U.S. Ice Dance 2021-22 season news & updates

[BittyBug]

In fairness, CPom dropped it in the TES - their PCS was 5th I believe, so the judges do still like them despite the appearance of a possible dumping.

 

[Theatregirl1122]

I am not surprised that they ultimately did not choose W/C for 4CC even if W/C wanted to go. Jr. Worlds. Jr. Worlds is a big priority for USFSA for JGP spots whereas 4CC is not important.

I am a bit surprised that no one is being kept back, although I guess W/C sort of are.

 

[georgiana08]

I am a bit surprised that no one is being kept back, although I guess W/C sort of are.

Yeah, I'd love to know the thought process of holding C/J back from 4CC, but not Gr/P.

I know IAM is taking a lot of precaution for their Olympic teams, but considering they all train together it seems like a big risk to not protect the Olympic first alternates. If someone at IAM unknowingly contracts YKW and exposes all of their training mates it could be a disaster.

 

[Stephanie]

Yeah, I'd love to know the thought process of holding C/J back from 4CC, but not Gr/P.

I know IAM is taking a lot of precaution for their Olympic teams, but considering they all train together it seems like a big risk to not protect the Olympic first alternates. If someone at IAM unknowingly contracts YKW and exposes all of their training mates it could be a disaster.

My guess is that for pairs one of the entries is recovering from ykw, which is not the case for dance

 

[litenkyckling]

My guess is that for pairs one of the entries is recovering from ykw, which is not the case for dance

after this week though, who knows!

 

[Dobre]

Oh! I am surprised that they chose Ling & Wein to go on the team, but I am happy for them. And also relieved. L&W's SB score this season is 19.69 above Neset & Markelov's.

 

[Dobre]

2) By politics, I mean that Christina is not able to go to the Olympics. Optics wise, USFS do not want to have an Olympic alternate that was 7th at Nationals.

USFS has invested years of opportunities for experience in Carreira & Ponomarenko. Optics-wise, I think having them finish 7th at Nationals probably wasn't what USFS was hoping for.

It seems like every young team comes up against this moment sooner or later. A really rough Nationals with a super disappointing result.

The key in the long run, IMO, is for the team to find the solution while staying together.

 

[VGThuy]

Who gets to say that they want to split the ice dance team event? H/D or C/B? I guess H/D are ranked higher since they beat C/B in their last two international head-to-heads even if C/B may have scored higher at their second GP than H/D did and just won Nationals.

 

[Karen-W]

Who gets to say that they want to split the ice dance team event? H/D or C/B? I guess H/D are ranked higher since they beat C/B in their last two international head-to-heads even if C/B may have scored higher at their second GP than H/D did and just won Nationals.

Ultimately, the USFS gets to decide. Each team puts their preference down on the TE form, but the selection criteria doc clearly states the USFS doesn't have to adhere to the top ranked skater/team's preference if they don't think it is in the USA's best interests, strategically, for a medal in the TE.

 

[NinjaTurtles]

I would think H/D gets the nod when it comes to Dance choice, given the Shibs got to decide over H/D despite finishing second at Nationals that year.

I know C/B said they wanted to split, but did H/D publicly say that as well? I wonder if finishing second at Nationals would change that opinion…

 

[yeslek]

I would think H/D gets the nod when it comes to Dance choice, given the Shibs got to decide over H/D despite finishing second at Nationals that year.

I know C/B said they wanted to split, but did H/D publicly say that as well? I wonder if finishing second at Nationals would change that opinion…

I think H/D and C/B are a lot closer this time though than the shibs were compared to these two teams last time. (They were 7 and 9 at 2017 worlds vs the shibs in 3rd).

 

[Debbie S]

I think H/D and C/B are a lot closer this time though than the shibs were compared to these two teams last time. (They were 7 and 9 at 2017 worlds vs the shibs in 3rd).

Yes, and the regular selection criteria state that this season's results will be weighted more than last season's results. C/B did outscore H/D overall on the GP series (obviously, the GPF would have provided a more decisive data point) and they won Nats. Over the past quad, the two teams have traded major titles/medals...Nats, 4CC, Worlds. I imagine USFS considers the teams to be just about equal in terms of scoring/placement potential and BOW, and I would think they'd rank C/B as "Team 1" since they just won Nats.

Ultimately, I don't think it matters. As Karen posted above, USFS makes the final decision and given how Nats went down, I assume C/B will skate the RD and H/D the FD.

 

[shuilee]

I do worry that H&D will get nothing once again, sadly. Even though they're World bronze medalist. The rules are completely subjective. There's nothing in the official rules that say a World medalist has higher priority to choose over other skaters. And we know USFS loves to promote 2 ladies and 2 men.

Also, Mariah's 3/3 is so unreliable that USFS will probably say Alysa will do SP and Mariah will do LP. Meaning only 1 Ice Dance team will compete.

 

[aka_gerbil]

I do worry that H&D will get nothing once again, sadly. Even though they're World bronze medalist. The rules are completely subjective. There's nothing in the official rules that say a World medalist has higher priority to choose over other skaters. And we know USFS loves to promote 2 ladies and 2 men.

World silver medalists.

I worry the same thing—that they’ll get shut out of the team event again because of USFS (and NBC) preferring ladies to dance.

 

[Karen-W]

I don't think they'll do that to the Dance teams, not especially if my theory about why Jason made the team over Ilia proves correct and it's because Nathan isn't doing the TE so they need Jason for the SP.

 

[Debbie S]

In terms of ladies, the placement potential of any of the U.S. ladies is pretty much the same, whether our entrant has a 3-3 or not. Barring disaster, Russia and Japan will go 1-2 and of the other countries likely to make the finals...Canada, China, Italy....none of their ladies are likely to beat the U.S. lady (assuming no disasters).

C/B said that they've discussed the TE with H/D and it sounded like they were on the same page. I can't see why USFS wouldn't follow their wishes.

 

[VGThuy]

Not gonna lie, it’d be funny if one of the teams did a heel turn and became a “villain” and said they’d be more than happy to do both and USFS takes them up on that offer to the surprise and shock of the other team after their agreement. Only funny in an imaginary dramatic trashy sort of way. Not funny in real life where real people are affected.

 

[Karen-W]

Not gonna lie, it’d be funny if one of the teams did a heel turn and became a “villain” and said they’d be more than happy to do both and USFS takes them up on that offer to the surprise and shock of the other team after their agreement. Only funny in an imaginary dramatic trashy sort of way. Not funny in real life where real people are affected.

LOL! I totally understand your thought process on this. I'd 100% be there for that sort of drama! I don't expect that to happen but, honestly, the USFS would totally take them up on the offer, if one of the teams did that.

 

[Karen-W]

Interesting... Watching TSL's US Nationals review and Dave Lease just dropped that he's heard rumors Anthony Ponomarenko has been dealing with some sort of fracture (ankle maybe?) and will need surgery post-season.

 

[Rukia]

Interesting... Watching TSL's US Nationals review and Dave Lease just dropped that he's heard rumors Anthony Ponomarenko has been dealing with some sort of fracture (ankle maybe?) and will need surgery post-season.

If that's the case they should have just withdrawn too? Everyone else was doing it anyway, and it's not like they were trying for an Olympic spot.

 

[VGThuy]

If that's the case they should have just withdrawn too? Everyone else was doing it anyway, and it's not like they were trying for an Olympic spot.

Maybe he was trying to get funding and secure next year’s assignments, and practices were probably going well enough that they thought they could at least hold on to their fifth place standing.

 

[bcash]

Somerville has beautiful lines and very good basics! Didn’t know he’s coached by Tanith Belbin.

 

[litenkyckling]

Interesting... Watching TSL's US Nationals review and Dave Lease just dropped that he's heard rumors Anthony Ponomarenko has been dealing with some sort of fracture (ankle maybe?) and will need surgery post-season.

I feel like this would explain a lot with regards to his skating this season and his strength and speed during lifts. They need the 4CC points though - which only adds an extra 2-3 weeks into their season.

 

[Karen-W]

I feel like this would explain a lot with regards to his skating this season and his strength and speed during lifts. They need the 4CC points though - which only adds an extra 2-3 weeks into their season.

Right, and with the current surge, non-critical surgeries are getting postponed this month and probably into next month as well, so it's not like he's going to be able to get this taken care of until probably March at the earliest.

 

[Dobre]

Somerville has beautiful lines and very good basics! Didn’t know he’s coached by Tanith Belbin.

I didn't see the TV broadcast version of the event, but Mom said that Tanith said she could not take any credit for this team.

It seems odd to me that so many people are talking about Tanith/Charlie/Greg as the coaches for this rink, when the Wheaton athletes were working with Ilin before & one assumes they followed him to the new rink. (Also Greg was there for a year so they probably worked with him before).

She said that Charlie did the choreography for (at least one?) of Bratti & Somerville's programs though.

 

[yeslek]

I didn't see the TV broadcast version of the event, but Mom said that Tanith said she could not take any credit for this team.

It seems odd to me that so many people are talking about Tanith/Charlie/Greg as the coaches for this rink, when the Wheaton athletes were working with Ilin before & one assumes they followed him to the new rink. (Also Greg was there for a year so they probably worked with him before).

She said that Charlie did the choreography for (at least one?) of Bratti & Somerville's programs though.

She is their coach at Michigan ice dance academy along with Charlie and Greg.

 

[RoseRed]

Right, and with the current surge, non-critical surgeries are getting postponed this month and probably into next month as well, so it's not like he's going to be able to get this taken care of until probably March at the earliest.

That's a good point.

 

[NinjaTurtles]

Not gonna lie, it’d be funny if one of the teams did a heel turn and became a “villain” and said they’d be more than happy to do both and USFS takes them up on that offer to the surprise and shock of the other team after their agreement. Only funny in an imaginary dramatic trashy sort of way. Not funny in real life where real people are affected.

I honestly won’t be 100% shocked if H/D push to skate both parts of the TE. It’s an emotional time and they didn’t get to end their career with another National Championship…more time in front of an Olympic audience may help heal the wound. Shutting C/B out also helps them secure momentum leading into the individual event and the fight for silver/bronze.

 

[VGThuy]

I honestly won’t be 100% shocked if H/D push to skate both parts of the TE. It’s an emotional time and they didn’t get to end their career with another National Championship…more time in front of an Olympic audience may help heal the wound. Shutting C/B out also helps them secure momentum leading into the individual event and the fight for silver/bronze.

Although I can see that, I don't believe Hubbell/Donohue would be that callous. It's not quite a Shibs situation where they weren't proclaiming to be "friends" with their rivals and things were tense between them and the other two teams in the build up to 2018 so it wasn't a surprise (and the fact that the Shibs hadn't lost a full international competition to either team and had won both their GPs and was on every podium either on top or behind V/M and/or P/C ever since 2016 4CC made it less of a surprise). Here, H/D and C/B have openly said they were friends and C/B openly stated they would choose to split if given the choice...unless that was C/B's smart strategic way of "shaming" H/D to split the TE because they knew all the Olympic team members would put down their preferences to split or not to split and H/D would be given priority due to ranking....but I'm not ready to go into that unfounded but fun/trashy conspiracy theory.

 

[Debbie S]

USFS doesn't make competitive assignments to "heal the wound" and they probably don't care a whole lot that H/D were disappointed not to win Nats (H/D don't have a 'right' to the title, this is sport ). And it's a big assumption that H/D would even be the ones given the choice, since we don't know who was ranked #1 (and given that C/B won Nats and have a higher world ranking, they may very well be the ones given the choice).