You know how on Christmas between opening presents and carving turkey and refilling wine glasses, there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day? It's really the same way with every holiday if you think about it. We anticipate these special days eagerly, our mouths salivating weeks ahead of the delicious meals laid out in front of us are even going in the oven, let alone making their way to our tables and bellies... and poof! Just as the meat sweats and the turkey hangover kick in, the plates are being cleared and the holiday in question is one for the history books. Sound about right? Well, I thought we'd mix things up a little bit on the blog this year. You know me... Conventional just is not something I'm prepared to put on the menu. After doing Christmas In July last year, I decided... you know? With July 1 and Canada Day just around the corner, it would be really be pretty rude of me to offer you just one day of great Canadian skating content and then move on to something else while the fireworks are still fading from the sky. SO I came up with this fabulous little idea I think you're going to love.
We're not doing Canada Day on Skate Guard this year. We're doing Canada freakin' Month! Why not, right? With a HUGE special thanks to Skate Canada, Canada Month on the blog will feature interviews with members of Canada's 2014 Olympic and World teams! Alma, no need to check your battery - you heard that right! Rather than keep you in suspense, I'm going to tell you exactly who you'll be seeing interviews with (in alphabetical order):
GABBY DALEMAN
KAETLYN OSMOND
KEVIN REYNOLDS
There's SO much more! I've also got interviews coming with Alexandra Najarro, Veronik Mallet, Sasha Alcoloumbre, two time Canadian Champion Cynthia Phaneuf, 2001 Canadian Silver Medallist Jayson Dénommée, Michelle Leigh (coach to Canadian Olympians Elvis Stojko and Jennifer Robinson), 1998 Canadian Olympian Jeffrey Langdon and... WAIT FOR IT... I am hoping to have ready in time my interview with World Champion, two time Olympic Silver Medallist, eight time Canadian Champion and coach to Olympic Gold Medallists Yuzuru Hanyu and Yuna Kim...
BRIAN ORSER
Yeah, I am! I won't just be featuring interviews with great Canadian skaters during Canada Month... I've also got some new articles coming about Canadian skating history that you're going to just love. So now that I've got you all jazzed for Canada Month, I can't just leave you hanging... Why not take a look back at some of the great interviews with Canadians I've already done? They are ALL here in this list below:
Gary Beacom
Barbara Berezowski
Craig Buntin
Alaine Chartrand
Meagan Duhamel (last year's Canada Day interview!)
Ben Ferreira
Alexe Gilles
Garrett Gosselin
Vanessa Grenier And Maxime Deschamps
Victoria And Connor Hasegawa
Asher Hill
PJ Kwong
Christopher Mabee
John Mattatall
Christopher Nolan
Keyla Ohs
Karen Preston
Margaret Purdy And Michael Marinaro
Shawn Sawyer
Jeremy Ten
Linda Villella (Carbonetto)
Lance Vipond
Megan Wing And Aaron Lowe
My apologies to anybody I've missed! Somewhat like Gladys from Ellen's talk show, I love figure skating but I drink a little. Please bear in mind that although I already have most of these interviews finished and ready to go, a few of them are still as they say 'in the works' so if due to scheduling I am not able to get them all out in July, don't worry... they are all coming!
I'll also be re-sharing many of these above interviews I've already completed with Canadian skaters as well as a lot of the past articles I've written about Canadian skating history during Canada Month. You can't go wrong with a little Throwback Thursday action, now can you? At any rate, I'm a-cookin' somethin' right some special for you all up and I really hope that you're as excited for Canada Month as I am! It's going to be a time!
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.