Thank you, YouTube!! Stayed up after the US ladies FS:
Kaetlyn Osmond absolutely NAILED her first 3 jumping passes: height, distance, sureness of the rotation and landings. Wow! Unfortunately for her, the ladies FS is 4 minutes. She came undone in the 2nd half -- and not just the two falls; some sloppiness that I saw in the footwork. I honestly would had Gabby Daleman, who had a few minor glitches herself, win the FS here. I like that Daleman is unapologetically hungry and competitive, and I think she was really disappointed to not win the FS in the least.
Saturday night prime time: I guess there really is something about the men's FS at the Canadian Nationals being the marquee event.
First off, I hope there some YouTube clip of Keegan Messing's FS pops up somewhere. Reportedly he was dynamite.
Saw the full final group:
Liam Firus can really skate, but he can't jump. Clearly he tries to emulate, intentionally or otherwise, Patrick Chan, but without the jumps it just seems bootleg.
Nadeau: wow. 4loop!! If he did the 4toe also, I woulda had him joining Chan in Helsinki. Preferred him to both Reynolds and Nguyen and I suspect he can really pass both of them next season.
Nguyen: I see he's left David Glynn and is back training in Toronto. Some of the swag's come back since his disaster in Boston. While he had this fresh presentation when he first came onto the senior scene, he now just simply looks com
comparably slower than a lot of the other Canadian guys. It was really visible especially after he skated after Nadeau and even right before Balde.
Speaking of Balde -- I was rooting for him. I really took notice of him at '14 NHK Trophy when I thought he absolutely killed the FS. He may not quite have the edging of a Patrick Chan, but I think he's equally musical and brings a unique style to the ice. He just can't deliver the big jumps when it really counts. He is capable of a quad and that combined with his PCS, Balde should be beating Nguyen and Reynolds.
Can't deny Reynolds of his quads. That 4toe-3toe w/the bonus -- wow. I think he has a 3flip-3loop planned too. He was never ever my favorite, but you can't deny him either if and when he delivers the big jumps.
Chan -- WOW!! His basic skating skills can never ever be denied, but I was never ever fully sold on the (subjective) perception that his IN and PE were bar none the best. This changed this year with this Eric Radford piece. Watching it as well skated and jumped as it was last night -- wow.
Ad nauseum kudos to Tracy Wilson for her commentary work. Objective, informative, without the over the top, melodramatics of a Scott Hamilton or Tara Lipinski.
And the views of a snowy Ottawa. What a gorgeous city -- can't wait to visit there again!
Your thoughts...