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oming off disappointing finâ€" ishes in their last two events, figureâ€"skating duo Andrew Poje and Kaitlyn Weaver knew it was time for a change. Last year‘s World Junior Chamâ€" pionship bronze medallists, who surprised the skating community by placing third at last year‘s Canaâ€" dian senior championships, folâ€" lowed up those wins with a sixthâ€" place finish at Skate Canada and a seventhâ€"place finish at the Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris. "We didn‘t get the results we wanted and we came back from (those two events) and reevaluated our situation," Weaver, 18, said. When they took a hard look at their performances, they realized something had to give, said Poje, 20, who is a Waterloo native. "Last year we didn‘t head in the direction we had wanted to in the beginning," he said. _ The duo got advice from people in the skating world â€" some they sought out, some was unsolicited â€" and decided to move to a new coaching staff. "We came up with a new plan and we haven‘t looked back since," Poje said. o Poje and Weaver turned to Shaeâ€" Lynn Bourne to head up the coachâ€" ing staff. Bourne is a skater who won multiple national titles and competed in the Olympics with her partner, Victor Kraatz. _ Bourne and Kraatz‘s crowning achievement was becoming the first North American pair at the ice e Waterloo Siskins were one I of the busiest teams during the Midâ€"Western League‘s Jan. 10 trading deadline last week adding three frontâ€"line players including Olivier Guilbault from the Quebec Major junior league while clearing up some space on their roster. â€" And while their impact wasn‘t felt immediately, as the Siskins earned their first win since Nov. 23 Waterloo Siskins use busy trade deadline to reshape team Skaters hope changes enough for Canadians By Grec MacDonaip Chronicle Staff _ By Bos VRBANAC Chronicle Staff â€" wWATERLOO â€" WAJEKLUUY JIUVWVN 5UQUVANE Feb 4â€"10, ‘08 [southsideafWWstyatCamhtM' E _ Saturday, January 19, 2008 RRD 11:00 am â€" 1:00 pm Loo â€" WATERLOO TOWN SQUARE dancing world championship in "We saw working with (Bourne) as a real opportunity. It‘s really a blessing," Weaver said. _ â€" But that doesn‘t mean there‘s any illâ€"will between the team and Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje have made some changes in their training they hope helps them repeat their medal performance at the Canadian Championships this week in Vancouver. fus moto Monday night in a 5â€"1 win over Owen Sound, the club‘s general manager Richard Burjoski thinks the moves will help solidify Waterâ€" loo playoff positioning. In addition to Guilbault, who had 19 points in 27 games with the Fog so far this season, the Siskins added forward Connor Greig and physical defenceman Jacob Brown from Listowel in exchange for defenceman Kyle Goss. It was also addition by subtracâ€" tion for the Siskins as they cleared the roster of some players who taking CURLING _ CO‘Ye /eaéefm @é SPORTS their former coach, Waterloo‘s Paul Macintosh. "We still have our basic strucâ€" tures and foundations from him," Poje said. "We‘re still friends and there‘s no bad blood. "They understand it‘s a business Richard Burjoski HRONLCL _With Bourne as coach, Poje and Weaver feel they have a real opporâ€" tunity to grow. _ o call. Sometimes you need a change to grow as a team." o _ But tfiey don‘t want to rush it, which is why they don‘t have were either no longer with the team or looking for a new destination including Jeff McFarland, Matt Volpini, Brice Crook and Justin Wakewich. All those changes to the lineup didn‘t help the Siskins in their first two games after the trade deadline as they dropped a 6â€"3 decision to Listowel Friday night, and a 7â€"4 loss to Stratford Sunday night at the Sun Life arena. "We were certainly looking to add some bodies," said Burjoski, with the Siskins down to 14 men at WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, January 16, 2008 * 21 expectations to repeat last year‘s medal performance at this week‘s Canadian national championships, Weaver said. "This year things have changed so drastically we‘re just going to go out and show how we‘ve changed," Weaver said. "We‘ve changed our program, we‘ve changed our routines. Placeâ€" ment is an afterthought." â€" Poje believes the duo has a lot of time to earn their hardware and leave their mark. This competition will be about showing their deterâ€" mination. "We‘re just going to show that we‘ve come out with a different perspective. We‘re a different team now," he said. "We‘re not sitting back resting easy on how we did last year. We‘re going to fight for _ Part of that growth is a more challenging program. _ The team‘s revamped program has added a new wrinkle: a prop. Poje and Weaver will incorpoâ€" rate a scarf into their original dance at the nationals. "It‘s almost like there is another person there, it‘s more work. We have to make sure it meets all (tournament) requirements and works with our program," he said. The season is only half over for the young pair, but Poje doesn‘t see anymore big changes on the horiâ€" zon this year. "We‘re done with the drastic changes," he said. "Our programs will develop as the year goes on, but nothing big." â€" times through the month of December because of exams and defections. "We were looking for some forwards and that‘s why we look to the ‘Q.‘ "Qlivier obviously wants to play for Laurier next year so he wanted to be closer to that team." Burjoski said Guilbault‘s a power forward with speed who will be a nice complement to skilled players like Justin Knee looking for someâ€" one to dish it to. "He‘s a good skater with natural Continued on page 23 "It‘s definitely different," Poje