List of Entrants

[Winnipeg]

Why does it take so long to post :scratch::scratch:this list. It could always be posted with a caveat 'subject to change??'

Also, why is SC not keeping the web up to date?:scratch::scratch::disapp:

With the threads re decline in interest one woud think every attempt to maintain interest would be done..................hwell:hwell:

 

[Sylvia]

Actually, the starting orders are already up :
http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/events_results/events/cdns08/results/index.cfm

 

[fumie_fumie]

Sandhu may not show up. I heard a rumour saying Skate Canada strongly encouraged 1st alternate from the challenge to show up "just in case".

Men's and pairs field will be the most interesting to watch. Looking forward to it.

 

[Winnipeg]

Actually, the starting orders are already up :
http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/events_results/events/cdns08/results/index.cfm

THANKS!

I doubt Sandhu will be skating but I heard he will be providing singing entertainment during the ice resurfacing..................

 

[bems]

I think it would be great if Sandhu did skate.

Think of it, finish in the top five every year. Get a bye to next years Canadians and don't skate for the rest of the season.

Skate Canada has got to stop these stupid rules and let the spots be earned annually from Challenge up.

The womens event and a visilbly shaken Mabee after his results at Missisauga shows that if a true competition was held each year, it could be a very different field.

I congratulate Sandhu on his courage and wish him well.

 

[nadster]

I think it would be great if Sandhu did skate.

Think of it, finish in the top five every year. Get a bye to next years Canadians and don't skate for the rest of the season.

Skate Canada has got to stop these stupid rules and let the spots be earned annually from Challenge up.

But Skate Canada DID tighten up the rules big time this year. It was so obvious that the previous rules were too lax.

Actually the new rules( starting this year) state that there are only 3 ways to get a direct bye to nationals at the senior level.

1. Finish in the top 3 at last senior nationals.
2. Have a GP assignment.
3. Make the JGPF

It was in previous years that you had very lax rules about making nationals. Before this year there was no challenge and you qualified for nationals from sectionals ( top 4 or top 8 in Quebec) or with much more liberal bye rules ( a senior B or JGP assignment used to give you a direct bye to senior nationals as well as the earlier rules stated ). Problem is , most sections ( even the island of PEI is a whole section) don't have enough senior competitors to have a sectional competition to eliminate anybody. Only sections in BC , Alberta , Western and Central Ontario and Quebec ( and not in all disciplines) would have meaningful senior sectionals leaving skaters from 8 sections having direct byes to nationals due to lack of senior skaters from those sections.

We have already seen the effects of adding the challenger and the new rules when Belair got eliminated at the challenges. In previous years, she would have received a direct bye to nationals due to a JGP assignment.

 

[Winnipeg]

I certainly like the idea of only letting the top 18 go in the singles disciplines. The 2 day Q events required a lengthier stay for the competition...........qualifying beforehand is a great idea.

I agree with the concept of earning a spot each year but there are some exceptions (i.e., if a skater has a GP assignment right before the challenge, etc.). I also think the top 3 should get byes to 'draw' ticket sales at the very least.

 

[Sackie]

Saw a skating show over the holidays with Sandhu in it and he looked to have slimmed down again and his speed seemed better then last year so he just may be at Canadians and ready to fight it out. If he's been following the GP this season he knows that except for Patrick the other Can men have not done as well as expected. He may show up for the short and if he's held down too far there just pull out knowing SC has had enough.

 

[chuckm]

But Skate Canada DID tighten up the rules big time this year. It was so obvious that the previous rules were too lax.

Actually the new rules( starting this year) state that there are only 3 ways to get a direct bye to nationals at the senior level.

1. Finish in the top 3 at last senior nationals.
2. Have a GP assignment.
3. Make the JGPF

I don't think just getting a GP assignment in itself should guarantee a bye to Nationals. Phaneuf bombed at SC and Hawker didn't exactly do well in her two events. Shawn Sawyer and Kevin Reynolds didn't fare that well either. Chipeur did well at SC but bombed at NHK.

In the US, a GP assignment might get a skater a bye through Regionals or Sectionals if the timing of the event was too close to Regionals and/or Sectionals. Byes to Nationals go to those finishing in the top 5 at the previous Senior Nationals (Meissner, Hughes, Czisny, Liang, Flatt, Lysacek, Bradley, Weir, Abbott, Smith, Castile/Okolski, Inoue/Baldwin, Nari Nam/Leftheris, Evora/Ladwig, Vise/Trent, Belbin/Agosto, Gregory/Petukhov, Davis/White, Navarro/Bommentre), plus those making the GPF (McLaughlin/Brubaker, Zhang) or JGPF (Nagasu, Musademba, Gilles, Hughes, Rippon, Mroz, Mahbanoozadeh, Razzano, Kanallakan, Paetsch/Nuss, Butler/Jacobsen, Samuelson/Bates, Chock/Zuerlein).

 

[nadster]

I don't think just getting a GP assignment in itself should guarantee a bye to Nationals. Phaneuf bombed at SC and Hawker didn't exactly do well in her two events. Shawn Sawyer and Kevin Reynolds didn't fare that well either. Chipeur did well at SC but bombed at NHK.

In the US, a GP assignment might get a skater a bye through Regionals or Sectionals if the timing of the event was too close to Regionals and/or Sectionals. Byes to Nationals go to those finishing in the top 5 at the previous Senior Nationals , plus those making the GPF or JGPF .

chuckm , Please note that Canada has less byed skaters this year to nationals than the US in most disciplines. First of all , in Canada finishing 4th or 5th does not earn you a bye like in the US. Based on Sylvia's list of entries.

Ladies: Canada byed 4 . US byed 9
Men : Canada byed 7. US byed 6 .
Pairs : Canada byed 5 US byed 7.
Dance : Canada byed 5 US byed 8.

Hawker got her bye also because she finished 3rd at the last nationals. Here are some the changes to byes if Canada used the US bye rule ( JGPF , top 5 or GPF). I did not consider scheduling conflicts ( as you say chuckm ) as a reason for a bye.

Ladies: Samson would have direct bye to nationals. ( 1 more entry).
Men: Chipheur and Reynolds wouldn't have byes. ( 2 less entries)
Pairs: Kirkland/Radford would have a bye but Miller/Moram and Duhamel/Buntin wouldn't have byes ( 1 less entry)
Dance: McCurdy/Coreno would not have a bye ( 1 less entry)

Yes overall the US rules would result in less byed entries this year but stangely more women ( our weakest discipline) would get byes under the US system then under the Canadian system. If no breakups/retirements happened in the Canadian pair/dance scene, the number of byed entries would also increase under the US system.

I was complaining about the old rules before seniors had to do challenges. It was not strange for a "senior" lady from a small section ( like PEI ) who was not close to landing a double axel or any triple to get a direct trip to nationals since she would be the only "senior" lady from the section. At least that has now been stopped. Also the old rules allowed someone who finished 22nd in the JGP assignment to get a bye and yes that really has happened before.

Note this year one lady ( Belair ) and one pair ( Maccuish/Evans ) who got 2 JGP assignments each missed the cut at challenges. Maccuish / Evans even medalled at one of their JGP assignments. It was the free pass for those from small sections especially those who were clearly not of senior standard and the handing out of byes to every JGP and senior-B international skater that was the problem.

Just putting it in perspective chuckm.

 

[fumie_fumie]

Thank you nadster for all the informative posts. I've been learning so much about skating scenes in our country from you.

Who are you rooting for at the nationals?

 

[fumie_fumie]

Saw a skating show over the holidays with Sandhu in it and he looked to have slimmed down again and his speed seemed better then last year so he just may be at Canadians and ready to fight it out. If he's been following the GP this season he knows that except for Patrick the other Can men have not done as well as expected. He may show up for the short and if he's held down too far there just pull out knowing SC has had enough.

I heard from a friend who was at the show that Sandhu was landing solid 3-3 combinations. He didn't try 4-3, as the stage was too small.

.

 

[chuckm]

The US had more byes than Canada because many skaters and teams who had not finished top 5 at Nationals 2007 made the GPF or the JGPF. Note that most of the men who got byes for making the JGPF will be skating as Juniors at Nationals rather than Seniors (Razzano is the exception).

 

[bems]

Nadster Your Source Please

Nadster, I too thank you for your informative information.

Where are these quotes written?

I know of several high ranking international Canadian Coaches who claimed no knowledge of last years changes to the rules not to mention these new ones!

Where do you get your info from? Show us chapter and verse please so that we may all believe!

Keep on blogging!

 

[nadster]

The US had more byes than Canada because many skaters and teams who had not finished top 5 at Nationals 2007 made the GPF or the JGPF. Note that most of the men who got byes for making the JGPF will be skating as Juniors at Nationals rather than Seniors (Razzano is the exception).

chuckm. Every US skater that got a bye deserved it. The Americans have far more depth overall in their system. And if the US implemented the Canadian rules , they would still bye far more skaters than Canada.

I am saying that implementing the US bye rules in Canada would not normally reduce the number of byed skaters this year. ( it in fact would allow more ladies to be byed this year and the pairs and dance numbers would also increase if it weren't for breakups/retirements). Only 3 of our top 5 pairs and 2 of our top 5 dance couples at last year's nationals are still active.

Furthermore look at my previous post about who would gain byes and who would lose them under US criteria. Does Samson ( 5th at last nationals with a so-so international junior record ) deserve a bye more than Kevin Reynolds ( JGPF medal , top 5 JW )? The difference is that our ladies are so weak that you can question whether some of our top 5 ladies at nationals last year deserve any byes.

The other thing is that except for the odd entry in Skate Canada, Canadian GP competitors got their assignments by establishing themselves internationally to be of a certain standard to either get a high enough ISU ranking or being high enough on the season best list. So except for Phaneuf , Duhamel/Buntin and Mccurdy/Coreno ( who didn't have the rankings to pull 2nd assignments) they all have established themselves internationally to some minimum standard.

Perhaps you can change the criteria to restrict GP byes to those that received 2 GP assignments to prevent the hand picked Skate Canada only competitors from getting byes..

Anyway , you must agree that the new system is an improvement over the old one.

 

[nadster]

Nadster, I too thank you for your informative information.

Where are these quotes written?

I know of several high ranking international Canadian Coaches who claimed no knowledge of last years changes to the rules not to mention these new ones!

Where do you get your info from? Show us chapter and verse please so that we may all believe!

I don't know where a document on the old rules are but I have an URL where you can start with a PDF link on the site giving more details about the new rules.

http://www.skatecanada.ca/en/news_views/news/2007_2008/07_jul25.cfm

 

[Winnipeg]

I heard from a friend who was at the show that Sandhu was landing solid 3-3 combinations. He didn't try 4-3, as the stage was too small.

.

Despite past disappointments with EM, I would be very pleased to see him come to Nationals if he is prepared.............. If he is prepared, it would certainly add even more excitement to the men's event which is shaping up to be a battle bewtween a few for the podium (Buttle, Chan, Andreev, Mabee, Sandu, Chipeur, Reynolds, Sawyer, Ten, Rose).

 

[fumie_fumie]

It would be nice if we have stickies in the Canadian national board that has urls of all the rules, TV schedules, list of entrants and what not, all in one place, either in Skate Canada site or here.

 

[Ladskater]

Any GS members going to be at Canadians in Vancouver? I live in New Wesminster - not far from Vancouver. I am thinking of getting a couple of tickets for the Saturday Events. Would love to see Virtue and Moir live! I also want to see Jeff and possibly Shawn and Emanuel. Should be a great line up. Anyway, I may as well go as it is in my own back yard!!

See you there!! - I hope.

 

[fumie_fumie]

Any GS members going to be at Canadians in Vancouver? I live in New Wesminster - not far from Vancouver. I am thinking of getting a couple of tickets for the Saturday Events. Would love to see Virtue and Moir live! I also want to see Jeff and possibly Shawn and Emanuel. Should be a great line up. Anyway, I may as well go as it is in my own back yard!!

See you there!! - I hope.

I hope I can make it. I am still thinking about it, but then the cost of flying from eastern Ontario to Van seems like a lot. I guess the fact that our country is so big and wide open can be a curse sometimes.