Canada's Weaver, Poje lead after short dance at Skate Canada

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta (AP) Patrick Chan was far from his best at Skate Canada after a long layoff.

The 24-year-old Canadian star was second after the short program Friday night in his first major event since the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The three-time world champion scored 80.81 points.

Japan's Daisuke Murakami was first at 80.88.

Skating to Michael Buble's version of ''Mack the Knife,'' Chan opened with a huge quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, but fell on his triple Axel and doubled a planned triple Lutz.

''It's so great to be back and I love that the audience is as excited as I am,'' Chan said. ''(But) frustrating. This program is `Mackie's back in town.' So I feel like I'm back in town. And here I am. But, hopefully, not like that. Better next time.''

American Adam Rippon was third at 80.36.

''I think you know you've done a really bad quad attempt when you land forward, you look at the judges, you say, `You're sorry.' And then you fall backward,'' Rippon said. ''I found out that I was in third when my friend Ashley Wagner texted me and said, `Congrats, you got third.' I just sent her a text back that said, `LOL.'''

Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was fourth at 73.25.

Three-time U.S. champion Wagner topped the women's short program at 70.73.

''Today was a great start to my season,'' Wagner said. ''I went out and stuck to my technique under pressure which was exactly what I wanted. I have been training at altitude in Colorado Springs and I came to this event ready and prepped. Tomorrow, I just need to keep that momentum going. I'm trained and ready.''

Japan's Yuka Nagai was second at 63.35, and teammate Kanako Murakami followed at 59.79.

Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford topped the pairs at 72.46. Russia's Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov were second at 64.00.

Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje took the ice dance lead at 68.00.

''It's extreme to have a new program, and it's extreme to go from Elvis Presley to Strauss,'' Weaver said. ''We were sad a little bit to say bye to Elvis, but we know it will come back in another year, in another form.''

American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani were two points back, and Russia's Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev were third at 64.30.