Men's LP Ice Network broadcast Sat. Nov. 7, 1:55 a.m EST

[fairly4]

all i can say is -let the battle begin for the gold medal.
all the men are fighting for it. if this keeps up the skating at the olympics will rock.

[James R]

once again that 'big name' doesn't count, it's the good performance that counts.

Um... what? Joubert was boosted in PCS. Not saying he shouldn't have won, but once again favoritism is displayed and the hypocritical nature of CoP revealed.

[Hsuhs]

Joubert was boosted in PCS. Not saying he shouldn't have won, but once again favoritism is displayed and the hypocritical nature of CoP revealed.

I thought Joubert wuzrobbed in PCS

[cassieandcheetah]

Jeremy A. One of the best programs I've seen in a long time, and he skated it well save the stumbles and falls. If he cleans it up he should win US Nats if Evan leaves out his quad. JMO

yay Joe! you're back!!! I so agree with your assessment of Jeremy's program. It's by far the best choreographed of all men's programs, and other than the missing jumps he did everything else quite well. Even though jumps weren't there, I was quite happy to see that he was so much more at ease with the program than he was at Japan Open. Hopefully he'll land those jumps...and then the OGM will be his!

[jennylovskt]

I am so happy for Brian! Congratulations to Johnny, and Michal!

I wonder what Jenny's blog will say tomorrow

Who cares?!

Michal in a class with Browning and Curry.

Wow! Isn't that a scary statement? It'll take a huge step up to be in the class with them. I don't feel that way at all.

[isk82]

I just watched Johnny's skate on youtube. I'm so happy he had such a good skate. He is such a beautiful skater. Complete. I so hope for him that he can put it all together when he needs to this year.

[lcd]

PCS marks from this event just baffle. It's old "placement" all over. Why there isn't more divergence in the marks when there is such an obvious divergence in PCS "abilities" is just ... so... demoralizing.

[Wicked]

Aww, at least Jeremy's optimistic, he said "At least I didn't peak at my first competition"

...and then dropped the f-bomb when he saw his scores

Jeremy's New Year's resolution was to stop swearing so much in the K&C.

Were my eyes deceiving me, or was Brian's costume ripped in the back?

[Joesitz]

I believe the PCS scores have the same result as the old 6.0 scores. They keep the favorites in tact when the Tech goes awry.

Michal jumped from 6th place SP to 2nd place in the LP He was less than l pt behind Brian's Tech to finish in 3rd place overall. It was Brian's PCS that got him his win.

Johnny was fine, and at his present best, but below Brian and Michal in PCS to win silver because of his SP.

Johnny is in the Final
Brian is most likely
Michal is iffy.

[jennylovskt]

Johnny is in the Final
Brian is most likely
Michal is iffy.

You mean Brian is in the Final for sure and Johnny is most likely, right?

Jeremy's New Year's resolution was to stop swearing so much in the K&C.

Were my eyes deceiving me, or was Brian's costume ripped in the back?

I love Abbott's skating, but hate his clown style at K&C.

I believe Brian's costume was designed that way. I prefer his new SP costume much more.

[Joesitz]

You mean Brian is in the Final for sure and Johnny is most likely, right?

I believe you are correct:

Brian is 9+15=24
Johnny is 11+13=24

So most likely goes to both. Not sure of tie breakers.

[schiele]

I believe you are correct:

Brian is 9+15=24
Johnny is 11+13=24

So most likely goes to both. Not sure of tie breakers.

Johnny did not come in third in Russia, he came in forth.. He's at 22 points. It not sure if he'll make it thru.
Just checking the standings here:
http://www.isuresults.com/events/gp2009/gpsmen.htm

[Buttercup]

I believe you are correct:

Brian is 9+15=24
Johnny is 11+13=24

So most likely goes to both. Not sure of tie breakers.

Here are the current GP standings. Johnny is 9+13=22. He can be passed by Lysacek and Verner at SA (and likely will be). At Skate Canada, he can be passed by Brezina, Takahashi and Contesti. Both Contesti and Takahashi would need to win SC in order to move ahead of Johnny, and if either finishes second, it goes to the point tiebreakers. These will likely favor Dai and Samuel, as their 4th place finish was with a better score than Weir's. Brezina needs a silver at SC, because another bronze means Johnny would win the tiebreaker (highest placement). Abbott needs to win to get in; if everyone is at 22 points, he'd have the highest placement in that situation. So while each of them could pass Johnny, there is no way mathematically that all four of them will.

Oda and Joubert are already in. Verner and Lysacek should make it easily. SC is a pretty deep field, and my guess is that only Takahashi will qualify outright, unless Jeremy has an amazing skate. I don't see Brezina or Contesti finishing high enough to make it. This leaves us with Johnny either as the last qualifier or as the first alternate.

[Joesitz]

Thanks Schiele for the correction. Yes Johnny was 4th and Kozuka and Borodulin had very poor skates in NHK where Johnny didn't. Mea culpa

I'm not sure how it goes with tie breakers. If we give Evan and Verner 13 and 15, Verner is definitely in. Evan still has to go against a more difficult group of Men all of whom are wanting to get into the Final except for Chan who will more than likely make it difficult for someone who does. Think: Kevin; The Tens; Michal, Daisuke and Abbott. Evan has his work cut out.

Should be an all out drive here.

Do you still believe that 22 is not the magic number? or lots of Ties?

[Blades of Passion]

Either way, it's pretty odd that a 2nd + 4th place finish in your Grand Prix events qualifies for the GPF. I don't think I've ever seen less than a 2nd + 3rd place finish qualify for the GPF.

Although, during the 2006-2007 season when Johnny placed 2nd + 3rd at his events, he performances overall were worse.