2018 Canadian Nats, Live & Practice Reports

[Crossover]

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cn1dt

Thankfully, Skate Canada provides a free and live stream of practice via Dailymotion.
I don't think it is geo-blocked.

Apart from the practice stream, I would appreciate any report on practices or competitions from the arena. Thanks!

Tell us all about your experience.

 

[Crossover]

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6cn1dt

I just tuned in the practice stream and saw Nic's SP run-through. He looks good although his jump landings are not pristine clean, but that's mainly due to the crowded rink. I like the camera work with a bit more zoom-in shot to the skater than other times. His smooth gliding and big jumps along with his gorgeous appearance are a joy to watch. I wish he comes to Olympics as the second spot in men is wide open to everyone.

I've copied it from the Men's SP thread because I think it belongs more to the place.

 

[Crossover]

I missed Nam's practice time of "La Strada" but saw Kevin, Patrick and Liam via Dailymotion.

Kevin's free program is really intriguing although he made a lot of URs and popped in the runthrough. He engaged in the program with a lot of attention to details and his upper body movements look quite nice. He doesn't have good SS compared to the other Canadian men with buttery SS in general, but his presentation skills make him unique. If he shows fully what he's capable of, the contention for the second spot will be very interesting.

Patrick seems off today. He fell on the first jump which impacted the rest of the run-through. He looks upset at himself so skipped the remaining jumps and many of choreographic moves. However, I'm glad to see him glide on the ice. Tomorrow is always a new day to start fresh.

Liam, I didn't realize that the La La Land program is so good. I'm also sadden to think of Ashley's LLL at US Nationals which is also good. However, Liam's music cuts are the best among all LLL programs in my opinion. Liam resembles Ryan Gosling a bit, doesn't he? He has also nice edges second after Patrick.

 

[Mango]

Liam won a medal with this program at US International Classic. He got a PB score.

Patrick did land some nice jumps after his fall though. He hasn't really been on competition ice in 3 months so I get if he's got rust. He's much better than I thought he'd be post-Skate Canada.

 

[NanaPat]

Better late than never, I'm going to give some observations on the competition from the perspective of the live audience in general and myself in particular.

I'll start with the short programs, and give one of each for each senior discipline.

Women:

audience - Gaby Daleman's skate brought down the house

me - Triena Robinson skated in an early flight and made it into the final flight for the free. I thought she was outstanding. No one I talked to at Triumf house had heard of her, and we couldn't find much info online. I believe she's young and hope she continues to develop.

Dance:

audience - Andrew Poje's fall on the twizzles. Everyone gasped, and were very supportive of the rest of their program. That fall kind of took all the energy out of the building.

me- Carolane Soucisse's skirt. It moved so buautifully with her. I found it mesmerizing.

Pairs:

audience - much puzzlement (though not indignation) that Seguin/Bilodeau beat Moore-Towers/Marinaro. People in line for the ladies room were looking up the protocols to explain what happenened.
audience (runner-up) - sadness for Lubov and Dylan

me: Walsh/Michaud. I was aware of them before the competition started and was looking for them. They did a great job for such a young team. She is quite tall for him, but they make it work.

Men:

audience: Eladj Balde, by a mile. He got tremendous applause before he started, applause for every executed element, and one of those standing Os that start even before the skater has finished the program. In his case, it started with the second-last spin. When they showed his replays, they ended with his wonderful smile when he finished, and another tremendous roar went up. It was so nice to see and hear the support.

me: the Junior (or just out of Junior) men: especially Conrad, Joseph, and Roman. I was aware of them because of posts on Golden Skate, and they didn't disappoint. Some (all?) of them made mistakes, but they showed a tremendous amount of potential. Joseph in particular was a standout.

 

[NanaPat]

I'm a bit rested now and ready to report on the longs. Unfortunately they are nmore of a blur than the shorts.

Women:

audience: very supportive of all skaters, but especially enthusiastic about Gaby

me: the women in the final flight, except for the last two (Gaby and Katelyn), didn't seem to be fighting hard for that third spot. Larkyn was the first skater in the last flight. I discussed her expression after the skate with the people around me, and we thought she looked disappointed, like she didn't think she'd done enough. Glad for her that it turned out she had, but disappointed in the performances of the other "contenders for third".

Ice Dance

audience: Tremenous support for Weaver/Poje. Someone described in another thread how a wave of sound followed them around the rink when they were skating around waiting for the scores of the previous skaters. It was really touching.

me: Virtue/Moyer! And Carolane's skirt, again!

Pairs:

audience: very supportive of all skaters. Disappointed for Lubov/Dylan but felt Moore-Towers/Marinaro had a great performance.

me: pairs is my favorite discipline, partly because there are so few entrants and I tend to be familiar with all of them. Again, I really like Walsh and Michaud.

men:

audience: went wild for all the men in the final flight (and some in the earlier flights as well). The men stepped up and made a fight of it.

me: Eladj doing a backflip on his way to the kiss-and-cry. And then Keegan doing one as well.