Sears Canadian Open

[Teenes]

A whole slew of information on the Canadian Open came out today, some of which confuses me, but I'll put what I know here for now and update it later...

Sears Canadian Open is taking place Dec. 6 and 7, 2002 at the Red Deer Centrium in Red Deer, AB.

IMG confirmed skaters (as of today 9/6): Alexei Yagudin, Takeshi Honda, Sale & Pelletier, Ina & Zimmerman

However, Ticketmaster pages for the competition also appeared today, putting the competition at 7PM 12/6 and 3PM 12/7. Additional skaters from Ticketmaster were Todd Eldredge, Yuka Sato, and Sasha Cohen. Tickets are $30-40 for 12/6 and $26.25-$37.50 for 12/7, and go on sale 10/19 at 8:30AM PST.

Also, the Skate Canada website has TV airdates on CTV (in Canada) for this event: 12/7 from 2-5PM local time, and 12/7 from 7-9PM local time. The confusing thing here is that it says the evening broadcast will be live on the East Coast. However, 7PM EST is 5PM mountain time...which doesn't jive with Ticketmaster's time for the event.

Hopefully the details will be clearer later... in the meantime, here are some relevant links:

Ticketmaster.ca - 12/6 @7PM (https://ticketing.ticketmaster.com/cgi/purchasepage_ca.asp?event_id=1100351D76F71DCE)
Ticketmaster.ca - 12/7 @3PM (https://ticketing.ticketmaster.com/cgi/purchasepage_ca.asp?event_id=1100351D94D25C2E)

Skate Canada (http://www.skatecanada.ca)
(look at Events, TV Schedule)

[Lee]

I am SO going to be there!!!! Only a half hour from here! I'm hoping (and assuming) Kurt will be added to that list. I don't think he's missed any version of this comp in years, and Red Deer's so close to his home town...but it's still a lineup worth seeing, even without Kurt!

[adrianchew]

Lee's gonna go see Sasha skate (about time!) - yay! :D

[Teenes]

Lee - Kurt's going to be there, one way or the other, but he may not be competing...I'll post more when I know more.

[Teenes]

Just an update - IMG says the Ticketmaster page is *not* correct and the only currently confirmed skaters are Alexei, Takeshi, S&P and I&Z.

[Emanfan]

No Sandhu this year? That makes me a little nervous, since he easily could have won it last year.

Have heard absolutely NOTHING from him since January at Canadians (other than about his injuries).

[singerskates]

Elvis will do the Canadian Open. Like wise, Kurt and Brian will too. Jennifer Robinson will probably do it again as well. I wonder of Michelle Kwan will sign on? Hmm. Going to be fun.

[Lee]

Getting more and more excited about the idea of an *open* in MY 'backyard' -- for a change! How many sleeps until Oct 19? :P

[Teenes]

Actually, I have a feeling (I can't remember where it comes from) that Brian may *not* do this year's competition, though I'm not sure about that... As for Kurt, everything I've heard suggests that he's not competing this year, though he will be there. Dunno about Emanuel though....

[Lee]

RDTV News (Red Deer) reported tonight on the supper-hour news that S&P *and* Kurt will be skating in the Open. No idea what their source is -- they announced ticket sales starting through Ticketmaster on Oct 19.

It would make sense that Kurt would *try* to skate in the Open, especially since it's so close to home this time. But, if he doesn't, I'm sure we'll live -- won't like it, but we'll live! :P

[Gail]

Thanks Lee. I hope their source is correct and Kurt will be in this competition, as well as the Hallmark one.

[Teenes]

Well, their source may have been slightly off... Kurt will be *skating* at the Open but he's not competing. He's doing a special exhibition on Friday night. I got the unconfirmed info from IMG a while ago, but it also appeared on Ticketmaster today (which is not the most reliable source of info but I believe it's correct in this case). So, if you're attending both parts of the competition, you will be able to see Kurt skate, at least =).

No word yet on Kurt's participation on Hallmark.

[Lee]

At least he's skating...and come to think of it, the newscasters *did* say something about "Friday" night in regards to Kurt.

I'll take it...:P

[Gail]

I'll take it too, better than not seeing him skate at all. It is driving me crazy waiting to see what new programs he has. Anybody hear anything in this regard?

[jcspkbfan]

Sounds to me like Kurt's doing the same thing B&K did at 2000 Canadian Open (they couldn't compete that year because there was no dance event, so they performed their FD as an exhibition instead). It sounds like a great opportunity for him to perform in front of a hometown crowd without having to worry about judges or skating an ISU-style short program with eight required elements (which Kurt has said in the past he no longer likes to do).

It'll be interesting to see what Kurt has in store for us this year--but since SOI rehearsals just started this week in Simsbury, hopefully we won't have to wait much longer to find out! :D