For a fifth straight season, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are headed to the Grand Prix Final.
 
The two-time and reigning U.S. ice dance champions finished second at 2019 Skate Canada International on Saturday, booking their spot in Torino, Italy, for the most prestigious event on the figure skating calendar.
 
"We felt so much energy in the arena this weekend," Hubbell told reporters after their A Star is Born free dance. "We tried to feed off of that. We really enjoyed another successful Skate Canada."
 
With 28 ISU Grand Prix points (Skate America 15, Skate Canada 13), Hubbell and Donohue cannot fall out of the top six in the next four weeks.
 
The Montreal-based team walk away as the lone Americans to medal in Kelowna, British Columbia, with fellow ice dance team and training partners Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker, pairs team Alexa Knierim and Chris Knierim, as well as singles skaters Bradie Tennell and Camden Pulkinen all finishing in fourth, just off their respective podiums.
 
Pulkinen skated last out of the Americans on Saturday night, scoring a career-best 155.73 in his emotive and moving "The Last Emperor" free skate, choreographed by Stephane Lambiel.
 
While Pulkinen had a few jump errors late in his program, he landed a second of two quadruple toe loops for the event in the free skate and made quite the impression in his senior Grand Prix debut, scoring 244.78 total points.
 
"I think this was a good outing for my first Grand Prix," the 19-year-old said. "I'm going to keep on working hard. I'm ready to show the world what 'senior Camden' looks like."
 
Pulkinen was second to Yuzuru Hanyu after the short program, and said that the men's press conference on Friday night was his moment of the weekend. "I was starstruck the whole time. (It motivates me to) work for the next three years leading up to Beijing."
 
Hanyu won the men's event, with Canada's Nam Nguyen finishing second and Hanyu's Japanese compatriot Keiji Tanaka capturing bronze.
 
Earlier in the day, 2018 U.S. champion Tennell had put out her own emotional free skate, "Cinema Paradiso," and bounced back after a near-fall on a triple flip towards the end of the program.
 
"I'm a little disappointed in the triple flip, because I never miss it at home," Tennell said. "The combo was on that (jump), so I lost a few points there. But I'm proud of myself for fighting."
 
Tennell broke her foot midway through the summer and was only cleared in mid-September to be skating at full force again. She won a career-best silver medal at 2019 Skate America presented by American Cruise Lines last week and adds a fourth-place finish here to her résumé.
 
"Doing back-to-back events after only four weeks of training, I think this was a very big challenge for me and I'm proud of what I did. It can only go up from here. If I can do this after only four weeks (of training), then the world better watch out. I'm here to stay."
 
Things are looking up for two-time U.S. pairs champions Knierim and Knierim, as well, as the married duo finished in the top four at a Grand Prix for the eighth time in 12 career appearances.
 
They, too, had a chilling, emotion-packed program in the free skate. Chris singled his toe loop in their combination, and the team will look to up their scores with positive Grades of Execution, something Alexa says is due to early-season conditioning and readiness.
 
 "I think it was a great performance for October," Alexa said. "This program can build for the second half of the season, and even in the next three weeks for NHK Trophy."
 
Chris added, "Last year, we would have been happy with this (weekend). But this year we know that we have a much higher ceiling."
 
The Knierims believe they can be back among the best as Russia's Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii won the pairs event, with Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro of Canada second and Russia's Evgenina Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov third.
 
"You have to see yourself where you want to be if you want to be there," Alexa added. "We feel comfortable among the best, because that's what we strive to be."
 
That's where their southern California training mates Jessica Calalang and Brian Johnson would like to be, too, though the road is longer for a team who just competed in their first two Grand Prix events. Like Hubbell and Donohue and Tennell, they had no break between Las Vegas and Kelowna.
 
A 119.00 in the free placed them sixth overall, with both their jumping passes receiving downgrades, a part of their skating they know they need to improve upon.
 
"We have the potential to do so much better, but we just need to do figure out how to skate (in competition) how we do in practice," Johnson said.
 
"People can see that we have what it takes to be in that top tier, but we just need to put it all together," Calalang added. "What we really need to do is clean up our jumps. If we can make them nice and consistent, we can get on the podium (at U.S. Championships). Don't count us out."
 
Ice dancers Hawayek and Baker thought they would be on the podium here in Kelowna, and after the rhythm dance were sitting in third behind Hubbell and Donohue and eventual winners Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada.
 
But a captivating free dance from Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain and less-than-they-hoped for scores for Hawayek and Baker placed them off the podium - Fear and Gibson at 195.35 overall, with Hawayek and Baker at 194.77.
 
"It's not about our levels, it's more about GOE and components," said Baker. "We have to go back and figure that out. We need to go back to the drawing board. We were pleased with what we put out today, though."
 
They'll next skate at Cup of China in two weeks' time, the team saying that gives them plenty of room to implement improvements and – if needed – changes to their free dance.
 
New team Caroline Green and Michael Parsons, who skated for the first time together just this June, finished seventh out of 10 dance teams. They also skated back-to-back events after appearing at Skate America last week, too.
 
It was a scary-at-first schedule for the new duo.

"Going into this, it was a little daunting… it was a lot to put on my plate," admitted Green, who is just 16.

"The biggest takeaway is that we can do it… (that's) a huge confidence boost for us to complete two back-to-back Grand Prix events," added Parsons. "We're competing against the best in the world. That only helps us. It's great experience for the long run."
 
Hubbell and Donohue were outscored 209.01 to 206.31 by Gilles and Poirier, who won their first Grand Prix together.
 
"It's a good, strong four performances to start the season," Hubbell said of the back-to-back weeks. "We're going to take the week off, but we already have a long list of things that we want to improve in both programs."
 
Donohue added, "I think we're really going to work on our GOE. I think we have solid elements. There are a few things I want to tweak. We need to watch our programs back; we haven't yet. We need to push the performance aspect more."
 
Next week, Nathan Chen will lead a team of 10 American skaters to the Internationaux de France in Grenoble. Also there: reigning World Junior champion Tomoki Hiwatashi, Mariah Bell, Starr Andrews, Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc, Haven Denny and Brandon Frazier, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates.

Competition for the entrie Grand Prix Seris is available live and on-demand on the Figure Skating Pass on NBC Sports Gold.