Showing posts with label Ice Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ice Network. Show all posts
Friday, October 23, 2009
Ugh!
Ice Network not posting the ladies and dance shorts in a timely manner...not cool. Avoiding spoilers is becoming increasingly difficult.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Pic of the Week
This weekend give us another opportunity to check out the up and coming talent that exists in U.S. Figure Skating. I got an e-mail from a blog reader asking if Collin Brubaker was related to...and I quote..."that super hot pairs skater Rockne Brubaker." The readers e-mail was of course decorated at the end with every smiley, glittery butterfly, and text code (ttyl, lol, bff's) imaginable so I assume she was 16 at the oldest...perhaps more like 12 or 13 (Ice Girl?)...but I decided to take on her question.The answer is yes! Collin is in fact Rockne's younger brother (did the hair give it away?). Collin, however, is an Ice Dancer as opposed to Rockne who is a Pairs skater. And lucky for us we get to see Collin and his partner Rachel Tibbetts compete this weekend in Lake Placid on the second stop in the Junior Grand Prix.
I'm super excited to see this duo because their Free Dance is to one of my favorite Andrea Bocelli songs, "En Aranjuez Con Yu Amor." This will be their third consecutive season competing on the Junior Grand Prix and this season they look to be medal contenders.
Make sure to tune in this weekend on Ice Network as they'll be streaming coverage for the Lake Placid event free of charge.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @skating102 for skating news, tidbits, and other fun information!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Junior Grand Prix: Hungary
The season got underway this past weekend in Budapest and Team USA did pretty well.
We were strongest in the Men's where American Richard Dornbush took the title (video below) with teammate Grant Hochstein right behind winning the silver. Richard told Ice Network, "You don't want to put out your best now and not do as well later; I'm happy with how I did, but I have room to improve." It was a bit of clammer to get to the bronze but it eventually fell into the hands of Russian Zhan Bush.
In Ice Dance, Team USA was unable to get on the podium with Gilles and Donohue surprisingly finishing fourth. They had some problems with their twizzles in the free skate and didn't get the levels they expected for their step sequences. "It's still a much higher-level program that it was given credit for," Donohue told Ice Network. Russians Ilinykh and Katsalapov skated to a convincing victory with Canadians Routhier and Saucke-Lacelle earning the silver, Italians Alessandrini and Vaturi the bronze.
In the ladies field, Russian Polina Shelepen won convincingly with a free skate that included seven triple jumps! American Angela Maxwell, who had a rough short program and found herself in fifth place, regrouped in the free skate and surged up to take the silver. Despite earning another Junior Grand Prix medal, she told Ice Network she wasn't happy with her performance. "My nerves got the better of me. I was trying to pull myself together the whole program." Japan's Haruka Imai took the bronze medal. American Ellie Kawamura who was second after the short program finished fourth after a tough free skate.
Here are the complete results.
Next weekend, the Junior Grand Prix comes home and will take place in Lake Placid (same site as the Senior Grand Prix Event, Skate America). A large contingency of Americans will be competing including: Bonacorsi and Mager, Duarte and Grafton, Joshua Farris, Taylor Firth, Andrew Gonzales, DeeDee Leng, Ross Miner, Kristine Musademba, Pipkin and Dunne-Neustadt, Maia and Alex Shibutani, Simpson and Miller, and Tibbetts and Brubaker. Lake Placid is one of only a few JGP events to have a pairs field so it should be an exciting competition.
Also of note, Ice Network will be airing Junior Grand Prix Lake Placid live and free so be sure to tune in.
Don't forget I'm compiling a list of the Greatest 1000 Moments on Ice. Be sure to let me know what should go on that list!
We were strongest in the Men's where American Richard Dornbush took the title (video below) with teammate Grant Hochstein right behind winning the silver. Richard told Ice Network, "You don't want to put out your best now and not do as well later; I'm happy with how I did, but I have room to improve." It was a bit of clammer to get to the bronze but it eventually fell into the hands of Russian Zhan Bush.In Ice Dance, Team USA was unable to get on the podium with Gilles and Donohue surprisingly finishing fourth. They had some problems with their twizzles in the free skate and didn't get the levels they expected for their step sequences. "It's still a much higher-level program that it was given credit for," Donohue told Ice Network. Russians Ilinykh and Katsalapov skated to a convincing victory with Canadians Routhier and Saucke-Lacelle earning the silver, Italians Alessandrini and Vaturi the bronze.
In the ladies field, Russian Polina Shelepen won convincingly with a free skate that included seven triple jumps! American Angela Maxwell, who had a rough short program and found herself in fifth place, regrouped in the free skate and surged up to take the silver. Despite earning another Junior Grand Prix medal, she told Ice Network she wasn't happy with her performance. "My nerves got the better of me. I was trying to pull myself together the whole program." Japan's Haruka Imai took the bronze medal. American Ellie Kawamura who was second after the short program finished fourth after a tough free skate.
Here are the complete results.
Next weekend, the Junior Grand Prix comes home and will take place in Lake Placid (same site as the Senior Grand Prix Event, Skate America). A large contingency of Americans will be competing including: Bonacorsi and Mager, Duarte and Grafton, Joshua Farris, Taylor Firth, Andrew Gonzales, DeeDee Leng, Ross Miner, Kristine Musademba, Pipkin and Dunne-Neustadt, Maia and Alex Shibutani, Simpson and Miller, and Tibbetts and Brubaker. Lake Placid is one of only a few JGP events to have a pairs field so it should be an exciting competition.Also of note, Ice Network will be airing Junior Grand Prix Lake Placid live and free so be sure to tune in.
Don't forget I'm compiling a list of the Greatest 1000 Moments on Ice. Be sure to let me know what should go on that list!
Monday, November 03, 2008
My Ice Network GoLive!
So for the first time I watched an event on Ice Network.com. I have just a few thoughts on how this went, what I experienced, and other bits of excess trivia.
First, I'd like Ice Network to somehow provide a page with the video links that doesn't spoil the results. I didn't watch in real time, but in clicking my way to the ladies free skate, I was forced to notice because of the huge picture and headline, that Rochette had won Gold. I guess silver and bronze were still a mystery. I found myself attempting to not look at headlines as I tried to click to the videos...but I couldn't see the screen because I was trying to not see results...it was kind of a comedic mess. An idea...how about e-mailing all subscribers a spoiler free link to the videos the day before the event. I've already bookmarked the Cup of China event page because it's easier to avoid the headlines on those pages versus the big ones on the home page!
Speaking of the videos...why was it that the pairs short program video was not available before the pairs free skate? Was this a fluke on my computer only? In the end...I never watched the pairs short because I couldn't stand to wait to see how Keauna and Rockne would fair.
I thought that having no commentary would be weird...turns out I love it! Now I know why the people who watched Skate America on Universal Sports were raving about the coverage. It was refreshing to just watch...almost like being at the event.
Hmmmm...unfettered mic and camera on certain skaters...hilarious. Did anyone else catch Ryan Bradley's zingers in the Kiss n Cry? For the short, it was, "That three-turn, I was like S$#^!" And for the free skate he added, "Look mom...I'm not gay! She'd be so proud of me." That comment was followed by a look of consternation from Tom Zakrasjek! My french is not good but I know Yannick Ponsero was rattling off a list of 'colorful metaphors' after his disappointing free skate!
State of the Skate mentioned this as well, but at times there was this weird sound distortion that made the music sound like the track was playing at half speed. Perhaps the more people logged on the more distortion you get? Increase bandwidth Ice Network.
Last bit then I'll get off my soapbox. I managed to get very good a moving the tiny little slider at the bottom of the video screen to advance the video through the official announcement, warm-ups, etc. I guess this only applies if you watch after the event had been recorded (as I did), but it would be nice if the video was segmented by skater...or at least a choice to watch the skater segments or the video as a whole. Am I getting to demanding? I expect my $19.95 to stretch as far as I can make it stretch!
First, I'd like Ice Network to somehow provide a page with the video links that doesn't spoil the results. I didn't watch in real time, but in clicking my way to the ladies free skate, I was forced to notice because of the huge picture and headline, that Rochette had won Gold. I guess silver and bronze were still a mystery. I found myself attempting to not look at headlines as I tried to click to the videos...but I couldn't see the screen because I was trying to not see results...it was kind of a comedic mess. An idea...how about e-mailing all subscribers a spoiler free link to the videos the day before the event. I've already bookmarked the Cup of China event page because it's easier to avoid the headlines on those pages versus the big ones on the home page!Speaking of the videos...why was it that the pairs short program video was not available before the pairs free skate? Was this a fluke on my computer only? In the end...I never watched the pairs short because I couldn't stand to wait to see how Keauna and Rockne would fair.
I thought that having no commentary would be weird...turns out I love it! Now I know why the people who watched Skate America on Universal Sports were raving about the coverage. It was refreshing to just watch...almost like being at the event.
Hmmmm...unfettered mic and camera on certain skaters...hilarious. Did anyone else catch Ryan Bradley's zingers in the Kiss n Cry? For the short, it was, "That three-turn, I was like S$#^!" And for the free skate he added, "Look mom...I'm not gay! She'd be so proud of me." That comment was followed by a look of consternation from Tom Zakrasjek! My french is not good but I know Yannick Ponsero was rattling off a list of 'colorful metaphors' after his disappointing free skate!
State of the Skate mentioned this as well, but at times there was this weird sound distortion that made the music sound like the track was playing at half speed. Perhaps the more people logged on the more distortion you get? Increase bandwidth Ice Network.
Last bit then I'll get off my soapbox. I managed to get very good a moving the tiny little slider at the bottom of the video screen to advance the video through the official announcement, warm-ups, etc. I guess this only applies if you watch after the event had been recorded (as I did), but it would be nice if the video was segmented by skater...or at least a choice to watch the skater segments or the video as a whole. Am I getting to demanding? I expect my $19.95 to stretch as far as I can make it stretch!
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