Now That Jeff Has Left the Building

[Ladskater]

With Buttle's unexpected retirement, it's certainly going to be an interesting season for the Canadian men this year. The field will be wide open. Patrick Chan made such a great debut last season by winning the Canadian nationals and now the pressure will be on him to raise the bar. It's going to be exciting to see some of the "new kids on the block."

More on Patrick chan:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/figureskating/story/2008/09/11/isu-canada-chan.html?ref=rss

 

[Tinymavy15]

baring distaster or a newcomer, Patrick has the National title to himself. He might not even want to do nationals, and spend that time to work on his 3 axels and perhaps a quad. The canadian federation would send him to worlds easily, wether he appeared at nationals or not, so unless 3 consecutive national titles look really good to him...

 

[merrybari]

baring distaster or a newcomer, Patrick has the National title to himself. He might not even want to do nationals, and spend that time to work on his 3 axels and perhaps a quad. The canadian federation would send him to worlds easily, wether he appeared at nationals or not, so unless 3 consecutive national titles look really good to him...

You have a point, but to me that puts a lot of pressure on a relatively newcomer to the senior scene. Not to mention being so young. Lots can happen between now and then. One win doesn't necessarily insure others though I'm not doubting his ability. I saw his skate at Skate America and he's an awesome talent. However, I've heard it said by many competitors that the best training is competing - you just can't duplicate that atmosphere on a training rink. There's so much mental training in competition and that a huge portion of the sport too.

 

[fumie_fumie]

The ones I'm watching:

Russell -

The one I am keeping my eye on is our beloved Newfie skater Joey Russell. He is more of a Jeff Buttle School of skater, with natural talent to internalize and interpret music. He appeared to gain a fairly consistent 3A-3R combination this summer, so we will see if this season will be a break-through for him.

Jeremy Ten -

Last year, I saw this kid letting his growth spurt, the resultant long limbs and the newly gained speed get the better of him. It would be interesting to see if he gains control over his changing body this season. He is immensely talented guy and his programs have been very unique and innovative (the little Bhudda LP was so Sandhuishly good).

Some posters have been very critical of his main coach Joanne McLeod for a lot of things including the weak, storking axel techniques that are so common among her pupils. However, one thing that she can take credits for as a coach/director of 8 rinks is choreography. She just cooks up really good programs once in a blue moon for her students and Jeremy was lucky enough to get Joanne's relatively good programs.

Chipeur and Mabee have been talked about enough. I will cut short on them.

Chipeur has upped his technical arsenals and improved his extension over the summer, so he can be a legitimate podium finisher at Nationals.

Mabee (?), maybe Mabee?

 

[nadster]

fumie_fumie : A few questions.

How consistently is Joey doing a 3A in practice as he didn't land any in Thornhill ( even in the warmups). To his credit though , he seems to be able to tack on a triple loop to any triple he lands solidly. I don't think he really has the triple axel yet as I don't think a skater has a jump until they start landing it in competition. Hopefully it will be there at Nebelhorn.

IMO Jeremy Ten does not look like a typical Joanne Mcleod skater. He actually has the best flow ( if not power) on the ice of any Mcleoad coached skater I have seen except Sandhu at his very best. At least he landed the triple axel at the BC summer skate. I would like to see him get more height on his jumps though.

 

[fumie_fumie]

nadster,

Thanks for correction. For some reason, I got the impression that he landed 3A in short and 3A-3R combo in free at Thornhill (I blame my dementia). I went back to check the protocol; he underrotated 3A in short, and opened up an axel (planned 3A) in free. Then, you are right. His 3A is not consistent, yet (sigh). I do hope he does well in Nebelhorn.

come to think of it, there are not any in men's field.

 

[Ladskater]

You have a point, but to me that puts a lot of pressure on a relatively newcomer to the senior scene. Not to mention being so young. Lots can happen between now and then. One win doesn't necessarily insure others though I'm not doubting his ability. I saw his skate at Skate America and he's an awesome talent. However, I've heard it said by many competitors that the best training is competing - you just can't duplicate that atmosphere on a training rink. There's so much mental training in competition and that a huge portion of the sport too.

So true!! We have seen this happen before - at least in the Ladies. Patrick will have a lot of expectations on him this season especially since he won the title last year. Canada will be looking for the next Jeff. There are also some good jumpers in the field who will be looking for spots on the Olympic team- Chris Mabee and Von Chipeur to name a couple. We don't want Patrick to become discouraged.

It willl be an exciting Canadians.

 

[merrybari]

LOTS of excitement everywhere this season with so many, many changes.

Jeff's already begun his non-competitive event performing. I just found out that he will be appearing on Evan's "An Evening of Hope" benefit show in Geneva, IL (Chicago suburb) on Sept. 27. Check it out at the link.

http://www.stephaniejoseph.com/events.html

I have my tickets and am thrilled that Jeff has been added to the cast list. I've never seen him skate live and was really bummed that I'd miss that chance at Skate Canada.

Someone on one of the boards was wondering if they'd do a repeat of the throw axel from 4Cs. Now that would be something to see. :agree:

 

[lcd]

When he's "on"... Chris Mabie has the potential to be a hybrid of... (1) Jeffrey Buttle... (2) Kurt Browning...and (3) Chris Mabie... it's a joy to watch... hope he's got game this season.

 

[Taan]

fedor!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[siberia82]

fedor!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately for us Fedor Fanatics, he's undecided about his future and it doesn't look like he'll be competing this season.

 

[Binthere]

Unfortunately for us Fedor Fanatics, he's undecided about his future and it doesn't look like he'll be competing this season.

That said, he has the kind of talent and mindset that I would never count him out. Didn't he commit to last season relatively late compared to his peers?

Anyone can smell a once in a lifetime opportunity... LA! An Olympics in Canada! I would never write him out of the equation...

 

[siberia82]

That said, he has the kind of talent and mindset that I would never count him out. Didn't he commit to last season relatively late compared to his peers?

Anyone can smell a once in a lifetime opportunity... LA! An Olympics in Canada! I would never write him out of the equation...

IIRC, Fedor only started training in August last year, so yeah, he got back into the game quite late compared to everyone else. But it's September now, and there doesn't seem to be any news on whether or not he's continuing. :disapp: I can't help but worry. I really, really, really lurve his skating , and I sincerely hope we'll see him compete again at Nats in both 2009 and 2010.

Despite his lack of discipline, it's obvious that Fedor possesses tons of talent, and I'd really hate to think that a natural figure skater like him never got to represent Canada at the Worlds or the Olympics. In fact, if he can just get his act together and familiarize himself with CoP, he could easily be our #2 Canadian man. He received the 3rd highest PCS in both the SP and LP at Nats after Jeff and Patrick, plus he has a consistent 3-Axel. What more can a guy who hasn't skated in 3 years ask for? I mean, I just wanna grab him by the collar and yell, "Jeff's gone now! There are 2 free spots for the 2009 Worlds and one of them has your name on it! This is your chance to shine! Stop moping about not making the national team! Work that gorgeous butt off and show us what you're truly made of!"

However, the fact that Fedor currently has serious doubts about his career is a VERY bad sign. I don't want to sound pessimistic, but the situation looks rather grim.

 

[fumie_fumie]

Shawn Sawyer's year?

http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080922&content_id=51948&vkey=ice_news

Will Shawn make it this year?

 

[Winnipeg]

I am not sure.....................my guess is no but I hope I am wrong.

 

[fumie_fumie]

IMO Jeremy Ten does not look like a typical Joanne Mcleod skater. He actually has the best flow ( if not power) on the ice of any Mcleoad coached skater I have seen except Sandhu at his very best. At least he landed the triple axel at the BC summer skate. I would like to see him get more height on his jumps though.

You are right. There is something that I can't really pinpoint, but something intriguing about his skating, especially his LP at last year's nationals. It looked as if he could glue his elements together seamlessly and make one good story out of it. There were a few technical bobbles here and there, but it was thoroughly entertaining. Then, you don't see the same quality of skating and capability to weave the elements together in Kang, Leung either. And unfortunately, Patrick Wong's progress has been stalled...Enough said.

 

[siberia82]

I don't know what's going on with Canadian men's figure skating these days, but the landscape has changed once again now that Mabee is taking time off this season. Hmmm, I wonder if he and Jeff are planning to elope...? (Just kidding.)

 

[demarinis5]

I don't know what's going on with Canadian men's figure skating these days, but the landscape has changed once again now that Mabee is taking time off this season. Hmmm, I wonder if he and Jeff are planning to elope...? (Just kidding.)

Did Chris give a reason why he is taking this season off? Is he injured?

 

[KayMil01]

I don't know what's going on with Canadian men's figure skating these days, but the landscape has changed once again now that Mabee is taking time off this season. Hmmm, I wonder if he and Jeff are planning to elope...? (Just kidding.)

lol

 

[siberia82]

Did Chris give a reason why he is taking this season off? Is he injured?

Not yet, but he apparently will be interviewed by his local newspaper about it. Early word is that Chris is in a "transition" period and he just needs some time to think things through. I doubt injury has anything to do with his decision to withdraw from his fall competitions.

lol

I'm glad you appreciate my joke.