Cancer.Net Skate America Head Scratchers

This weekend I did lots of head scratching. I mean, I couldn't believe some of what I was seeing.

First, Ice Dance. The shake up that was the free dance. I thought coming in this was a no-brainer with Tanith and Ben winning, Khoklova and Novitski placing second, and the Italian's Cappellini and Lanotte placing third. Well things went crazy in the Original Dance with the Russians placing 5th in that portion of the free skate (they did manage to stay in 2nd overall however). Then things got even more tricky in the Free Dance with Zaretski and Zaretski charging forward to place second in the free dance allowing the Italians who were third in the free to slip in for the silver (and surprisingly locking them a spot for the Grand Prix Final) and the Russians dropped to third...excuse me...fourth overall (and enter the Grand Prix Final bubble zone as a result...more on this in another post later this week). Oy vey (thus the head scratching)! Completely above the fray, however, were Belbin and Agosto who breezed their way to victory.

The men here, I mean really? Conventional wisdom on how I perceive the way these competitions will play out I think must be thrown out the window. First the mess that was Verner in the short program. He came back a wee bit in the free but still who could think that would happen (somewhere Johnny Weir is jumping up and down happily having been saved for the Grand Prix Final)? And then Amodio and Mroz basically botching a golden opportunity to medal here and getting sub-planted by Shawn Sawyer and Ryan Bradley? Can I get another Oy vey! I watched the men's competition the whole time with my mouth open in disbelief. Again, much like ice dance, Evan Lysacek skated to an easy victory waltzing over the competition making only a small mistake on his triple salchow.

More head scratching in pairs where, I had predicted quite the competition, but got the "Little Engine that Barely Could" instead. The American teams were frustratingly underwhelming. Zhang and Zhang pulled in (barely) for the bronze with a program that was peppered with uneasy moments and devoid of any emotion whatsoever. The funny thing is that effort was actually second best in the free. Volosozhar and Morozov, equally uninteresting, managed the silver. And Shen and Zhao, who I was ready to anoint as the clear favorites for Olympic Gold, spit and sputtered their way to Gold with a program containing mistakes. All of a sudden I'm looking at Pang and Tong and thinking...maybe, just maybe...

And then the women, who shocked me most of all, with the big shocker being Kim Yu-Na is in fact human (who knew?) and can possibly (that's possible with a question mark behind it!) be challenged this season. I don't know that I've ever seen her have a performance so bad...I was speechless. Many have been going crazy to know how many points Rachael Flatt left on the table with the spins in her free skate and the fall in her short program. Well...13.07 was the difference between Flatt and Kim. At Cup of China Rachael received a combined total of 7 points for those spins at the end. In the free skate at 2008 Rostelecom Cup of Russia she earned 9.10 points for a triple flip triple toe combo...2.60 more points than she received in the short here. Add it up and she's still 3.47 points short (but that's well within the wiggle room of a GOE here and level there!). Even still, the fact that Rachael even beat Kim Yu-Na in the free skate is a major (MAJOR) accomplishment in itself. She may be the only skater who'll get to say "I beat Kim Yu-Na (kind of...) this season!" It's like global news when she makes even one mistake and to make three huge mistakes on the three toughest elements in her free...unusual. Still, she handled the failure with class and I suspect she'll bounce back quickly. 'Queen' Yu-Na will get the chance to re-substantiate her throne in Tokyo in December at the Grand Prix Final having clinched a spot in Lake Placid.

Full results are here. Later this week I'll crunch the numbers on the Grand Prix Final...Skate Canada will be exciting to say the least!

Cancer.net Skate America Free Skate Flash

Kemp and King (Great Britain) - This felt like a really complete program, charming young team. Needs a technical upgrade.

Castile and Okolski (USA) - This such a lovely program. It's a shame every jumping element was flawed keeping the program from shining. I really hope this team can get it together and more importantly I hope they continue skating after this season because they have all the makings of great skaters.

Evora and Ladwig (USA) - Really nice. Despite the side-by-side issues (she two footed her toe-loop and fell on double axel). They are trying different triples in the short vs. free. I say pick one and train the hell out of it! Throw lutz was a beauty!

Zhang and Zhang (China) - Can't even believe they are in the first group! It just lacked life of any kind. What little life it did have came from Hao, Dan just seems to be going through the motions. What's going on with them? The stamina? The camel spins? The iffy lifts? Weird.

McLaughlin and Brubaker (USA) - Well...they stood up on their salchows which was nice. Still, the program lacks any semblance of India. Slumdog Millionaire is an amazing piece of music and a brilliant choice but they are using the wrong music selections from the Soundtrack. Instrumentals to O Saya and Jai Ho would give this program so much more energy. Still...STILL needs more Mumbai.

Duhamel and Buntin (Canada) - Oh my. That was a spectacular fall on Megan's part. That throw jump was huge and she was already on a tweeked ankle. Unfortunate that they had to withdraw but health is most important.

Volosozhar and Morozov (Ukraine) - I always feel like Stanislav is huffing and puffing to keep up with Tatiana. Ho hum but I suppose it was the best so far.

Shen and Zhao (China) - Certainly not the dominating performance they had in China. Struggles on the axels and throw loop. Still, clearly the best. That they were only a point or so off their score from Beijing is suspect?

Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) - After the fall on the quad it was decent. Kind of slow and lacked energy but apparently had the flu. He should move up with that but I think the podium is well out of reach.

Kevin Reynolds (Canada) - Kind of put on a jumping clinic including a gorgeous quad salchow. Needs more artistic work though but improvement nonetheless.

Jialiang Wu (China) - I feel like i've seen every men's competitor from China skate this exact same program. Really slow at the end. Needs a better choreographer.

Ryan Bradley (USA) - The first half he found the lightness in his feet that was missing in Paris along with the jumps, it was amazing. Then the second half it was back to the slow heaviness. He's figured out the first half now he just needs to get the second half!

Yasuharu Nanri (Japan) - Slow and labored performance. Again, nothing special.

Andrei Lutai (Russia) - Meh.

Shawn Sawyer (Canada) - I want him so badly to fix those little technical glitches in his skating. If he could do that, wow!

Adrian Schultheiss (Sweden) - Kind of careful. Love the little part with Pac-Man.

Brandon Mroz (USA) - Really came undone. Past Lysacek and Weir, U.S. mens skating is not looking so hot right now. Double jumps wont get it done.

Florent Amodio (France) - Kind of let the excitement of being in second go to his head and had lots of little jump mistakes. He's quite a character on the ice and has the ability to be great. Wow...Sawyer and Bradley are medaling!

Evan Lysacek (USA) - Solid. He looks so ready for this season. I think he's right on track to be a serious contender in Vancouver.

*Before the final group of ladies begin me and my friend Debbie are trying to guess how much Kim Yu-Na will win by!

Emily Hughes (USA) - I thought she looked great! Some work yet to do but that opening lutz combo and the triple flip combo was great. Awesome speed and gorgeous choreography. Gone with the Wind is totally one of my faves!

Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) - Kind of heavy...but then again Carmen is kind of heavy. She did all the easy jumps but not the hard ones.

Elena Glebova (Estonia) - Same as Gedevanishvili. Lots of easy jumps, lacked lightness.

Fumie Suguri (Japan) - Not good enough. I think she put the nail in the coffin on her Olympic chances here. On the upside is her choreography was much better here vs Beijing.

Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) - She improved from Moscow but still not stunning by any means. She needs to get her head around landing those tough triple jumps in the back half of the program...or do them all in the top and back load with easier triples later in the program.

Rachael Flatt (USA) - She looked great! Her programs are growing on me. Every competition she looks stronger and when she hits all those difficult jumps it just makes the program sing more.

Kim Yu-Na (S. Korea) - OMG! All of a sudden the Asada's, Rochette's, Ando's, and even Flatt's are thinking...I have a shot! Kind of disastrous, missing the back half of the lutz combo, the flip, and the second lutz. She'll still win but she gave something for the rest of the world to chew on.

Chock and Zuerlein (USA) - Twizzles were a dream! Solid solid solid.

Navarro and Bommentre (USA) - Have I mentioned how much I love this program. It looked even better here than it did in Paris. That "Thank You" at the end was cute.

Zaretski and Zaretski (Israel) - I thought they turned it up a notch here. The looked comfortable and well paced. Schindler's List is a gorgeous piece of music. Nice work!

Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy) - Powerful. This is a piece of music I hate but I love it for them (weird I know). I love their lifts. However, they were behind the Israeli team in the Free Dance. The silver they won in fact locked them for Grand Prix Final.

Khoklova and Novitski (Russia) - For me it's just rough around the edges. I don't know ever what to think about them. They must have done something wrong...slipped behind Italian's and Israli's.

Belbin and Agosto (USA) - Amazing intensity and tension in the back half of the program. For me...still...I'm not as big a fan of this free as much as I am Davis and White's. However, I still feel Tanith and Ben were brilliant here (save the unison issues on the twizzles at the top). They are still trailing Davis and White and Virtue and Moir on the final score.

Cancer.net Skate America Short Program Flash

*Apparently U.S. Figure Skating didn't get the Friday/Saturday memo and thus the shorts and frees have been spread over three days instead of two...I'll update as I watch.

*A quick note on the CD, Tanith and Ben ripped it! That's how you do Ice Dancing!

Ryan Bradley (USA) - I don't know...kind of a hot mess (again!). He just throws himself into those jumps with reckless abandon and hopes and prays he lands...unfortunately he didn't pray hard enough.

Shawn Sawyer (Canada) - I just get tingly when he's on the ice. Even with the mistakes a decent score, and nice to see him commit to both rotating the jumps and landing them on one foot.

Florent Amodio (France) - This is why I have been raving about this kid all season long. He finally proved me right! Awesome...needs a tougher combo in the short though.

Adrian Schultheiss (Sweden) - This program kind of freaks me out. I like my Schultheiss with hard edged techno, not pretty Christmas.

Kevin Reynolds (Canada) - He lost the Bump It in his hair...lost his jumps too.

Brandon Mroz (USA) - Meh. This music doesn't work for him. Don't take it from me...Sandra Bezic said the same thing.

Evan Lysacek (USA) - I love this SP! The part where, right on the music, he extends his arms and throws his head back directly in front of the judges gets my blood pumping. Needs to get that axel around though, that was a clear cheat. Leaps ahead of the pack though, nice job. He looks so comfortable this season.

Tomas Verner (Czech Republic) - I thought Ryan Bradley was going to win the hot mess award but then Tomas skated. Oh papa...

Shen and Zhao (China) - Wow. I mean, they are so solid. I'm starting to equate them to Kim Yu-Na...unbeatable? Program ends abruptly though?

Castile and Okolski (USA) - Rusty I think. Their coach is the mean one who just yells at his students in the Kiss and Cry.

Evora and Ladwig (USA) - Pretty, little scary on those salchows with Amanda ending up sitting on Mark's foot.

Kemp and King (Great Britain) - Needs an upgrade.

McLaughlin and Brubaker (USA) - Lovely, but they need to solve the problem with side-by-side jumps, frustrating.

Duhamel and Buntin (Canada) - Nice work, throw lutz was scary though. Can't believe she didn't fall on that. This program had more life than it did in China.

Volosozhar and Morozov (Ukraine) - So boring. Strength on the elements alone have them in second place.

Zhang and Zhang (China) - Meltdown kind of. It must be frustrating to have been working so hard for all these years towards Olympic Gold to be completely waltzed over by your own countrymen in one fell swoop. I think their mistakes are coming from their self-applied pressure from Shen and Zhao.

Emily Hughes (USA) - Nice to see her back out there. Popping that lutz will hurt the score though. Triple flip under rotated too...some work to do yet.

Tugba Karademir (Turkey) - She always pleasant to watch. I wish she would upgrade her technical difficulty so she could really compete with the top ladies. Footwork is great...thank you Kurt Browning.

Alexe Gilles (USA) - She has lovely arms. The mistakes here in the short means she has a clean free? Reverse of Paris? I love that she always smiles.

Elena Glebova (Estonia) - Lovely save that spin whoops. Every time I hear this music I'm transported back to the 2001 Nationals where we all gushed over Michelle Kwan...the lady sitting in front of me goes "She's pretty good." And I looked at her funny. Good times in Boston.

Sarah Hecken (Germany) - Seems kind of green. Not a lot of Juliet in that Romeo and Juliet.

*Enjoying Tara's commentary on Ice Network.

Susanna Poykio (Finland) - Meh. Kind of boring, lacks spark.

*First group was really not up to par!

Joshi Helgesson (Sweden) - Wasn't she just here in Lake Placid at the Junior Grand Prix? She seemed excited about her performance. Seems like Sweden is up and coming with their ladies competitors.

Fumie Suguri (Japan) - She upped her game from Beijing. I think a last ditch effort to impress the Japanese Federation and perhaps get another shot at the Olympics. Needs to polish the program a bit.

Elene Gedevanishvili (Georgia) - Lacked the spark she had in Paris. Not her best...not her worst. Just so so.

Julia Sebestyen (Hungary) - She did it again! One of these days she is going to connect a clean free with these shorts and be a contender again. Is Cancer.Net her comeback competition? Time will tell. Nice job in the short.

Rachael Flatt (USA) - Unfortunate fall on the triple toe. Otherwise a lot better than Beijing. Gave that footwork a lot more zest!

Kim Yu-Na (S. Korea) - She pulls you in with seductive precision and right when you meet her face to face she sly slips her gun out and takes care of business...then walks away with confidence and class. She's a perfect Bong Girl. She's a vision on the ice, I love this short program, awesome.

Chock and Zuerlein (USA) - I love this OD. I'm a sucker for Cuban music. Twizzles looked better than they did in Beijing but the straight line sequence had issues.

Navarro and Bommentre (USA) - Nice work. They totally commit to the music and the feel of the dance. One place they could work on to move up in the standings would be their transitions in and out of elements and difficulty of the lifts.

Cappellini and Lanotte (Italy) - Trying to squeeze out more points. Very smooth.

Khoklova and Novitski (Russia) - More vodka please. Again the outfits...? Twizzle issues. Took a hit in the OD...Italians have a chance!

Belbin and Agosto (USA) - Well done. They are doing a better job of keeping up with Virtue and Moir/Davis and White here. Big lead.

*Intersting these folk OD's are bringing out everyones culture but the American teams have chosen to not take on American folk themes...just an observation.

Cancer.net Skate America begins!

So the Grand Prix makes it's way here to the U.S. for Cancer.Net Skate America. This competition will begin to finalize the Grand Prix Final line-up with next weeks' Skate Canada completing it.

*I'm desperately sad I will not be there. Who invented career's anyway?

Ice Dance, like NHK, is a no brainer with the clear front runners being American's Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. While they likely wont be pushed in Lake Placid, they need to push themselves to get closer to the scores achieved by Virtue and Moir as well as their teammates Davis and White this season. Although they won in Beijing, their scores were below the other afore mentioned teams. Barring some unforeseen cosmic disaster, Khoklova and Novitski should comfortably win the silver and and Cappellini and Lanotte the bronze. Cappellini and Lanotte are in a tight race for the final and their scores here may ultimately be the deciding factor in a tie-breaker. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Belbin and Agosto, (SILVER) Khoklova and Novitski, (BRONZE) Cappellini and Lanotte

The ladies competition will likely be a fight for silver and bronze. If South Korea's Kim Yu-Na has half the skate she had in Paris, this competition was decided months ago. The judges have sent a clear message, they like what she's doing on the ice, and if she can manage to not hiccup on her triple flip and skate clean, will likely set a new world record. Even if she makes mistakes, the title is likely still easily her. In her wake, several competitors will be attempting to pick up the leftovers including Rachael Flatt of the U.S. Rachael had a rough start to the season in Beijing with one of her roughest skates in years. Making a small comeback (since we are again robbed of Cohen's) is Emily Hughes. This will be her first international competition since last season's Eric Bompard Trophy (which was her only international last season as well) after some time off to nurse a hip injury. It will be interesting to see how she does and if we need to put her back in the mix of those skaters within reach of an Olympic berth. I'm watching Julia Sebestyen who for a second looked to be back on form when she won the short program at Rostelecom Cup but returned to mediocrity in the free, Susanna Pöykiö who is attempting to snatch that second coveted Finnish Olympic berth, and Elene Gedevanishvili who is a little firecracker and can dazzle when she's on. The final skater to keep an eye on is Japan's Fumie Suguri who, like Rachael Flatt, looked rusty in Beijing, but has in the past proven to be a worthy competitor. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Kim Yu-Na, (SILVER) Rachael Flatt, (BRONZE) Fumie Suguri

The men's competition looks to be a close match up between World Champ Evan Lysacek and Czech Champ Tomas Verner. Both won silver behind Nobunari Oda in their season openers and look poised to square off in Lake Placid. I think Evan has the upper hand, he looked very polished in Beijing with his new programs but Verner has a new sophistication on the ice this season which is refreshing to see. Great match up! If either of these two stumble there is a cast of characters waiting to capitalize including Evan's teammate Brandon Mroz who, after a terrible short program in Moscow, came back strong in the free skate. If he can put two programs together he'll be a medal threat. Also coming off a weak performance in Russia and looking to skate better will be Frenchman Florent Amodio. Also in the mix will be choreography savy Shawn Sawyer and quad consistent Kevin Reynolds both of Canada and the two entertainers; Adrian Schultheiss of Sweden and American Ryan Bradley. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Evan Lysacek, (SILVER) Tomas Verner, (BRONZE) Brandon Mroz

Finally, the Pairs competition gives Shen and Zhao the opportunity to cement their comeback and name themselves squarely as the Olympic Favorites. It's also another opportunity for Zhang and Zhang, also of China, and Volosozhar and Morozov of Ukraine to compete better against the Chinese veterans. All three teams squared off in Beijing and Shen and Zhao left them in the dust despite having been away from competition since 2007. Added to the mix is U.S. Champs McLaughlin and Brubaker who squeaked out a bronze in Russia and will need to improve here to hit the podium. 2007 U.S. Champs Castile and Okolski make their first appearance on the Grand Prix in years, in the past they've been forced to withdraw from their events due to injury and will look to capitalize on this early season outing. Duhamel and Buntin of Canada will also try to improve upon their Grand Prix debut. Medal Predictions: (GOLD) Shen and Zhao, (SILVER) Zhang and Zhang, (BRONZE) McLaughlin and Brubaker

BREAKING NEWS: Skate America Has New Title Sponsor

This afternoon U.S. Figure Skating announced a new partnership with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). ASCO will be title sponsor for Skate America which will take place in Lake Placid November 12-15.

"The figure skating family has been impacted by cancer in so many ways over the years," said David Raith, executive director of U.S. Figure Skating. "Through a partnership with ASCO, we have the opportunity to help educate millions of people about the resources that are available to them in the battle against cancer."

"Just as skaters rely on their coaches for advice and guidance, people with cancer can rely on Cancer.Net to get the most trusted, doctor-approved information to guide them through their diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship," said Allen Lichter, MD, CEO of ASCO. "ASCO is pleased to partner with Skate America to bring this valuable information to people everywhere."

Whan an exciting development for U.S. Figure Skating...good things have been happening this year for them!

Pic of the Week

This is the part of the skating season I dislike the most. All the nationals are over with...Four Continents and Europeans are over...the only big competition left is World's and it always feels like it takes forever to get to. It's still over a month away, how will I survive? Time to watch everything I didn't watch (which isn't much!) on Ice Network.

But the Pic of the Week looks into the future...November 2009 actually. I present you the Herb Brooks Arena (or 1980 Rink) in Lake Placid, N.Y. Not sure who Herb Brooks is...1) Shame on You! 2) I suggest the Disney Movie "Miracle."

Last week or so (actually I believe it was more like a couple weeks ago...let's just say a 'while' ago) U.S. Figure Skating announced Lake Placid, NY will host 2009 Skate America. Actually, Lake Placid hosted the first Skate America in 1979 and hosted the event four times total. Lake Placid is also one of only six cities (the other five are Athens, St. Moritz, London, Paris, and Innsbruck) to host an Olympic Games twice.

I've been to Lake Placid only once (and was only there for a day!) but can tell you it's beautiful. However, for all hardcore Lake Placid info I defer to an expert, Lake Placid Skater. Herb Brooks Arena, will be the venue for the event which, for the first time, will be the second to last event in the Grand Prix series. The following week, Skate Canada will close out the regular Grand Prix events (not sure why the shuffle?).

Get ready Lake Placid....here comes some of the World's best!