Coaching News for Two Canadian Skaters, and Music News for Two More

Two-Time Canadian Champions have a new coach; Patrick Chan does not, music revelations for him and for top ice dancers.

Skate Canada’s High Performance Camp opened Wednesday in Toronto. Like last week’s Champs Camp in Colorado Springs, it gathers all the skaters for interviews and meetings with officials, who look at skater’s programs. But while the USFSA program monitoring is done behind closed doors, Skate Canada allows the media to take a look at the programs as well and even post clips themselves. There was already one coaching update expected on opening day, and there ended up being two.

New coach announced, but not for Patrick Chan

Since last week, fans have been expecting an update from Patrick Chan, after Kathy Johnson announced she was leaving him. But over the past couple of days, the rumor mill has been churning up another coaching change. There were reports of two-time Canadian ice dance champions Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Pojé working with Russian coach Nikolai Morozov. They were the last remaining high-profile students left of husband-and-wife coaching team Angelika Krylova & Pasquale Carlemango, who had once held a huge stable of students, but seen it dwindle over the past two years, Things were more or less confirmed when Morozov was briefly interviewed by skating reporter PJ Kwong on Instagram:

Shortly after there was official confirmation via IFS Magazine’s facebook, in which they said they were still working with Krylova & Carlemango, but spending most of their time at Morozov’s base in New Jersey. It should be noted that the rumor mill has also claimed Krylova and Carlemango may be getting a divorce, and ending their professional partnership with it. Weaver & Pojé may have made this move out of necessity, in anticipation of this.

But a coaching change might be a good idea anyway. Since they famously finished two hundredths of a point away from the world title in 2014, they’ve been declining a bit. Their failure to medal at Worlds this year was particularly painful. Meanwhile, with 2010 Olympic Champions Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir returning to competition, they’ll face an uphill struggle to even remain the top dance team within their own country. Pojé had good reason to say they’ve been “stuck in a rut.” There have been criticisms about their style stagnating too. A new voice and a new perspective on their skating, a shakeup of their way of doing things, might be just what they need.

Whether Nikolai Morozov is the best person to deliver it is another matter. That comment during the interview about not watching ice dance lately is not exactly encouraging. But he’s a coach who has gotten results. Back in 2003, it was him who coached Shae-Lynn Bourne & Viktor Kraatz when they became the first Canadians to win Worlds. At the 2014 Olympics, he got Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov to the podium. As coach for Weaver & Pojé, he just might work.

Chan to go it alone for a least a while

As for Chan, he is in no hurry to replace Johnson. He said he is happy to work alone for the moment. He is also engaging in “ongoing discussions” with Skate Canada’s high performance director about an eventual replacement. This is not an unprecedented move on his part. Skating legend Michelle Kwan famously showed up to the 2002 Olympics without a coach. Japanese superstar Mao Asada spent a good deal of 2008 and won her first world title without one either. In both cases, however, the skaters did get a new coach within months. It’s unusual enough it makes sense for the federation to be concerned that Chan at least eventually do the same.

He also described the plans to move to Vancouver as “on the back burner.” If he stays in Detroit, he’ll have plenty of choices of coaches. If he’s willing to move, he’ll have even more.

It also sounds like he and Johnson were working together closely to the last, since she helped him make the decision of where to start his season. That’s not always the case in skater/coach breakups, although they often happen before pre-season preparation anyway. It reinforces that Chan really did not plan for this, and probably wants to be careful before he commits to a new coach.

Clips reveal music for Chan

Chan did more than just talk. He also skated his new short program, and Skate Canada posted a clip of it:

He used this music for a show program last year. Converting exhibition music to competition music is always a little risky. Judges expect competitive programs to be different, to be more than just for show. On the other hand, even this tiny clip shows how well Chan can feel and express this music. Right now, that’s his biggest strength. Taking advantage of it makes sense for him. The music also is a good match for his style.

Ice dance music clips

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir, on the other hand, seem to be departing from style in their short dance. This year, all senior ice dance teams are required to skate the Midnight Blues compulsory patterns in their short dance, which they are allowed to combined with either swing or hip-hop. Virtue & Moir are known for being elegant and beautiful, but they’ve opted for hip-hop. They’ve also opted for Prince. On twitter, Moir revealed their short dance is to “5 Women,” “Kiss,” and “Purple Rain,” Golden Skate posted a clip, but it got pulled.

It probably won’t be the only Prince tribute program this year, but it might be the highest-profile one. Still, it’s a variation Virtue & Moir have done before. They’ve done programs where they’ve been hip, and programs where they’ve been sexy. They should have no problem doing this short dance. Moir also tweeted that their free dance is to Sam Smith’s “Latch,” which is much more their style.

Another clip indicated Weaver & Pojé’s short dance is to Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet” and LeAnn Rimes’ “Swingin.” Again, posted to YouTube, but quickly pulled.

Hopefully there’ll be more clips to come from Toronto. Though it’s hard to think there’ll be news to match Wednesday’s.