Just as Skate America last weekend brought a barrage of medals to the home team, Canada raked in gold at Skate Canada International this weekend in Ontario. Canada's near-sweep of the podium featured world and Olympic champions and several impressive surprises: while Patrick Chan, Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir, and Meghan Duhamel/Eric Radford were expected to finish in the top three, if not higher, few predicted that Kaetlyn Osmond, Kevin Reynolds, Liubov Ilyushechkina/Dylan Moscovitch, and Piper Gilles/Paul Poirier would join them on the medal podium.

Here are our judges for Skate Canada 2016!

Amanda H. (@BlondeAssassin1)
I skated from ages 4-16 on a regular basis, competing locally and skating in club shows wearing terrible costumes. I was on a precision skating team (the precursor to synchro) for 3 years that competed at Sectionals twice and at Nationals once. I have been a fan forever, but over the last few years I have turned into a FAN.

Bea (@tweenershots) | You Only Lutz Once
I co-founded and blog at You Only Lutz Once. I also co-founded Tropical Frost, a fan site dedicated to Michael Christian Martinez (PHI). Outside streaming, I've watched Four Continents in Taipei last season. (I was probably on TV too many times because of the many banners we had, especially that "The CHANpion is Back" banner. This season, I got to watch Asian Open Trophy and got to meet and cheer for many of my favorite skaters.

Patrick (@Team_PDD) | Patrick Commentates Skating
I'm that crazy guy that leads prayer circles on twitter before competitions. One time I met Ashley Wagner, and it was awesome. 

Sam S. (@szabothebaby) 
Been a fan of the sport since 1997 and have taken some basic skating classes (I have a mean forward swizzle lol). Also I'm a professional dancer in New York which definitely informs the way I watch skating. 

Sarah R. (@pas_dechat) | Sarah Explains The Finer Sports
I started skating when I was five and continued with freestyle into my early teens. Now I'm an avid armchair quarterback with a blog. 

Sean Z. (@enderstar)
I have been a figure skating fan for over 10 years and also a part-time sports writer specializing in figure skating from China. Though not a skater myself, I am very interested in the technical side of the sport. I have also covered several ISU events including GP China, GPF and FCC. Ice dance is my favorite category and probably the most fabulous thing on this planet.

LET'S GET JUDGING. Click "Read More" below to continue. When you're finished reading, leave a comment to let us know what you thought about Skate Canada, how you think the real judges did, and how you think our judges did. If you disagree, sign up to judge an event later in the year and share your thoughts!

Skate Canada is the second event of the Grand Prix season and should feature some major battles. Satoko Miyahara proved at the Japan Open that if she can skate cleanly, she could contest reigning World Champion Evgenia Medvedeva. Yuzuru Hanyu will be bringing his quad loop to the rink, but probably needs to be mostly clean to beat Patrick Chan in his home country. We'll see the competitive debut of the new Chinese pairs team Yu/Zhang, the return of Kavaguti/Smirnov from injury, a throw 3a from reigning World Champs Duhamel/Radford, and an attempt at a Grand Prix Final berth by Americans Denney/Frazier after missing last season..

And then there's ice dance. The return of 2010 Olympic Champions and two-time 2014 Olympic Silver Medalists Virtue/Moir to the Grand Prix circuit has been one of the most talked about events of the season. After the Shibutanis threw down a ten point win last week, it will be interesting to see how Virtue and Moir fare.

Thanks to these six judges for sitting at the table this week!

Amanda H. (@BlondeAssassin1)
Tell us a little about your experiences with figure skating or as a fan, if any. I skated from ages 4-16 on a regular basis, competing locally and skating in club shows wearing terrible costumes. I was on a precision skating team (the precursor to synchro) for 3 years that competed at Sectionals twice and at Nationals once. I have been a fan forever, but over the last few years I have turned into a FAN.
Favorite grossly underscored skate of the last five years: Satoko Miyahara at 2016 Worlds.

Bea (@tweenershots) | You Only Lutz Once
Tell us a little about your experiences with figure skating or as a fan. 
I co-founded and blog at You Only Lutz Once. I also co-founded Tropical Frost, a fan site dedicated to Michael Christian Martinez (PHI). Outside streaming, I've watched Four Continents in Taipei last season. (I was probably on TV too many times because of the many banners we had, especially that "The CHANpion is Back" banner. This season, I got to watch Asian Open Trophy and got to meet and cheer for many of my favorite skaters.
What's your favorite grossly underscored skate of the last five years? Tatsuki Machida's 2014 Worlds free skate.

Patrick (@Team_PDD) | Patrick Commentates Skating
Tell us a little about your experiences with figure skating or as a fan. I'm that crazy guy that leads prayer circles on twitter before competitions. One time I met Ashley Wagner, and it was awesome. 
Favorite grossly underscored skate of the last five years: Mirai Nagasu's short program at 2015 NHK Trophy.

Sam S. (@szabothebaby) 
Tell us a little about your experiences with figure skating or as a fan. Been a fan of the sport since 1997 and have taken some basic skating classes (I have a mean forward swizzle lol). Also I'm a professional dancer in New York which definitely informs the way I watch skating. 
What's your favorite grossly underscored skate of the last five years? Mirai's short at 2014 Nationals.
Events judged: Skate Canada 2016

Sarah R. (@pas_dechat) | Sarah Explains The Finer Sports
Tell us a little about your experiences with figure skating or as a fan. I started skating when I was five and continued with freestyle into my early teens. Now I'm an avid armchair quarterback with a blog. 
What's your favorite grossly underscored skate of the last five years? The Shibutanis at 2015 Worlds, maybe? I usually get angrier about overscoring.

Sean Z. (@enderstar)
Tell us a little about your experiences with figure skating or as a fan. I have been a figure skating fan for over 10 years and also a part-time sports writer specializing in figure skating from China. Though not a skater myself, I am very interested in the technical side of the sport. I have also covered several ISU events including GP China, GPF and FCC. Ice dance is my favorite category and probably the most fabulous thing on this planet.
What's your favorite grossly underscored skate of the last five years? Yuna Kim's free skate at Sochi. Though given over 140 points, in my opinion, this routine is the Mount Everest of ladies' single skating in terms of artistry, choreography, transitions, interpretation and the overall concept. Its hidden difficulty is unbelievable. So its PCS given at Sochi should have been so much higher, especially comparing to the PCS some other skaters received that night. 

To keep up with those who have Twitter during the competitions, subscribe to our list and follow The Judges' Table. And check out the updated Judges' Page to quickly find all of our judges online.

Another 2015 Grand Prix is in the books! On October 30-31, the competitors faced off in Lethbridge, Alberta. Skate Canada featured lots of surprises: raise your hand if you had Yuzuru and Elizaveta in 6th and 7th after their short programs (now put your hand down because you're lying).

Here are the judges for this event in alphabetical order:

Amanda can be found on Twitter and also judging Skate America 2015. Thanks for being the first judge to participate in two events!
Bronwyn can be found video recapping the Grand Prix events at Lutz and Glory, as well as live-tweeting gymnastics, baseball, and skating (sometimes all at the same time) on Twitter.
Lauren can be found on Twitter..."Otherwise I can be found in Starbucks and Luluemon ;)"
Rafael can be found impressing us all with this awesome axel (and on Twitter). (Editor's note: Rafael didn't send this, but it's awesome and needed to be shared.)
Sigrid can be found on Twitter or converting Grand Prix event times for time zones across globe, keeping us all sane.

Find out more about the judges here!

LET'S GET JUDGING. When you're finished reading, leave a comment to let us know what you thought about Skate Canada, how you think the real judges did, and how you think our judges did. If you disagree, sign up to judge an event later in the year and share your thoughts!