Your opinion on Skate Canada

apgold said:

Was it an email survey? I wonder if they are just doing random surveys of the audience or everyone will get them.

Agreed on the food and the lines to the restrooms. I was able to buy a SC t-shirt on Saturday, no issues there. I snuck in most of my food, I even had an email printout from guest services in case someone questioned it, but I never needed it. I saw plenty of people who were eating food they brought in.

One bright spot was my seat was changed, I was supposed to be sitting higher up in my section, but they moved my tickets down to 7th row.

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Yes, it was an email survey. I'll see if I can find the link when I get home from work.

Manitou said:

I agree it has an element of a risk..
You need to have a cold blood and a nerve in certain situations.
Anyway, we found a place near the rink on the second half of the first day and it was ours for the rest of the entire thing. What's more, we had different neighbors every day! I suppose those neighbors assumed we were the true ticket holders of those seats, while certainly they were not!

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Simply stated, you have to have attitude! Me . . . not so much!

My brother is the most honest person I know and yet almost everytime he goes through customs he gets singled out!

chuckm said:

I believe your assumptions are pretty accurate, but I think Shoma even if not 100% clean can still beat Kolyada. The only question in ladies is who will medal if Yulia bombs, but yes, Ladies is the only possible sweep. In Pairs, the Germans, Canadians S/B and one Russian will medal. The obvious medalists in dance are C/B, W/P and B/S in some order but I too would be shocked if B/S were on top.

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Shoma would easily beat Kolyada. Kolyada at Worlds was great, but he's yet to prove it was more than a flash in the pan. He scored less than 220 at Finlandia, so he's certainly not the most likely to take out Shoma. Shoma has upped his game too - he could be 80% clean and still easily beat him IMO.

Even if Yulia bombs I can picture her still being PCS-hoisted over Li and Hicks for the Russian sweep.

I would also not be surprised if B/S are on top in a repeat of Cup of Russia 2013 (arguably the worst ever CoR home inflation ever). Team Russia is desperate to have some Russian team challenge C/B and W/P and the other top teams, and the PCS inflation for B/S will have to be in full swing... gotta ensure come the next Olympics they can even get a Russian team in the final flight.

chuckm said:

... If I were C/B I would not want to come back to Skate Canada again ever. ...

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"Stellar" was Evan's own opinion of Skate Canada, so I hope they would be pleased to return.

CanadianSkaterGuy said:

Shoma would easily beat Kolyada. Kolyada at Worlds was great, but he's yet to prove it was more than a flash in the pan. He scored less than 220 at Finlandia, so he's certainly not the most likely to take out Shoma. Shoma has upped his game too - he could be 80% clean and still easily beat him IMO.

Even if Yulia bombs I can picture her still being PCS-hoisted over Li and Hicks for the Russian sweep.

I would also not be surprised if B/S are on top in a repeat of Cup of Russia 2013 (arguably the worst ever CoR home inflation ever). Team Russia is desperate to have some Russian team challenge C/B and W/P and the other top teams, and the PCS inflation for B/S will have to be in full swing... gotta ensure come the next Olympics they can even get a Russian team in the final flight.

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B/S circa 2016 are not the team they were in 2013, and Yulia is not the Yulia she was back then, either. I was surprised Yulia was still scheduled for CoR after being yanked from SA. If the Russian poster thinks it's unlikely B/S will be on top, I tend to believe it. With Yulia, it depends how she skates. If her FS is a total bomb, I can't see her being held up on PCS, not any more, not if someone else skates a blinder.

I attended SA this year and thought of something while I was there that may or may not affect judging. A few minutes before the mens FS started, a video of Jason Brown was played where he described his program, the meaning behind it, what he hopes to accomplish with program, etc. (There were videos for others Americans as well but I really remember paying attention to Jason's.) I don't believe any skater other than Americans were highlighted. I was in the front row directly across from judges and watched them all watching the Jason Brown video intently.
I love Jason and again am only using him as an example because I distinctly remember his video, but I can see where this could influence the judges to, at the very least, understand the program better which may have an affect on scores. Just a thought I had and figured it could have some influence on home advantage and increased scores for home skaters.

If anyone wants to give feedback to the Hershey Centre about Skate Canada, there is a link on their feedback page to share your thoughts:

http://www.hersheycentre.com/feedback/

HanDomi said:

Clean Kolyada can't win with Shoma even with mistakes

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Kolyada had no reputation, skated in an early group and still scored 268 in Boston. Why can't he get 278 in Moscow if clean? This should be enough to beat Shoma with mistakes - he already beat him in Boston.

4everchan said:

wow... then, accordingly to your statement, lots of diehard canadianophobes around

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I did not read the threads, did not watch men (I guess, there was the biggest controversy). But in ladies, dance, and pairs I personally saw no big issues. Once again I said "I hope" and think that hinting about homecooking in Moscow even before the competition started smells not that good. Let's talk about it when it happens (if it happens).

chuckm said:

I believe your assumptions are pretty accurate, but I think Shoma even if not 100% clean can still beat Kolyada. The only question in ladies is who will medal if Yulia bombs, but yes, Ladies is the only possible sweep. In Pairs, the Germans, Canadians S/B and one Russian will medal. The obvious medalists in dance are C/B, W/P and B/S in some order but I too would be shocked if B/S were on top.

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Look, I agree with what you say but I have to admit that I think that Shoma got a bit inflated score at SA and if he falls and Kolyada is clean with the planned quad content I would argur that Mikha should win.

TGee said:

You've left out Elizabet TurSynbaeva of Kazakhstan.

So, I'm not convinced that her achieving the podium would rely on one of the Russian women making errors....My sense is she's really pressing to be a contender in her own right this season.

And I believe sincerely that a judging panel at the cup of Russia will consider her fairly...

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May be this is it - Tursynbaeva finally shows everyone what she is capable of. May be not. But realistically, with all the expectations her all times best score is 183 so far. There are four ladies in the junior circle with the score of 194 just this season. I don't see her beating Yulia with a good SP and at least a 5 triple FP not speaking of Elena and Anna.

[email protected] said:

May be this is it - Tursynbaeva finally shows everyone what she is capable of. May be not. But realistically, with all the expectations her all times best score is 183 so far. There are four ladies in the junior circle with the score of 194 just this season. I don't see her beating Yulia with a good SP and at least a 5 triple FP not speaking of Elena and Anna.

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Tursynbaeva is incredibly inconsistent. I think she is the only threat to breaking the Russian sweep for the ladies, but even that is unlikely with her PCS. If she would put that gorgeous quad in her programs, then it would be a different story. For now, I won't include her in my predictions :confused2:

robredo40 said:

chukm conspiracy theorie make sense Russia/USA relations are at their lowest point since the cold war, if Russia can screw the US in ice dance and help Canada and france for a world medal they would do it.

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Read the news... Relations between Russia and France are even worse than between Russia and US !