Patrick Uber Thread - road to Sochi

[ali_dorate]

Congratulations Patrick for defending the title.
I'm happy he showed us some gorgeous jumps such as 4-3 in FS and 3A in SP. But I'm just worried about 3A in the second half of FS. I think he has a very low success rate in doing 3A in the second half throughout his career. As his rivals are getting more consistent in doing two quads in FS, putting 3A in the second half seems very dangerous for Patrick. But again I'm not sure it's good for him to change the choreography as he won't go to 4CC where he can test some changes.
I hope the practices will give him the confidence.

[luckiest1]

I was surprised to see him double the axle last night. He landed a gorgeous triple on warm up. But regardless, great quads! First one only a few feet from where I was sitting. It was quite a nerve wracking event...not sure how I will survive Worlds live. Lol. Might need to take something to calm me down.

[Jammers]

Chan needs to sort out his coaching situation as soon as possible. Having a dance instructor as his coach is not working. She doesn't know anything about jumps and it's been showing all year long. With the other men upping their jump elements Patrick cannot continue to be this sloppy. He had his year of experimentation but now he needs to think about sochi.

[Skating678]

It was probably his best long program of the season so far, which is good.

The past 2 seasons, Patrick has always had his best skate at Nationals. But he needs to skate clean at Worlds - especially given the level of competition this year. Hopefully he will continue to improve (as he has already) and skate the lights out in London as opposed to peaking too early in January. There is still 2 months to go.

[sequins]

I'm kinda in a weird way glad that he didn't skate clean and am holding out hope he will do it at Worlds. Yet in another way I think about all the Canadian men who won worlds the year before the Oly's and couldn't win Gold and I wonder...but of course I want him to win everything. I just don't know if it's in the cards this year and I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing. He needs to think long and hard after this season, and make the changes he needs to win and I think he will. I don't think Chan is afraid of change or failure and I think he will own whatever happens form here. LMAO at Rod Black acting like Chan might lose. That man he drives me to drink.

[clarie]

Rod Black is still living in the "Elvis" era . I got the feeling Traci just wanted him to shut his gob.

[Marco]

The 3flip-3sal combo really hasn't materialized too many times this season, has it. Perhaps swapping it with the 3loop would make it easier for him to land such a big combo. He really should also consider swapping the axel with the first 3lutz - although it almost seemed too rush after the 2 quads.

[Proustable]

The 3flip-3sal combo really hasn't materialized too many times this season, has it. Perhaps swapping it with the 3loop would make it easier for him to land such a big combo. He really should also consider swapping the axel with the first 3lutz - although it almost seemed too rush after the 2 quads.

The loop is his second weakest triple (after the axel).

[VarBar]

Patrick definitely has a gorgeous set of programs this season and I absolutely loved his interpretation of La Boheme at Nationals. Not to mention his incredible flow and speed across the ice and precision of edges, even the mark of 11 from all the judges wouldn't be too high to reward him for his out of this world skating skills. Such a shame he doesn't seem to be able to get his act together. No, I don't think we can blame Kathy Johnson for Patrick's hard fall on the triple flip or his popped axel in the free.

Does anyone know why he was losing levels on spins and the circular footwork in the free skate? I am not questioning the tech panel's calls but just trying to understand what he was doing wrong there.

[Marco]

I don't have the protocls with me, but on which spins did he lose levels?

[Japanfan]

Chan needs to sort out his coaching situation as soon as possible. Having a dance instructor as his coach is not working. She doesn't know anything about jumps and it's been showing all year long. With the other men upping their jump elements Patrick cannot continue to be this sloppy. He had his year of experimentation but now he needs to think about sochi.

ITA. However, his coach is also the mother of the girl he's fallen in love with. That could make it for difficult for Patrick to see the writing on the wall, especially if the girlfriend defends the mothers. And while a mature and responsible coach might advise his/her skater to make a change, I don't know if Kathy is on such coach.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

[VarBar]

LMAO at Rod Black acting like Chan might lose. That man he drives me to drink.

Here is Kevin's reply to Rod Black:

“I know I skated well but Patrick’s a world champion for a reason. His skating is second to none, really, though I was able to beat him in the technical elements.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/figure...-title-dimanno

Tracy is a martyr for having to put up with Black at every competition. Unless she knows he is actually joking and making a big drama out of nothing on purpose.

I don't have the protocls with me, but on which spins did he lose levels?

CCSp3 and FSSp3. Patrick actually never got level 4 for the CCSpin, if memory serves, but the judges did give him level 4 for the FSSpin at Cup of Russia this season. Fernandez's spins were all level 4's at the Grand Prix Final. Is Javier a better spinner than Patrick?

Some thoughts from Chan after Nationals. It seems he is not going to the 4CC, he wants to see Jeffrey and David and ask them to rework his programs a little.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_pmFSzxpwc

[luckiest1]

You could tell that the axle & the flip/sal were bugging him, because as soon as his gala practice started, he came out and did about 5 of each of them before working on his exhibition program. I think the funniest thing was watching Sandhu try to teach him how to dance gangnam style. For such a gorgeous, graceful skater, he really can't dance.

He skated the Chrstopher Dean hat program at gala and I think this was the best I've seen him skate it.

I have to agree that the coaching situation probably needs to be looked at. He just hasn't had the confidence he should have this year, in his jumps. He can do them on practice but in the heat of competition you can see he isn't as comfortable as he used to be. Thank god for the two quads in the free, they were beautiful! I woke up this morning humming La Boheme.

[professordeb]

I found it funny too watching Sandhu try to teach Patrick the opening moves since Mr. Chan was late to practice hahaha! Patrick trying to do the 360 circle that is kind of a light jump back and forth between your feet looked very wooden. He just couldn't seem to get it and I had to laugh.

[bardtoob]

ITA. However, his coach is also the mother of the girl he's fallen in love with. That could make it for difficult for Patrick to see the writing on the wall, especially if the girlfriend defends the mothers. And while a mature and responsible coach might advise his/her skater to make a change, I don't know if Kathy is on such coach.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

Maybe Kurt could convince Patrick to use the Lochte excuse to ditch the girlfriend

[luckiest1]

Heard a Stars On Ice commercial on my way to work this morning, and they were using Patrick's name as the draw (first time ever on SOI!) Was very, very nice to start my day.

[puglover]

Michael Slipchuk was there for the gala practice and he seemed to be kind of having a monitoring session with Patrick - at least Patrick skated back to him frequently for input. It was a very relaxed environment. Patrick seemed to have little or not trouble landing the jumps and did land a number of triple axels. It seemed like there was discussion the local of that axel location in the long program. All in all Patrick looked great - happy, laughing and enjoying the other skaters. I agree with Professor Deb - Emanuel was the star of the gala finale - he had all of the moves. Judging by how rough the practice was it was astonishing how well the end product turned out. Nice to meet you and sit with you Professor Deb.

[professordeb]

Michael Slipchuk was there for the gala practice and he seemed to be kind of having a monitoring session with Patrick - at least Patrick skated back to him frequently for input. It was a very relaxed environment. Patrick seemed to have little or not trouble landing the jumps and did land a number of triple axels. It seemed like there was discussion the local of that axel location in the long program. All in all Patrick looked great - happy, laughing and enjoying the other skaters. I agree with Professor Deb - Emanuel was the star of the gala finale - he had all of the moves. Judging by how rough the practice was it was astonishing how well the end product turned out. Nice to meet you and sit with you Professor Deb.

Slipchuk was there during the gala practice??? Guess I was too busy watching Sandhu -- man that guy can move. Looking foward to seeing the gala on tv here at home and how the senior dancers fitted in cause they weren't at the practice. Patrick is what I call "my lovable dork" because as many times as he seems to be mature, he then goes and does something silly. Gotta love a guy who is willing to let others see his silly side (guess that's why I married the guy I did )

It was fun meeting and getting to sit with you too! Hoping it might happen again.

[spikydurian]

Wow.. sounds like those of you (profdeb, puglover, luckiest1 etc.) who met up had fun! Are you all meeting up again at Worlds?

Can't seem to find Patrick's Ex on you-tube? Anyone any idea where I can find it?

First one only a few feet from where I was sitting. It was quite a nerve wracking event...not sure how I will survive Worlds live. Lol. Might need to take something to calm me down.

How did you manage to survive that 'stress' luckiest1. Even watching these moments from the comp screen makes my heart pound wildly.

[professordeb]

Wow.. sounds like those of you (profdeb, puglover, luckiest1 etc.) who met up had fun! Are you all meeting up again at Worlds?

Can't seem to find Patrick's Ex on you-tube? Anyone any idea where I can find it?


How did you manage to survive that 'stress' luckiest1. Even watching these moments from the comp screen makes my heart pound wildly.

Can't afford to go to worlds, much as I would love to considering I only live an hour away from London aka the fake one Upon trying to get a 3-pack, the seat would be in just about the very last row in the rink AND I wouldn't be able to see the ones I want. Therefore, I am staying home where it is warm, comfortable, all the food I want/need, can imbribe alcohol should I choose AND see things up close and personal. What I will miss is meeting FSUers.