Thursday, May 7, 2009

More Shuffling… and Oh, One of the “Shufflees” is Named Sasha

Well the “official” announcement is apparently a week away, but it’s already been unofficially announced by the Associated Press, Phil Hersh, and now IceNetwork too…

So, no burying the lead—Sasha Cohen has decided to give it a go for Vancouver. For sure this time—so sure, in fact, that she’s also let it be known she would like some Grand Prix assignments this coming season. (Whether or not she gets them will be decided in June.) Here’s a quote from Cohen from the
IceNetwork article, which currently seems the most comprehensive:

"Yes, there are a lot of great skaters right now, but this is more of a personal thing for me. I miss the challenge and I miss that part of my life."


I’m going to hold off from any commentary on Cohen’s return, and save it for after she makes her formal announcement on May 15. But if you’ve got some thoughts to share right now, by all means, post a comment!

Meanwhile, in much much smaller shuffling news came word about a week ago that the Top 10 US pairs team of Tiffany Vise and Derek Trent is no more, on account of the fact that the 29 year-old Trent is retiring.

This
little bitty blurb from the AP wire also tells that Vise, 23, will now be paired with Don Baldwin (formerly with Jennifer Brunn). Will her new partner be able to toss her into that magnificent throw quad salchow that Vise/Trent landed back in 2007 at Trophee Eric Bompard? Time will tell, I guess. I’ll miss these two together—when they were “on”, I thought they were one of the better teams. But as with so many others, they just weren’t “on” nearly enough—including this year’s Nationals, which they finished down in 8th place. Can’t help but think Trent would stick around one more year if they thought they could get anywhere close to Olympic qualification…

I know I’ve probably shown it before, but here is that 2007 Vise/Trent TEB performance as the
Clip of the Day …guess there won’t be much reason to show it after this :-(

1 comment:

Sharon said...

Sasha never grabbed my attention the way Michelle did but I have appreciated some of her programs and I think she's a lovely skater, just the way she moves is so sublime to me at times. If she wants to try a comeback I wish her the best. We certainly need more lady star power in the US right now. Although I get aggravated that our ice dancers don't get the recognition they deserve for great skating and great results.