Who's going?

I get to go this year!!! This will be my first Grand Prix event and I'm soooo excited! Who else will be going? I'm driving up from Michigan. Can't wait to see Weaver/Poje!

I'm going. I'm only attending the Saturday events, though. I couldn't shell out for the entire event tickets.

Lucky both of you!

Yes, I feel lucky! This will be my first live skating competition. In the past, school, work, or life (or the lack of a car and driving license) prevented me from attending. As luck would have it this year, nothing's in the way of the schedule this time and it is only an hour's drive away from my home. There are phenomenal entries in all the disciplines. I will have to take a separate sac for gifts for all the skaters I want to support--and there are so many!

I'm going!!!

I'm going! For the free skates, at least. I have to miss the short programs on Friday. I'm SO excited. I've never been to an actual competition before, and the roster is just amazing. I can't wait!

Wootwoot, guys! I'm excited! arty:

skatingfan04 said:

I'm going! For the free skates, at least. I have to miss the short programs on Friday. I'm SO excited. I've never been to an actual competition before, and the roster is just amazing. I can't wait!

Click to expand...

hehehehe same for me

I was lucky to attend 2 Skate Canadas. The first being in Mississauga where it is being held this year. I got to see Alexei's final skate. It was great because Plushenko was skating and Alexei was in the stands watching and I saw Plushy looking his way. Those 2 right up to the end. The next time was in Halifax Nova Scotia. I loved it there.

Still debating if I should go as I've never gone to one before.

Which one would you prefer?

Short Men/Dance (Fri) or Long Men? (Sat)

jettasian, it depends on what seats you could get for either Friday or Saturday, I'd say. Even I was kinda late to grab them about a week ago...I'm a few rows up. I don't know what the seating availability looks like now.

I checked Ticketmaster on-line, it's only the side...which I don't like. I really hate Ticketmaster, $12 service fee is blatantly rip-of!

I'm going! All event! Can't wait for Friday!

By the way, I have two extra tickets for skate Canada International, ladies & pair Sort Program. Section 16, C105 and C106. Face value $32.33, came as part of all event tickets, lower than individual ticket price. Price negotiable. Please pm me if interested. Also there are three official practice tickets for tomorrow available.

I am also going hubby just surprised me with tickets for free Dance Fianle and Parade of Champs....God I love that man!

reaal1 said:

I am also going hubby just surprised me with tickets for free Dance Fianle and Parade of Champs....God I love that man!

Click to expand...

Can I steal your man?

no I am keeping him

^

Hey, a few quick questions because I am a total newbie.
1. Can I bring outside food into the arena, or is that frowned upon, such that there are vendors inside that they want us to support?
2. Are cameras/camcorders allowed?

Teehee...here's just a few of my impressions from my first live event (yesterday). I watched the Ladies, Pairs, and Men's LPs.

1. Ladies. Unfortunately I had the darnedest time finding the Hershey Arena...drove around the vicinity in circles for a while and was a little late arriving. I made it while the second group was warming up so I got to see the top ladies there, yay. I was seated just behind the judges and tech specialists. For the Ladies and Pairs I was also just there by myself, so...I was flanked by a little girl and an old couple, hehe.
- first thing's first: I squinted to look for and identify the coaches...I recognized Frank Carroll instantly but that was it
- I feel bad for Mirai...she looked unhappy and nervous, although it was clear her skating skills were smooth and lovely. The energy and spark I expected her to have wasn't there yesterday.
- Akiko was sensational! You could hear a little chorus of Japanese girls cheering for her just before she skated. (Very cute ) Compared to the skate just before, it felt like sunshine after a cloudy day. The joy she exuded was very palpable, and there was lots of energy and speed. She had a great skate, crowd cheered loudly.
- Poor Rachael...but I did like her hair.
- Ashley skated well, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of her skating, but I'm happy she skated enough for a medal. Crowd liked her, too.
- Liza is a doll. A doll who can really jump. She looked quite confident but still a bit girly/juniorish, which will surely improve as she gets older. 2axel was huge in her 2a-2t combo. Loud cheers for her as well. I saw her leaving the arena after the event (that is, after the Men's) and her hair was down...I felt like a stalker LOL (I followed her to the stairwell without realizing it until I remembered that stairwell wasn't the one close to where I parked my car) but I must say she is strikingly pretty. Long dark hair, fair skin and large eyes; as I said, doll-like. I'd love to see her build off this great debut.

2. Pairs
- I don't follow pairs closely so I was a noob at this so my comments will be brief
- Takahashi/Tran - During the warmup I was amazed at how fast Mervin Tran is. Sad to see their mistakes during their program, but that's just how it went down. Nice costume and chemistry, otherwise
- Canadians Duhamel/the guy - I liked their program, big cheers from the Canadian crowd of course
- Sui/Han - Sui looked quite juniorish but what they lacked in refinement was more than compensated by the technical difficulty of their tricks. Sorry I don't know the terms, but the opening move with Han throwing her into the air and Sui rotating...wow. And there were gasps when Han did the single-handed lift later in the program. Good job.
- Volosozhar/Trankov - were OK, they were cleanish but I was a little bored. Their score was huge, but again I repeat I am a noob

3. Men
- this time my boyfriend joined me for this event, yay The seats I got were in the section beside the one behind the judges this time
- the first group was meh
- the second group...big improvement. Again, I'm squinting trying to identify coaches during their warmup. I recognized Frank again; also saw Christy Krall, Jason Dungjen (wow he's hot) and Brian Orser.
- First up was Denis Ten. I knew he'd make some mistakes later in the program since his stamina is known for being limited, but he was quite interesting to watch. A Russian-accented man and a lady actually came to sit beside us just for this and the man loudly cheered, "Yeah, Kazakhstan!" And there were other cheers for Kazakhstan here and there, not so much "Ten" but oh well. Nice LP
- Adam Rippon was nice-looking but I must admit I was bored by this. I preferred Ten's performance, but anyway, again, lots of support from members of the crowd. He is popular.
- At this point, Russian man left but came back...and sat with none other than Alexander Majorov! hah. I guess they could be relatives, his dad or uncle maybe?
- Patrick Chan - LOL he was the last to leave the ice during warmup and he twirled/twizzled his way to the exit. I pointed this out to BF and he said that perhaps that's how everyone should leave a room. When he came on the ice, the crowd roared. He was overall fast, secure, smooth, as expected. I do imagine his POTO program may be better than this Aranjuez program but it's early in the season and it may improve. Glad that he successfully managed to do his 4-3 in our side of the rink. It was cool. When he stumbled in the middle, there were gasps but he recovered quickly (quicker than I had!) and it was impressive that he was able to stick his 3Lutz(?) Loud cheers, of course.
- Daisuke Takahashi - Lots of cheers from the Canadian crowd and the same chorus of Japanese girls encouraged him as he took the ice, hehe. Unfortunately, his LP was not his best skate and I felt bad for him while wishing I had seen his SP live. It wasn't just his technical that wasn't there, he seemed to lack his usual exuberance and flair. Is he all right, or is he fighting an injury or sickness?
- Javier Fernandez - his LP was OK, but well done. My BF was very entertained by Orser. Here's hoping for more improvements and successes for Javier.

prettykeys, thanks for the report on what the skating was like live.

I'm soooo happy that I went to the SC events! Totally worth it! The skating was great and I also met with so many skaters and got quite a few autographs!

NP about my report, it was very fun. Ilvskating, how did you get those autographs? I was too newb and "getting my feet wet" that I didn't know how I could go about getting autographs.