Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison.

THE CANADIAN PRESS

KITCHENER, Ont. -- An error-filled free skate was still good enough for bronze for Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison at HomeSense Canada International on Saturday, but the performance cost them a spot in next month's Grand Prix Final.

Patrick Chan of Toronto fared no better, falling three times in his free program to wind up sixth in his season debut.

Dube, from St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que., and Davison, from Huntsville, Ont., scored 109.03 points for their romantic performance to "The Way We Were," but they lost marks on several elements, including a planned double Axel-double Axel sequence that saw Davison single the second jump.

Dube touched her hand down on a couple of jumps, and then botched their final spin program with zero points on their final spin. They managed to hang on for third, but they needed to finish second, or third with a higher score, to earn a trip to Tokyo.

"Technically we left a lot of points on the table, we made a lot of mistakes, very costly pair spin at the end where . . . we don't even know what happened," said Davison, who wore the emotions of the rocky program on his face when the music stopped.

"The emotion was just anger coming out of my face," Davison said. "I tried to hide it a little bit, but it was just surprise, we weren't tired, it felt really good up until that moment (the final spin) and then everything just imploded a little bit."

World champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy skated away with the gold, earning 132.55 for their free skate and 206.71 overall. Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia were third with 119.91 on their free skate for 185.71.

Anabelle Langlois of Hull, Que., and Cody Hay of Barrie, Ont., finished fourth in their first Grand Prix appearance in two seasons.

Chan, who missed the Cup of Russia last month with a torn calf muscle, scored 130.13 for his free skate to "The Phantom of the Opera," his three tumbles costing him major marks. He scored 198.77.

American Jeremy Abbott won the gold with 232.99 points, scoring 155.01 in the free skate and landing the only quad jump of the night -- a quad toe. Daisuke Takahashi of Japan took the silver with 231.31 overall, while Alban Preaubert of France won the bronze with 212.28.

Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir appear poised to claim gold in the dance, winning the original dance Saturday despite a couple of uncharacteristic slips.

Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., scored 60.57 for their flamenco for a total of 101.26 points. Virtue slipped and nearly fell twice, with Moir reaching out to grasp hold of her arm before she landed on the ice.

"I was thinking, 'Can I please start over? Can I just go back and start from the beginning, and how do I wrap my head around this and forget about this and move on and deliver the elements,"' said Virtue.

"Just seemed off-balance, couldn't quite get over my skates, just a bobble," she added. "It was kind of a fluke thing, we'd been training this program really well and we were so prepared, so it was kind of a shock to us."

Virtue won bronze with Moir at the world championships last spring.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France are in second heading into Sunday's free dance after scoring 56.05 Saturday for a total of 91.60.

Kaitlyn Weaver of Toronto and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., are third with 83.36 points, scoring 51.18 with their flamenco original dance.

The ladies free program was scheduled for later Saturday.