Moose Jaw's Raine Eberl toss his partner Emi Swanson into the air during their routine, they'll compete at the national championship in Vancouver this week. (Submitted photo)Moose Jaw’s Raine Eberl will be receiving his first taste of a national championship this week.

The local figure skater, along with his partner Emi Swanson, will be competing the novice pairs division at the 2018 Skate Canada National Championship in Vancouver.

“It’s a great opportunity that we’ve been given,” said Eberl. “We’re both really excited, it’s a little overwhelming, but we’re dealing with it well.”

The novice pairs competition will start with the short program on Tuesday, followed by the free skate on Wednesday.

Eberl and Swanson are the lone Saskatchewan team and one of just three teams from Western Canada out of 11 pairs teams competing in the national championship.

“The energy and the atmosphere is going to be a lot different than what we’re use to, but we’re going to be competing against the same people, so it won’t be too surprising,” said Eberl. “The atmosphere is going to be what makes it.”

The Saskatchewan duo came out of the National Summer Series ranked fifth in the country. Eberl said they’re confident with how they’re skating heading into nationals.

“We’re going well, we’ve hit a few rough patches, but it’s nothing that we can’t work through together,” said Eberl about the team, which has been together for just over a year.

“We’re quite new compared to the other teams, but we’ve been working hard and our coaches — Dave and Vicki Schultz — have been working with us and doing so much for us, getting us feedback and opportunities with higher level judges and technical specialists and they all say we’ve been improving quite well.

“We’re feeling really good about (our routine) going in.”

The short program goes on Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Sask time at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, while the free skate will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

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