Heart Of A Champion

I've always considered David Pelletier a bit of a wise guy.
In the best way possible, that is.
So my ears perked up when I heard the former world pairs champion, who's here in Vancouver with partner and wife Jamie Sale, working the 2008 BMO Canadian figure skating championships for CBC, talk about the difference between winning a title and defending one.
Winning your first national crown? Pure joy, he said.
Trying to defend it? Pure hell.
Let's just say Pelletier has much fonder memories of the day he and Sale used their famous Love Story program to win in Calgary in 2000 than he does of going back-to-back a year later in Winnipeg.
Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, no doubt, know exactly what Pelletier — who's now one of their mentors — was talking about. Though they rallied big time at Pacific Coliseum on Saturday morning to win the senior pairs silver medal, it's the lesson they're taking back to Montreal that might be much more valuable.
"If we sit down and actually think about it and talk about it, I think it could really help our career. It can help us grow," Davison said of having to rebound from a disastrous short program that left he and Dube mired in fifth place and wondering whether they'd even make Canada's team for the world championships in Sweden.
Both admitted that the pressure to defend the crown they won a year ago in Halifax pretty much blindsided them this week. It was liking plowing into a brick wall.
"A couple of weeks ago, we didn’t see it (as being) that big," said Dube, 20, of St. Cyrille de Wendover, Que. "We were really confident and even coming here this week, all our practices were good."
Added Davison, 21, of Cambridge, Ont.: "We took it a little too lightly in our preparation. I know sometimes we like being the underdog. I think what happened here is, we were a little bit too relaxed. It’s good to be relaxed, but it’s good to have the little extra fire in your stomach."
They had it when they needed it Saturday morning. Dube and Davison blew by almost everybody in the field, handily winning the free program with 120.54 points. But their 174.86 overall total was just a hair shy of overhauling the new champs, Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que., and Cody Hay of Dawson Creek, B.C. (175.01).
But even before they knew their eventual fate, Dube and Davison talked about how vital it was for them to rebound from the messy short.
"We were really happy with winning the free after a short like that," said Davison. "It shows what we’re really made of, and I think we’re going to learn more from this than going out and having two clean performances. It’s going to help us grow as a team and that’s the way we’re looking at it now."
Dube agreed "it was very big for our confidence. We did win the long and that’s good for us. It shows that we can do it."