As Good As It Gets

Another Skate Canada Junior Nationals.
One more medal for the Nepean Skating Club.
When Lisa Casselman and Ryan Behnia won the pre-novice ice dance crown on Friday night in Brampton, Ont., it extended a nice little run at this event for the west Ottawa club.
Last year, Brooke Paulin and Nathan Last earned a silver medal in novice pairs in Moncton, N.B.
In 2004, it was Mandy Valentine enjoying a golden moment in the novice women's event right at home at the Nepean Sportsplex.
The latest one, though, had to be the most thrilling.
Casselman and Behnia were fifth after he first compulsory dance (American Waltz), then moved up to third following compulsory No. 2 (Rocker Foxtrot). They made their big move to the top in the free dance.
Still, it was a nail biter. Check out the final overall numbers: Casselman and Behnia, 61.87 points; Quebec’s Marie-Philippe Vincent and Kevin Pierro, 61.29; Quebec’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Anthony Quintal, 61.13.
Three teams, separated by less than a point.
Doesn’t get much closer than that.
Casselman and Behnia were second-last to skate. But they had to wait out the performance of Vincent and Pierro before they finally knew.
That they’d gone from 10th a year ago to Canadian champs.
“Oh, my God. That was the first thing I said,” Casselman, 14, said on the afternoon after their triumph. “It was like ‘I can’t believe we actually did this.’ ”
Behnia, 16, was still overwhelmed by it all a day later.
“I don’t think it’s quite hit me yet,” he said. “It seems like such a big shock. We’ve been hoping for this all year, but I don’t think it’ll hit me until we get home.”
The young duo are in their sixth year together. They gave a hint of what might be possible at Junior Nationals back in December, when they posted the highest total score of any team at the East and West Challenges. But that was ancient history by the time they showed up at the Powerade Centre this week.
“You really can’t focus on that,” said Casselman. “You just have to put it behind you. This is a different competition, and anything can happen.”
Not that they hadn’t dreamed about what happened Friday night.
“We’ve been talking since the beginning of the year about how much we wanted to win nationals,” she said. “But it didn’t become real to us until (Friday) night. It’s one of those things that just hits you — you weren’t really expecting it, but you were wishing it would happen.”
Wish granted, you could say. After a few days of celebration, though, it’s back to work. The Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse await them early in March.
While many of the same teams they just skated against will be there, Behnia said “it’ll be a different atmosphere in a different place. It will feel like a mini-Olympics.”
But will it will like Friday night? That, my friends, will be tough to top.