"Channy McChanner Pants" and Kostner Phones It In

I don't even know what to make of the men's free skate...

I guess I'll start with Adam and Jeremy. Not their best by far. Both seemed...tired out there. I do love the fight that Jeremy had. Even though it wasn't going just jingles he was fighting to hang on to everything. Also, his quad is starting to look good (even though three judges gave it a -1 and another a +2 ???).

Oh Channy McChanner Pants...after he hit the second quad the deal was done. The last time I was at worlds was in 2009 and I had a little chuckle at remembering Chan and Joubert's little media spat over the quad and Chan saying it wasn't so important...now he completes two to Joubert's one at this competition...how things change. He had a couple errors but they didn't matter at all. Daisuke had another amazing performance to capture the silver. He was actually 3rd in the free skate, not certain how. I've had the pleasure of seeing Daisuke live three times this season and each time I thought he had the winning free skate...the points somehow don't add up though. I don't know which judges ass he needs to kiss to get some respect? Yuzuru Hanyu slipped in for bronze despite a strong skate from Joubert. Yuzuru was near perfect accept a freak fall that didn't disrupt any element. Joubert had the crowd in his hand with his 'Matrix' program. Solid jumps but he couldn't quite keep up with the others and finished 4th. He looked though, for the first time in a while, he enjoyed himself on the ice and I was genuinely happen for him.





I want to take a few sentences to talk about Alissa Czisny. After the third fall I literally began to weep for her. So much so the very nice women next to me felt it necessary to grab my hand and pat it for the next 5 minutes. That was tough to watch. I just wanted to give her a hug that never ended and remind her that she is such an amazing skater and that this moment doesn't define her. I watched sadly as the next skater took the ice and Alissa just sat in the Kiss and Cry with her face buried in her hands, Jason and Yuka doing everything they could to console her. The thing I want Alissa to know, is what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I recall in 2009 Carolina Kostner going to complete pieces in her free skate at Worlds...now she's the 2012 World Champion. I don't know what Alissa's future skating plans are but if she decides to continue, I hope this puts a fire in her belly something fierce. I hope she ditches the timid, fragile, delicate Alissa once and for all and becomes a determined competitor, not willing to let anything get in her way.

Speaking of not letting anything get in your way...how about Ashley Wagner! After Team USA had been dealt one blow after another at these Championships we needed a pick me up...she delivered. She got after that free skate with fire and passion. This season, with this 'Black Swan' free skate, Ashley has become my favorite female skater. Oh had it not been for that short program...the podium would look a little different! But I can't complain too much about the podium. Akiko was lovely as always. She is such a reliable competitor. Her choreography is always to die for and she sells sells sells. I'm even happy for Alena Leonova. While I'm more in love with her short, she did okay in the free too. She's looked like a new competitor this season. Not sure if she just got out of her head or something Nikolai has done...whatever it is, it worked. And Carolina...I mean, she could have phoned that in. Alena didn't make it hard and Akiko and Ashley from 5th and 8th looked not as menacing. Carolina did what she's done all season; skate consistently, earn lost of points outside of the jumps, and show superior component scores. It was the recipe for an easy win for her and I think deserved. Both her programs this season were lovely (although the body suit she wears in the free skate is awful!).





That's a wrap! Nice has been lovely! I have a few more thoughts I'll do in a separate blog post.

Chan's World and a Pairs Photo Finish!

First the men's short program...as expected it's Chan's ball game. As per all season he botched an element in the short program but his scores are so high across the board it hardly matters. A beyond squeaky clean Brezina is within two points of him though. Takahashi I think would have caught him had he not sat down on the a triple toe behind a quad. I was so excited he finally hit the quad in the short only to botch the triple behind it.

Que sera sera...



Joubert is back...I don't think the judges would have made it out of the arena alive had they not ranked him near the top. His short program is cleverly designed to hide his weakness and show his strengths. I see them but I have better eye than the majority of french skating fans that just want to see their star do well. I'd a put him behind Amodio but again, I sure the judges feared for their lives. Tough day for Abbott and Rippon...but they are by no means out of it and still have a shot, if not to medal, still earn 3 spots for the U.S. in London. They need to get their chins up and fight. Tough day for Kozuka as well...13th, ouchomagoucho!

Shout out to Christopher Caluza...go ahead with your bad yourself!



On to Pairs where it was a photo finish...Volosozar and Trankov were beyond brilliant earlier on the night, nobody could catch them despite the fact they were in 8th. Savchenko and Szolkowy, skated well...still placed 2nd behind the Russians...but because of the short program eeked the win by .11. Photo finish. Takahashi and Tran held on to third to become (I think?) the first team from Japan to win a pairs medal at the World Championships. Pang and Tong showed a bit more rust to only manage 4th. Marley and Brubaker make a respectable debut at World's placing 10th and Denney and Coughlin finish 8th despite a great skate (again, the judges were boo'd for their scores). Not sure why but the judges seem to be actively judging against the American's...strange.

Free Dance Final...Houston, We Have a Problem

So our first final concluded tonight with the Ice Dancers putting on a magnificent show. Really all of them where great but things got really good in the second half.

But if you will let me harp on the first half for just a moment...I want to say how special Kharis Ralph and Asher Hill are and I'm beyond pissed that the judges don't give them the scores they are worth. They are so organic and natural, it's amazing. I think they should have been about 5 or 6 placements higher and if I were Skate Canada, I'd launch an inquiry and call for the judges' heads!

Back to the second half. Maia and Alex had a rough go. Alex totally missed his twizzles and it was hard to get the energy back after that. After winning the bronze last season they finish down in 8th. They have the skills to be on the podium, I just think this season was particular tough for them...but they fought all the way to the end which was commendable. I was really surprised and in love with Cappellini and Lanotte's 'La Strada' Free Dance. I thought it was gorgeous and I'm not sure why they didn't beat out Ilinykh and Katsalapov for 5th place?!?!

The top four where all amazing! Davis and White opened up with their best performance this season (I'll get back to this in a moment) and skated lights out and brought the crowd roaringly to their feet. Next up was Weaver and Poje and they had the crowd eating out of the plam of their hand with their 'Je suis malade' program. Another stirring ovation as they slip behind Meryl and Charlie. There was no quieting the crowd as Pechalat and Bourzat took the ice...the whole building was shaking from thunderous applause and I say the crowd support elevated their performance. The crowd cheered amazingly and seemed to appreciate the fact they placed a strong 2nd just behind Meryl and Charlie. Finally, Virtue and Moir, solid as ever...just a wee little slip mid dance from Tessa, nothing very major. When they finished they got a good ovation, but nothing near what Pechalat and Bourzat and Davis and White got...the scores go up...half politely applaud their win while the other half boo's...Houston, we have a problem.



On Twitter this already quite a little controversy over this brewing. I'm not going to try to break down the scores...I'm kind of with Phil Hersh...at this level it's preference less than actually difference...but from sitting in the audience in person and watching both programs, Meryl and Charlie certainly had the best skate. I felt that was easily Davis and White's best skate all season, the judges didn't give them a season's best however. And then you have the unfortunate situation where the technical specialists is from Canada...it could get a little tricky. I'll let bygones be bygones and let this one go...but I think the judges missed this one just a bit.

Slightly Sexy Pirate Wench...I'll Take It!

When Alena Leonova is at her best, she's hit her technical elements and then sells, sells, sells...that's exactly what she did today! She had me in the palm of her hand...and that's a lot considering I've been so over POTC for about two years now. The judges put her in first and I couldn't agree with the placement more. Murakami and Kostner in 2nd/3rd...neither really did it for me but I guess I get it; Murakami was clean and Kostner is, well, Kostner. Mao Asada is very lucky to be in 4th after what could have been a disaster missing that triple axel...luckily all the ladies behind her decided to make errors themselves.



Speaking of errors, let's talk about Ashley and Alissa...I'm not ready to write the obituary just yet, but this is not going well to this point for the American Ladies. The saving grace is, while Ashley is in 8th, she's only 5.5 points or so from the podium. If you look at her 4CC free, she can get there if things happen. Alissa...poor Alissa...the old Alissa is back. The one from a couple years ago that doubted everything, looked frail, and once one mistake happened...down came the domino's. For the free she needs to forget about competing and just go enjoy skating. Skate for herself and let the chips fall...if she puts the pressure of having to better her placement I feel the bottom will come from under her...this is about her now, not the placement.

As I watched these SP's, it became abundantly clear I miss some things in skating. I miss spiral sequences in the short program, I miss ladies 'having' to have a lutz and flip in the short in order to crack the top 6 (Costner is 3rd with a triple toe/triple toe, double axel, and double loop), I miss not having the luxury to wander to any seat in the arena because every seat was filled, and just a little...I miss the 6.0 system, but most of all - I miss Michelle Kwan.



Sorry...couldn't help myself:

Better Late Than Never

So I said I would post my comments about the Free Dance on Tuesday...yeah that was over two weeks ago. Upon returning to work, I was deluged with tasks and the blog had to take a back seat. I have to get these things cleared away before heading off to Nice!

But finally...I'm back with my thoughts...and I've had a change of heart. I had tweeted I disagree with the fact that Meryl and charlie had lost...I watched both programs back a couple of times.





After careful thought, I came to the decision that I agree with the judges and believe Tessa and Scott deserved the win. It looks a bit different on tv vs in the arena and up close you can see the minute details of Tessa and Scott's FD. The real clincher for me was Scott and Charlie. I suspect the altitude played a part but at times Charlie looked less engaged musically while Scott was fully committed through the whole performance...something I couldn't necessarily tell from up in the arena. As far as the levels not being there for Meryl and Charlie...well I'll leave that to the technical panel.

Farewell Colorado Springs!

The exhibition just wrapped and the Four Continents Cup has come to an end. I'll post my thoughts on the Pairs and Dance on Tuesday...I have to get to sleep as I have a long trek back to Illinois tomorrow.

Loved meeting and hanging out with @swandie27, @elizabethdehoff, and @TimDavid_Sk8 this week...let's do it again!

Until Tuesday...enjoy these two gems I found today on YouTube!

More Intrigue from Colorado Springs!

My day started with me rapidly trying to figure out how to get/keep the WiFi connection going so I could keep tweeting from the Arena (my phone died because I was using it as a mobile hot spot). After consulting @csworldarena, @PCFClub, and various other tweeps...it was decided that we would continue with the Phone-Mobile HotSpot-bit. Only this time, I had a mobile charging device to keep the phone fully charged. I ran to Best Buy, purchased one, it charged during the Ladies short, and @TimDavid_Sk8 let me use his while it charged. In the quick break between ladies short and mens free I ran back to the hotel...grabbed my charged charger...and presto...live tweeting! I told @csworldarena to invest in paid mobile service for the arena...they took it under advisement. Speaking of @csworldarena...they've been very cool about putting my blog on shout and I appreciate it. They even let me create the word "prescriminate." That is, to not discriminate against any press.

So the ladies short program...Mao Asada finds herself in a super close race with Ashley Wagner. The two sit one-two respectively and both had solid but just slightly flawed short programs. Mao kind of had some trouble landing her triple axel cleanly while Ashley two footed the triple toe behind a triple flip. Other than their slight technical bobbles, both gave determined and inspired performances. In third, and believe it or not, the only lady out of 30 to skate clean, is Kanako Murakami. She skated after Mao and Ashley and everyone thought for sure she'd be the leader. When the judges put her in third (less than a point behind Mao and Ashley), Twitter blew up. Phil Hersh went on one of his rants...people were calling for the judges to be hanged. It was all a bit much, but I dubbed it #KanakoGate. Caroline Zhang continues her comeback. She had a wee bit of trouble on the second triple loop in her triple-triple combo but did everything else well. She's in 4th and had good crowd support (she is so easy to root for). China's Kexin Zhang snuck in for 5th place edging Agnes Zawadzki who is 6th. You can check the full results here.



The Men closed the evening with their free skates. I tweeted earlier in the night Patrick needed to skate lights out to shut me up about his inflated scores. Well...he skated lights out. Two quads, one with the triple toe, axel was good, all the other trimmings and finishings. The only minor issue was with that weird lutz near the end of his program that is mid ice...its awkwardly placed and rarely works...he needs to move that jump. He didn't fall, he just struggled with landing it...but did so. His score was huge and rightly so...so there you go...Chantasticness at its best. I will say, and I feel very firmly about this, as amazingly perfect as Chan is...there is still something mechanical and methodical about his performances. It is very hard to put a finger on...but I feel often that while his movement is brilliant (and ridiculously difficult), I don't know if he "feels" it. Does he become one with the music or is he just so well trained he knows where to put each edge and step? No matter which it is and I'd love to see that debate play out...when he skates like this ain't nobody beating him...and I can't even argue with that.



Finishing out the top three was Daisuke in 2nd place. Another tweet I sent out that I got some pushback on referred to Daisuke's footwork sequence. I tweeted: "I'm sorry, Chan couldn't "feel" footwork like that if his life depended on it!" One of the things I think Daisuke does excel over Patrick is that "feeling" of music. He just becomes the music and it all happens so organically. He two footed his quad and singled the first triple axel but it was easy breezy from there. Ross Miner snuck in for 3rd ahead of Adam Rippon who place 4th. Both had a couple technical issues but Ross had the advantage of skating last and also had a lead over Adam coming into the free. I compared Ross Miner to Todd Eldredge...saying he was always reliable. Mura and D. Ten had technical issues and finished 5th and 6th. Christopher Caluza and Misha Ge, who skated earlier in the evening...had some pretty stunning performances that were real crowd pleasers.Full Results here.

Men's SP at Four Continents Cup

I guess the best place to start is the top...where of course Patrick Chan (did we doubt?) is. As has been his modus operandi this season he made a major mistake...kind of falling on his quad. His saving grace was it wasn't really considered a fall since when he crashed to the ice he put all his weight on his forearm and managed his way back up.



I think with a problem like that on a quad...you shouldn't be in the high 80s and basically untouchable. And he has a clear advantage in the free...this is home turf for him and he will not have the altitude struggles the others have. I feel like the judges need to equalize the scores and bring him a little closer to Earth.

Team Japan came to play...they are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th right behind Patrick. Takahiko Mura with an amazing skate to finish second. Gorgeous quad combo! Daisuke also fell on his quad but still managed 3rd. Tatsuki Machida was also amazing and barely behind Daisuke in 4th.

I feel like a broken record, Denis Ten fell on his quad, but pulled it together for the rest to place 5th. I was scratching my head on this placement. He got ahead of Ross Miner who was brilliant!



Adam Rippon, who oddly earned a season's best despite crashing on his lutz, was 7th. Richard Dornbush wasn't able to cast out his demons...he's 13th.

Finally, special shout out to Christopher Caluza who represents The Philippines. Really nice skate, had the crowd with him, looked like he was having a good time out there. I know Tim David (@TimDavid_Sk8) is very happy!

Full results here.

Best of the Best

Simply, my favorite performances from this seasons Grand Prix:

Skate America







Skate Canada







Cup of China



NHK Trophy













Trophée Eric Bompard







Rostelecom Cup

The Sushi is Good

What's Happening?

Can some explain to me what's happening in this video? Compulsory steps?

3rd Times the Charm

Third time as an Olympic Bid City did the trick as PyeongChang, South Korea has been awarded the 2018 Olympic Games.

The bid effort, spearheaded by 2010 Olympic Champ Kim Yu-Na, was met by thunderous applause across Korea with the new theme, New Horizons, leading the way.

PyeongChang has one of the strongest public backings for an Olympic Games in recent history.

As the announcement came, the cheers in the room was counterbalanced by the respectful sullenness of those delegations not being awarded [I recall the pit in my stomach when Chicago missed out].

"I am lost for words about now," Kim Yu-Na told the Associated Press. "I can't say anything right now. I'm really excited. It will be very good to compete in my own country." A clue that, with this announcement, Kim may remain eligible for some time to come?

Kim, a pivotal part of the Pyeongchang candidacy, gave a final emotional pitch to the IOC en route to the first round win for the city.

President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea put it most elegantly and simply, "We worked hard, we'll make you proud."

Really?

Figure Skater Tessa Virtue gets a chance to chat with Prince William about her Olympic Win...but he'd rather talk about American Lindsey Vonn.

Awkward...

Oh Ryan...

Some people just have "it."

Anyone who is a fan of Ryan Bradley knows exactly what I'm talking about. Today, after a Senior career that spanned an impressive 12 years, Ryan Bradley has made the decision to leave competitive skating. In true Ryan Bradley style he tweeted "Buh Byyyyyyyyeeee!!!"

International Competition was usually not his cup of tea (and honestly who cares)but he will undoubtedly be remembered for delighting audiences on the National Stage. How nice, that in his final season as competitive skater, all those laughs and smiles were rewarded with a National Title.

I hope (God I hope!) that Ryan continues to entertain crowds as he always has and I wish him luck in anything he does.

How about a trip down memory lane...

Best of the 2011 Worlds

Just decided to throw up my fave performances from last week.

What were your faves?

The Nagano Rundown

My Deep Dive continues this week with a rehash of what went down at Japanese Nationals.

Let's start with the ladies and the fairly triumphant return of Mao Asada. She won the short program in Nagano and posted her best free skate this season by far. While she only captured the silver, it was the perfect medal at the perfect time for her. She seemed content...solid skate under her belt but not forced to be the perfectionist...having come to Nagano and completed her goal, two solid skates,; something she had yet accomplished this season. Kanako Murakami has been turning heads all season and she continued to do so by turning in a near perfect free skate to nab the bronze. That effort bumped her ahead of Akiko Suzuki...and likely bumped her on to the World Team. Top honors, however, went to Miki Ando who, if you ask me, turned in her finest performance ever. There was a definite sense of sophistication in that program that has been absent all season. Everything seemed under perfect control and she paid great attention to detail. If she turns in a program like that in Tokyo in March, she'll be tough to beat. Trivia: When did Miki Ando last win the World Title? Answer: 2007 in Tokyo. They do say "What goes around comes around..."



For the men, going in most people would have put the good money on a Nobunari Oda/Daisuke Takahashi showdown for gold...I would have. Instead, Takahashi had to get scrappy and fight his way back onto the podium. He pulled off a barn-burner, opening with that "almost trademarked" quad flip and never looking back. He was so in tune with the choreography it was ridiculous. His effort paid off with a bronze medal. The other co-favorite coming in, Nobunari Oda, did not skate his best. Despite taking the polar plunge on his opening quad and second axel, he managed to keep ahead of Takahashi and grab the silver. In the end, it was Kozuka who stepped away from the dust with a gold medal around his neck. Like Oda, he wasn't perfect, taking a spill on a quad and a salchow, but what he did do was delivered so well it made up for the other mistakes. Takahiko has shown a tendency to skate better in the front half of the season as opposed to the back half. Perhaps this win at Japanese Nationals will propel him forward to success in the upcoming ISU Championships.



Tomorrow: A rundown of the upcoming European Championships

Win, Lose, or Draw in Beijing

Some big winners in Beijing...some big losers in Beijing at the Grand Prix Final...and a few draws. See all the results here.

Winners
First and foremost, Alissa Czisny! She said after her free skate in Beijing "I almost feel like this is a new beginning for me. The past is gone - over and done with. I almost feel like I am a new skater." If it goes from almost to a certainty, none of the other girls have a chance at U.S. Nationals. We've all known for a few years now that if Alissa Czisny can put together a short program and a free skate in the same competition, she'd be formidable. Well...point proven! In Ice Dance and Pairs it was kind of what most people expected. Davis and White have virtually no competition currently with Virtue and Moir out so it was no shock to see them win. I think Savchenko and Szolkowy have refound their thunder (it was totally stolen by Shen and Zhao last season) and are back on track (despite a rather cheesy free skate to Pink Panther). Patrick Chan clobbered the field with a strong skate and huge component scores. Patrick has consistently brought in the biggest PCS score this season and now armed with a quad is the toughest guy to beat. The only skater currently in Patrick's neighborhood on PCS is Daisuke Takahashi and he was seven points back. Food for thought...

Losers
Oh Rachael Flatt. It was so unfortunate to see her come undone like that. Let's not even talk about the scores (I'll leave that to Phil Hersh). A lingering leg injury is partially to blame but she was dealing with that same issue at Skate America and skated much better there. This performance has many doubting her chances in Greensboro: "I'm going to go home, regroup and start over from scratch on a few things. I need to use the time to build up my confidence in my training again." The only other big loss I think was dealt to Miki Ando who finished ahead of Rachael in 5th. After a disappointing short program (a new short program), she rallied to win the free skate...and didn't move up a single spot despite out skating everyone ahead of her. She came in the favorite and leaves empty handed...and behind two of what promises to be tough competitors at Japanese Nationals; Akiko Suzuki and Kanako Murakami (who took the bronze).

Draws
I think Pang and Tong had a draw here. Coming off of last season where they won the Olympic Silver Medal and World Title, I expected them to push Savchenko and Szolkowy a bit more here. They didn't skate bad...but where not up to the level they need to be to keep pace ahead of the Germans. A draw for Carolina Kostner who continues to be awarded for easy programs...but not a win this time. And Nobunari Oda who has a Patrick Chan problem this season (the monkey on his back). He has to figure out how to 1) get all the way through his free skate clean and 2) figure out how to raise his PCS score. He's skating good...he needs to find a way to skate great.

And how about this video...definitely affected both of their performances. A nasty crash between Kozuka and Takahashi in practice. Kozuka had to fight for the bronze and Daisuke ended up off the podium (his doctor advised he withdraw but he chose to compete anyway).



Also, take a look at the winning performances!









Bonus Video! Check out American Richard Dornbush kill it in the Junior Men's Free Skate!

What's so great about figure skating?

MySkatingMall.com has begun a new project for the skating community! We are putting together a video called "What's so great about figure skating?" and we are looking for skaters, parents, and fans to take short videos of each other answering the question, "What's so great about figure skating?".

This video will serve as a great encouragement to skaters and parents as well as telling potential new skaters what is so great about our sport! A short introductory video as well as directions for uploading videos to the MySkatingMall.com YouTube channel can be found at http://www.myskatingmall.com/skating. Everyone who submits a video will be entered into a drawing to win a $100 gift certificate for any item on MySkatingMall.com or from our Partner Stores. Videos will be accepted until 12/31/10.

So, what are you waiting for...start uploading today!

Skate Canada Afterglow

So Skate Canada is in the books. I have to apologize for not posting flashes. I was actually intending on watching most of Skate Canada on demand but ended up watching most of it as it happened. The flip side I was at work and couldn't watch, blog, work simultaneously. However...you can read what I thought about the action by checking my Twitter profile.

What were the Skate Canada highlights for me? Let's start with the amazing performance given by Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch in the free skate. I'm always down for a good Les Mis program and they rocked it. You didn't even care about the bobble Kirsten had on her Salchow because any memory of it was erased by the two fantastic lifts they did at the end to pull the crowd out of their seats. They won the free skate and took the silver overall but the were desparately close to catching the Russians Iliushechkina and Maisuradze for the Gold. Kirsten were joined on the podium by their young teammates Lawrence and Swiegers.The Americans Castelli and Shnapir were so close to medaling after a fantastic short but the free got the better of them. I do love their Avatar free skate though.

I also loved the unpredictability of the dance event. This season it seems like nothing is a done deal and all the teams can't put it on cruise control like they did before. Kerr and Kerr of Great Britain have a lovely free skate and were on their way to victory when they had a slip on lift and it didn't really go as planned. That one mistake was enough to let Crone and Poirier of Canada slip past them for the win with a Beatle's number choreographed by Christopher Dean (so in the end...I guess Great Britain still wins out!). The Canadians are really putting pressure on these Grand Prix Podiums. Paul and Islam, another Canadian Team at this event, was actually 2nd in the free dance and finished 4th overall. It was the Americans Chock and Zuerlein that snuck in for the bronze after after a fun dance set to Cabaret.

The ladies event was so unpredictable start to finish. I actually pegged the Junior World Silver Medalist Agnes Zawadzki to win it because I though at the least she would be consistent and that would win the day. Well Agnes was hot and saucy in the short but nerves got the better of her in the free and she fell to 6th. The podium was quite a roller coaster. Amelie Lacoste 5th after the short, managed the bronze. She didn't have a great free but it was good enough on the day. Johnny Weir tweeted several times that we should all pray for Ksenia. The prayer must have worked because she worked her Evita free skate enough to earn the silver medal. She seemed happy with her skate and Johnny tweeted he almost cried his lashes off! The Gold Medal, however, went for the second time in her career, to Alissa Czisny (video below). She came back from 4th in the short to take it all with a gorgeous program set to George Winston's Winter and Spring. Are good things ahead this season for Alissa?

Finally the men. I took some heat on Twitter for defending the judges at this event. Patrick Chan had a terrible short program and many felt he should have been further back than what he was (4th). In the free skate, he came roaring back (quad included) to take the title. Nobunari fans in particular harped on the "Canadian Bonus" Patrick got in the short. I will be the first to call out any point padding. I think Kevin Reynolds (who hit two quads in the short!) and Amelie Lacoste in particular were beneficiaries of some point bumps at this event. Chan, I felt was marked fairly. His tech score wasn't padded at all, the protocols show that, and he is one of (if not the) the best skaters as far as the component score. A better way of looking at it is like this...so you think Patrick was over scored in the short, so you think he should have been ranked behind Alban Preaubert, Javier Fernandez, Yasuharu Nanri? Even on a bad Patrick Chan day, you have to admit his skating skills are certainly going to keep him ranked ahead of those skaters. On the flip side, you can say Adam Rippon and Nobunari Oda weren't given the component scores they deserved. But as good as they are (and I love both of them!), Patrick is still far superior to them in the component mark. In the end...rationally...I think the judges did get it right and there were just some mad fans. I think Nobunari's silver and Adam's bronze were right. Should I prepare for more egg dodging?

You can see the full results here.

I can report that I am 0 for 8 on accurate podium predictions. I have to improve this. I did do better on my fantasy picks though. Tied for 197th (better than the 365th last week) and have improved to being ranked 175th overall. I just keep telling myself slow and steady... Cup of China next week!

Pic of the Week

He wowed the socks off me at the recent Japan Open competition and he may just do the same at Skate Canada!

Adam Rippon is armed with some confidence this season. After winning the Four Continents Cup last season (video below), he went on to finish in the top six at World's. Now armed with two solid programs he's looking to make his mark this season.

It won't be easy...he faces stiff competition at this event from both Nobunari Oda and Patrick Chan who plans to add the quad into his program this season.

This is the first season where Adam is looked at as one of the top men in the world and a certifiable contender. On Adam's Official Website he says his "number one goal for this season is show maturity, consistent, clean, and passionate skating every time I go out to compete." I hope he achieves his goal!