This year's 2018 ladies event was a little shocking, we're excited and sad big surprise, it's an Olympic season nationals). Also Ted Barton learned that we call them Ladies, not Girls, which was a personal highlight from the Dailymotion stream!

It's Canadian Nationals week! What could we possibly want more than 7 solid Canadian pairs? Plus title number 7 for Duhamel and Radford. This has been an emotional week, and mostly for good and/or bitersweet emotions. Settle in for some true north skating as we break down the whole lot.

So. Many. Emotions. This week has been bittersweet. So many staples in Canadian skating are moving on. This record setting/matching nationals for Patrick Chan (with 10 titles) will be his last. We're emotional for him and also so many of our favourite skaters who exceeded and/or failed to meet our hopes and expectations.

In the conclusion of what has been a roller coaster ride of emotions at US Nationals, we break down the Ice Dance, the event which has probably made us the happiest in the result, although we're not sure how many of you were expecting this outcome, though we were at least hoping for it. What does this mean for a Marie France sweep of the Olympic podium in Peyongchang? We hope only the best!

The men's free skate at US nationals was a dramatic and contentious one. We break down what a tough decision the selection committee had on choosing the Olympic team, and consider the relative merits of a clean skate, a consistent season, and a strong nationals.

There was a dynamic fight for three Olympic spots in the ladies event at US Nationals, and we break down the contentious decision made by the selection committee. Plus, we delve into what effect nationals inflation, under-rotation issues, and "Body of Work" had on the results and international assignments decided by this competition.

In our first breakdown of the US national championships, we reveal breaking news of the US pairs' international assignments, and discuss myriad side-by-side jump issues and the impact of a quad twist on the results of this event.

In our last 2017 catch-up episode, we recap the Japanese nationals ice dance field and the growth of the discipline in Japan. Then, we break down the top men and discuss the wealth of strong jumpers, the importance of a single toe, and speculate about Yuzuru Hanyu's physiotherapy situation in Toronto.

This year's Japanese nationals is a big one. With 30 ladies skaters and almost as many men, there's a lot to get through, but we tackle the best of the best from the ladies event and manage to get through a bunch of them. First though, we had to tackle the pairs event.

The Russian ladies are always exciting, maybe now more than ever. With a huge number of their top international competitors finishing outside the top 10 here, and with so many of these ladies under 16, what does that mean for Russian skating today?