aftershocks
Banned Member
- Messages
- 17,317
That's a generalization, based on H/D's problems at Nat'ls one year, at Helsinki Worlds, and now in the final moments of their fd at the Olympics. Winning the bronze was not assured as they were not ahead by many points in the sd. With the Shibs skating first and receiving a very good score, it placed added pressure on H/D. It's inaccurate to say H/D 'rarely' skate clean competitions. That's just as bad and unfair as the negative generalizations often said in petty fashion about the Shibs.
Plus, it's easy for you to say that H/D skating in the team event wouldn't have made any difference for them getting a jump start and working through their nerves. It certainly helped steady the Shibs. We have no way of knowing what would have happened with H/D skating in one of the team event segments. Just as we can only speculate how it made Madi & Zach feel to be left out of the team event altogether. In fact, fans were all in favor of seeing the Shibs skate the team event sd, and Hub/Don the fd. That scenario had been mentioned quite often. It was a difficult choice for USFS because of the constraints placed on the team selection process.
I think that's a very silly comment. D/L and their training camp, backed up with all kinds of expert help has revolutionized the ice dance discipline. If not for D/L's creativity and advanced training methods, P/C would not be where they are today and H/D certainly would not have improved to the point where they won U.S. Nats and are contending for World and Olympic podium! In fact, an important reason why V/M solidified their decision to come back is because of what they witnessed D/L and Haguenauer achieve for P/C. Watch the promo feature on P/C where they are dancing in the streets of Montreal, and M-F speaks about them being the best young ice dancers she'd ever worked with, and P/C speak about how much they learned immediately in Montreal.
Haguenauer did not decide to move P/C and his other teams to work with D/L in Montreal for nothing. Watch the French language promo documentary on V/M's process and the reason why they selected Roxanne. It's chock full of insights and details about the great back-up team and amazing organization that D/L have put together for their skaters.
M-F did not allow H/D to feel sorry for themselves after Helsinki. She got them on track right away. It's a very positive, forward thinking training camp, clearly. I detect some sad feelings from P/C, and H/D must be devastated, but I don't think either team will be wallowing in those feelings for very long.
The Shibs did not single-handedly get the team medal. Their performances were surely important, but it was the Knierims stepping up after Nathan didn't do as well as expected that made a huge difference. Then, it was the Shibs' solid performance in the sd (despite the tech panel), along with Bradie's solid performance that kept Team USA in good stead for the second round. And it was Adam and Mirai stepping up big time in the second round that made a huge difference.
With the singles scoring better than anticipated, the Shibs sealed the deal with not as much pressure on them. And they got the opportunity to rock their latest fd changes. They seemed a bit tight in the team sd, but were seemingly more relaxed in the team fd. Since U.S. fed could only select one ice dance team, they went with the Shibs which reinforced US fed's confidence in them, and likely bolstered the Shibs' slightly shaken confidence as well. It was good practice to get out there and experience the nitpicking from the tech panel. No amount of tech panel nitpicking could throw off the Shibs. It only made them stronger.
Last edited:
It does look very skanky, but I suppose that's because they literally threw themselves into portraying the story of Roxanne.
I think Kavita and Joti show promise but I don't know if Marina Zoueva can help them move up. Who knows, maybe D/L's style will be out of favor in this next circle and another school takes over.
"Are they the next Virtue & Moir ? Oops, no". I'm hoping it's not a GB case when no one was able to follow the impact of Torvill&Dean, because Canada is a nation of skating in this case though.
. It's like the perfect little condensed version of what makes it different and what is about. Also it was easier to explain the ballroom references as a way to justify it 
.
