The 2017 edition of Skate Canada International was another
wild ride, with true triumph co-mingling with cringe-worthy mediocrity. My
podium picks were spot-on for Dance (a fairly easy one) and Ladies (slightly
harder), but not so much for the Men and Pairs disciplines…giving me 28.5
points out of 36 (and a .792 batting
average for SkCAN.)
Here are some notes:
LADIES…
--Back to Back to Black to Black: Oh, what a time for a pair
of Black Swan free skates to take place! We got Kaetlyn Osmond, Canada’s
sweetheart—who triumphed at the most recent Worlds with a silver medal—skating
the part well enough to win the event (definitely not her best, but still
better than the others). Then we got Anna Pogorilaya, Russia’s most
recent World Bronze Medalist—who crumbled like a pastry when we last saw her
complete a competition—get chased around by Tchaikovsky’s music (and some
particularly ominous-sounding cuts, at that) until this Black Swan all
but drowned. If Pogo is healthy enough to compete at Skate America (her 2nd
GP assignment), I can’t help but feel she should ditch the Swan and return to
the Scheherazade FS that got her that World Bronze. It’s not like she’d
be the first to re-visit a program this season…
--A few words about the three U.S.
women that competed… 1) Seeing Ashley Wagner’s Moulin Rouge for
the first time in 18 months felt better than I thought it would—maybe the fact
that she rallied for a medal helped—but I’d still prefer a chance with the La
La Land program that she ditched. 2) Courtney Hicks has a LOVELY
footwork sequence for her Rohene Ward-choreographed SP, and did you notice that
Wagner edged Hicks out for bronze by less than 1.5 points? (Hicks had the
higher TES in the free skate, but Wags had the second-highest PCS of all the
ladies.) 3) It’s looking like Karen Chen will put that
peaks-at-the-best-times thing to the test in January, because she and her non-Carmen
FS weren’t quite ready… and her 7th place finish at SkCan means she
won’t have the GPF to worry about in December.
--Keep an eye on Marin Honda. A problematic SP took
her out of the medals at SkCan, and even if it hadn’t, it’s anyone’s guess
which two Japanese women will represent in PyeongChang. But her FS—the
third-best at this event—is highly reflective of her promise.
DANCE…
--In a sea of revisited programs,Weaver/Poje’s choice
to bring back 2011-12’s “Je Suis Malade” might be my favorite of all. (How can
we miss the ones that have barely ever gone away?)
--Watching Hawayek/Baker do “Liebestraume” so nicely
made me wish, once again, there was some way they could find their way to the U.S.
podium. Yes, I know Hawayek botched her SD twizzles, but one look at the
24-point gap here between them (in 4th) and last year’s U.S.
bronze medalists Hubbell/Donohue (in 3rd) and you know how
far they still have to come…
--Meanwhile, Hub/Don. My goodness, they make me BELIEVE they
could really fulfill their no-more-third-place-in-the-country goals… even if
they had to settle for 3rd here. But they were less than one
point from overtaking Weaver/Poje for silver. I smell determination in the
air…
MEN
--While not the quad splatfest that was Rostelecom Cup,
SkCan’s men were still largely a disappointment. No offense to Jason Brown,
whose skating abilities remain top-notch, but when you nab a silver medal these
days with no successful quads, a couple problematic landings, and a popped
jump… there’s a bigger issue at hand.
--Shoma Uno was undeniably the best of the field, but
his Turnadot FS was definitely a tour of hot and cold in terms of the
jumps. And newcomer Alexander Samarin (RUS) has the kind of jumps right
now to prompt Olympic team talk, but his artistry is most definitely a work in
progress. The fact that he was able to medal at SkCan is as much a testament to
flawed performances as Brown’s medal is.
-- Placements off the podium didn’t really tell the whole
story, either. Youngsters like Cha Jun-hwan (S.KOR) and Nicholas
Nadeau (CAN)—who finished 9th and 7th,
respectively—showed a lot of promise, particularly in the FS. But at this
event, it sucked to be 26. Patrick Chan’s lackluster free skate, which
took him off the podium for only the second time in his 9 trips to SkCan, was
the clearest evidence of guys-who-are-just-hanging-on-till-February. But Takahito
Mura (JPN) finishing last? Not even coming close to breaking 200 points?
Yeah… that should serve to remind that even some of the most reliable guys may
not get the option of “hanging on”… their seasons may end in December or
January.
PAIRS…
--Here’s the prediction I really screwed up. I picked China ’s
Peng/Jin to win largely because a) they had such a great freshman season
together (including the GP Final!) and b) they defeated the likes of Stolbova/Klimov
last month at Finlandia Trophy. So of course… here, they end up 5th.
But I’ve gotta admit it was well worth it to see Duhamel/Radford come
roaring back with their best free skate in a long time. (They were only able to
manage 7th place at the Sochi Olympics, so I’m really pulling for
them to have a great season—which I also presume to be their last.)
--I also only picked James/Cipres as a “dark horse”
possibility for the podium, but I’m thrilled they got there—it’s their first
time doing so outside of the French GP (with the ever-evolving name). The way
they’ve pushed their own limits in the past year and a half-- after a coaching
switch to John Zimmerman and Jeremy Barrett—continues to amaze me.
--Just not much to say about the U.S.
pairs so far… two GP events, two 7th places in a field of 8. They’re
simply not competitive these days. Mr. & Mrs. Knierim are scheduled
to make their return to the GP in two weeks with NHK Trophy, so maybe I’ll set
my alarm to wake up when that happens.
Remember, Cup of China starts in the wee hours of Friday
morning! My podium picks will be up sometime this evening.
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