U.S. Men 2012-13 news, updates & general discussion

[Triple Butz]

I'm glad Jeremy is ditching the back to back 3As. It's a nice idea, but a lot to ask of any skater, especially in the second half of a freeskate.

I'm also glad he ditched the circular quad entrance. I can't recall anyone having luck doing a quad toe from that type of entry. It was a disaster for Todd Eldredge.

[aftershocks]

What does everyone think about the chances of Evan competing at Nationals? I haven't read anything that indicates he isn't going to be there. It would sure make the event more exciting.

I see that Evan's name is still on the list of senior men qualifiers. There is no indication that he has withdrawn.

[modern_muslimah]

I was doing my predictions and was shocked that he was on the list. I'd forgotten about him. He is definitely a question mark in Nationals. He could be the spoiler or he could have a comeback a la Johnny. Who knows?

[aftershocks]

Ha ha, I just wish Johnny were going to be doing the senior men commentating for Icenetwork again this year, with Evan competing on the ice.

Unfortunately, we have Michael Weiss, Tonia K, and Mike Mancuso to look forward to re commentating duties. Whatever excitement there is in the arena will unfortunately be blunted by the inevitable blah PC commentary. NBC commentators will definitely NOT be any great shakes either, as usual.

Johnny was not perfect, but he was witty, informative, entertaining, and generally unbiased except for his fondness for guys' eyebrows and colorful sequined outfits. He was also funny, and fearless (as a Honey Badger). Moreover, I think Johnny framed last year's event so beautifully and succinctly at the end of Jeremy Abbott's free skate. Jeremy even tweeted how much he appreciated Johnny's commentary.

[maatTheViking]

I think it would be problematic for Johnny to commentate if he is still serious about competing next year. There will be a lot of talk about the Olympic outlook.

[aftershocks]

Johnny did a great job covering U.S. senior men's event last January when it was already known that he was planning a comeback and therefore would likely be competing in 2013 against the guys he was covering in the broadcast booth. It didn't take anything away from Johnny's wonderful insights and witty perspective.

But yeah, I wouldn't expect Johnny to be commentating at this year's Nationals since his plan was to be competing. It's just that now Johnny won't be competing, he did such a great job last year, it'd be fun to see him commentating with Evan competing.

Sure, it's still up in the air whether or not Johnny will be making another comeback next season to try and make the Olympic team. He seems to have the intention of doing so. The question is what will it take for him to be as fit as possible and to have the high level technique he will need to be competitive?

It seems to me that Johnny took off two years with not a lot of consistent training, and I think that makes it doubly hard to come back. For example, look at Ilia Kulik who is about 4 years older than Johnny. Ilia did not stop training hard (of course he was quite young when he retired from eligible competition) and even though Ilia is older than Johnny now, I think Ilia's jumps look stronger than Johnny's, i.e. at recent Japan SOI. That could be because Johnny is apparently skating with some nagging injuries (after trying to make a comeback). However, I think it is more that Ilia has toured and trained consistently since he stopped competing around age 20.

[Sylvia]

Relevant article excerpts from the Jan. 11th SC of Boston send-off show thread posted in GSD:

[Harrison] Choate also skated a clean short. Miner started his free skate by landing a quad.

... [Stephen] Carriere plans to include a quad toe jump in both his short program and free skate, and he landed a quad in his Carmen short at the send-off, albeit with a slightly two-footed landing.

"Going into the U.S. championships, I'm trying to give the best performance-wise, get that [quad] toe in there, in the short and long."

Carriere said his goal at the beginning of the season was to do either two or three quads, "so I can say that I'm doing the same thing as the big boys are doing."

"We're working on his quad, which is getting consistent," his coach, Suna Murray, said. "And working on his head, which is in a good place. He's doing beautiful quads every day."

"If I can improve on both performance and placement from last year, I would be happy with that," Carriere said. "And if that means that I'm top five instead of top six, then that's great."

Relevant excerpt from the latest Inside Edge blog, published today on IN: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/artic...&vkey=ice_news

There's an incredible contingent of senior men at the World Arena in Colorado Springs right now. At the "Fire and Ice" event on Jan. 11, Max Aaron stole the night with a nearly clean short program, just putting down his hand on the quad Salchow-triple toe combination. He did a flawless triple Axel and a huge triple Lutz out of footwork.

Josh Farris skated a perfectly clean, gorgeous and expressive short program filled with interesting transitions, including a lunge into his triple flip and brackets right into the triple Axel.

Armin Mahbanoozadeh also did his short program, and, after landing a fabulous quad toe, had what can only be described as an unusual mistake on his triple Axel. He finished his program and got off the ice laughing, throwing his arms up in a puzzled and amused shrug.

[aftershocks]

Re-posting the Billy Bush interview with Evan L and Missy Franklin at Golden Globes, from the Evan update thread, Sylvia. Thanks!

http://watch.accesshollywood.com/vid.../2092231321001

Apparently, Evan is training hard and likely still planning to compete at Nationals, especially since he hasn't yet withdrawn.


BTW, re U.S. Men, does anyone know why Emanuel Savary did not compete at Sectionals? Is he injured? Also, is Philip Warren still being coached by Tammy Gambill? I didn't notice her with him at Sectionals (but maybe she was traveling with Ricky D at the time).

[misskarne]

It seems to me that Johnny took off two years with not a lot of consistent training, and I think that makes it doubly hard to come back. For example, look at Ilia Kulik who is about 4 years older than Johnny. Ilia did not stop training hard (of course he was quite young when he retired from eligible competition) and even though Ilia is older than Johnny now, I think Ilia's jumps look stronger than Johnny's, i.e. at recent Japan SOI. That could be because Johnny is apparently skating with some nagging injuries (after trying to make a comeback). However, I think it is more that Ilia has toured and trained consistently since he stopped competing around age 20.

#iliaforsochi #geezerfest2014



*

Thanks as usual, Sylvia! Sounds like everyone is raring to go!

Anyone know what the "unusual" mistake on Armin's 3A was? It sounds funny.

[aftershocks]

#iliaforsochi #geezerfest2014

...

Oh no! I think Ilia got it right the first time, "I've got my Olympic gold medal. What's the point of continuing to compete eligibly?" Still, he continued to train and he looks good right now -- still obviously not in his former competitive shape. His jumps are still strong, but he's probably selective about which jumps he performs. I mentioned Ilia to point out Johnny has a lot of work ahead of him if he still intends to come back (especially since he did not continue to train hard during his two years off), but I'm sure Johnny already knows that.

[pinky166]

^^ I think they meant to say he usually lands it, so to miss it was an unusual mistake from him.

[Sylvia]

BTW, re U.S. Men, does anyone know why Emanuel Savary did not compete at Sectionals? Is he injured? Also, is Philip Warren still being coached by Tammy Gambill? I didn't notice her with him at Sectionals.

Savary was injured most of this season. I was glad to read he skated in the Univ. of Delaware send-off show this past weekend: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...=1#post3791703

Gambill was with Dornbush in Russia during Sectionals. She will coach 3 Senior men (Dornbush, Warren, Rabbitt) and 2 Junior men (Zhou, Omori) at Nationals, plus several Novice ladies.

[nylynnr]

It seems to me that Johnny took off two years with not a lot of consistent training, and I think that makes it doubly hard to come back. For example, look at Ilia Kulik who is about 4 years older than Johnny. Ilia did not stop training hard (of course he was quite young when he retired from eligible competition) and even though Ilia is older than Johnny now, I think Ilia's jumps look stronger than Johnny's, i.e. at recent Japan SOI. That could be because Johnny is apparently skating with some nagging injuries (after trying to make a comeback). However, I think it is more that Ilia has toured and trained consistently since he stopped competing around age 20.

It might also be that Ilia Kulik, although he could be an inconsistent competitor, had some of the best jumps in history as an eligible.

[aftershocks]

^^ Quite true nylynnr, I thought of that too re Ilia. He has always had great technique and superb jumps. But Johnny was no slouch either with jumps at his best, albeit his loop was his weakest most disliked jump. However, I think the main thing is consistent training and no falling off re technique as the biggest factors in maintaining strength and ability on jumps, which for Johnny might be a factor.


Thanks Sylvia, I thought that might be the case re Tammy traveling with Ricky (already added ETA to my original post).

Wow, kudos and best of luck to Tammy and her crew.

Too bad about Savary's injuries. I wondered why they had him listed at Sectionals and called out his name when he wasn't going to be there. Is it because he never officially withdrew?

[aftershocks]

Seriously, how can one find the results of the regional and sectional competitions, i.e., actual placements. I know these competitions are lower level and not highly scrutinized or covered. On icenetwork, they barely even mentioned the scores, and didn't list placements at the end either. If senior men's regional and sectional results were posted in this thread, I missed it.

I was also wondering why Keegan Messing who has done well at Nationals and at senior B international events, did not receive a bye to Nationals. Did he not place high enough at Nationals last year?

[nylynnr]

Seriously, how can one find the results of the regional and sectional competitions, i.e., actual placements. I know these competitions are lower level and not highly scrutinized or covered. On icenetwork, they barely even mentioned the scores, and didn't list placements at the end either. If senior men's regional and sectional results were posted in this thread, I missed it.

All the results and scores, and protocols, are posted on icenetwork. Go to the home page, on the top, select events and results, and you will get a list. Click on the title of whatever regional or sectional competition it is you want to check. The standings pop up, and then, click on the plus sign (+) for the protocols.

[aftershocks]

^^ Thanks. I figured it should be available on IceNetwork, but it's often difficult to find links (even when they are on a webpage you are looking at ), and even harder sometimes to figure how to go about getting to the right webpage.

[Sylvia]

Too bad about Savary's injuries. I wondered why they had him listed at Sectionals and called out his name when he wasn't going to be there. Is it because he never officially withdrew?

Yes.

Seriously, how can one find the results of the regional and sectional competitions, i.e., actual placements.

They are rather hard to find on IN. Links were posted in the U.S. Regional and Sectional competition threads in Kiss and Cry when the competitions were going on this past fall, and I've also compiled direct results links in my blog: http://unseenskaters.wordpress.com/regionals/ (9 Regionals) and http://unseenskaters.wordpress.com/nationals/ (scroll down for the 3 Sectionals results links posted on the Nationals page).

I was also wondering why Keegan Messing who has done well at Nationals and at senior B international events, did not receive a bye to Nationals. Did he not place high enough at Nationals last year?

Correct. Top 5 Seniors receive byes and Messing was 7th at 2012 Nationals.

[aftershocks]

^^ Thanks Sylvia. The men's field is sure loaded with talent, especially with a couple of very talented juniors moving up this year and the returning veteran seniors. There is such a depth of talent. It will be hard to make top ten even. Perhaps top 15 might look something like this, but not necessarily in this order.

Abbott
Miner
Dornbush
Farris
Aaron
Messing
Armin
Rippon
Brown
Razzano
Carriere
Mroz
Choate
Cassar
Warren

Of course, Campbell, Hochstein, Johnson, Brewster, and Rabbitt are no slouches either. Indeed Johnson scored higher than Mroz at Sectionals so Johnson might make top 15 and Mroz might not. An exciting men's division, even without Evan and Johnny.

[BittyBug]

Savary was injured most of this season. I was glad to read he skated in the Univ. of Delaware send-off show this past weekend: http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...=1#post3791703

Fantastic news. I hope he can stay healthy and have a great showing next season. Savary has such a wonderful presence on the ice - he looks like he was born to skate. Is he still training with Frank Carroll?