Emanuel Sandhu - Well It had to Happen.... | Golden Skate

Emanuel Sandhu - Well It had to Happen....

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
it'll be interesting to see if he does in fact skate in January...
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
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Mar 28, 2005
Stick a fork in him. He's done. I would have said that atleast 6 months ago though.

The mens field at the World level has probably never been deeper, and in a field including the likes of Joubert, Lambiel, Oda, Takahashi, Verner, Lysacek, Weir, Buttle, and now maybe Plushenko returning, he is getting buried. He is getting older, and would be 29 by the time of the next Olympics. His skating is getting noticeable weaker and reduced severely in quality, not only his consistency problems. The field is Canada is becoming incredibly deep, and he would be unlikely to even make it to Worlds this coming year. His scores are dropping significantly, even taking into account the mistakes.

All in all, the writing is on the wall.
 
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JonnyCoop

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Well, assuming he keeps up his training AND assuming he skates in January (2 rather big "ifs", granted) this might not be a bad idea. Perhaps, having skipped the GP, and therefore not having at least one disappointing result under his belt by then might help his confidence level (which has gotta be pretty shaky) and he might end up doing quite well.

As to this "slipping ranking" observation, yes, that for the most part is true, BUT under CoP it's rather a meaningless statistic. If you skate well, they more or less gotta give you the points regardless of what you've done or haven't done the last few years. Under the old system, once the judges pretty much gave you chance after chance to prove yourself and you didn't, they'd say forget it, hold you down, and start boosting others. Now at least if you skate well they gotta at least put you in contention whether they want to or not. If he can skate up to his capability, who knows what can happen??

I do, however, question Eman's ability to skate well in Vancouver, his hometown. Based on his past, I can see him getting so hyped up about skating well that just the opposite happens. Yes, he did skate very well in the LP at the 2001 Worlds, BUT that was after a less than great Qualifying and SP, so by the time he went out for the LP, he was so far down he had nothing to lose, which seems to be one of the situations when he tends to skate better.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
He had/has the passion for performing but not for competing, imo. Too many outside interest not unlike Weir.

Are we sure he wanted out of the comps or was it the Canadian Federation?

Joe
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
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Mar 28, 2005
Well, assuming he keeps up his training AND assuming he skates in January (2 rather big "ifs", granted) this might not be a bad idea.

It was obvious watching his skating last year, including his vastly "reduced in quality" spins, footwork, speed, and general sloppiness that he had almost stopped training altogether last year, even while competing. So I am not sure what you mean by keeps up training, perhaps you mean resume training again.

As to this "slipping ranking" observation, yes, that for the most part is true, BUT under CoP it's rather a meaningless statistic. If you skate well, they more or less gotta give you the points regardless of what you've done or haven't done the last few years. Under the old system, once the judges pretty much gave you chance after chance to prove yourself and you didn't, they'd say forget it, hold you down, and start boosting others. Now at least if you skate well they gotta at least put you in contention whether they want to or not.

I dont agree at all here. Reputation and status counts alot under the new system, especialy when it comes to the PCS. Sandhu's pattern last year of his PCS reflect both his diminishing stature, and the diminishing quality of his skating outside of his competition jump consistency problems. He used to receive PCS in the same range as the next top ones, after Plushenko. By seasons end last year though he was instead receiving PCS in the same range as Christopher Mabee.

The judges dont have to give a skater anything, even under the new system. Everything is subjective, except for the specific values assumed to jumps. Even levels assigned to non-jump elements, and the stinginess of downgrading jumps is open to some leighway. Most of all though, the GOE scores and PCS are especialy subjective. In Sandhu's case the quality of his skating is so diminished they wouldnt even be holding him down to keep him out of contention in todays very deep mens field anyway. His spins, footwork, speed, and overall polish and sharpness of his skating went skyrocketing downwards last year. Even if he had landed all the jumps.

A sign of where Sandhu now stands in relation to some of the top guns in the judges eyes at this point would his his short program at Worlds. His only mistake was falling on a triple axel. Lambiel also fell on the triple axel but he ended up botching his combination to a simple triple toe-double toe, which is not only worth 7.7 less then the quad toe-triple he had planned, but is worth a substantial 4.2 less then the triple flip-triple toe Sandhu and many others had done. Lambiel still beat Sandhu in the short program by almost 4 full points, with the same fall, and a jump combination worth 4.2 less points.

I do, however, question Eman's ability to skate well in Vancouver, his hometown.

Why are we talking about Sandhu and Vancouver anyway here. :rofl: If the unlikely event Sandhu chooses to even stay in competing until then, if he qualifies for the next Olympics for Canada, I have a large bridge up for sale.
 
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layman

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
This is old news that was reported as far back as May.

As for Sandhu, I think that if he can find his motivation, he can come back strong. After all, he has left the sport before (between the 1998 and 2002 Olympics) and has come back, so he can do it again if he wants to.

I think has he has a better shot of earning a spot in Vancouver for the Olympics than say, Dubreil and Lauzon or Sasha Cohen.
 

fml99

Rinkside
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
E-man as an ice dancer?

Perhaps Emanuel would do better as an ice dancer? He could focus on the dance elements, footwork, and choreography which he is so good at and avoid getting penalized for inconsistent jumps.
 

layman

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Perhaps Emanuel would do better as an ice dancer? He could focus on the dance elements, footwork, and choreography which he is so good at and avoid getting penalized for inconsistent jumps.

He may be inconsistent with the jumps but when he does land them, they are things of striking beauty.

I would take Eman's big, beautiful, airy jumps (with their great balletic height, his stretched and extended limbs, his pointed feet, the run-out and flow in his landings....) any day over jumps that barely get off the ice (Lambiel, Oda, Takahashi...) or sloppy, muscled, forced jumps (Plushenko, Joubert, Verner...).

Watching Eman jump is like watching a bird in flight (natural, effortless, beautiful).

With that said, I agree he would also make a great Ice Dancer.
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Emanuel would make a fine ice dancer, except for one issue. He'd have to be able to get along with a partner. I'm just guessing that might be a problem. It would also be frustrating for a partner if he wasn't willing to put in the necessary training time.
 

Hsuhs

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
I'm perfectly fine with Eman's decision. The guy doesn't want to skate, nobody can make him to, and it's OK.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I would take Eman's big, beautiful, airy jumps (with their great balletic height, his stretched and extended limbs, his pointed feet, the run-out and flow in his landings....) any day...
Thank you for saying that. I couldn't quite put my finger on what was so different about Emanuel's jumps, but that's it. Like a ballet dancer (or Michael Jordan) he has learned how to give the illusion of hanging in midair when he jumps. :rock:

(I think it has to do with using your extremities continually to redistribute your weight about the parabolic arc traced by your center of gravity (?) )
 
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layman

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
If you like big, beautiful, airy jumps, take a look at the youtube links to Rohene Ward posted on the Skate Detroit thread. Rohene has the same kind of technique in the jumps as Eman.
 

GoldMedalist

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Jul 1, 2007
He may be inconsistent with the jumps but when he does land them, they are things of striking beauty.

I would take Eman's big, beautiful, airy jumps (with their great balletic height, his stretched and extended limbs, his pointed feet, the run-out and flow in his landings....) any day over jumps that barely get off the ice (Lambiel, Oda, Takahashi...) or sloppy, muscled, forced jumps (Plushenko, Joubert, Verner...).

Watching Eman jump is like watching a bird in flight (natural, effortless, beautiful).

With that said, I agree he would also make a great Ice Dancer.

Takahashi gets a lot of height in his jumps. *puzzled*

Plushenko's jumps are some of the best ever. He completes the rotation in the air before he lands and comes out of them with great arm positions.

Anyway...yeah, Eman does have great jumps when they are working for him. He'd be good in shows when all he has to do is 3Toe and 3Sal.
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 28, 2005
This is old news that was reported as far back as May.

As for Sandhu, I think that if he can find his motivation, he can come back strong. After all, he has left the sport before (between the 1998 and 2002 Olympics) and has come back, so he can do it again if he wants to.

I think has he has a better shot of earning a spot in Vancouver for the Olympics than say, Dubreil and Lauzon or Sasha Cohen.

Sandhu never left the sport between the 98 and 2002 Olympics. Even if he had though he wasnt 27 years old, having dropped to 3rd ranked in Canada, and 16th in the World, with a bunch of much younger skaters including a couple medalists from Junior Worlds coming up as well.

A better shot at the Olympics then Dubreuil and Lauzon or Cohen? I completely disagree. Dubreuil/Lauzon would have an easy time qualifying for the next Olympics. The only team that would be a threat to them in Canada even by 2010 is Moir/Virtue, so even if Canada only had 2 entires they would be a virtual lock. In the hugely unlikely event there was yet another team that was a threat to them in Canada, Canada sure as heck would have qualified 3 entries in that case anyway.

As for Cohen she could be in tough to make the next Olympic team should she return, but her chances are a heck of alot better then Sandhu. Sandhu has lost 3 times in a row now to Chris Mabee, who is alot younger, and is now getting comparable PCS from both National and International judges, while Sandhu's skating seems to be getting worse and sloppier by the minute, while Mabee's is only getting better. Buttle has not even come close to losing to Sandhu at Nationals for years now. Canada is unlikely to well enough to qualify 3 men for Vancouver, and Sandhu sure as heck would not be in the top 2. I have not even mentioned Shawn Sawyer, Patrick Chan, and Kevin Reynolds coming up. Chan and Reynolds were medalists at World juniors. Sawyer's future is in doubt sadly since he cant seem to land a triple axel cleanly; but the CSA would have no incentive in holding down promising youngsters like Chan and Reynolds in favor of a 27 year old skater getting worse and no longer top 10 in the World.

Cohen would have 200% better chance to beat 3 out of 5 of Meissner, Wagner, Zhang, Nagasu, Flatt, then Sandhu would have of beating 4 out of 5 of Buttle, Mabee, Sawyer, Chan, and Reynolds. I am not saying Cohen would find it easy, but her chances would be far better then Sandhu's which would be close to nothing.
 

slutskayafan21

Match Penalty
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Mar 28, 2005
I would take Eman's big, beautiful, airy jumps (with their great balletic height, his stretched and extended limbs, his pointed feet, the run-out and flow in his landings....) any day over jumps that barely get off the ice (Lambiel, Oda, Takahashi...) or sloppy, muscled, forced jumps (Plushenko, Joubert, Verner...).

Lambiel is my favorite skater, but I admit some of his jumps are not that great. They still the GOE though when he lands them cleanly, so the judges must not find them too bad. I am fine if his GOE seems high to me on his jumps sometimes, as it compensates for the extra GOE on all of his competitors he should be getting but the system doesnt allow for on his spins, and to a lesser extent his footwork (atleast while Plushenko is out). Barely getting off the ice is I find an exagerration though, and his quads are outstanding, better then any of the quads Sandhu has ever done.

I find Oda has superb jumps, much superior to Sandhu's. Barely getting off the ice is a phrase that never comes to mind for me in Oda's jumps.

Takahashi? I agree like Lambiel his jumps are not the greatest, but like Lambiel he seems to get the GOE when he lands them cleanly anyway so the judges probably dont share your view.

Plushenko is one of the best, if not the best jumper in the history of mens figure skating. Sandhu would probably die for his jumps, even on his best day.

Joubert has some of the best and most powerful jumps in mens figure skating this decade as well. The rest of his skating is vastly overrated and overmarked, but the jumps are exceptional when he lands them.

Verner also has wonderful jumps. Superior to Sandhu easily as well.

I find Sandhu's jumps, when he lands them, pretty big but far from the biggest. Lack speed going in big time, slow telegraphed entries. Nice form in the air, very nice rotations in the air. Jerky stiff landings, forcing the free leg through, rather then stable and soft landings. Yeah I dont rate his jumps as high as you, and not superior to most of these.
 

GoldMedalist

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Jul 1, 2007
Someone should put his 2006 World Championship performances on Youtube. Those are supposed to be VERY good and I've not seen them.
 
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