Canada's Chan, Virtue and Moir win gold at Skate Canada International

Patrick Chan celebrates his gold medal after the men's free skate event at Skate Canada International in Saint John, N.B. on Saturday, Oct.26, 2013. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Patrick Chan battled some old demons Saturday night, the negative feelings that had crept into his competitions last season.

But you would never have known it, as the three-time world champion from Toronto landed two huge quad jumps en route to claiming his fourth Skate Canada International title.

"I was nervous, honestly," Chan said. "I started having the (negative) feelings I had last season. . . It was really challenging even before I got on the ice to stay positive, and remember the things that I wanted to repeat that I had in the short program -- looking forward to going out there, to look forward to doing the quad, but not looking too far ahead, doing one quad at a time and then moving on."

Chan scored 262.03 points, bringing the Harbour Station crowd -- dotted with dozens of Canadian flags -- to its feet with his new program debut to Antonio Vivaldi's "Four Seasons."

Yuzuru Hanyu won the silver with 234.8, while Japanese teammate Nobunari Oda claimed the bronze (233.0).

The victory capped an up-and-down day that saw Canadian teammates Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir capture their fifth Skate Canada ice dance title to kick off what will likely be their final season competing. Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje won silver.

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were third in pairs, a disappointment for the Canadians who were leaders after the short program.

And Kaetlyn Osmond, last year's Skate Canada champion, withdrew from women's singles with a hamstring injury.

Julia Lipnitskaia, a 15-year-old phenom from Russia, won the women's singles title.

The 22-year-old Chan was plagued by negative feelings last season, and it showed in his shaky performances. He managed to pull out his third world victory in March, a couple of weeks after he unexpectedly moved from Colorado Springs to Detroit, saying he hadn't been happy in Colorado.

As the world's most dominant skater for three seasons, he's easily the man to beat in Sochi. He boasts the physical tools to take him to the top of the podium, but says this season is all about the mental game.

"It's not about physically being prepared but mostly being mentally prepared, because I think that's the only thing that held me back (last season)," Chan said. "When I think of being aggressive and being really focused, I get too serious and I start to stress too much, and think of the little things."

Neither Hanyu nor Oda landed clean quads Saturday night, Hanyu falling on his quad Salchow, then putting a hand down on a quad toe loop, and Oda tripling both his quad attempts.

Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., scored 181.03 points with their elegant free dance to music by Russian composer Alexander Glazunov.

"Tessa and I, it was really about creating a moment with this program, and we were able to do that for ourselves, and hopefully fans felt it as well," Moir said.

Weaver and Poje, both from Waterloo, Ont., scored 175.23 to take second, while Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue won bronze with 153.20.

In pairs, Duhamel and Radford went from elated to frustrated in the span of a few minutes.

Uncharacteristically low technical marks dropped Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., to bronze, and left the Canadians puzzled about exactly what went wrong after a performance that brought the crowd to its feet.

"Despite the mistakes, we did feel the energy in the building ... We still gave a standing ovation performance," Radford said.

"I think that's what we'll concentrate on, the potential of that program. I think the potential is huge, I think that it's podium potential at the Olympics when we skate technically the way that we can, and hit our levels the way we normally do."

Stefania Berton and Ondrej Hotarek won gold with 193.92 points, while China's Sui Wenjing and Han Cong claimed the silver (193.77).

Paige Lawrence of Kennedy, Sask., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., were fourth.

Skating to music from "Alice in Wonderland," Duhamel, in a purple dress, and Radford, clad in purple suit as the Mad Hatter -- minus the hat -- scored 190.62 points and had the Canadian fans on their feet cheering before the last few rotations of their final spin.

A groan went up moments later after their marks were displayed, which included zero points for a bungled lift where Duhamel slipped down Radford's back before he barely had her up in the air.

Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., believed a shoulder injury Duhamel suffered when she fell three weeks ago might have been partly to blame.

"Through rehab we had to change the technique on the lift a little bit," Radford said. "It's hard to put your finger on it."

Duhamel, a native of Lively, Ont., said the lift just "went up in a funny spot."

"When it's in the middle of the program toward the end and something goes up a little bit funny, it become a little bit more difficult to save something like that," she said.

More worrisome than the lift is the fact the world bronze medallists had low marks on almost all of their elements.

"We're a little bit confused right now, so that's what we need to look at," Duhamel said. "We're not used to getting a really high artistic score and a really low technical score, this is different for us."

The tiny Lipnitskaia, who may be 15 but could pass for 12, scored 198.23 points after a virtually flawless long program.

"I'm never really thinking about winning, when I have won something," said Lipnitskaia. "For me, you have to go on, you have to continue to work, you can not remain in the same place, you have to move forward all the time."

Akiko Suzuki claimed the silver with 193.75, while American Gracie Gold won bronze (186.65).

Amelie Lacoste of Delson, Que., was fifth.

Osmond, a 17-year-old from Marystown, N.L., withdrew with a hamstring injury. She was fifth in Friday's short program and then woke up Saturday with pain in her leg. She tried to practice but said it was painful even putting weight on the leg.