2023-24 Canadian Figure Skating

[Cutting the ice]

Enjoyed watching the novice / pre-novice challenge on-line this past weekend with some future stars in the making. Particularly promising was the novice women (girls?) - it was close in the free skate between the top 3 (< 1 point between them). Should be very interesting to see how things go at the Cdn Novice championships. All three had good jump and spin difficulty (and success) and not bad skating skills. All were from different parts of Canada - that is particularly good news. We need these skaters to push each other domestically while they wait to earn their spots on the JGP circuit.

Novice pairs was fairly deep but the two Ontario pairs seem to be a cut-above (Muramoto/Lau and Back/Mahoney). I know with growth spurts and partner changes it may be silly to get invested in a Novice pairs team, but still there is promise for the future. Loved to see the strength from Pre-Novice pairs as well - particularly from BC (Kirsten M-T on the coaching bench). Good news again that we saw entries from across Canada.

 

[4everchan]

Pairs from BC is definitely good news.

 

[saine]

Asher Hill was on Anything GOEs 4CC recap.

It's a good listen. He doesn't know what's up with the lack of assignments from Skate Canada either. He also choreographed Lia/Trennt's short this season, so he has some insight on the changes made to it. I also appreciated the conversation that they had at the end of the ice dance segment.

 

[Talder]

I am wondering what is going on with Brooke and Ben!! Evans Instagram story this morning showed Ben with Fiona today in Oakville

 

[Jumping_Bean]

I am wondering what is going on with Brooke and Ben!! Evans Instagram story this morning showed Ben with Fiona today in Oakville

They also unfollowed each other

 

[Diana Delafield]

Pairs from BC is definitely good news.

The pairs from the Connaught club are particularly good, with a confidence and performance level of many juniors even in practice sessions at home. Kirsten Moore-Towers seems to have a natural ability to be a great pairs coach. (I'd say her pupils are "promising", but the adjective always reminds me too much of a forgettable practice session where you'd think my partner and I had both left our boots untied and were stumbling around tripping on the laces. We finally skated over to the boards where our coach had her face down on the rail in despair. My partner said, "We look like beginners today, don't we?" -- we were seniors -- and she snapped, "And not even promising beginners!")

 

[rain]

Asher Hill was on Anything GOEs 4CC recap.

It's a good listen. He doesn't know what's up with the lack of assignments from Skate Canada either. He also choreographed Lia/Trennt's short this season, so he has some insight on the changes made to it. I also appreciated the conversation that they had at the end of the ice dance segment.

The nervous giggling, the frequent awkward pauses make Anything GOEs a really tough watch for me and I often end up skipping their recaps or turning them off halfway through (sorry, just nails on a chalkboard), but I did watch this because I have liked some of their guests (Corey Circelli, KMT). Aside from the usual things that make me grit my teeth, I thought Asher had some interesting things to say. I thought it was interesting that Asher, and the Scoreography folks basically all agree with my personal opinion (though Asher was really diplomatic about it) that Lia and Trennt's SP was better before. Like, a lot better.

I did not find their conversation on the Sorensen situation particularly insightful. But then, I haven't really found anyone's to be.

 

[4everchan]

well well.. i am definitely not watching the Asher hill thing... after 4.5 minutes they were driving me nuts
so. yeah.. no ..

feel free to post anything worth sharing here I'd appreciate the insights.

Isn't Asher doing the "that figure skating show anymore?

 

[saine]

I can understand how people may not want to listen to their style, I've turned off videos for the same reason before. I'm used to their style, I like listening to their livestreams while working

Asher does host That Figure Skating Show, the last episode was their Nationals recap. Apparently he let Dylan Moscovitch do the pairs commentary for it since he didn't know enough about it (from the recap). He wants a bonus for landing SBS jumps in pairs now.

No insights on lack of competitions, but there was a point brought up that Cranberry Cup is not a good international for Canadian women to go to if they're looking for TES minimums. It's early in the season, so there's less of a chance of getting the TES.

Lia/Trennt's short - They got comments from the judges that it was a bit one-note and they needed to crystalize their look. Lia/Trennt liked the back half and kept the original song for that half. Asher preferred the higher energy of the original. They didn't have time to do any adjustments between Nationals and 4CC due to Trennt's injury, so they'll do more work before Worlds.

 

[peese]

well well.. i am definitely not watching the Asher hill thing... after 4.5 minutes they were driving me nuts
so. yeah.. no ..

feel free to post anything worth sharing here I'd appreciate the insights.

Isn't Asher doing the "that figure skating show anymore?

I don't even think I made it to 4.5 minutes! I find Asher childish or something along those lines. Silly giggling and yes, those long pauses right from the start. I was thinking....there's 5 of them and nobody has anything to say after 1 minute!

 

[Diana Delafield]

well well.. i am definitely not watching the Asher hill thing... after 4.5 minutes they were driving me nuts
so. yeah.. no ..

feel free to post anything worth sharing here I'd appreciate the insights.

Isn't Asher doing the "that figure skating show anymore?

A condensed version of highlights would be nice? When I saw it was more than two hours long, I turned it off. Two minutes of his irritating mannerisms make my teeth grind, two hours would be unbearable. He knows his stuff, and I used to like his skating, but as a TV host he annoys the wits out of me. Teaming with Dylan Moskovitch made him bearable; I was sorry when Dylan quit That Figure Skating Show.

 

[kenboy123]

Does anyone know how long we have to wait to the announce the people/teams going to Worlds???...It seems like all the competitions are done now...and I haven't seen a clear date on when they will announce ... are there outside factors (which I will not mention) delaying the announcement????...

 

[skatingguy]

Does anyone know how long we have to wait to the announce the people/teams going to Worlds???...It seems like all the competitions are done now...and I haven't seen a clear date on when they will announce ... are there outside factors (which I will not mention) delaying the announcement????...

Entries aren't due until Feb 26 so we'll probably see a press release on that day or just before. I think the only question marks at this point are in Ice Dance.

 

[saine]

Does anyone know how long we have to wait to the announce the people/teams going to Worlds???...It seems like all the competitions are done now...and I haven't seen a clear date on when they will announce ... are there outside factors (which I will not mention) delaying the announcement????...

They're going to announce the Junior/Senior Synchro Worlds teams on or before February 14, so maybe they want to combine it all into one announcement? Some of the choices are easy, some of them I can see them deliberating more on.

 

[NanaPat]

On the TSL interview with Carol Lane, Carol mentioned that Peter Beaumont broke his leg. It is not a bad break, and they expect it to heal well, though he is in a cast and boot.

He broke it doing a spin on Lake Louise. Carol sounded like an exasperated parent when she lamented that he couldn't just skate around and admire the scenery, oh no, he had to do something risky.

 

[rain]

Entries aren't due until Feb 26 so we'll probably see a press release on that day or just before. I think the only question marks at this point are in Ice Dance.

And then the only question I think is whether Lajoie/Lagha will be well enough to skate. If they are, the three teams are set.

I think Roman did enough at 4CC to get himself named to the team, and Wesley definitely did, as did Maddie. Pairs is very obvious.

 

[4everchan]

And then the only question I think is whether Lajoie/Lagha will be well enough to skate. If they are, the three teams are set.

I think Roman did enough at 4CC to get himself named to the team, and Wesley definitely did, as did Maddie. Pairs is very obvious.

I agree with what you are saying but I think it's more like Conrad didn't do anything at 4CC that would prevent Roman from being selected i.e I don't really think Roman did that well at 4CC.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

I personally enjoy the AnythingGOE recaps, but I understand if they're not your cup of tea. I thought Asher had some really interesting insight - apparently Trennt and Lia changed their SP because judges thought it was too "one-note" since it is high-intensity throughout. (I disagree but judges are gonna be judges I guess)

 

[saine]

I agree with what you are saying but I think it's more like Conrad didn't do anything at 4CC that would prevent Roman from being selected i.e I don't really think Roman did that well at 4CC.

Considering how Roman's season has gone, it is a good result for him. But talking in the mixed zone about how he took out the 3A in his short due to not having enough mileage on it is not filling me with confidence. He is not landing a clean 4S either. His PCS can only get him so far if he makes any mistake in the short at Worlds.

I really hope that the criteria isn't so much who did better at 4CC, but more who is most likely to make the free skate. I don't know the answer to that, so I hope that there's monitoring going on. I just want whoever goes to make the free.

 

[yyzskater]

I am wondering what is going on with Brooke and Ben!! Evans Instagram story this morning showed Ben with Fiona today in Oakville

There was a post of Brooke in a boot cast last week or something working out in the gym. So maybe they are just keeping busy?