Short-track season is here, and Canada is short its best skater

The international short-track speed skating season launches this week with the World Tour opener in Vancouver, followed by a meet in Montreal next week. The seven-stop tour also includes visits to South Korea, China, Poland and the Netherlands, all leading up to the world championships in Seoul in March.

Canada is a fitting place to start the tour because it's become arguably the No. 1 short-track country on the planet.

Last season, the Canadian team (nicknamed the Ice Maples) racked up a world-leading 31 total medals and 15 gold across the four World Tour stops to capture its second consecutive team Crystal Globe trophy — easily outpointing second-place South Korea, which earned 21 medals and nine gold.

Canada's Will Dandjinou repeated as the individual men's overall champion, while Courtney Sarault claimed her first women's overall crown.

However, the two biggest events of the season did not really go Canada's way.

At the Winter Olympics in Italy, Canada's short-track skaters earned five of the country's 21 medals, matching the long-track speed skaters and freestyle skiers for the biggest share. Sarault topped all Canadian athletes with four medals (two silver, two bronze) while longtime star Steven Dubois won gold in the men's 500 metres along with a mixed relay silver and was named one of Canada's flag-bearers for the closing ceremony.

But the haul should have been bigger as Dandjinou, expected to win as many as five medals and multiple golds, left Milan with just a silver in the mixed relay. As a result, Canada finished third in the short-track standings behind the Netherlands and South Korea.

The world championships in Montreal a few weeks later offered Dandjinou and the Canadian team a golden opportunity to get