Canadian Men 2017-18 season news & updates

Marco said:
Canadian men did not have the best placements at the Olympics but I am happy Patrick finally got his Olympic gold. Hope that broke the jinx.

Separately I am so impressed by Keegan's skating. Totally reached me, put a smile on my face with both performances.
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I think we knew Patrick was not really a contender. It was a really tough field. Keegan skated very well. I agree, he's very entertaining,
 
coppertop1 said:
I think we knew Patrick was not really a contender. It was a really tough field. Keegan skated very well. I agree, he's very entertaining,
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The interesting thing is that even with moving back to attempting just the 4toe, if Patrick skated cleanly in both the SP and FS - and considering his personal bests (neither of which had the 4sal) of 102.13 in the SP (Worlds 2017) and 203.99 (4CC 2016) - Patrick would have walked away with the Bronze Medal and possibly the Silver Medal with PCS inflation. So ultimately it wasn't that he couldn't have competed technically, it was just clear all season that his heart wasn't in the training and that translated in the lack of mental toughness when it came down to the big events. Great that he still got the Gold Medal in the team event, but Patrick was very much able to win an individual medal if he landed everything (or came close to it) without attempting the 4sal. Heck, he was in podium contention the last two Worlds as well, but just gave it away in the FS (even with all of the quadsters nipping at his heels).
 
ChiquitaBanana said:
Gave up? Went through depression and fighting his mind?
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I don't think he gave up. He had a miscue in one on his quads and a hand down on a 3A. Other than that, he skated fine. The field has changed and his time as on top is over. It wasn't about medals. He still ended his career on a positive note. It was a stressful season.
 
artsciboy said:
The interesting thing is that even with moving back to attempting just the 4toe, if Patrick skated cleanly in both the SP and FS - and considering his personal bests (neither of which had the 4sal) of 102.13 in the SP (Worlds 2017) and 203.99 (4CC 2016) - Patrick would have walked away with the Bronze Medal and possibly the Silver Medal with PCS inflation. So ultimately it wasn't that he couldn't have competed technically, it was just clear all season that his heart wasn't in the training and that translated in the lack of mental toughness when it came down to the big events. Great that he still got the Gold Medal in the team event, but Patrick was very much able to win an individual medal if he landed everything (or came close to it) without attempting the 4sal. Heck, he was in podium contention the last two Worlds as well, but just gave it away in the FS (even with all of the quadsters nipping at his heels).
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God bless for posting this. This was my anxiety this season as I heard Patrick wasn't training and decided to scale back his tech content. I never felt that all the quad guys would be able to do the planned content under Olympic pressure....which would mean a great all-around skater with fewer quads could get on the podium. He really did have a shot. Shame he passed on the opportunity.
 
ChiquitaBanana said:
Gave up? Went through depression and fighting his mind?
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I hadn't heard he was clinically diagnosed. Is that true?

I don't want to minimize legit mental health issues as they have to be taken seriously, but as for Patrick he has had issues most of his career with motivation and discipline. Past year seems to me like an extension of how he has always been.

He was asked in one interview recently (can't find link) if he would have come back knowing the quads were about to explode. IIRC, he hesitated, half smiled and gave somewhat of a non-answer that was anything but 'of course'. He did say he just wasn't interested in skating/training/competing for the last two years.

That tells me he was coming back for individual gold...and when that possibility disappeared in his head, his interest in continuing just tanked. I'm sure he'd be bummed out and anxious; most athletes suffer some sort of down period when they are confronted with transitioning to the next phase of his life. Didn't know he was diagnosed with depression...which would be akin to what Elvis went through.

Luckily he was able to hang on for a 10th national title and team gold. Those are definitely two things he'll cherish both today and when he looks back on his career.
 
I don't think Patrick will have many regrets. He has had a great run. The only title that eluded him is an individual OGM. He will definitely remembered as one of the great Canadian Men.

So, who will be the one to be leading Canadian Man. I won't say "The Next One". That's a jinx.
 
Rock2 said:
I hadn't heard he was clinically diagnosed. Is that true?
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I don't know, but I do remember when there was the Zueva interview (in Russian) and she was asked about Patrick and she said something about him struggling with motivation etc., and some sentence got mistranslated and misinterpreted by some fans as Zueva saying Patrick was legit depressed. Which she did not in fact say.

So, unless there's some interview somewhere where Patrick himself (or some close & trustworthy source) talks about him being depressed in the clinical sense of the word, I'd be cautious and not go around saying "oh he was totes going through major depression dontchaknow".
 
There was a few years of my life that I could only describe as "chasing Patrick Chan" I wanted to be in the arena when he had one of his skates that he was on, and in the program and everything just flowed. Alas that never worked out, and I finally came to realize that I'd only get Patrick on his terms and not mine. As someone who has skated where everyone has has little goals in their programs, Patrick said a great thing in a post free skate interview. He said that he made a personal goal to land his axels in the free. And he did and that was the success of the program for him. He didn't land them for the judges or the fans, he landed them for him. He doesn't owe anybody anything.
 
Patrick was ready for retirement. He has a serious girlfriend and wants to move on with his life. He agreed to continue this season because of the Team Event, and from all reports he was happy with the way it all turned out. I don’t think there is anything more to it than that. I am grateful to him for putting retirement on hold long enough to help Canada win gold. I wish him well, and I hope he gets that skating school started and passes on those gorgeous skating skills to another generation of Canadian skaters.
 
Rock2 said:
Well, we should expect some kind of IJS revamp after this season/cycle concludes. I wouldn't be surprised if a quad is allowed in the short next year.
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I wouldn't be surprised after seeing how many clean programs we had in the men's short at Junior Worlds last year. It's not the best to have PCS determine who gets left out of the final flight. On the other hand, most of those young guys moved up & this year's JGP field hasn't been as strong. It will be interesting to see what happens at Junior Worlds this season.
 
I agree with what lots of others have said here. Patrick had an amazing career and did so much for the sport and for skating in Canada. I think he will be very content with how things went at this Olympics... he didn't expect to win an individual medal and wanted to skate a reasonably clean program, which I think he delivered on. He got the bloody triple axel and skated a beautiful program.
 
screech said:
I was kind of expecting Patrick to be invited to the gala, considering he's now leaving competition, and he's left quite a legacy in the sport.

Instead, he has not been invited, yet Misha Ge (whose gala performances I enjoy) who finished in 17th place has been invited.
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Misha Ge may have placed "only" 17th -- although his choreography might have contributed to higher showings -- but his Instagram account was named a must follow, and as a multi-lingual, multi-talented ambassador for the sport, I'm not surprised he was invited to the gala.

ETA: Just realized this was a retweet from Ritti!
 
screech said:
I was kind of expecting Patrick to be invited to the gala, considering he's now leaving competition, and he's left quite a legacy in the sport.

Instead, he has not been invited, yet Misha Ge (whose gala performances I enjoy) who finished in 17th place has been invited.
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sigh......I would have loved to have seen patrick or dimtri who skated much better than he did. Misha ge is friendly and nice but it annoys me when he is chosen over skaters that were 8/9/10 places higher than him. I know he choreos stuff that's awesome...but its patricks chan's last olympics. /is stoned :scream:
 
I never saw written anywhere that he was diagnosed with depression. Burned-out might have been the better use of words here, and that's my point of view, not Patrick Chan's or nor his doctors'... ;) Lack of motivation, ready to move on with life, feeling something was missing inside, just wanting to feel happy skating... A skating career takes a huge toll on an athlete and I guess he had lost his fire inside, no more, no less. He came back for the team gold, that was stated on and on.
 
I hope he wasn't suffering from depression?!

When I said "gave up", I meant he came into this Olympics only focusing on winning gold at the Team Event and did not have any medal hopes for the individual event. With the content he had planned and ditching the 4sal, he must have known that it was only going to be sufficient for team gold and not individual medal.
 
Marco said:
I hope he wasn't suffering from depression?!

When I said "gave up", I meant he came into this Olympics only focusing on winning gold at the Team Event and did not have any medal hopes for the individual event. With the content he had planned and ditching the 4sal, he must have known that it was only going to be sufficient for team gold and not individual medal.
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I think he was having problems finding the feel of his blades on ice, was not in top shape and was not totally over-confident on his basic tricks, so would he be focussing on another quad?
 
Patrick looked great at whatever early season event he debuted his programs at...I think in early September? But by the time he showed up at Skate Canada a month and a half or so later, he was clearly struggling. The SP he pulled off there was impressive compared to the practices, but the long was more what he was practicing like. I vaguely recall he withdrew from Nebelhorn because of boots not being broken in or something like that, so maybe he just never got back on track after that.
 
Seerek said:
After watching Gogolev at Nationals this year, I'm actually going to reserve judgment on his career trajectory until a significant growth spurt.
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I'm fairly confident the puberty monster won't get him. he's been with Brian since he was 9 and I think he knows what to do to fix his jumps as Stephen grows.
 
Erin said:
Patrick looked great at whatever early season event he debuted his programs at...I think in early September? But by the time he showed up at Skate Canada a month and a half or so later, he was clearly struggling. The SP he pulled off there was impressive compared to the practices, but the long was more what he was practicing like. I vaguely recall he withdrew from Nebelhorn because of boots not being broken in or something like that, so maybe he just never got back on track after that.
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I don't think Patrick did any competitions before Skate Canada in October. Are you talking about Skate Canada's High Performance Camp? My understanding is that Patrick was not practicing well in the lead up to Skate Canada, and then he took some time off in the fall before preparing for Canadian Nationals and the Olympics.
 
Erin said:
Patrick looked great at whatever early season event he debuted his programs at...I think in early September?
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skatingguy said:
I don't think Patrick did any competitions before Skate Canada in October.
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Patrick did a small club competition in Michigan in late August 2017 and fan cams were linked both in this thread and in his fan thread.
 
skatingguy said:
I don't think Patrick did any competitions before Skate Canada in October. Are you talking about Skate Canada's High Performance Camp?
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No. I'm talking about a small club comp he did, I think in the Detroit area. I'm having trouble linking on my iPad, but the YouTube videos are linked in post 100 in this thread, page 4.
 
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