2017 CANADIAN NATIONALS

Re: 2017 CANADIAN NATIONALS

Postby Jonas » Sun Jan 22, 2017 5:11 pm

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...
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Re: 2017 CANADIAN NATIONALS

Postby bumphystars » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:00 am

What a weekend! Here are my comments after seeing all of the senior events.

Women:
So funny that now we have more depth and more potential in the ladies than the men but after this weekend that simple fact can't be denied. Osmond and Daleman are definitely the class of the field, with Chartrand holding her own against them. What Kaetlyn and Gabby have that really set them apart are those crazy high, fast, strong jumps. Daleman's 3T/3T was right in front of me and I will say that not even the men could match it in quality. Something I wouldn't have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes! Also, I must comment on the leaps that Daleman has taken in the last year. Her skating is measured and mature, gone are the rushed qualities of past. With that said, this is also where Osmond holds the edge. Her long program is slightly more polished and sophisticated, and it has more complex choreography. I thought it might be a bit closer than it was but not surprised that Osmond came out on top.

Men:
The short programs were really quite dreadful. By the time Patrick came out for his there was zero energy in the building after we had sat there for two hours watching the skaters splat all over the place. Patrick seemed stiff from the start.
Because of this, we were nervous about the long program but were relieved by how awesome they were. Keegan Messing was a real highlight and set the tone, skating a program (Pink Panther) that was well suited to his Vern Taylor-esque style and really performing it for us. I would have had him above Nadeau, to be honest, who has some big tricks but not the finish in his movements. I hope he gets some more complex choreo to work with next season. The Elvis program is lots of fun and the crowd loved it but it's gimmicky.
Patrick was great, especially nice to see that he nailed the 4S and both 3A; will be interesting to see if he adds a second 4T for worlds. No question now that he needs it.
Only other note to add is about Liam Firius. He had a competition he'd love to forget; poor guy had a costume malfunction in the short with his suspenders falling off and that seemed to set the tone for the whole competition. Hard not to feel for him because, as Jonas says, he is a lovely skater.

Dance:
No one will be surprised to hear that I thought Tessa and Scott were amazing but, really, they were Ah. Maze. Ing. They are simply oozing confidence now and their skating is stronger than ever. And it's pretty great to see how engaged they are; their reactions at the end of both programs showed that they are every bit as invested in this as they were in their journey to 2010.
I thought coming in to this competition that it would be a tight battle between W/P and G/P for silver but it wasn't really close at all. W/P, despite a shaky short dance, were actually closer to V/M than to G/P in my opinion. I have not really been a huge fan of their free program but was completely engrossed in it...gorgeous lines, stunning lifts, even an improved set of twizzles. To me, they are superior to the Shibs or C/B; will be interesting to see how they net out at worlds.

Pairs:
Most notable for me were MT/M who delivered two solid performances despite some troubles with the side by sides. It will be interesting to see how they build into next year. And if M/I ever get those side by sides out, they could be contenders.
Lastly, I have to say that while of course Megan and Eric have insane tech content, the thing I think doesn't get pointed out enough is how awesome their side by side spins are! So few teams ever get total unison on this element but they always nail it. Well done.

And, yes, Tracy Wilson. What's telling is that she was there in the booth for all of the flights for all of the events, even though they only commentate on a fraction of the skaters. Girl does her research...no wonder she sounds so authoritative.
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Re: 2017 CANADIAN NATIONALS

Postby Dragonlady » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:56 am

There were no real surprises overall, with the LP's, other than the overall splat-fest that was the Men's event, both programs. The women didn't skate as strongly in the LP's but it still ranks as the best Ladies' field in both Juniors and Seniors I've ever seen at Canadians.

In dance, I wondered if Piper and Paul would pass Weaver/Poje, who seem to have had a rough start to the season. Piper Gilles had the flu and all weekend, and their skate wasn't as sharp or crisp as at earlier events. Better here than at Worlds.

S&B have been named to the Worlds Team, and MT/M2 are going to 4CC. Otherwise the Canadian Worlds team following Nationals results.
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Re: 2017 CANADIAN NATIONALS

Postby Winnipeg » Tue Jan 24, 2017 6:09 pm

Dragonlady wrote:There were no real surprises overall, with the LP's, other than the overall splat-fest that was the Men's event, both programs. The women didn't skate as strongly in the LP's but it still ranks as the best Ladies' field in both Juniors and Seniors I've ever seen at Canadians.

In dance, I wondered if Piper and Paul would pass Weaver/Poje, who seem to have had a rough start to the season. Piper Gilles had the flu and all weekend, and their skate wasn't as sharp or crisp as at earlier events. Better here than at Worlds.

S&B have been named to the Worlds Team, and MT/M2 are going to 4CC. Otherwise the Canadian Worlds team following Nationals results.




Except for Chan's LP of course - I thought it was great.
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