Silver Lining

Canada's wait for a men's gold medallist at the world junior figure skating championships has been extended by another year.
But Ottawa-born Patrick Chan's silver medal — the first medal of any colour won by a Canadian man at this global event in 23 years — is still a positive sign. For Chan's future and that of men's skating in this country.
While Chan had his wobbly moments in today's free skate final in Oberstdorf, Germany, he didn't exactly crumble under the pressure of being the leader after the short program. And that's the one thing that has dogged many of the 'next great things' in Canadian skater too many times in recent years (I'll leave it to you to supply any names you want).
Internationally, at least, Chan has never found himself in this position before. And he simply got outskated by the brilliant Stephen Carriere of the U.S., who landed seven clean triples in his free program to soar from sixth after the short to the gold.
Carriere finished with 188.87 points; Chan 184.55.
Chan is a bright young kid (just turned 16) who will take this experience back to his current home in Toronto and learn from it. Just the way his mentor, the late, great Osborne Colson, would have taught him to over their years together at the Granite Club.
A Canadian champion three times over already (pre-novice, novice and junior), Chan remains perhaps the name to watch in the runup to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. By then, he should have the triple Axel and a quad or two in his arsenal. And the experience necessary to stare down any of the world's best on the biggest stages of them all.
It'll be fun watching as young guns like Chan, Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C. (5th at these world juniors) and Joey Russell of Labrador City, NL (11th) contend for spots on that Vancouver team.