{"id":3258,"date":"2015-06-12T20:12:03","date_gmt":"2015-06-12T20:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/2015\/06\/12\/detroit-s-paul-islam-hubbell-donohue-join-montreal-ranks\/"},"modified":"2015-06-12T20:12:03","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T20:12:03","slug":"detroit-s-paul-islam-hubbell-donohue-join-montreal-ranks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/detroit-s-paul-islam-hubbell-donohue-join-montreal-ranks\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit\u2019s Paul & Islam, Hubbell & Donohue Join Montreal Ranks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"C08A0216by Jacquelyn Thayer | Photos by Daphne Backman, Melanie Hoyt & Robin Ritoss<\/em><\/p>\n

The move from Michigan to Montr\u00e9al for two of the Detroit Skating Club’s leading couples\u2014two-time U.S. bronze and Grand Prix medalists Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue and three-time Canadian bronze medalists and Olympians Alexandra Paul & Mitch Islam\u2014was one that each team expected to make solo. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t know each other were planning on it, because obviously it\u2019s not something you want to discuss with a lot of people before you discuss it with your coaches,\u201d Paul said. \u201cSo neither of us really knew that the other were planning on going there because we had to wait to have the meetings with Anjelika [Krylova] and Pasquale [Camerlengo], so as soon as we had those meetings, it was like \u2018Oh, hey\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018\u2026we had the same idea!\u2019\u201d Islam continued while Paul laughed. \u201cSo yeah, it\u2019s been fun having them there with us, you know, some familiar faces, and I think they\u2019re just as excited as we are to train there.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Canadian duo, motivation to join the camp led by coaches Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, and Romain Haguenauer came after disappointing overall results in international competition. Despite achieving new ISU personal bests, they dropped to a 13th-place finish at Worlds after finishing tenth last year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one was more disappointed, I think, than we were in the way that things went last year,\u201d Islam said. \u201cWe really loved everything about DSC\u2014we achieved one of our biggest dreams there and we\u2019re very appreciative of all the coaching staff and the staff there and all of our friends that we made there. It was an incredible three years, but after last year, we knew it was time to move on and we couldn\u2019t be happier, honestly, to be in Montr\u00e9al.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love the city and we love the rink and we love the people that we\u2019re training with as well. It\u2019s been a really amazing experience,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really injected a passion for skating again,\u201d Islam added. \u201cSomething that, for me, I know kind of waned last year a little bit, just with how the results were going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Especially exciting for the couple, the move marks a return to their native country after departing Barrie, Ontario, for Michigan in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one of the greatest things, is being home,\u201d Islam said. \u201cObviously you just love to be where you\u2019re from, and it\u2019s fun to be in Montr\u00e9al. It\u2019s an incredible city, it\u2019s so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recently precarious position of the Canadian dollar relative to the American had also proved troublesome. \u201cIt\u2019s nice not to lose thousands of dollars on the exchange,\u201d he noted. \u201cIt was starting to kill us last year with the dollar dropping.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"15CdnNat-SrFD-8715-PI-MHMetropolitan environs have also presented a novelty for the two. \u201cWe\u2019ve never actually lived in a city,\u201d Islam said. \u201cWe consider Toronto kind of home, but obviously we lived forty minutes north. And then Michigan was a little different that way, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike, you couldn\u2019t walk anywhere,\u201d Paul injected.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou literally couldn\u2019t walk anywhere,\u201d Islam said.
 
\u201cYou\u2019d get nowhere if you tried to walk,\u201d Paul concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s honestly fantastic,\u201d Islam continued. \u201cWe\u2019re loving it. We\u2019re five or ten minutes from right downtown and we can walk to grocery shop, we can walk to shop, we can walk to have lunch\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of restaurants,\u201d Paul added. \u201cThere\u2019s parks everywhere. It\u2019s really incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the French-language culture has posed minimal difficulty. \u201cWe both know our way around the language enough to get by and most people in Montr\u00e9al can speak some English,\u201d Islam said. \u201cWe’re also living in a very English part of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the move has also entailed certain sacrifices. Both Paul and Islam were seniors at Michigan\u2019s Oakland University, but a relocation late in the scholastic journey has meant momentarily setting aside academic goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few classes we have to take need to be done on campus at OU,\u201d Islam said. \u201cWe are both able to take a couple of courses online this summer, but once that’s done, we’ll have to put our degrees on hold until we finish skating. In transferring back to a Canadian university, we would lose several credits and be backtracking too much to make it worthwhile.\u201d  <\/p>\n

At the rink, however, the two are focusing on their performance education, including work with both a ballroom specialist and theatre coach to further draw out emotional dimension. Though the training program is large\u2014with the stable at Gadbois now including seven teams who competed internationally last season, plus others at the national level\u2014its disciplinary emphasis has proven an asset. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mainly dance there,\u201d Paul explained, \u201cso we\u2019re not surrounded by the singles skaters, the pairs teams.\u201d
 
\u201cIt\u2019s very dance-centric in terms of the environment that the coaches have made for us,\u201d Islam agreed. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked with Marie-France and Patrice before, we\u2019ve worked with Romain before on choreography. So there wasn\u2019t that sort of new, \u2018getting to know each other\u2019 stage\u2014we jumped right into it. They started whipping our butts and I think we\u2019re going to thrive there.\u201d<\/p>\n

And all three coaches, noted Islam, are involved in choreographing each of the couple\u2019s programs for the coming season\u2014though specifics were pending at time of interview, as the team sifted through music options for the free dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have lots of ideas for us, we\u2019re just kind of making our way through everything,\u201d Paul said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that the short dance is going to be great for us,\u201d Islam added. \u201cWe love the Ravensburger. And, you know, the waltz-y style is one that we enjoy, and the free dance, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple aim to make an earlier start this season than last, when Olympic obligations meant later-than-normal preparations.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back on the year after Worlds, that was one thing we really felt like we kind of missed out on,\u201d Islam said. \u201cGetting that early feedback and getting our programs out early. Not competing perfectly, just throwing everything out there and then building on it. So that\u2019s definitely something we\u2019re going to be doing this year.\u201d <\/p>\n

Plans include a return to summer competition\u2014likely at the Qu\u00e9bec Summer Championships, potentially at past haunt Thornhill. \u201cIt might be one program at one, another program at another,\u201d Islam said.  <\/p>\n

With a placement in the ISU’s top 24 World Standings, the two are also guaranteed at least one Grand Prix berth, and are in good position to obtain two given an additional slot in the top 24 Season’s Best for 2014-15. But any details of assignment are of little concern for the team, who have made appearances at each of the circuit’s six stops.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s cool things about being at home and, you know, there are cool parts about anywhere\u2014China, Russia or whatever; Japan\u2019s awesome with the fans,\u201d Islam said. \u201cFor us, we\u2019re just going to be happy with whatever we have and we\u2019re not going to be thinking about stuff like that this year. We\u2019re just going to compete and work our butts off to get back to where we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\"15USNats-SRFD-4457For Americans Hubbell & Donohue, the move to Montr\u00e9al has meant a different sort of adjustment, from paperwork to certain cultural shifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still working out the kinks of living and training in another country, and without speaking French, work is challenging,\u201d Hubbell said. \u201cWe hope that over the next few months, we will figure out all of those details.\u201d<\/p>\n

City life, however, also agrees with this pair. \u201cMontr\u00e9al is a beautiful place to live, although it may take us all summer to really explore all of the treasures the city has to offer,\u201d she said. \u201cSo far we are loving the active lifestyle, walking and biking through the city, and the fresh outdoor markets are wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

And after a difficult pair of seasons\u2014bracketed by recoveries from concussion and hip surgery for Hubbell\u2014the opportunity afforded by a new beginning outweighs any minor challenges.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWith the help of Anjelika, Pasquale, and our entire team in Detroit, we were able to fight through and find some success,\u201d Hubbell said. The couple achieved a tenth-place finish at the 2015 World Championships, along with medals at all four prior international and national events last season. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will always be grateful for their hard work and dedication when times were hard,\u201d she continued. \u201cAt the end of the season, I was finally healthy, and we felt that it was the right time in our careers to turn the page and start fresh. We are loving our new adventure and the home we found in Marie-France and Patrice’s school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hubbell, who has now trained two months free of physical therapy, feels optimistic that those health issues are firmly behind. \u201cMy injury is in the past, and my focus is now on getting stronger,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

W\"5328hile the rink at Gadbois presents a similar training set-up to that at the DSC, with gym, ballet, and ballroom training available on premises, the dance emphasis means a wide training schedule\u2014ice time from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m.\u2014and rotating on-ice training groups. \u201cWe skate with different teams every day, which keeps people friendly, motivated, and focused,\u201d Hubbell said.<\/p>\n

For both partners, it’s a focus on fundamentals that’s proving most alluring, particularly after past injuries and recovery resulted in limited training time.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are two skaters who love stroking and footwork, so we are having a blast working with Romain and Patrice on new exercises,\u201d Hubbell said. \u201cThe team here has a great way of challenging their skaters to better themselves, but to not take it too seriously. Patrice is always encouraging us to have fun, and to laugh at our mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the couple can anticipate another busy fall, with their top-ten placement at Worlds assuring two Grand Prix spots and August\u2019s Champs Camp meaning intense program review from federation officials, their mindset for now is one of concentrating on the moment. Both draw inspiration from the trajectory of new training mates and 2015 World champions Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron. <\/p>\n

\u201cWork your butt off, focus on the present, and see where it leads you,\u201d Hubbell said. \u201cWe have dreams for our future, and we believe we are now in the right place to make those become reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the support of those closest to them, past and present, that\u2019s most driving Hubbell and Donohue.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur friends, family, and fans, your words of encouragement mean a lot to us,\u201d she said. \u201cWe thank our new coaches, and the skaters in Montr\u00e9al for welcoming us with open arms. And last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to our team in Detroit for our time and our successes together. Your kindness and understanding during this transition has been truly appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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