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

[feraina]

Some interesting information about Osgood-Schlatter disease. It's from Wikipedia so take it for what it's worth -
...
It sounds like Nathan's next challenge will be to find a balance in training to avoid injury as he grows.

Oh, shoot. It sounds exactly like what Sui (as in Sui/Han) has, and he's even younger than Sui! It's possible that neither of them will be healthy enough to train/compete again until their bone structure completely matures. Yikes!

At least it doesn't say Nathan has O-S "disease" though, just says he has O-S "pain"... Fingers crossed for Nathan!

[kwanfan1818]

At Skate America, Armin Mahbanoozadeh has made the Worlds TES minimums for both the SP and FS. Douglas Razzano has made the Worlds minimum in the FS and the Euros/4C's minimum in the SP.

[pinky166]

At Skate America, Armin Mahbanoozadeh has made the Worlds TES minimums for both the SP and FS. Douglas Razzano has made the Worlds minimum in the FS and the Euros/4C's minimum in the SP.

Happy Armin met the minimums, but his overall score/placement here, while by no means disastorous, are unlikely to help his case for making the World team or getting GP assignments next season, which is sad, because we know he can do much better. Hope his ankle is ok!

[johndockley92]

Is David Wang competing this year?

How about TJ Yang?? Anyone heard from him lately?

[Sylvia]

Neither David Wang (J11 at 2012 Nationals) nor Kevin Shum (N4), both of whom are listed in the ISP, have competed this year due to injury and neither registered for Regionals.

At Skate America, ... Douglas Razzano has made the Worlds minimum in the FS and the Euros/4C's minimum in the SP.

Razzano has another shot to make the Worlds SP minimum at the Ice Challenge Senior B next month.

Already met the TES minimums for Worlds (SP 35, FS 65) & Four Continents (SP 25, FS 45) in both segments last season or so far this season:
Abbott, Rippon, Miner, Mahbanoozadeh, Carriere, Messing, Aaron, Dornbush, Brown, Farris.
Four Continents minimums met in both segments/Worlds minimum met in 1 segment this season or last: Hochstein and Mroz (SP only); Razzano and Dolensky (FS only).
Four Continents minimums met in both segments this season or last: Cassar, Choate, Warren, Weir.

ETA: Lysacek reportedly is hoping/planning to compete in a Senior B before Nationals to achieve the minimum scores for Worlds.

ETA #2: Nathan Chen met the Worlds minimum scores at his JGP in Austria, but he won't be age-eligible for Four Continents/Worlds until the 2014-15 season.

[Sk8tn]

Weir too from Finlandia (69.03 SP, 132.39 FP).

[pinky166]

Things looking really good for Dornbush at this point. Max Aaron too. I could definitely see both those two on the podium at Nationals this season, and wouldn't be surprised if Johnny and/or Jeremy were not on it.

[aftershocks]

At this point, I think Max Aaron (despite the fact he can land quads) is weak in presentation skills. Also, IMO, the guys who have more international experience, who are able to compete well at Nationals and who also do well on the GP have a better chance of placing in the top two at Nats, including Evan, if he's able to come back; Jeremy (if he recovers from poor SA performance); Johnny; Richard; Ross; Adam. There are only 3 podium spots, so a lot of guys won't be on it.

[merrywidow]

Things looking really good for Dornbush at this point. Max Aaron too. I could definitely see both those two on the podium at Nationals this season, and wouldn't be surprised if Johnny and/or Jeremy were not on it.

ITA pinky166. It's time to look at the boys with the most consistent quads. As to Abbott, Lysacek, & Weir, as much as I hate to say this, they are the past & I don't see them making the World team in 2013.

[Sylvia]

Replying to your post in this relevant thread:

Looking forward to seeing Ross & Adam in their GP events & pulling for Max & Stephen this weekend at Coup de Nice.

Max Aaron and Keegan Messing are competing at Cup of Nice this week; Ross Miner is the lone U.S. guy at Skate Canada.

BTW, there are 4 podium spots at Nationals (pewter medal for 4th place).

[Jammers]

Only one US man at Skate Canada? That doesn't make sense.

[nlyoung]

Luck of the draw. There was only one Canadian ice dance team at Skate America (W/P), with no Canadians in any other discipline...

[pinky166]

At this point, I think Max Aaron (despite the fact he can land quads) is weak in presentation skills. Also, IMO, the guys who have more international experience, who are able to compete well at Nationals and who also do well on the GP have a better chance of placing in the top two at Nats, including Evan, if he's able to come back; Jeremy (if he recovers from poor SA performance); Johnny; Richard; Ross; Adam. There are only 3 podium spots, so a lot of guys won't be on it.

From a personal standpoint, I agree about Aaron, but his PCS at US Classic and the Nationals SP last season were certainly strong enough to keep him in the mix for medals and world team spots, and his technical abilities help make up for this a little bit already. I do hope that USFS sticks to marking the skaters PCS-wise similarly to how they are internationally though, as someone like Razzano really shouldn't be placing top 5 at Nationals considering his international scores, and while Armin's improved a lot and could still be on the team if he hits his quads and skates really well, the across the board 6 range PCS he got at SA should not go unnoticed. I'll be curious to see how Dornbush is marked at his GP events, PCS at Finlandia were high, but last season on the GP, they generally weren't that strong, so it will be interesting to see if they vary.

[jlai]

Anyone heard how Nathan Chen is doing?

[kwanfan1818]

Luck of the draw. There was only one Canadian ice dance team at Skate America (W/P), with no Canadians in any other discipline...

Dube/Wolfe were in the original Pairs selection, but they withdrew due to injury. Moore-Towers/Moskovitch, Duhamel/Radford, and Lawrence/Swiegers already had two initial selections, and the only other Senior Pairs who had the GP minimum score split. (The rest remained Juniors.) They didn't send anyone to any Fall Senior International to make the score with a provisional assignment -- the only teams they sent any Fall Senior B were L/S and M-T/M to Salt Lake City, who already had them -- and they put their third Pairs spot back in the pool.

Same for Ladies, except they sent Osmond and Lacoste to separate Senior B's.

I'm somewhat surprised they didn't push for a second for Rogozine at Skate America or another GP, but he's been inconsistent.

[SkateFan66]

Weir too from Finlandia (69.03 SP, 132.39 FP).

Weir's TES scores at Filandia were 31.94 for the SP, and 56.65 for the FS; therefore, he has earned the minimum TES for 4CC but not for the WC.

[Sylvia]

I've edited my post #145 above to add Weir's name to the 4CC minimums list.

[NadineWhite]

After seeing Armin skate live at Skate America this past weekend I have to say he's a threat to Jeremy Abbott for gold, at least silver if he hits.

His Led Zeppelin SP is my favorite of all the men, not just the Americans, but internationally as well.

[aftershocks]

^^ I love Armin too and I will be happy to see him have a great season. However, there are lots of challengers for the American crown, and so all Armin can try to do is his best and let the chips fall where they may without putting extra pressure on himself. That's obviously what all the competitors know they need to do: work on what is in front of them rather than worrying about what others are doing.

I will try to enjoy all the skaters I love w/o getting too attached to the idea of who might win or not (easier said than done ). Anything is possible, but if all competitors skate their absolute best, then those with greater senior international experience and so-called "reputation" will have the edge, IMO.

[dots]

Obviously a lot can change in the coming months, but what a disaster for USFSA Not one man was a able to medal at SA!



If Ross medals at SC, it would do him a world of good.

Right now both Richard and Johnny look pretty good to me. If we could grade their outings...

Richard = A

Johnny = -B

Jeremy= D

Armin= F

Razzano= -F