She is Mr. Chan's fan and what she said was very positive. I guess you don't understand that sound means very good. Again, she is an ex skater who has been to Skate Canada every year. If she can not say anything good she would not have said it. The skater she can not stand is Mr. Fernandez. If you want to listen to her rant about how slow and labour Mr. Fernandez is, I can quote her.
Adding to gkelly's discussion, as I've understood it, noisy edges as in growling edges seem to be due to the depth, speed, and carve of the blade during turns. It's a very different sound than noisy edges as in scratchy because of lack of run of the blade, toe picks, etc. I think it's from the precise shifting of a heavy, concentrated weight that produces that growling sound, I'm thinking someone like Alexander Abt. On the other hand, I think a skater like Kozuka who also had some of the best basics of his time, is not what I would consider a "growling" skater, his edges are very gentle and quiet.
If a skater like Patrick has skates that growl, maybe Hanyu has skates that purr? I don't see his step sequence as flat and scratchy, I see good rhythmic knee action and efficient acceleration from absolute stops with minimal crossovers, gaining speed through his turns, which is harder and more energy-demanding than having momentum to start with. He has pretty obvious inside and outside edges in my opinion.Yes, the sound of the blade is very obvious live. People who don't go to ice rink often might not understand this. Mr. Chan's skating has a very strong sound. It does not mean a bad thing. Some people just need to go to the ice rink more often.
Adding to gkelly's discussion, as I've understood it, noisy edges as in growling edges seem to be due to the depth, speed, and carve of the blade during turns. It's a very different sound than noisy edges as in scratchy because of lack of run of the blade, toe picks, etc. I think it's from the precise shifting of a heavy, concentrated weight that produces that growling sound, I'm thinking someone like Alexander Abt. On the other hand, I think a skater like Kozuka who also had some of the best basics of his time, is not what I would consider a "growling" skater, his edges are very gentle and quiet.
It seemed like in the NHK FS, the rink was annoyingly mic'ed up quite heavily in some spots. It reminds me of Mao's Skate America SP from 2006, in which the edges are so loud that it incorrectly gives the impression that her skating skills are noisy and imprecise. Dick Button even remarks that Mao is so "friendly to the ice, you just never hear her skates move" when you can hear every single stroke all the way throughout the video
More speed doesn't necessarily always mean good skating skills, but it's oftentimes a good indicator of it. It's the ability to control that speed through different turns, and the ability to accelerate/decelerate effortlessly, which implies the mastery of edges such that one can control their speed. Every case is different.
Usually scratchy refers to the sound, so apologies if that's not what you meant. Which parts in particular were shaky to you? He did lose his balance on the twizzle sequence in his cluster of footwork which disrupted him, but the rest is well controlled. I see that he's making multiple choreographic stops in his footwork, so it's harder to accelerate to get the momentum to really get super deep into his edges and control them, but I still see clear and clean inside/outside edges. Flat or straight edges to me implies lack of clarity of edge and calling his skating skills bad or sub par is in my opinion untrue. Perhaps we're having a difference in perception based on camera angles.
