Senior men SP results and Stephen’s protocol from the 2023 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships.
I admittedly hate doing these posts when Stephen has done poorly, and I am sure he wants to hear nothing from me, so I will instead speak to his fans who are reeling. There is no nuanced way to speak about this.
Tonight was probably the worst short program Stephen has ever put out. On one hand it is best to know that he cannot go lower than this. On the other, this leads to a whole slate of issues. If Stephen was planning to have a season beyond Nationals it is not looking good for him. National Team placement also looks questionable. Beyond these though is the fact that something is majorly going wrong for Stephen to repeatedly be doing so poorly in the short program this season. Stephen is not a skater who was known for his poor short programs. It’s the opposite - he was first in the SP at his last National championships. Even if he has a flawless FS tomorrow he cannot overcome some 30 point deficit to magically get on the podium unless everyone else somehow absolutely melts down or withdraws. You cannot win it in the SP, but you can lose it, and he did.
And once again Lee is not at his side. Does Stephen hate everything about Toronto to such an extent that even Lee has gotten the axe?
I doubt there any simple solutions to whatever is going on, and we do not know how he will address things. Some of the fans think he will just retire early. As a fan I say for now just keep calm and hope for the best for tomorrow. I will be in Oshawa to cheer him on and I sincerely hope he can put his disappointment from today behind him and skate to the best of his abilities. Forget medals, or international assignments. There really isn’t anything else left to do.
