A Reason To Believe

Sometimes, it's the little things that really do matter the most.
That tell you more than you can ever imagine.
For Craig Buntin, it was simply hearing has name again as a pairs skater representing Canada, with a partner by his side giving him new reason for real hope.
A reason to believe.
"Just to step on that ice tonight and hear 'Meagan Duhamel and Craig Buntin, representing Canada' ... it felt so good," said Buntin, 27, of North Vancouver, B.C., after their short program performance Friday at HomeSense Skate Canada. "I had the biggest smile on my face."
If you'd been to the depths that Buntin endured in the past five months or so, you'd feel just as emotional about a moment that, for every world-class figure skater, is about as routine as it gets. But not when you've wondered whether something that simple would ever happen again for you.
Buntin's world was turned upside down when his longtime partner, Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, Que., decided her heart wasn't in skating anymore and retired in April. Gone was the skater with whom he'd won three Canadian senior pairs titles, skated at the 2006 Winter Olympics, reached the top five in the world rankings the same year and shared the most intimate of relationships.
Perhaps nobody knew Buntin any better.
Now he found himself on his own, without a partner and wondering whether he'd hit the end of the road himself. Starting over wasn't just scary, it seemed almost an impossibility.
"I was getting to a point where I was saying 'what am I doing with my life, is there a girl out there for me, will I get to compete in an Olympics in my home town (in 2010)?," he said. "Wandering around my apartment going 'what now?' Making that phone call, driving all over the continent, making every tryout I could possibly I could even think of ... I learned who my friends were and who was close to me and who was in my corner.”
Buntin guesses he put 3,000 kilometres on a car he no longer owns, and that his tryout count was "pushing 10" by the end of it. Then, finally, came the light at the end of the tunnel. A light named Meagan Duhamel, who was going through her own set of doubts about her future.
Any guesses, then, why they were both grinning ear to ear about getting started at the Pepsi Colisee?
"I think we were both really excited to just come out here and skate," said Duhamel, 21, of Lively, Ont.
Added Buntin: "It's a milestone, just to step out on the ice and hear our names and hear our Canadian crowd ... it was a real big step along the way.
"But we're starting at the bottom of a mountain. We have so much to do and so much work ahead of us."
Friday was a good start. Their short program is clearly a work in progress but, with 52.78 points, they're only 1.2 behind Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que., and Cody Hay of Grande Prairie, Alta., who were Canadian world team members last season.
High above both are Jessica Dube of St. Cyrille de Wendover, Que., and Bryce Davison of Cambridge, Ont., who have some work to do to make it back-to-back Grand Prix triumphs after posting 63.12 points for their short program.
Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, the heavy favourites here, lead with 69.44.
Yeah, that's a mountain of sorts, too.
Funny how things can work out, though. Turns out Duhamel was in New Jersey getting choreography for herself — she'd originally planned to continue her singles career — when she got the call from Buntin, who'd been in the area on his tryout mission.
"I think we were actually in New Jersey at the same time," he said.
Maybe this was meant to be after all.
"Who knew," Buntin asked, "that the best girl was right in my backyard?"