

Olivia Martins & Alvin Chau - Junior Grand Prix

Ostrava, Czech Republic, September 17th- 20th 2008

Nikki Yorgiadis & Graham Hockley (Greece) - Junior Grand Prix

Madrid, Spain, September 23rd- September 27th 2008
Sheffield England, October 15th -18th 2008

Thornhill Summer Competition

Well. no sooner had Lake Placid come and gone than it was time for Thornhill Summer Competition, which took place August 14th-17th in Thornhill, Ontario. Once again we had 9 teams competing, so we were running around from rink to rink the whole weekend. It was worth it, we had some great results, and here they are.

Congratulations also to Alexandra Kourkounakis, who passed her Novice Free dance while competing in the Novice event. Well done!

Lake Placid Dance Championships, July 30th-August 2nd 2008

Well done everyone!