New U.S. Pair: Rockne Brubaker & Lindsay Davis

[kwanfan1818]

I think P/T will be expected to out there on crutches to guarantee two spots for Sochi.

I love this new pairing. They both have an althletic, bold style, and he won't look like he's skating with a doll.

[caseyedwards]

Good luck to them on a lasting partnership

[LilJen]

Wishing them all the best and MANY years of injury-free success!!

[Zemgirl]

I'm glad Brubaker finally found a partner, and that she's relatively close to him in age. Can't wait for the obligatory fluffs & stories about him competing against his fiancee.

Geez, maybe we should let them skate together for a while and get accustomed to each other before we start labeling them as the Saviours of Sochi.

If they end up beating out D/C for an Olympic spot, I suspect a lot of people here will consider them the Saviors of Sochi, regardless of other results

[stjeaskategym]

Geez, maybe we should let them skate together for a while and get accustomed to each other before we start labeling them as the Saviours of Sochi.

This board has hyped Yankowskas/Reagan up for a year. Time to hype someone else

[~tapdancer~]

With S/K, Z/B, and now Rockne and Lindsey, I'm really getting excited for US pairs again! Congrats to the new team!

[ioana]

This board has hyped Yankowskas/Reagan up for a year. Time to hype someone else

No Rockne pairing would ever be as good as Gracie/Rockne. So what that she's the same height and has no pairs experience? She's done as a singles skater until the next 7-triple performance, anyway

[DarrellH]

With S/K, Z/B, and now Rockne and Lindsey, I'm really getting excited for US pairs again! Congrats to the new team!

Next year's Nationals should be very inreresting. Many well hyped and well placed teams, all competing for 2 (probably) sets of olympic berths.

[Sasha'sSpins]

Davis & Brubaker. It has a nice ring to it. All my best to them for a very successful partnership!

[PDilemma]

With S/K, Z/B, and now Rockne and Lindsey, I'm really getting excited for US pairs again! Congrats to the new team!

I want to be excited. But we still have the post-worlds break-up season to get through.

[julieann]

Geez, maybe we should let them skate together for a while and get accustomed to each other before we start labeling them as the Saviours of Sochi.

Agree, will people never learn?

If they end up beating out D/C for an Olympic spot, I suspect a lot of people here will consider them the Saviors of Sochi, regardless of other results

Now D/C are chopped liver who will be beat by a team who is together less than 10 months before nationals?

This board has hyped Yankowskas/Reagan up for a year. Time to hype someone else

Yeah, look how that turned out.

Hopefully all the US pairs teams will still be togther after worlds.

[SLIVER]

Lyndsay Davis i.e the partner of Ladwig??? Please say it isnt so

[Zemgirl]

Now D/C are chopped liver who will be beat by a team who is together less than 10 months before nationals?

Note that my sentence began with an "if". But it's hardly unprecedented for a new pair to progress and achieve pretty good results quickly. Leaving aside superstar pairings like Volosozhar/Trankov - Gerboldt/Enbert were 4th at Euros about a year after pairing up, and Berton/Hotarek were 11th at their first Worlds, also about a year after they began skating together. Both Gerboldt and Berton were new to pairs when the partnerships began. James/Cipres were 6th at Euros about a year and a half after their partnership began, and in this case it was Morgan who had no pairs experience. So I don't think it's far-fetched to believe that two experienced pairs skaters who have had some success can make a go of it.

[julieann]

Note that my sentence began with an "if". But it's hardly unprecedented for a new pair to progress and achieve pretty good results quickly. Leaving aside superstar pairings like Volosozhar/Trankov - Gerboldt/Enbert were 4th at Euros about a year after pairing up, and Berton/Hotarek were 11th at their first Worlds, also about a year after they began skating together. Both Gerboldt and Berton were new to pairs when the partnerships began. James/Cipres were 6th at Euros about a year and a half after their partnership began, and in this case it was Morgan who had no pairs experience. So I don't think it's far-fetched to believe that two experienced pairs skaters who have had some success can make a go of it.

It's not unprecedented but the teams you mentioned are hardly the rule. The depth in pairs in France and Italy is very shallow. In 2011 B/H won nationals because there were no other competitors. G/E did do well out of the gate but the only reason they even got to go to Euros was because V/T couldn't go, they really didn't earn it by placing at nationals.

She has done ok with her former partners and he (who turns 27 shortly) has done well with his; but he’s also been without a partner for a year.

D/B can do very well their first year but as of right now I'm not putting them ahead of D/C just yet.

[Zemgirl]

It's not unprecedented but the teams you mentioned are hardly the rule. The depth in pairs in France and Italy is very shallow. In 2011 B/H won nationals because there were no other competitors. G/E did do well out of the gate but the only reason they even got to go to Euros was because V/T couldn't go, they really didn't earn it by placing at nationals.

What does French/Italian Nationals have to do with it? Did I discuss their Nationals results as some huge achievement? I pointed out that all three pairs were able to do fairly well at the international level despite having had limited time together, and in the case of half of each partnership, limited pairs experience (not to mention that Vanessa James had only been doing pairs for three years when she and Cipres teamed up). And that's without bringing up V/T, because obviously D/B are not at that level, nor will they ever be.

You'd think the US pairs field is at the level of Russian or Canadian Nationals. Seriously, it's not an impossible goal to make the international team after a year together considering their experience and the level of competition they can expect there. In fact, Denney/Coughlin won US Nats after less than a year together, and it's not because they are the heirs to Shen and Zhao.

[julieann]

What does French/Italian Nationals have to do with it? Did I discuss their Nationals results as some huge achievement? I pointed out that all three pairs were able to do fairly well at the international level despite having had limited time together, and in the case of half of each partnership, limited pairs experience (not to mention that Vanessa James had only been doing pairs for three years when she and Cipres teamed up). And that's without bringing up V/T, because obviously D/B are not at that level, nor will they ever be.

You'd think the US pairs field is at the level of Russian or Canadian Nationals. Seriously, it's not an impossible goal to make the international team after a year together considering their experience and the level of competition they can expect there. In fact, Denney/Coughlin won US Nats after less than a year together, and it's not because they are the heirs to Shen and Zhao.

Denney has been 11th and 8th at her previous worlds (not to mention going to the Olympics) and Coughlin was 6th and 8th. Now together they are rather impressive; and so are C/S and S/K. To say D/B can beat really impressive teams in their first year may be true but they have only been together for tryouts and no one has seen an element much less a program.

Don't forget even with McLaughlin, Brubaker failed to make the Olympic team coming in 5th at nationals; so to think D/B are the sweethearts of the US team is a tad premature. I would at least wait for a summer competition.

[LilJen]

Lyndsay Davis i.e the partner of Ladwig??? Please say it isnt so

They announced their split the week after US Nationals. So, Lindsay Davis, partnerless until now.

Hope they can get some GP assignments to give them some good experience in the fall prior to nationals.

[Whitneyskates]

Good for them, can't wait to see them compete

Side note: Am I the only who thinks that Lindsay looks like Paula Abdul?

[Zemgirl]

Denney has been 11th and 8th at her previous worlds (not to mention going to the Olympics) and Coughlin was 6th and 8th. Now together they are rather impressive; and so are C/S and S/K. To say D/B can beat really impressive teams in their first year may be true but they have only been together for tryouts and no one has seen an element much less a program.

Again - I started what I wrote with an "if", which hardly refers to a certainty or even a high likelihood. It was a jokingly made statement - though I don't see it as an impossibility for a two-time US Champion and his new partner to defeat D/B, C/S and S/K, who are not exactly in the league of Savchenko/Szolkowy, or Duhamel/Radford, or Bazarova/Larionov. I'd save the really impressive description for pairs that actually are really impressive, and let's be honest: with no Worlds medal in more than a decade, none of the recent or current US pairs qualify. If the US field was the equivalent of the Russian or even the Canadian one, then I would say that there was basically no chance for a new pair with that level of prior accomplishments. But that's not the case, and there are a number of pairs who can qualify for the Olympic team out of 2014 Nationals. Perhaps there will be a somewhat surprising result, as was the case in 2010, when Evora/Ladwig qualified and were the top US pair in the Olympics.

I wish them all the best. I hope each of them has finally found the right partner.

[julieann]

Again - I started what I wrote with an "if", which hardly refers to a certainty or even a high likelihood. It was a jokingly made statement

I see, well as long as you were joking...

At any rate, I'm glad that he found a partner and she found one that she likes.