Trophee Eric Bompard: Showtimes, Predictions, and the Luck of the Magic 8-Ball

Twas the night before TEB, and what more can I do
But to post this weekend’s TV Schedules for you! (All times Eastern)

(oh, and give predictions… including those made by my very own MAGIC 8-BALL... in a minute)

On ICE NETWORK…
8AM Compulsory Dance
9:20 Men’s SP
11:15 Pairs SP
12:40 Ladies SP

On UNIVERSAL SPORTS…
Friday, Oct. 16 : 5-7 p.m. ET/Encore Presentation: 8-10 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 17 : 5-7 p.m. ET/Encore Presentation: 10-11 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18 (Universal Sports): 5-7 p.m.

And on NBC, as previously mentioned…
Sunday, Oct. 18 (NBC Sports): 1-3 p.m.

As for predictions…they will be brief, and hopefully more accurate than last year’s for TEB (during which I came up a pitiful 4-for-12!)

Ready?

For DANCE:
Gold: Virtue/Moir (CAN)
Silver: Pechalat/Bourzat (FRA)
Bronze: Kerr/Kerr (GBR)

I’d like to put the Kerrs in silver, but in that clip I posted the other day their twizzle sequences looked pretty shaky.

For MEN:
Gold: Brian Joubert (FRA)
Silver: Nobunari Oda (JPN)
Bronze: Tomas Verner (CZE)

The top two should be close, but I’ll hazard a guess that Joubert will be fired up enough in his home country to get the edge.

For PAIRS:
Gold: Savchenko/Szolkowy (GER)
Silver: Dube/Davison (CAN)
Bronze: Mukhortova/Trankov (RUS)

Sav/Szo are not perfect, but they’re the best by far in this assortment.

For LADIES:
Gold: Yu-Na Kim (KOR)
Silver: Mao Asada (JPN)
Bronze: Caroline Zhang (USA)

Even without Cohen there it will be a rather tight field; others competing include Kostner, Nakano, and Gedevanishvili. Assuming Kim and Asada are some variety of 1-2, it should be interesting to see who gets in there for the 3rd spot… and if anyone will bother doing the “Hmm… could the podium look like this in Vancouver?” speculation.

And last but not least… this time, I’m offering up a little experiment: I’m letting my own, personal Magic-8 Ball take a stab at the predictions as well (in the Men’s category only this time)…
And if it has better luck than I, we might just have to change up the way we do this :-)

The MAGIC 8-BALL’s predictions for the Men:

Gold: Nobunari Oda (JPN)
Silver: Tomas Verner (CZE)
Bronze: Yannick Pansero (FRA)

At this time, the Magic-8 Ball has no comment on the choices it has made, including its apparent prediction that Joubert is going to tank… :-)

Gotta have a 2-part Clip of the Day this time… the most memorable performance of last year’s TEB, for me, was this two-parter from Canada’s Duhamel/Buntin. They took bronze… and a whole lotta bandages, as you might recall after watching this.