2017 U.S. Nationals Championship Men SP

[karne]

I actually thought Max was very committed to the choreography throughout. Not sure I believe that it was debuting a new program that caused the issues. The jumps, and confidence, weren't there.

I don't understand. Jackie said he practiced so well this morning. Hit everything. What happened? Where did his confidence go? What did the skating gods do to him?

 

[Eislauf]

Jeremy and Richard Dornbush splatted all the time. Adam has no quad. Farris was a hit and miss case, mostly miss. I just find it strange that American men think not having a quad is no hindrance to success. Oh well, there is always the Lysacek success story. I'm all for Chen and Zhou getting Worlds spot.

Agree 100%. And the only reason Lysacek got away with no quads was because he was from a bygone era, when doing only one quad in the entire competition (SP or FS) was a BIG DEAL! Doing multiple quads, of different variety and in combo with triples, is the new normal.

Nathan and Vincent - Team USA for World's

 

[mrrice]

I actually thought Max was very committed to the choreography throughout. Not sure I believe that it was debuting a new program that caused the issues. The jumps, and confidence, weren't there.

I think the reason his jumps weren't there is due to the fact that his mind was busy thinking about his new choreography. I missed his SP and maybe it was fate that my stream froze because I'd probably be crying on my couch too. I really want to see him skate a perfect LP and bring the crowd to their feet. Max is so popular with the fans that I know he'll be embraced the moment he takes the ice. I will definitely be watching.

 

[ramurphy2005]

I don't understand. Jackie said he practiced so well this morning. Hit everything. What happened? Where did his confidence go? What did the skating gods do to him?

I wish I could answer that question for you, because if the skating gods listened to any of us, no one would ever fall.

I haven't seen any of the Men's SP yet since I didn't have access to it. From reading the threads, it sounds like I'll just have to cherry pick through a few skates.

 

[andromache]

I actually thought Max was very committed to the choreography throughout. Not sure I believe that it was debuting a new program that caused the issues. The jumps, and confidence, weren't there.

I kind of agree. Program and choreography-wise, one of the best Max programs I've seen. He looked comfortable with it.

 

[karne]

Max is so popular with the fans that I know he'll be embraced the moment he takes the ice.

I want to be in your alternative universe, mrrice. No, he won't. They won't care. Probably half of them won't even show up because hey, people don't want to come for the first groups, they want to come for the last groups where the "good skaters" are. He won't get any help from the judges and he won't get any help from the audience.

Gosh, Z, please protect him, people are going to be so awful to him, he needs to stay strong.

 

[Eislauf]

Perhaps, but Vincent NEEDS the senior int'l experience now. He'll get score better and better each competition, provide he continues to skate well.

So true. And it's just like Nathan's trajectory. Nathan got his tech content first and then worked to improve his components with Zoueva.

 

[da96103]

I'm am tired of people saying Nathan should get lower PCS than Jason. When you splat all over, PCS scores should be deducted accordlingly. That program was a mess from Jason.

But Nathan's PCS is lower than Brown. They should be satisfied.

 

[da96103]

I want Nathan and Jason as the team so badly. If Jason is healthy, he can compete near the top, Shoma beat him at Skate America but Jason's score was really respectable considering the TES difference.

I hope there are less falls/pops on Sunday.

But it seems this season, Jason is on a downward trajectory while everyone else's is going upwards.

 

[Jammers]

I love Nathan's attitude. He has his eye on the prize and doesn't act like much fazes him. He has always been the favorite at every level he has skated at and always stays calm. He has the mindset of a champion.

 

[da96103]

Suddenly Adam and his sleeveless costume, mesh top, disco music, dead bird resurrection, did not seem so bad after all.

 

[da96103]

It's all right. There's only seven points between Max and 4th, and Jason is 4th. It's all right. That's a lot of moving room. Sure Max will get even less help than the already zero help he gets at Nationals but it'll be all right, right? It has to be all right.

Oh who am I kidding, I'm bawling my eyes out on my couch right now.

(Gives karne a tranquilizer injection)

 

[karne]

(Gives karne a tranquilizer injection)

I can't go to sleep now, it's only 4:30pm.

 

[da96103]

Jeremy and Richard Dornbush splatted all the time. Adam has no quad. Farris was a hit and miss case, mostly miss. I just find it strange that American men think not having a quad is no hindrance to success. Oh well, there is always the Lysacek success story. I'm all for Chen and Zhou getting Worlds spot.

I am glad Nathan and Vincent thinks otherwise and the young ones are following Nathan's skate-steps: learn as many quad as you can while your body is still young.

 

[chuckm]

SENIOR MEN SHORT PROGRAM RESULTS

1- 106.39 62.07 44.32 8.93 8.57 9.00 8.86 8.96 0.00 Nathan CHEN 4z+3t, 4f, 3a
2- 88.67 46.21 42.46 8.39 8.21 8.68 8.57 8.61 0.00 Ross MINER 3a, 3z+3t, 3f
3- 87.85 48.53 39.32 7.82 7.64 8.11 7.89 7.86 0.00 Vincent ZHOU 4s, 3a, 3z+3t
4- 79.23 35.80 44.43 8.82 8.79 8.86 8.96 9.00 1.00 Jason BROWN 3f+3t, 3a<<↓, 3z<-df
5- 79.10 39.00 40.10 7.96 7.75 7.96 8.18 8.25 0.00 Grant HOCHSTEIN 2t*, 3a, 3z!+3t
6- 78.86 41.79 38.07 7.57 7.43 7.64 7.68 7.75 1.00 Timothy DOLENSKY 3z, 3a, 3f+3t, ↓steps
7- 77.84 41.65 37.19 7.61 7.21 7.46 7.50 7.39 1.00 Andrew TORGASHEV 3a-so, 4t↓, 3z+3t
8- 76.24 40.38 35.86 7.21 6.39 7.14 7.29 7.29 0.00 Jordan MOELLER 3a, 3z+3t, 3f
9- 75.19 37.12 38.07 7.54 7.29 7.64 7.71 7.89 0.00 Alexander JOHNSON 3z, 3a-df, 2f+3t
10- 73.75 38.28 35.47 7.11 6.89 7.25 7.18 7.04 0.00 Emmanuel SAVARY 4s, 3a<-so, 3f+3t
11- 73.41 37.47 35.94 7.11 6.86 7.36 7.32 7.29 0.00 Sean RABBITT 3f+3t, 2a, 3z
13- 72.54 36.62 37.92 7.96 7.36 7.46 7.68 7.46 2.00 Max AARON 4s↓, 3a-hd, 3z+3t↓
12- 71.79 38.93 33.86 6.75 6.61 6.93 6.86 6.71 1.00 Tomoki HIWATASHI 4t+3t-hd, 3a↓, 3z
14- 71.77 35.06 36.71 7.32 7.18 7.39 7.39 7.43 0.00 Kevin SHUM 2a, 3z+3t, 3f!
15- 70.41 36.87 33.54 6.64 6.04 7.07 6.68 7.11 0.00 Jimmy MA 3a-so, 3z+3t, 3f!
16- 69.90 34.27 35.63 6.89 6.93 7.21 7.21 7.39 0.00 Scott DYER 3a<<, 3f!, 3t+3t
17- 65.08 33.25 31.83 6.18 6.04 6.54 6.46 6.61 0.00 Daniel KULENKAMP 3a<, 3z+3t<, 3f
18- 60.78 28.49 32.29 6.39 6.04 6.61 6.54 6.71 0.00 Dennis PHAN 3lo, 3f+3t, 2a
19- 59.86 28.61 31.25 6.32 6.21 6.11 6.29 6.32 0.00 Oleksiy MELNYK 3f+2t<, 2a, 3z
20- 59.81 29.17 31.64 6.29 5.96 6.00 6.32 6.07 1.00 Shotaro OMORI 3a↓, 3z!+3t, 2f*
21- 57.07 26.00 32.07 6.50 6.18 6.32 6.43 6.64 1.00 Sebastian PAYANNET 3a-so, 3z-so, 3f↓-nc

 

[Eislauf]

I love Nathan's attitude. He has his eye on the prize and doesn't act like much fazes him. He has always been the favorite at every level he has skated at and always stays calm. He has the mindset of a champion.

So true! He's clearly very mentally tough and confident, executes well under pressure. A champion.

 

[mrrice]

I am glad Nathan and Vincent thinks otherwise and the young ones are following Nathan's skate-steps: learn as many quad as you can while your body is still young.

Does Ross a quad planned for his LP? I still think a clean Ross, especially with a quad, will beat Vincent. I don't think anyone will catch Nathan. Even if he has a meltdown with his 18 point lead, he'd have to withdraw to lose.

 

[SelfOM]

I love Nathan's attitude. He has his eye on the prize and doesn't act like much fazes him. He has always been the favorite at every level he has skated at and always stays calm. He has the mindset of a champion.

Nathan and Evgenia are very remarkably similar in this regard. They both seem very confident and intimidating on the practice ice, with Nathan and his quad arsenal and Evgenia with 3-3-3-3s.

 

[labgoat]

Vincent has a hip injury? DId I miss some mention of this?

It was mentioned on the warmup or just before he skated of the universal coverage I think as a nagging hip injury that won't go away.

 

[Nathan13]

Hello from KC!!!
I had the pleasure of watching this live tonight, and I wanted to share my thoughts. But first, please know that every time I looked over at Tara she was talking (or texting, or texting and talking) and I thought of you all.

The Highlights: is there any question who was the king of the night? Nah. Nathan Chen all the way. I don't know how it looks at home, but I think his presentation has come a long way even since GPF. He has an impeccable talent to skating to the music and his timing is just crazy. And there's no need to even comment on the jumps. That score was absolutely justified.

Also a highlight, Ross Miner!!! I've never been his biggest fan, but I didn't realize how freaking FAST he skates. I would say he was the fastest man there tonight. Probably the best short he's ever had. Vincent was also awesome. I really think Nathan and Vincent are going to be one and two.

I have to also mention the lesser known guys, because I think they made a huge mark on many tonight. For example, Emmanuel Savary, Jimmy Ma and Kevin Shum all BROUGHT IT, and the audience ate it up.

The painful: Oh Max. Karne will be pleased to know that I thought he had the loudest ovation when he was called--the anticipation was enormous. That first fall just rattled him and it went off the rails. There were audible groans and "awwws" when his scores came up. I think this will be an amazing vehicle for him, but it's hard to judge from this performancd because he was really visibly unsettled after that first fall. I got the saddest picture of him in the Kiss and Cry. I threw him a rose anyway .

Jason did not look comfortable tonight. I hope he isn't causing irreparable damage to his leg.

The funny: this audience is hilarious. The booing was defeating when Scott Dyer's scores came up. Others were confused why Jimmy Ma didn't move ahead of Tim Dolensky.

So there's some heartbreak and some magic, but I'm certain Sunday is going to bring down the house.