Canada’s Nova earns fifth and sixth place finishes at  Leon Lurje Trophy

GOTHENBURG, Sweden – Canada’s Team Nova from St-Hubert Que., took fifth spot in senior competition and sixth in junior on Saturday at the  Leon Lurje Trophy synchronized skating event.

In the senior event, Paradise from Russia won the gold with 231.85 points with Unique from Finland second at 227.61 and Crystal Ice from Russia third at 223.44.

Nova ranked fourth for its free skate on Saturday to climb from sixth to fifth overall at 207.31 just ahead of Nexxice from Burlington, Ont., in sixth at 206.12.

The skaters for Nova were: Noémie Beaucage, Anouk Bégin, Sarah Bousquet-St-Laurent, Maya Cardillo, Laurence Darveau, Laura Derome, Selena Fortin, Audrey Hébert, Maude Héon Grandchamp, Evelynn Janacek, Noémie Julien, Audrey Martel, Elizabeth Morin, Safia Moussaoui, Léonie Nadeau, Alycia O’Leary, Tessa Sarret, Satia Lin Tétreault and Émilie Villeneuve.

‘’I’m super proud of our team,’’ said Darveau. ‘’It was a great performance and all of the elements were there.’’

The skaters for Nexxice were: Nadine Banholzer, Nyah Bay, Kelly Britten, Megan Brown, Molly Coxon, Emma Daigle, Jasmine Gagnon, Elisa Giuliani, Abbey Glumpak, Carleigh Gorrigsen, Lauren Hatfield, Jana Jambresic, Taylor Johnston, Elizabeth McKenna, Tegan Orr, Robbie-Lynn Puspoky, Nicole Schulz, Riley Strassguertl, Sophia Tong and Alessandra Toso.

‘’It was definitely a learning experience for us,’’ said Britten. ‘’We’re going to move on from here and work hard to improve for our next competition.’’

In junior competition, both Canadian teams improved in their free skates but couldn’t move up the overall standings.

Russian teams were 1-2 with Sunrise first at 202.46 and Crystal Ice second at 196.81. Fintastic from Finland was third at 193.35.

Nova Junior produced the fifth best free program but remained sixth with 167.79 while Ice Ignite Junior from Ilderton, Ont., ranked 10th for its free but stayed in 12th overall.

The skaters for Nova junior were: Amy Morency, Justine Fournier, Méghane Beaudry, Janie Bréard, Lauren Janusauska, Alexia Gaudet, Marilou Albert, Morgan Bennett, Éloise Goupil, Élodie Roy, Sophie Caron, Simone Florence, Chloé Au, Léa-Jeanne Tremblay, Norah Braun, Myriam Quévillon, Noémie Tremblay, Stephania Gaul and Vanessa Hopkins.

The theme of their program was Romeo and Juliet.

‘’We were really pleased with how we were able to elevate the crowd with our emotions,’’ said  Bréard.’’It was the best performance and score we could have done at this point in the season. We poured our hearts out tonight on the ice. We showed the judges the range of our expressions and our skating was great.’’

The Ice Ignite skaters are : Alyssa Dumayne, Ashley Stanton, Claire Vandewalle, Danica Stewart, Deanna Langille, Ellen Major, Emily Guan, Jessica Bycraft, Kenzie McKellar, Lauren Roblee, Lilly McLellan, Lily Hensen, Elizabeth Parker, Lucille Gowan, Rae-Anna Pusopoky, Sacha Veillon, Evelyne DeThomasis, Trynity Bisson and Alyssa Robinson.

The theme of their program was Angels which was telling a story of saying goodbye to a loved one.

‘’We were all really happy when we finished,’’ said Hensen. ‘’We did leave some points on the ice and there is way more room to grow this program. We are excited to get home and train for our programs even harder as we prepare for our next competition.’’

Full results: Leon Lurje Trophy 2020 – ISU Challenger Series