The Best Of The Best

One by one, they hit the ice at Pacific Coliseum on Friday night and played that old game of "can you top this?"
But it's going to take some doing to top the kind of game Jeffrey Buttle appears to have brought in spades to the 2008 BMO Canadian figure skating championships.
For the first time, the 25-year-old native of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont. cracked the 80-point barrier in a senior men's short program (80.80 to be exact). That gave him a commanding lead over Toronto's Patrick Chan (73.42) and Christopher Mabee of Tillsonburg, Ont. (70.46) heading into Saturday night's short program.
While it's not exactly game, set and match just yet, Buttle sent a rather powerful message to the rest of the field.
"I knew I was capable of an 80," said Buttle, who was the last to skate. "I couldn’t help but hear the other skaters' marks when I was getting ready to go on and I thought 'I can beat that, I know I can beat that.'
"I’m here to defend my title. I’m not here just to have a good time. I want to enjoy myself but I’m here to defend my title and I don’t want anyone else to take it from me."
Chan, the 16-year-old whiz kid who's widely believed to be the next great Canadian men's skater, called Buttle's performance "jaw dropping." But, despite losing the edge on the landing of his triple Axel, Chan is right where he wants to be — leading the way in the race for Canada's second men's team before for the world championships in Sweden.
"I didn’t come here thinking I would win," he said. "I just came here to make it on the world team and give a positive skate for the audience and show that I’m a new (contender) on the block.
"It’s a good start. My previous nationals in senior, the short wasn’t good. So I got this one out, got the good program done in the beginning. It’s a good start for (Saturday)."
Mission accomplished so far for Chan, whose short program score was 16 points higher than the one he produced at the 2007 Halifax nationals. But Mabee, who didn't have the best of seasons internationally, showed he's not ready to surrender the world team berth he earned a year ago.
"I’m really proud of myself," said Mabee. "The warmup felt like garbage — my jumps were all over the place. But I was happy I was able to refocus and get done what I needed to do."
If either Chan or Mabee falter, there's a group right behind ready to pounce: Edmonton's Vaughn Chipeur (69.10), Fedor Andreev of Ottawa (67.16) and Shawn Sawyer of Edmundston, N.B. (64.00) are all within striking distance.
But Buttle might already have the kind of working margin that has put the gold nearly out of reach for the rest.
"I’m still getting better and I’m so much stronger than I was, even a year ago or two years ago," said the three-time defending champ. "As long as I keep that improvement, there’s no reason for me to doubt myself or come in thinking I’m not as strong as the others. I came in here with more confidence than I had in the past. I think that showed."