#SCNats25: 'It's like a fire burning'
With citizenship issues and a bout with illness behind them, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps are ready to put on a show at the Canadian championships
LAVAL, Quebec — It’ll be her first time competing at a Canadian Championships as a full-fledged Canadian. And you know that has Deanna Stellato-Dudek all fired up. Or maybe a little more fired up than usual, if we’re being completely accurate here.
So it is that the reigning World pairs champions will glide onto the ice Friday night at Place Bell extremely motivated to put on a show — and, just as important, as fit as they have been collectively in awhile to do just that.
Let’s just say it’s been a rollercoaster ride of a month or so for the Montreal-based tandem, who went from the downer of having to withdraw from the Grand Prix Final due to Deschamps’ illness to, less than a week later, the high of Stellato-Dudek taking her long-awaited oath of Canadian citizenship on Dec. 11. It was the last hurdle that cleared the path for the duo to represent this country at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.
Yeah, there’s lots to unpack here. We’ll start with the good part of it, that being Stellato-Dudek’s first competition as a Canadian at an event in which she and Deschamps are two-time defending champions. A third title this week, we suspect, will carry extra special meaning.
We’ll let Stellato-Dudek take it from here …
“Since the day I got sworn in as a Canadian and took my oath, every day since then I’ve felt like a champion and that feeling just hasn’t left me. It’s something that I hope stays with me all the way through the Olympics in 2026,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s a weight off my shoulders, but I have felt internally such a huge, ignited fire. Such a belief in the possibility that this crazy, wild dream I have, it can actually happen now. Practices at home have been really going amazing after Max started to feel better, so we’re really excited to be here to start the second half of the season.”
In the same breath, she admitted it’s not a feeling she expected to have.
“It was strange. I didn’t expect it to go that way. I think it was the realization of a dream come true,” said Stellato-Dudek, 41, who got back into the sport after a 15-year absence largely because she wanted to chase her dream of winning an Olympic medal. “That’s really what makes life worth living; having this deep passion that not everybody even gets in life. And having the opportunity to pursue that, which not everybody gets in life. And then having the option to have this dream come true. So, I think it was the realization of that … it’s like a fire burning, but like a steady fire.”
That fire was needed to deal with what ensued after the 33-year-old Deschamps fell ill in the days leading up to the Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France. It started with a fever that lasted four days; eventually, he would lose 10 pounds. He admits now that he didn’t truly feel back to full strength until early in the new year (about two weeks ago). But much as it pained them to pass on the Final — a spot they earned with a pair of gold medals on the Grand Prix circuit this season — there really was no choice.
“It’s always hard to pull out of an event, any event. Especially one that you had to qualify for, because you worked so hard to get there,” she said. “You had to do well multiple times to make it there. And it affects your world ranking, which affects your skating order. It’s never what you want, but Max was way too sick to go.
“We did every possible thing we could (to possibly go). There is no ice in Quebec on the weekends because it’s all for hockey. We found ice at 10 o’clock at night on a Saturday and Sunday to see if he could do it.”
“But it wasn’t possible,” he said.
Added Stellato-Dudek: “At that point, it’s a safety aspect. He’s holding my life in his hands over his head. He needs to have the strength to do that. And in a program, you need to be able do it when you’re tired. If you’re having a hard time when you’re fresh, it’s probably not going to work when you’re tired. We really didn’t have a choice; (withdrawing) was the best option.”
For Deschamps, the road to recovery was painfully slow at times. He called it mindful of the beginning of a season, when shaking off the rust of being away from a daily practice routine can be a sometimes arduous path. You just don’t expect to have to do that sort of thing in the middle of season.
“It was like the beginning of the season when you have to get back into shape. It’s really hard … I was actually surprised with how limited in what I was able to do on my way back,” he said. “And (the doctors) said, if you push at your maximum every day, you’ll never go back up the hill. For a good two weeks as I was being healed, I couldn’t do anything.”
Doctors also had him wearing a heart monitor at one point, just to ensure he wouldn’t push too hard. It required a certain amount of patience, but Deschamps finally got back to feeling like himself as the calendar turned in 2025. Following the doctors’ orders, as the old saying goes, turned out to be the ticket to getting through it as quickly as he did.
“He wasn’t allowed to go over a certain level (with his heart rate). Sometimes, he would take a lap around the rink and he would go over it. We had to wait for him to go back down, and I would go do something else and then he would say ‘OK, it’s down’ and we would go to the next thing,” said Stellato-Dudek. “It was super limiting at that time, but I think that helped him get back so quickly. Even to be able to put the weight back on, that’s not easy, either, because some of that is muscle. But even that came back on pretty quickly because of the protocol they gave us.”
What the duo also wanted to avoid was a repeat of two years ago, when Stellato-Dudek pushed through some illness at the Grand Prix Final without taking a break. Months later, the cold she developed was still an issue and left her with (to use her words) “a Mickey Mouse voice.”
“I was sick for three months, because I probably should have taken time off. So we made sure (Deschamps) took the time off that he needed and he came back in an intelligent manner so he could be at full strength faster,” she said. “Not only did that work, but because he was limited in what we could practise, we worked on other things and improved other elements that maybe get put on the backburner because you’ve got to do your jumps and your throws and your twists and all that.
“So we improved the choreo(graphic) sequence and all that and our pair spins and things like that got a little more love than they normally do. Everything is supposed to happen for a reason and maybe there is a reason that this occurred. Max was able to recover so well that our first long program run-through after him being sick was clean.”
Now, all of this is behind them. And Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps get to do what they do best in front of a full house on Friday night, healthy as can be and as Canadian as they both can be. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Putting the Worlds on hold
We alluded to this in our Wesley Chiu piece here last week, but Skate Canada high performance director Mike Slipchuk made it official today: no final decision on which men’s skater will represent Canada at the all-important 2025 World Championships in Boston will be made until after the Four Continents Championships next month in South Korea.
Given that Skate Canada did the same thing a year ago in advance of 2024 Worlds in Montreal, it’s really no surprise. Especially, too, in light of the fact that only two Canadian men with the qualifying criteria for Worlds (Aleksa Rakic and Roman Sadovsky) will compete here in Laval this week. The other two Canadian men who have the necessary scores are both injured and one of them, Stephen Gogolev, is done for the season due to recurring back issues. The other is Chiu, the defending Canadian champion who had to pull out of this week’s event due to an ankle injury that has not fully healed since it happened at Cup of China back in November.
“If you had multiple spots (for Worlds), you may be in a position to name one and then wait on the other. None of the men were clearly ahead of the pack this season, they were all kind of in there,” said Slipchuk. “So it’s best for us to have two events. You get to see them domestically but Four Continents is where your get a real good litmus test because it’s an international (judging) panel. It’s safe to say that, barring something unforeseen, we will wait on that decision and we have that built into our criteria.”
That criteria involves taking the entire season into consideration before making any World team decisions, and every skater is fully aware of that going into the campaign. That’s why Chiu’s absence in Laval isn’t a season-killer for him. He was Canada’s highest finisher (17th) in the men’s event at Montreal Worlds and that, in part, is what keeps his name in the discussion for the upcoming Worlds in Boston. Skate Canada knows what he’s capable of on that stage; it’s just a matter of whether he can get himself back to full health in time to prove it at Four Continents.
“At the end of the day, we want to be able to send the best skaters that we have to the (Canadian and World) Championships. There’s been a whole plan put in place for (Chiu’s) recovery, so we’re well aware of where things are at,” explained Slipchuk. “He’s back on the ice, but he’s not at a point yet where he’s ready to compete. He’s not doing everything. So he’s best to keep training and getting healthy.
“(Missing nationals) does not eliminate him from the discussion for Worlds because he has the (qualifying) scores all the way through. I’ll go see him in a few weeks and I’ll see him regardless, and we’ll go from there. He’s our top guy from Worlds last year but then again, we have to look at all aspects … Things happen, injuries happen and it’s a little unique this year where Four Continents is four weeks later. So you have five weeks now, so there’s a bit of a time. He’ll definitely be in the conversation.”
While it won’t be the last word in this discussion, Rakic (the silver medalist in Calgary a year ago) and Sadovsky (the 2020 Canadian champion) both have an opportunity to make a compelling argument for themselves this week.
“It’s a national title and there’s always that allure, and you want to win that. So there’s a bit of extra motivation here,” said Slipchuk. “Definitely, it’s an opportunity for them here to try to show what they can do and build that confidence. That’s kind of what we’re hoping to see here.
“It helps in the decision making process but even more, it helps their confidence. To come here and have a good nationals and two good skates only builds that confidence and when they go to Four Continents, it keeps building. They’re kind of starting to hit their stride; they need to hit that now.”
One for the road …
For a lot of folks here at the Canadian Championships, the name Edrian Paul Celestino might not ring a bell immediately. That’s because the last time he made it to these nationals was way back in 2018, when he placed 18th among the senior men in Vancouver. It was also the last time he skated for the land of his birth until now.
That’s because, starting in 2019, he dug into his family’s heritage and represented the Philippines, where both of his parents were born. His decision to do so was inspired by one of the great sportsmen in that country’s history.
“Growing up, I always watched Manny Pacquiao, who is a famous Filipino boxer. I thought that would be so great, if I could get onto Philippines soil to perform for them,” said Celestino, who has always had great interest in his family’s heritage. “I actually got invited to a competition at the Southeast Asian Games and I think that’s what (fuelled) my career in the Philippine federation.”
While he kept training in Montreal, where he was born, Celestino represented the Philippines for four years internationally, most notably making three appearances at Four Continents with a best placement of 17th in 2023. But as time rolled on, injuries kept piling up and taking their toll on his body. It made him decide that this season would be his last. With the Canadian Championships coming to Laval, Celestino knew exactly where he wanted his swan song to take place. Back to where it all started for him.
“I’m 26 years old. I feel like I could still go on, but my body is telling me no due to multiple injuries, recurring injuries,” he said. “I’m actually injured right now. I have a joint that’s swollen in my second toe, so I have trouble with any jumps off that foot. When I found out nationals would be in Laval, I thought it would be a great fairytale ending do to my last competition here.”
There is normally a one-year wait required when switching countries, but that only really matters for international competitions. And that was never part of Celestino’s plan. He just wanted to compete close to home one last time.
“I had to wait before representing the Philippines internationally because I had represented Canada on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. And it’s the same thing going from the Philippines to Canada,” he explained. “But I had no intention to represent Canada internationally and this is my last competition, so it’s OK with me.”
He plans to savour every moment of his time on the ice at Place Bell.
“It’s a very nostalgic feeling to be back here. Seeing a lot of familiar faces among the coaches, the staff, the volunteers and some skaters, too. It’s a really heartwarming feeling to be back here to be able to perform on home soil,” he said. “I’m from Montreal. This is my last competition ever; I’m retiring after this. I think it’s a special nationals for me.”
Around the boards
This week’s competition in Laval marks the first time that the Canadian Championships have been held in Quebec since 1989 in Chicoutimi (if you happen to know anyone who was at that event, you’ve probably heard some interesting stories about … just getting there). That would be 36 long years ago. Or, to put it into context for the younger crowd for whom that particular year might have a certain other significance — Taylor Swift wasn’t even born yet … The venue being used here isn’t the main 10,000-plus seat arena that is home to the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket and Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Montreal Victoire. Rather, 2025 Canadians is being held next door at a 2,000-seat Olympic-sized rink (the Centre Bell complex has three ice pads in all, with one being used as a practice rink). The big news, though, is that the senior events are largely sold out on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Already, a few skaters here to compete in Laval have mentioned how excited they are to perform for a full house after skating in front of, well, far less than that last year in Calgary.
What’s up on Friday
While junior competition has taken centre stage on the first two days in Laval, the senior takeover begins in earnest on Friday. For those not in the building, the event is being streamed live on skatecanada.ca and CBC Gem. For your planning purposes, this is what’s on the docket for Friday.
11:35 a.m. — Junior pairs free program
12:45 p.m. — Junior women’s free program
5 p.m. — Senior men’s short program
7:40 p.m. — Senior synchronized free program
8:35 p.m. — Senior pairs short program