Happy Dance In The Klondike

It was barely a month ago that Lisa Casselman and Ryan Behnia were crowned pre-novice dance national champs at the Skate Canada Junior Nationals in Brampton, Ont.
Now they're on the verge of a second 'national' title, so to speak.
Today in Whitehorse, the young Nepean Skating Club couple seized command of the pre-novice dance event at the Canada Winter Games. Casselman, 14, and Behnia, 16, posted a score of 48.70 points in today's compulsories, and own a solid 3.26-point lead over Quebecers Raphaelle Viau and Benjamin Arcieri, who wound up fourth in Brampton.
The free dance final is on Wednesday. And for the record, Casselman and Behnia's were the class of the field in that phase at junior nationals.
Might be time for them to do the happy dance again in the Yukon.
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Stop me if you've heard this one before.
Ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada finished sixth in the compulsories at the world junior championships last week in Oberstdorf, Germany. Then they moved up to fourth in the original dance.
When the medals were handed out Friday night, there were Weaver and Poje, perched on the bronze-medal step of the podium.
Quite a feat for the Houston-born Weaver and Poje, of Kitchener, Ont., who've been a team for less than eight months.
But shouldn't we have seen this coming?
At the Canadian championships back in January in Halifax, Weaver and Poje quietly made their way through the compulsories, finishing in seventh place. They slipped up to fifth after the original dance, but still rather out of sight and mind. But there they were on the final Sunday of the competition, wearing bronze-medal smiles and holding a ticket to the world championships in Tokyo.
It was deja vu all over again in Oberstdorf.
Consider it a lesson well learned. Meaning if Weaver and Poje seem to be lagging behind the pack early on in Japan, don't lose sight of them. These two have proven — as the old saying goes — that it ain't over until it's really over.
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A quick update (and my bad for not doing it much sooner) ...
Casselman and Behnia did win the pre-novice dance gold in Whitehorse.
They move up to novice next season.