Richard/Ricky Dornbush- can you guys fill me in on him? | Golden Skate

Richard/Ricky Dornbush- can you guys fill me in on him?

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
His name keeps coming up and somehow I've missed him- didn't see the Nationals where he won silver and have never seen a video of him skating. What is his story, strengths, weaknesses, etc? Any favorite videos of him?
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
Here are his overall best performances thus far in his career:

2013 Four Continents SP

2011 U.S. Nationals LP

He can do all the jumps, he has good spins, good footwork, solid transitions, and very good performance ability.

His weaknesses have been consistency and not having good programs (his Long Programs for both of the past two seasons). This season I think both of his programs are strong vehicles. I particularly like his Beatles LP and believe it can be something very special if continues to build upon what he showed at Finlandia.

Current season SP
Current season LP
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
I find him rather bland and uninteresting, but he has heart, I'll say that for him. He had the misfortune to skate directly after Max blew the lid off the joint at Nationals and though it all went wrong for him, he didn't give up. I admire that in a skater.
 

wordsworthgirl

Medalist
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Here are his overall best performances thus far in his career:

2013 Four Continents SP

2011 U.S. Nationals LP

He can do all the jumps, he has good spins, good footwork, solid transitions, and very good performance ability.

His weaknesses have been consistency and not having good programs (his Long Programs for both of the past two seasons). This season I think both of his programs are strong vehicles. I particularly like his Beatles LP and believe it can be something very special if continues to build upon what he showed at Finlandia.

Current season SP
Current season LP

Thank you so much! will go watch now. Very grateful to you!
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I'd add his 2010-2011 JGPF FS (79.97 TES) to the mix of great performances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIKIMHJf37I

Also his Finlandia Trophy FS from last season (2012): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QbIOTN7EVQ
It was not a perfect performance (he fell on one of his quads) everything else was great and he scored 92+ in TES and actually beat Hanyu there. He pulled off a 4T-2T clean (but fell on the otherone) as well as a 3Z-3T and 3A-2T-2Lo after the halfway mark.

With that score he and Max are the only two US men to score 90+ in TES in a competition. Problem is that he wasn't close to that score the rest of the season.

His FS TES for the rest of the 2012-2013 season:
78.29 (NHK Trophy)
73.89 (Rostelcom Cup)
75.87 (U.S. Nationals)
75.39 (4CC)

During his breakout season in 2010-2011:
83.27 (U.S. Nationals)
78.24 (Worlds)

And his TES at Finlandia just a few weeks ago was 66.73. For comparison, Jason Brown scored 68.69 at his Skate America FS, where he missed both his 3As (but had the other jumps for the most part). Ricky was 0/3 on quads, popping one into a 3T, another into a 2S and falling on a fully-rotated 4S. He also popped one of his 3As.

I admire Ricky for going for ambitious content, but I can't help but wonder if his strategy is effective. He has yet to successfully execute two quads in a FS, so not sure why he's trying to do three quads (including one after the halfway point).

It seems to make more sense for him to go for one quad (which we know he can do) and then go for two 3As and two 3Zs. Even if he falls on the quad, he would have the rest of his solid content to back him up. As BOP said, it's a well-choreographed program, so he can focus more on performing rather than trying to hit those quads.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
1 Quad Toe and 1 Quad Sal can be a good strategy for him, but going for a 3rd Quad isn't smart at all. He doesn't have much chance of hitting it later in the program and it takes so much extra energy, so it probably won't help him technically even if he does land it (since it will cause him to miss other elements). He doesn't even need it to score extremely high; he could already potentially score 100 TES without it. 3Axel+3Toe, 3Lutz+2Toe, 3Lutz-half loop-3Sal, 3Flip, 3Loop is a much better layout for the second half of his program. I've had a chat with him about this. Really hope he believes in his programs and takes the 3rd Quad out.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
1 Quad Toe and 1 Quad Sal can be a good strategy for him, but going for a 3rd Quad isn't smart at all. He doesn't have much chance of hitting it later in the program and it takes so much extra energy, so it probably won't help him technically even if he does land it (since it will cause him to miss other elements). He doesn't even need it to score extremely high; he could already potentially score 100 TES without it. 3Axel+3Toe, 3Lutz+2Toe, 3Lutz-half loop-3Sal, 3Flip, 3Loop is a much better layout for the second half of his program. I've had a chat with him about this. Really hope he believes in his programs and takes the 3rd Quad out.

Well, I guess we'll see if he listens to your advice! I hope he does.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
I would have agreed with Karne had I not seen Ricky at a show this past summer. I think his problem might be his choreography because when he was doing the show piece he had great personality on the ice and was actually fun to watch.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I would have agreed with Karne had I not seen Ricky at a show this past summer. I think his problem might be his choreography because when he was doing the show piece he had great personality on the ice and was actually fun to watch.

He does seem quite entertaining in shows. I liked his nerdy routine.

I think he does show some of that personality in competition, but when he misses jumps, the energy level seems to go elsewhere.
 

Matilda

Medalist
Joined
Dec 19, 2012
Ricky has beautiful jumps and footwork when he's on. I think his spins need some work, however. That was particularly evident in the Icedreams show, where he was skating side by side with two excellent spinners, Jason and Johnny. I agree that Ricky has great energy in shows, and in my experience he's a really nice guy in person.
 
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