Orser surprises even himself with win

It seemed a safe bet that a Canadian champion would grab the top prize at the Sears Figure Skating Open.

But not too many in this house would have rolled the dice on Brian Orser at the start of the evening.

Maybe not even the 1987 world champion himself.

But when the last ice chips settled at the Civic Centre last night, the Ottawa resident stood above the rest in taking home the $40,000 first-prize cheque.

"It's a huge shock," admitted Orser, who hadn't won an event since the North American Pro Championship in Montreal in 1989. "These guys are all great skaters and it's a pro-am (event). But I held my own in the short program, and that's what I needed to do."

Emanuel Sandhu used Prince's Purple Rain to take second prize, worth $30,000, while fellow Canadian Kurt Browning's interpretation of U2's Elevation earned him third place and $20,000.

The fourth Canadian in the field, short-program winner Elvis Stojko, had to settle for fourth place and $15,000. Todd Eldredge of the U.S. and Britain's Steven Cousins earned $10,000 apiece for finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.

This, however, was a night to celebrate Orser, an eight-time national champ who's approaching the twilight of his skating career.

His interpretive program, complete with a display of school figures and backflip to the 1914ish Somewhere In Time soundtrack, was judged the best of the night. It vaulted Orser from fourth after the short program to the top of the standings.

For a guy less than three weeks away from his 40th birthday, it was quite the outcome.

"Imagine that, I actually won a competition because of school figures," said Orser with a grin. "There's some irony in that.

"I take this event very seriously, and I really prepared for it. You've got to deliver a package, and that's what I did."

While Browning's show-closing performance wasn't quite good enough for the victory, he said afterward "I had a blast out there.

"It was fun to wait that long and finish with exactly what I wanted."

Sandhu had the crowd standing before the finish of his passionately skated program.

"It was a good chance to explore ... to put more energy into what I'm doing artistically and interpretively," he said.

In the pairs competition, Kyoko Ina and Jeff Zimmerman of the U.S. continued their strong season by taking the top prize of $40,000.