Can Ross Miner become the next National Champion? | Golden Skate

Can Ross Miner become the next National Champion?

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
As I (and many others) pointed out on the NHK Men's FS thread, Ross is a very underrated skater. But now he has the highest overall SB score out of the U.S. men. And that 4S was beautiful in the FS (though he missed it in the SP). I think he needs more work on making it consistent. But given his past work with his 3A -- I do think this is possible.

Does anyone think he can rise up the ranks and perhaps even win? Let's discuss.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Technically ? Yes but Miner lacks something that makes him anonymous and boring
Its Abbott and Dornbush to lose !
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Technically ? Yes but Miner lacks something that makes him anonymous and boring
Its Abbott and Dornbush to lose !

As I said, I feel that people perceive him as boring because his skating is not in your face. He does not do high-dramatics, so therefore he gets stuck with the boring label. But if you look at his packaging as a whole, he has very lovely skating and nice choreography.

He has already beaten Abbott and Dornbush on the PB list, and he has been more consistent relative to the other U.S. men in placement. He also has placed well despite being in very deep fields. So no, I don't think it's Dornbush's championship to lose and if Abbott didn't have such strong components, I wouldn't think it was his to lose either.

Jeremy: 5th at SA (against a weaker field) and 2nd at TEB (again a weak field)
Ross: 5th at SC (against Chan, Fernandez + Oda) and 3rd at NHK (against Hanyu, Takahashi and Fernandez)
Richard: 6th at TEB and 5th at NHK.
Adam: 4th at COC and 8th at NHK
 

wallylutz

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
As I (and many others) pointed out on the NHK Men's FS thread, Ross is a very underrated skater. But now he has the highest overall SB score out of the U.S. men. And that 4S was beautiful in the FS (though he missed it in the SP). I think he needs more work on making it consistent. But given his past work with his 3A -- I do think this is possible.

Does anyone think he can rise up the ranks and perhaps even win? Let's discuss.

Yes, I definitely think he can win the U.S. Nationals, not that he necessarily will. To be honest, both him and Richard Dornbush are very close when it comes to their potential. The difference is Ross has been able to deliver it whereas Richard has yet to do so this season. Both Abbott and Rippon are getting a little tired with their lack of results internationally. I think the U.S. Nationals would be wide open. But if I have put my money on someone, I think it will be either Dornbush or Miner.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Technically ? Yes but Miner lacks something that makes him anonymous and boring
Its Abbott and Dornbush to lose !

Miner had much higher PCS than Dornbush even though both skated well in their LPs. Miner is technically stronger and will win if both skate well right now.

I say yes he can. Only Abbott having his usual strong Nationals will prevent him at this point.

I do think Miner, Abbott, and Dornbush are the main contenders for Nationals at this point. Dont see Rippon as any factor, nor Weir (dont see Evan showing up but if he does obviously you cant count him out in the U.S at this point, even if you can on the World stage).

If I had to predict it would be Abbott peaking at Nationals again and winning, and Miner 2nd, and that being the World team.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Miner had much higher PCS than Dornbush even though both skated well in their LPs. Miner is technically stronger and will win if both skate well right now.

I say yes he can. Only Abbott having his usual strong Nationals will prevent him at this point.

I do think Miner, Abbott, and Dornbush are the main contenders for Nationals at this point. Dont see Rippon as any factor, nor Weir (dont see Evan showing up but if he does obviously you cant count him out in the U.S at this point, even if you can on the World stage).

If I had to predict it would be Abbott peaking at Nationals again and winning, and Miner 2nd, and that being the World team.

Miner skated almost lights out while Ricky had a couple of mistakes , had he went clean his PCS woul be ahead of Miner
Evan is unlikely to come back and Rippon is still a failure with his 3A's
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Miner skated almost lights out while Ricky had a couple of mistakes , had he went clean his PCS woul be ahead of Miner
Evan is unlikely to come back and Rippon is still a failure with his 3A's

But that's the thing -- Richard has to skate clean. He has yet to do so this season.

I do like Richard's choreography a lot, perhaps even better than Miner's but his mistakes do interrupt the program quite a bit.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Miner skated almost lights out while Ricky had a couple of mistakes , had he went clean his PCS woul be ahead of Miner
Evan is unlikely to come back and Rippon is still a failure with his 3A's

Please mistakes dont affect PCS that much. We see that with Chan time and time again. Dornbush was well behind Miner in PCS even considering his mistakes. My point is I dont see a big difference in PCS between them at this point, and Miner is technically stronger right now.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Please mistakes dont affect PCS that much. We see that with Chan time and time again. Dornbush was well behind Miner in PCS even considering his mistakes. My point is I dont see a big difference in PCS between them at this point, and Miner is technically stronger right now.

it does for most except for the selected few and I don't think Miner is Not part of that Group yet
inflation is of course an exception
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Yes, I definitely think he can win the U.S. Nationals, not that he necessarily will. To be honest, both him and Richard Dornbush are very close when it comes to their potential. The difference is Ross has been able to deliver it whereas Richard has yet to do so this season. Both Abbott and Rippon are getting a little tired with their lack of results internationally. I think the U.S. Nationals would be wide open. But if I have put my money on someone, I think it will be either Dornbush or Miner.

Well that's why I used can not will! :laugh:

I think the key thing for Ross will be the SP. He has always been weaker in the SP. He has the No. 6 score in the FS but only the No. 20 score in the SP and is behind Jeremy Abbott and Josh Farris among the U.S. Men.
 

wallylutz

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
it does for most except for the selected few and I don't think Miner is Not part of that Group yet
inflation is of course an exception

Sounds like your little prince whom you thought has become a king is still a good 14 points behind in the PCS vs. Patrick Chan who skated in front of an unsupportive crowd in Russia despite Hanyu getting a massive hometown bonus for a skate with two falls. One can only imagine when the location advantage is reversed with the Worlds in London, your little prince would be lucky not to turn into a toad by those pesky judges. :laugh:
 

merrywidow

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
I think Miner may well be our 2013 National Champion. I certainly hope he makes the World team. He is such a solid & smooth skater, no depending on flailing arms. Love his deep edges & he is seemingly strong minded. I believe in Dornbush too & Max Aaron . These 3 are our (USA's) future IMO. Dornbush scored a 239 at Finlandia & Aaron had a 231 at SLC, granted they were B comps but they were judged by international judges.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Sounds like your little prince whom you thought has become a king is still a good 14 points behind in the PCS vs. Patrick Chan who skated in front of an unsupportive crowd in Russia despite Hanyu getting a massive hometown bonus for a skate with two falls. One can only imagine when the location advantage is reversed with the Worlds in London, your little prince would be lucky not to turn into a toad by those pesky judges. :laugh:

:confused: Hanyu has improved a lot and he is rewarded very nicele\y, he has got consistent scored by judges at SA and NHK
plus his scores that he didn't have an epic meltdown at NHK FS, 2 jumping pass and a botched spin
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I think Miner may well be our 2013 National Champion. I certainly hope he makes the World team. He is such a solid & smooth skater, no depending on flailing arms. Love his deep edges & he is seemingly strong minded. I believe in Dornbush too & Max Aaron . These 3 are our (USA's) future IMO. Dornbush scored a 239 at Finlandia & Aaron had a 231 at SLC, granted they were B comps but they were judged by international judges.

Yes! Max Aaron is definitely a dark horse given that he has the 4T and the 4S in his arsenal. He has some work to do on the PCS side, but he definitely handing in some graet skates this season!
 

centerpt1

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Miner has been on the Nationals podium for the last two years. He's solid and very likely to win. Abbott is injured (and his technical has suffered)-so who knows?
 

emma

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
I can't forget Armin too, I really enjoy his skating a lot. I do so wish Abbot could skate lights out at nationals and worlds (haven't seen that latter yet, but I still long for it); but I also wish to see Miner, Dornbush, and Armin M make the world team.....so, no matter how the cookie crumbles, I'll be missing at least two guys (oh....and yeah, I happen to really like Rippon too and I'm not even letting myself consider Weir or Evan).

But to stay on topic, I do think that Miner might be under-appreciated, but in part I think that he has been somewhat under-exposed; his first medal at senior nationals with Ricky was the first time a lot of people really saw him, and I think he got a little lost in the crowd after that. Although if I remember correctly he did medal last year too, he didn't go to worlds (right?)...so some of the momentum of being the next 'thing to watch' gets lost when you don't get to go to the next big comp. But...do I think he can medal at nationals again: yes; is he a contender for silver or gold - I think he is in that mix, so much will depend, i think, on the physical and mental status of Abbot for the top.
 

samson

Medalist
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
while we know season to season, event to event is different, Miner currently has the highest scoring international freeskate of any US man likely to compete. He's got a solid 2.5 points on Jeremy and what's more Abbott's personal best was back in the '08 Grand Prix Final. Nationals could be very interesting.
 

ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
it does for most except for the selected few and I don't think Miner is Not part of that Group yet
inflation is of course an exception

Okay, I know this isn't about Miner, but how I loathe this argument. Denis freakin' Ten got higher PCS for a long program with five falls than a program with three falls. Fact. I've just demonstrated it. I can demonstrate it with Murakami. And Abbott. Kostner. And any number of skaters because that is the system.

Miner will win Nationals. Abbott will peak at Worlds and wins bronze. American gets three spots in men.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
My prediction: If Abbott goes for a quad, Miner will win.

If Abbott does not go for a quad, Abbott will win, Miner second.
 
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emma

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Okay, I know this isn't about Miner, but how I loathe this argument. Denis freakin' Ten got higher PCS for a long program with five falls than a program with three falls. Fact. I've just demonstrated it. I can demonstrate it with Murakami. And Abbott. Kostner. And any number of skaters because that is the system.

Miner will win Nationals. Abbott will peak at Worlds and wins bronze. American gets three spots in men.

I hate that (the first paragraph). I would be happy with the second paragraph!

And I did my quote thingy wrong - but as to MM and his prediction - I can see it; still would be happy with either outcome but most especially if it included Abbot getting a medal at worlds (for a well delivered program that is).
 
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