Canadian coverage - Cup of China

Finally got to see Cup of China of CBC this morning and wanted to add some of my impressions:

Buttle: Yay! That was a much better skate than at Skate Canada. He really needs to look at adding the quad though, but I bet not trying it here was probably a tactical decision after his lead from the short. I love his choreography - actually if I was a skater, I'd definitely go to David Wilson, he seems to be able to put together great, distinctly different programs for a wide variety of skaters.

Min Zhang: I was struck that here is a skater that could do much better than he does if someone would give him some real choreography. All he has now is a bunch of jumps strung together. While those jumps can be impressive, it's not a cohesive program - a big no no under COP, and for this viewer. He could perform the choreography too - you can see it in the little he has - beautiful arms and good sense of the music.

Li: Didn't do much for me. Again, too much jumps, not enough else. Another skater that looks like he needs to catch up to COP.

Pairs:

Shen/Zhou: Good performance, though they don't blow me away like they do for apparently everybody else. Just a personal thing, I guess. They just don't really do it for me. I can certainly appreciate, in a detached kind of way, their skill, but they don't impress me artistically. I'm aware this is a very minority opinion, nevertheless the constant superlatives from all the commentators with regards to this couple just annoy me. I always wonder why they don't seem to see the way he drops her about a foot off the ice coming out of lifts and the way they sometimes pull at each other jerkily during the choreography, particularly on the side-by-side spins. Nor do they have a particularly impressive line. No way do I see this team as unbeatable-though they certainly deserved the win here.

Zhang and Zhang: Lots of potential is the category I'd put them into. Great tricks, but they don't have the artistic flair yet. No individual flavour, so to speak.

Marcoux and Buntin: Not my favorite Canadian champions, but a decent skate. He always appears weaker than she is, though, and has not caught up to her level of skating yet, as evidenced in his missed jumps.

P.S.: Pairs is just about my least-favorite discipline this year. I'm not thrilled with any of the Canadians, and none of the other international teams I've seen so far has choreography that makes me want to hit record on my tape. All in all, a bit of a down year, IMO.

Dance:

Dubreuil/Lauzon: I'll talk about them first since I'm really excited about them this year. I missed seeing their new freedance at Skate Canada so this is the first viewing for me. Let me just say, as a fan of this team who has been really disappointed in their freedances the last two years, I LOVE IT! Yes, there was the fall, but overall, this is fantastic choreography, unique theme, stunning lifts, as always from this pair, and they look like they have better speed and flow this year. I can't wait to see this dance come worlds. The only dance I like better this year I think is the Americans.

Belbin/Augosto: Speaking of the Americans, I just love this gypsy dance. That said, I thought they performed it better at Skate America. I think the fall threw them - during the rest of the program it seemed as if they were almost trying to catch up. However, I think if there is any justice (yes, in ice dance) this will be a top three team this year. They have it all. I really appreciate that Ben has just as many highlight moves as she does. Appreciate that all their lifts look tasteful.

Chait/Sahknovsky: Good performance from them, though I don't think their dance is nearly as choreographically interesting as the Canadians or the Americans. Nothing really especially memorable about it, aside from (thanks camera people -sarcasm) for the awful crotch shot we got in one of the lifts. Difficult, no doubt, but aesthetically - not such a good idea. As always, the speed of this team impresses, but I have to agree with the commentators, that they tend to look frenetic, with little display of beautiful lines.

Ladies:

Joannie Rochette: I'll talk about her first because I'm so excited to see how great she looks this season. I remember when I first saw her at nationals a couple of years ago - I said here's a Canadian girl that's going to make a mark - and it will happen. Love her program - again David Wilson and Joannie have done wonders with a piece of music I don't particularly like. Always interesting and with something going on. She has excellent speed and flow over the ice, beautiful big jumps - in the long run going back to the drawing board on her lutz so she now does it properly was the right move, no question. She is completely mature in her presentation - I think I'd have to give her the edge on that score over Phaneuf, only just. Joannie really has no real weaknesses left. She is really competitive with the best in the world.

Viktoria Volchkova: She has beautiful carriage and speed over the ice. Gorgeous jumps. I think her artistic merit tends to be underestimated.

Irina Slutskaya: Let me start by saying that while I'm not personally a big fan, it's great to see her back and doing what she so obviously loves. I don't think she's ever really looked better. She's got all her technical elements back and kudos for doing the spiral in a catch-foot position rather than the rather awkward looking and lacking (next to the American girls) one she used to do. Much more flattering to her. That said, I'm not a fan of her LP choreographically, and she still doesn't do much for me artistically speaking. I think her extremely high marks were somewhat inflated, as I thought the other girls were a lot closer to her in quality than the marks gave credit for. I don't dispute her win in any way, I just think the scoring was somewhat questionable there. I think some of the younger skaters on the circuit, including Joannie, and Volchkova ARE at her level and she does have real competition in spite of the absence of Kwan and Cohen.

Well I guess Arakawa is not a competition to Slutskaya.

But I also saw watched cbc coverage of 'Cup of China'. I was really impressed with what Joannie pulled out of her bag of tricks. Her lutz needs major work, she lands this jump but it is no way consistent for her. Her 3/3 was big and beautiful.I wasn't really impressed with the program, but then again its really early in the season so i'll cut her some slack. She really does have what it takes to give the top girls a run for their money.

Vika. ohh god I loved what she was doing out there. She looks so different and it seems like she now feels the music. Her arms are positioned so well and not just waving around as if to make fit into the program. A side from some mistakes, the best i've seen vika in a long time. I really really want her to go to worlds and Europeans, i just think she can do so much better then Sokolova.

Slutskaya. Class of the field and it showed in every bit of her free-skate. Even the commentators declared her the winner at the conclusion of her long program. She was very secure with the landings of her jumps and her program couldnt be more COP friendly. I know speed can not be judged on television but it seemed like she was going from element to element with so much speed because they were coming out of no where and quick. She still has some work to do before she can really skate this program full out. Could the audience love her anymore then they did.

Having seen it on TV finally, I've decided that I'm not liking Joannie's LP that much. I think she is a total talent and has musicality to spare, but she could've done so much more with the music instead of stroking around with occasional moves thrown in here and there (however well they seem to match the music). She's getting more and more polished each time I see her, but I was quite disappointed with the program itself.

Although I think Irina deserved first in the LP because of her spins, energy, and a real feel of "presentating the program" better than anybody, I still thought her PC scores were pretty inflated. I just don't think she's that much better in, say, skating skills or performance/execution, than Rochette or Ando or even Volchkova as the scores indicated.

Volchkova - don't get the rave. The program was boring, and her presentation was still one dimensional as always. I'm sorry to say this, but long limbs and a striking figure will only do so much. And even though her jumps are high, most of them have little flow coming out.

I'm not very happy with how they managed to chack Ando so that Leung could be shown. I really see no obvious improvement from her since last year's nationals.

Joannie has come along way. Her lutz is great and the fact that she's finally landing it in competition consistently, always a good thing!! I must admit that the first time I saw her program it was different, but having seen it several times now, I love it. The music relaxes her and she is able to compete with the best of them. I do hope she works more on her spiral sequences and spins to get more points. She also needs more speed in her footwork.

As for Mira, she has improved tons since Canadians!! Her posture is so much better than it was at Canadians (where she looked hunched); she looks more secure out there. Basically, she's learning how to compete and these competitions are giving her the feedback she needs in order to improve. I say give her a little time and she'll be right up there.

Rain:

Liked your comments on the Cup of China competition. I tuned in too late to really see much coverage, but did - thank goodness - catch Jeff's final skate. I agree - much better than at Skate Canada. Although, at Skate Canada, he did attempt the quad. Emanuel threw in a couple, so Jeff answered the challenge. That darn quad! Frankly, I could care less if a skater does another turn in the air. I would rather see great choregraphy and musicality (as in Jeff's case). I was hoping the new COP system would relieve these skaters of the need to add the quad. As long as the men are attempting the quad, then they all have to add it. I was very pleased for Jeff.

I agree with your statement:

"Shen/Zhou: Good performance, though they don't blow me away like they do for apparently everybody else. Just a personal thing, I guess. They just don't really do it for me. I can certainly appreciate, in a detached kind of way, their skill, but they don't impress me artistically. I'm aware this is a very minority opinion, nevertheless the constant superlatives from all the commentators with regards to this couple just annoy me. I always wonder why they don't seem to see the way he drops her about a foot off the ice coming out of lifts and the way they sometimes pull at each other jerkily during the choreography, particularly on the side-by-side spins. Nor do they have a particularly impressive line. No way do I see this team as unbeatable-though they certainly deserved the win here."

I still don't sense any real chemistry between Shen/Zhou. They do their throws well, but don't move me as other pair teams have in the past -like Barb Underhill and Paul Martini, for example. I guess you and I are alone on this one.

having missed most of the skating, I can't comment on much of the competition. I did enjoy your synopsis. I agree with many of your observations.

Thanks.

i missed it. too bad, i really wanted to see some of those people.