2022 US Nationals: Ice Dance - Thoughts?

[gsk8]

Chock and Bates edge out teammates for U.S. title

Madison Chock and Evan Bates edged out teammates Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue by 1.78 points to win their third national title in Ice Dance at the 2022 Toyota U.S. […]

www.goldenskate.com

What an exciting event!

I really felt Hubbell and Donohue's FD. Just love it. I like Chock and Bates but miss their "Snake Dance"....

Green and Parsons are really coming along and I also enjoyed Bratti and Somerville who have only been together for six months!

What are your thoughts?

 

[sabinfire]

Great event, the top 4 especially. Glad to see H/B grab that 3rd spot (and hopefully Olympics!)

 

[Dreamer57]

Delighted for Chock/Bates and Hawayek/Baker!

Gutted for Carreira/Ponomarenko. Love their FD step sequence. I hope they get 4CC!

 

[moonvine]

Yes! My babies! I am having a great day today. Never thought I’d be this happy about YET ANOTHER bronze for them. But I am.

 

[Yeslekyelnats]

Perfect placements.

 

[Ross74]

H/B and G/P - both awesome!

 

[purplecat]

Really happy for Chock and Bates, I just love them. I also feel it was right that Hubbell & Donohue won the FD as C&B were a bit shaky at the end. Hawayek & Baker's FD is just gorgeous... I wish they had a stronger RD. Love Green and Parsons and look forward to their future. And I love Wolfkostin & Chen so much... hope they do well at Junior Worlds. They skate with such abandon! I felt bad for C&P dropping in the rankings both here and all season. I hope they can come back stronger next year!

 

[Dawn825]

I dont know anything about ice dance so these are just general impressions.
I feel very bad for C/P, they did so well as juniors but senior level judges are not buying what they're selling. I enjoy them quite a bit so I assume I am missing something.
This was the first time I really appreciated G/P free dance. They're in a great position going into next season, but I'm glad H/B are on this Olympic team. Their free dance is so so lovely.
I cant say I understand C/B as national champions. Again maybe I'm missing something, but with that fabulous FD last year they still did not get a World medal. H/D did, and were poised to go into this season as the clear #3 in the world, with a shot at Olympic silver if S/K or P/C faltered. USFS letting them lose to C/B instead of getting all their forces behind them seems like an obvious mistake.

 

[heartyxo]

I dont know anything about ice dance so these are just general impressions.
I feel very bad for C/P, they did so well as juniors but senior level judges are not buying what they're selling. I enjoy them quite a bit so I assume I am missing something.
This was the first time I really appreciated G/P free dance. They're in a great position going into next season, but I'm glad H/B are on this Olympic team. Their free dance is so so lovely.
I cant say I understand C/B as national champions. Again maybe I'm missing something, but with that fabulous FD last year they still did not get a World medal. H/D did, and were poised to go into this season as the clear #3 in the world, with a shot at Olympic silver if S/K or P/C faltered. USFS letting them lose to C/B instead of getting all their forces behind them seems like an obvious mistake.

H/D should have skated better in the RD then.

I think it’s clear at this point that one of them will most likely get Olympic bronze (maybe higher depending on mistakes, Nikita’ back etc.). Even with this result, I think H/D have the higher chance (like what happened in 2018 with the Shibs losing nats)

Either way, it seems like they’re both being used in the team event so they’ll both get Olympic medals anyway

 

[chuckm]

Carreira / Ponomarkeno have far too many lifts in their FD, and they all looked the same.

 

[litenkyckling]

Carreira / Ponomarkeno have far too many lifts in their FD, and they all looked the same.

uh how can you have far too many lifts when they have the same number as everyone else?

 

[Ivana]

Thrilled for Hawayek/Baker, after the rough start into this season their 3rd place feels so rewarding.

Mesmerizing free dance for Hubbell/Donohue and I'm glad they won the FD although the gap to 2nd should have been bigger in the free IMO. I guess USFS got what they wanted, we will see how that will play out at the Olympics.

Sad to see the downfall of Carreira/Ponomarenko, hopefully next season it all starts coming together for them again.

 

[gsk8]

"It feels really good to be sitting here right now and to have won the national championship again against some of the toughest competitors that we've ever faced, year after year after year," said Bates. "We really had to work hard for it and I think the training and preparation, we needed all of it because it wasn't easy. It wasn't necessarily the best performance that we dreamt of, but we are really proud of all the work and it showed up."

"I'm so excited and honored to share the podium with these amazing people," added Chock. "My training mates, I love you guys so much and I'm so proud of you!"

 

[WeakAnkles]

Welcome to the next great US ID rivalry that will dominate the next Olympic cycle: Hawayek/Baker vs Greene/Parsons.

Montreal, please recognize that H/B may have a fun and goofy side to them, but that their real strengths are traditional, if not classical. Compare the results from the SD and FD. Want more proof? Go back to their junior RD of Happy Feet, etc. THAT is what won them the Junior World Title with a then world record point total. Here's a challenge for you: take all that traditional ballroom-inspired ID choreography and put a fresh, but not gimmicky, spin on it. Fred and Ginger for the 21st century, if you will. I think H/B will surprise you with what they bring to it.

Carreira/Ponomarenko need to have a serious think about their direction this off season.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

I try to keep an open mind and even watched fancams of the top three FD to see if there's something the judges are seeing that I'm missing, but that perspective just further highlighted that C/B are the weakest of the three in terms of skating skills. This is especially visible in the one-foot elements, where H/D and H/B have amazing coverage. Also, in general, better unison and lines.

Hoping the post-Olympic shakeup in pecking order will prove favourable for H/B.

 

[litenkyckling]

Welcome to the next great US ID rivalry that will dominate the next Olympic cycle: Hawayek/Baker vs Greene/Parsons.

Montreal, please recognize that H/B may have a fun and goofy side to them, but that their real strengths are traditional, if not classical. Compare the results from the SD and FD. Want more proof? Go back to their junior RD of Happy Feet, etc. THAT is what won them the Junior World Title with a then world record point total. Here's a challenge for you: take all that traditional ballroom-inspired ID choreography and put a fresh, but not gimmicky, spin on it. Fred and Ginger for the 21st century, if you will. I think H/B will surprise you with what they bring to it.

Carreira/Ponomarenko need to have a serious think about their direction this off season.

Agree material wise - some of their best work as juniors was when the programmes were really fun or I thought that they sold a tango pretty well for a team that were really young at the time.

According to TSL (who I know we can't always trust, but the rumours are more often true than not with them), Anthony has been skating on a fractured foot (or maybe ankle, I forget) all season and will need surgury in the off-season. I can believe it, because it would make a lot of sense and explain this season a little. She has been improving, absolutely and I think the change in skating technique is just a time consuming process. He has gotten better with his emoting but his skating and strength has been weaker than normal. After hearing this rumour, I went back and watched both their programmes here and some of their biggest issues (stationary lift, midnight blues, one step, twizzles) ALL occur when he requires strength in his right foot. Something tech wise hasn't been adding up this season, and this makes it add up in my eyes.

 

[moonvine]

I try to keep an open mind and even watched fancams of the top three FD to see if there's something the judges are seeing that I'm missing, but that perspective just further highlighted that C/B are the weakest of the three in terms of skating skills. This is especially visible in the one-foot elements, where H/D and H/B have amazing coverage. Also, in general, better unison and lines.

Hoping the post-Olympic shakeup in pecking order will prove favourable for H/B.

Me too because I’m really sick of them being low scored. They should have gotten at least the silver medal last year.

 

[WeakAnkles]

Agree material wise - some of their best work as juniors was when the programmes were really fun or I thought that they sold a tango pretty well for a team that were really young at the time.

According to TSL (who I know we can't always trust, but the rumours are more often true than not with them), Anthony has been skating on a fractured foot (or maybe ankle, I forget) all season and will need surgury in the off-season. I can believe it, because it would make a lot of sense and explain this season a little. She has been improving, absolutely and I think the change in skating technique is just a time consuming process. He has gotten better with his emoting but his skating and strength has been weaker than normal. After hearing this rumour, I went back and watched both their programmes here and some of their biggest issues (stationary lift, midnight blues, one step, twizzles) ALL occur when he requires strength in his right foot. Something tech wise hasn't been adding up this season, and this makes it add up in my eyes.

I've been so out of the loop this season, that I don't know all the stories. I was genuinely shocked when I saw C/P's SD, but you explanation is very uhm explanatory! Thanks for catching me up.

 

[Hyena]

According to TSL (who I know we can't always trust, but the rumours are more often true than not with them), Anthony has been skating on a fractured foot (or maybe ankle, I forget) all season and will need surgury in the off-season. I can believe it, because it would make a lot of sense and explain this season a little. She has been improving, absolutely and I think the change in skating technique is just a time consuming process. He has gotten better with his emoting but his skating and strength has been weaker than normal. After hearing this rumour, I went back and watched both their programmes here and some of their biggest issues (stationary lift, midnight blues, one step, twizzles) ALL occur when he requires strength in his right foot. Something tech wise hasn't been adding up this season, and this makes it add up in my eyes.

Wow, if this is true it definitely explains a lot - and it makes me wonder why they wouldn't take the season off for Anthony to recover. Maybe they wanted to take advantage of the likelihood of a post-Olympics Worlds assignments, but I don't think the Olympics were really in the cards due to her citizenship. They could have given Anthony a full season to recovery and then have that much more time and energy to get back into shape for next year to blow us away.

 

[litenkyckling]

Wow, if this is true it definitely explains a lot - and it makes me wonder why they wouldn't take the season off for Anthony to recover. Maybe they wanted to take advantage of the likelihood of a post-Olympics Worlds assignments, but I don't think the Olympics were really in the cards due to her citizenship. They could have given Anthony a full season to recovery and then have that much more time and energy to get back into shape for next year to blow us away.

Yeah who knows who is advising them - but I would imagine they were feeling the heat last season with G/P, didn’t want to miss yet another nationals, know that juniors are on the move, maybe wanted to show the work with new coaches so far… but yeah IF this is true, I think they should be open about it after 4CC because when it’s impacting the performance this much, surely explaining why to judges etc is helpful?