Canadian Nationals 2016- Dance

When Weaver and Poje do their new(ish) short dance, I see an improvement every time, and I think that is going to benefit them in the long run. They are on the right trajectory, they're performing better and better over the season in general, but I don't think they're going to win that world title I'm sure they're dying for. With all their performances this season and what we've seen from others, I definitely see them on the podium, but I definitely think that there are quite a lot of teams that could be on the podium, in any position, depending on their skates at Worlds and the judging panel. Weaver and Poje stand a chance at winning the world championships, but I would say it's more likely we'll see them in second or third again.

Gilles and Porier stand out in the best way for me. They have very original programs which stand out among the traditional, somewhat bland programs we're seeing this year. I still don't get their programs, but I don't have to. I still stick to the theory that their short dance is based on the conspiracy theory behind the song Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds. Their freedance is also very original, and regardless of whether or not you completely get the story they're telling, it is eye-catching and original enough to hold your attention in a way so many programs don't do this season.

Orford and Hill are a team I am loving to watch. For such a new team, it is amazing to me that they mesh so well together. Their programs are beautiful, and though traditional, I am more than willing to give them a pass because they are a brand new team, and in the first season, teams need to play it safe to make it onto their national team. On top of needing to be traditional, Orford and Hill do this very well. Personally, I find their Theory of Everything freedance tells the story better than Hawayek and Baker, even though I still don't want to see another Theory of Everything program again unless she lifts him by the end of the program to both tell the story and stand out.

Paradis and Ouellette are really nice skaters. They do the Ravensburger very well, it's light across the ice, which is how it should be done. Their technical balance is good, they are able to achieve levels on their lifts without overdoing the number of positions, so she doesn't look like she's rolling around in his arms, which has become a common trend in ice dance this season.

Paul and Islam were really disappointing at nationals, they just weren't able to do their programs with the quality they are capable of. I really like them, but they are not living up to their potential. This isn't the first time they've had issues on a lift, and this is starting to become a trend. They don't have the impact that they could have, especially when they have technical failings like they did here. Honestly, as much as I like them, I would have had them behind Orford and Hill, who I think were much better.

Canadian Nationals 2016- Ladies

Alaine Chartrand won the title, and it is very well-deserved. She needs more flow out of her jumps, but overall, taking the triple axel out of the free program made vast improvements in the free. She was able to focus on a clean skate, and therefore stands a better chance on the world stage. I do really think she was shafted in the short, that is a great program with great choreography and transitions, and it shows off the best of her skating skills. I don't think the difference between her PCS and Kaetlyn Osmond's should have been even remotely significant. Really, Alaine should have won this a little more definitively than she did, but I do think the outcome was the way it should've been, based on the way they skated here.

Gabrielle Daleman skated well enough, but compared to Alaine Chartrand, she fell a little short. The biggest problem with Gabby is the lack of connection to the music. She doesn't seem to connect strongly with her music, and so she ends up skating over the music. With the depth of the ladies field, since she doesn't have anything exceptional technically, so she can't afford to not have the PCS to make her more competitive in the field.

Kaetlyn Osmond was propped up significantly in the short. She's a good skater, but technically, she didn't meet the standards set by Chartrand and Daleman, and she has good PCSs, but not so much better than Alaine especially to justify her winning the short. Her score was horrendously inflated, even for nationals, and it appears that she skated far better than she actually did. She fell back to where I saw her finishing in the free. Considering her struggles with injury, she made a good comeback, and it's not a a bad start for her comeback. She doesn't look like she has the confidence she needed to take back her title.

Veronik Mallet is a skater I like, but doesn't have the technical prowess to become ultra competitive in the world. I like her style, and when she nails the jumps, she's pretty amazing, but unfortunately she can't be counted on to land the jumps, which is beyond unfortunate, because I really am a fan of her.

Canadian Nationals 2016- Men

Patrick Chan is finally back. For the first time since he returned to competitive skating, we've seen him skate the way we all know he can. Both programs were very strong, and he has upped his technical difficulty so that he stands a chance at a podium finish at Worlds. He actually nailed his quads and his quad combos, which is new for him this season. I do think that he's still very nervous about the quad, which is obvious when we watch the three-turn going in. Each time he does the three into the quad he jumps the turn, which is a sure sign he's nervous, and therefore up in his knees. Overall, his programs are strong, I like both, and if he can just skate like this going forward, we might just see Patrick working his way back up the ranks.

Nam Nguyen was beyond disappointing. It was very obvious just how slow he is watching him here. The spins were not good, and he looked so much slower than anyone else that he couldn't manage to keep up. As a first season senior, some of these issues are forgivable, but at this point he needs to up the ante to keep up, especially with Patrick back. He looked really nervous, which is understandable, seeing as this was the first time he's ever really experienced really pressure. Defending a national title against a former world champion is tough, but it comes down to the problems in the basic skating that are holding Nam back. He's going to need to keep working on skating skills, presentation, and spins all summer to get the assignments he wants next season and the seasons going forward.

Kevin Reynolds is back at nationals, which to be honest, was kind of surprising after the disaster at last year's nationals. But, he did pretty well, especially considering he hasn't really been competing on the big stage this season. Last year's nationals must have been a blow to his ego, but it looks like it gave him a fresh start and a chance to prove himself with less pressure. He has always been a strong competitor in Canada, even if he's not the most consistent, and hopefully going forward we can keep up this kind of skating, and move on from the stuff we saw from him last year.

Nicolas Nadeau was my favourite surprise skater at Canadian nationals. He's still a junior, but he was pretty exceptional. He's a little rough around the edges, but he has good musicality, and commits 100% to every performance. When you hear that his favourite skater is Kurt Browning the reason for the style becomes clear, and he is taking the best of Kurt's skating and applying it to the IJS, creating enjoyable programs to watch with some pretty great skating. The structure of the programs is great, and some of the jumps were good. Especially for a junior, he's got good technical elements and if he continues improving, he'll be a fantastic skater to watch.

Liam Firus is a skater I love, and I really don't understand the people who think his placement wasn't justified. He had very good jumps, though some of them weren't necessarily as difficult as the planned technical elements of the other men, but he did all of his technical content. He also has great spins and step sequences, choreography, transitions, and skating skills. I'm not a huge fan of his freeskate, but if I can learn to love any Moulin Rouge program it might be his. He commits 100% to the program regardless of how the technical elements are going.

Canadian and US National Teams

Both Skate Canada and the USFSA have announced their teams for Worlds, Junior Worlds, and the 4 Continents Championships.

World Teams:

Canadian Men:
Patrick Chan, Liam Firus

American Men:
Max Aaron, Nathan Chen, Adam Rippon

Canadian Ladies:
Alaine Chartrand, Gabrielle Daleman

American Ladies:
Polina Edmunds, Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner

Canadian Pairs:
Duhamel/Radford, Seguin, Bilodeau, Ilyushechkina/Moscovitch

American Pairs:
Kayne/O'Shea, Scimeca/Knierim

Canadian Ice Dance:
Weaver/Poje, Gilles/Porier, Paradis/Ouellette

American Ice Dance:
Shibutani/Shibutani, Chock/Bates, Hubbell/Donohue


4 Continents Championships:

Canadian Men:
Patrick Chan, Liam Firus, Kevin Reynolds

American Men:
Max Aaron, Grant Hochstein, Adam Rippon

Canadian Ladies:
Alaine Chartrand, Gabrielle Daleman, Kaetlyn Osmond

American Ladies:
Polina Edmunds, Gracie Gold, Mirai Nagasu

Canadian Pairs:
Duhamel/Radford, Seguin, Bilodeau, Ilyushechkina/Moscovitch

American Pairs:
Kayne/O'Shea, Scimeca/Knierim, Castelli/Tran

Canadian Ice Dance:
Weaver/Poje, Gilles/Porier, Paradis/Ouellette

American Ice Dance:
Shibutani/Shibutani, Chock/Bates, Hubbell/Donohue


Junior Worlds:

Canadian Men:
Nicholas Nadeau

American Men:
Nathan Chen, Vincent Zhou

Canadian Ladies:
Sarah Tamura

American Ladies:
Tyler Pierce, Bradie Tennell

Canadian Pairs:
McLean/Michaud, Hoffman/Chudak, Brasseur/Ostiguy

American Pairs:
Liu/Johnson, Weinburg/Fernandez, Weinstein/Simon

Canadian Ice Dance:
Bent/Razgulajevs, Lajoie/Lagha, Meng/Meng

American Ice Dance:
McNamera/Carpenter, Parsons/Parsons, Pogrebinsky/Beniot

Recaps are still on the way, but for now, you know who'll be at the 2016 ISU Championships representing the US and Canada

The Problem with Canadian and American Figure Skating

As I'm sure you all know, both Canadian and American nationals are happening this weekend, and as this is happening, people are questioning why figure skating isn't more popular in countries like the US and Canada, when our skaters do so well. I can tell you with great certainty I know why.

It's because it is so inaccessible.

I've been looking all day trying to access the senior events from both competitions, and so far, I've had absolutely no luck.
For the US, NBC is showing some skaters, but not many, IceNetwork shows everyone else, but from everything I've seen in skating forums and twitter, the stream isn't working. Considering IceNetwork is a paid subscription service, this absolutely should NOT be the case.

In Canada, TSN and CTV are showing, like NBC, some of the top skaters, but the earlier flights in the senior events appear to not be available. Period. Skate Canada is showing practices and the lower level events on their Dailymotion channel, but in the past, these streams have been unwatchable because of lag and low video quality.

CTV/TSN waste an extraordinary amount of time re-showing programs over the course of the weekend. I hate to break it to you CTV/TSN, you're not gaining viewership this way, and it's not going to make you any extra money. No one is going to pay you to be able to watch the 2 events a season you cover, and this coming from a die-hard fan with no cable subscription.

On top of the lack of coverage, the coverage that is available on CTV/TSN is only available to people who have a cable subscrption, but less and less people have a cable subscription, meaning that less people than in past years have access to the (limited) coverage. This means that skating cannot be as popular as it is in countries like Japan because networks are not nearly as devoted to showing it as they could be.

Speaking of Japan, they are doing better coverage of the Ladies and Men's events at US Nationals than NBC by far. Apparently  Japanese network called J-Sports 4 will be showing all of the ladies and men's events this weekend, which is better than we can say of NBC.

As far as YouTube videos go, they are usually hard to find in the first place because the networks are more protective of their exclusive rights to show these programs. This means if they go up, they usually disappear pretty quickly.

So far, I've only been able to find one YouTube video from US nationals, Scimeca and Knierim's short program.




UPDATE:

Bless YouTube channel Sam Canada for also uploading two videos, of Kayne and O Shea and Castelli and Tran, so we're at three videos but that does little to ease my frustration.

Canadian Nationals 2016- Preview

Canadian and US nationals are both coming up quickly, followed very shortly by Europeans, which means there will be no shortage of skating to watch over the coming weeks.

The Canadian National champions will be fairly obvious choices, with the exception of the ladies event, where any one of the top three Canadian ladies can take the title. If Alaine cuts the triple axel (which is nowhere near clean any of the times I've seen her, and seems to be ruining the rest of the program) she will probably take the title, but at this point, with the significant failures she's had on the Grand Prix circuit, she still kept it, which does not bode well for her performance at nationals.

The third spot on the men's team is the only toss up in that event, Patrick Chan will inevitably win, and Nam will get the silver, but Eladj Balde, Liam Firus, and a couple other men could reasonably take the third spot to worlds.

2nd through 4th in the Pairs event in Canada will be a heated fight. I genuinely think Julianne and Charlie have the second spot locked, but either Kirsten and Dylan or Lubov and Dylan could stand a chance at taking that spot from them, it will be interesting to see who Skate Canada will choose to send to worlds.

In the dance event, it is essentially a sure fire win for Kaitlin and Andrew, and Piper and Paul will most certainly be second, but the question for third place will be a significant competition. There is Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam and Nicole Orford and Asher Hill, as well as other teams.

This weekend in Halifax we'll see some amazing senior skaters at Canadian nationals this year. We're going to have strong teams for Worlds in most or all of the disciplines

Canadian Nationals 2015- Senior Pairs

The Pairs event at Canadian Nationals was less about the winners, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, who we all knew were going to dominate the competition, and more about the rivalry between Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch. Kirsten and Dylan split following the Sochi Olympics, and the discussions surrounding their split all season have been controversial. This is the first time this season that both pairs competed against each other.

Moscovitch and his new partner Lubov Ilyushechkina took the silver medal behind the Grand Prix champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. Because Lubov has been in Canada such a short time, they have not received funding to train and were limited in the competitions they were able to attend. Despite the drama at the beginning of the season, and the questions about whether or not they would even be able to compete this season, they skated well. The greatest issues within their programs was simply issues with timing, which will improve as time goes on.

Kirsten and her new partner, Michael had less trouble getting started with competitions at the beginning of the season, but had less luck at nationals. They finished in fourth place, a solid spot for a first year team, however they will not be attending the World Championships. For Kirsten, though Michael has improved over the course of the season, the reality is that Dylan is the better partner. Over time, both teams will certainly improve tremenously, but at the moment, Kirsten and Michael are not as strong a team as Lubov and Dylan.

Finishing in third place was a junior Canadian team, Julianne Seguin and Charlie Bilodeau. They will be attending both the junior and senior World Championships this year. Though not necessarily in the running for a top spot at the Senior World Championships, their chances at medaling at the Junior Worlds are strong. The future of pairs skating in Canada is strong with these two.

Finally, the top team, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. They remain undefeated in the 2014-2015 season, and with strong skates at Four Continents and the World Championships, they stand a good chance at remaining undefeated. Their technical superiority and consistency more than make up for any discrepancies within their PCSs. Their programs this season suit their style and now that they have embraced the skaters that they are, they stand a good chance at winning the World Championships this year.

Canadian Nationals 2015- Senior Ice Dance

At the 2015 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships the strongest field was certainly the ice dance. Many feared the fall of Canadian, and North American ice dance overall following the retirement of Davis and White and Virtue and Moir (yes, I know, they haven't officially retired, but let's be honest with ourselves, they're probably done), but it is clear this season that North American ice dance is still going strong.

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje took their first national championship title this weekend. Some aren't thrilled with the artistic side of their skating, but it cannot be denied that they have amazing skating skills, speed, and power. Though some may be less than enamored with their free dance they do have a classic elegance that I am partial to. They have a beautiful free dance, and very few of the top teams have a free dance with a nontraditional style. With the pasodoble as the short dance, many teams opted for a classic, soft free dance to balance the sharp power of the paso. Among these dances, Weaver and Poje stand out as very talented, confident skaters, regardless of how you feel about their skating style.

Piper Gilles and Paul Porier finished in second place at nationals this year, and like Kaitlyn and Andrew, have had an exceptional season, attending the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. Piper and Paul had a great showing at nationals. They usually have a quirky energy to their programs, which in many ways is toned down in their programs this season, but they still maintain their energy in the more classic free dance. They will not likely place on the podium at worlds, but they have a strong chance to finish certainly in the top 10 and perhaps in the top 5.

The third place team of Alexandra Paul and Mitchell Islam have not had the successful season internationally the other 2 teams have had. However their new free dance, originally choreographed by Jeffery Buttle is a beautiful piece that suits their personalities, and should (hopefully) be more successful internationally than their free dance from the first half of the season. These two had an amazing breakout season last season, attending the Olympic Games in Sochi, and this season they continue to be successful within Canada, but are struggling a little more on the international circuit, perhaps in part due to the fact that the pasodoble is not their best style of dance, but they continue to perform admirably, and hopefully as they attend the last few international competitions of the season their programs will be more appreciated by the judges.

Canadian Nationals 2015- Senior Ladies

Like the state of men's figure skating in Canada, the ladies event was just as sad. There are quite a few ladies who competed at the 2015 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships are still very young and have amazing potential but for the time being, there is a disconnect between the level of pairs and ice dance and the men's and ladies events.

Gabby Daleman, the 17 year old 2015 ladies champion performed a decent short program, but the fall on the lutz, in any other country or at any other time, would have likely taken her out of contention for the gold. In the freeskate, she skated well, however still popping what should have been a triple flip, and receiving an edge call. From the beginning, Gabby has been a powerhouse, but not particularly strong in her technique nor her artistry, but this season, Gabby has come a long way, and over the course of this Olympic cycle, she will only improve.

Two other Canadian ladies with a bright future are the silver and bronze medalists, Alaine Chartrand and Veronik Mallet. Both ladies had strong programs, and in the case of Veronik, the best skate of the season. Veronik has beautiful skating skills and interpretation, but her programs can be soured by the inconsistent jumps. Over the next few years, as her jumping technique improves, Veronik will truly be a force to be reckoned with not only in Canada, but potentially on the world stage. Like Veronik, Alaine does not have the consistency to take a real shot at the world podium, but as a young skater, time will improve her jumps and consistency.

The one person missing from this year's nationals was Katelyn Osmond, who is out for the season due to an ankle injury. The reigning national champion did not have the opportunity to defend her title, and her growth as a skater has been stunted the past two seasons due to injury. However, over the course of this Olympic cycle, she will have time to recover, and so long as she doesn't continue to struggle with injury, perhaps be in medal contention come the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Canadian Nationals 2015- Senior Men

The 2015 Canadian Tire National Figure Skating Championships in Kingston, Ontario proved one thing about men's figure skating in Canada; we're in a sad state. With the exception of Nam Nguyen the senior men were not up to par with the men in the rest of the world.

The expectation at the beginning of the 2014/2015 season was that Kevin Reynolds would be the Canadian man to watch, but his showing at nationals was less than stellar. He only competed the short program, and the program he did compete left him in 12th place. After falling on all three jumping passes, and under-rotating all three, he forgot his choreography, skating aimlessly before finishing with his last spin. Despite the lack of choreography in the end of his program, he still had component scores that were quite high, even when balanced with nationals score inflation. He has claimed boot problems all season, but it is clear that the problem is much larger than that. Boot problems does not explain his forgetting choreography and performing sub-par spins. Despite having multiple pairs of custom boots made, he was still unable to compete to his full potential.

The other men competing in the senior men's event were not extraordinary. Both Jeremy Ten and Liam Firus had fairly respectable skates overall, but in many other countries they would not be anywhere near medal contention, and in some years past in Canada they would not have placed anywhere near the top three. This is why we face the concerns about the future of men's figure skating in Canada. Following so many years of excellence in men's skating, with at least one man in true contention for a world title, the current men, with the exception of Nam are falling a little flat.

Nam Nguyen is the bright spot in men's skating. At 16 years old, he is an excellent skater with amazing potential. He performs well under pressure, but with the lack of other exceptional men in Canada attending the world championships this year, is the pressure to perform going to be too much for Nam? Many of even the most spectacular, experienced skaters crack under that kind of pressure. Nam's performance at worlds will determine the number of men who will get to attend next year, and after so many years of sending at least 2 men every year, the idea that we may only have a single spot to send a man to worlds seems odd. If Nam continues to skate as well as he has in the past, he will likely place high enough to earn us those two spots, but the notion would be much more secure if we had a second man who stood a solid chance to finish in the top ten.

The solution? Bring Patrick Chan back for worlds. He has already expressed his intention to return next season, and participated in an international competition, earning the required technical score for a trip to worlds. As much faith as we all have in Nam, Canadian men's skating would look a whole lot brighter with Patrick Chan back in the mix.