Skate America 2006
Oct. 27th, 2006 01:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bex77My sister and I went down to Hartford yesterday from Boston to get a quick taste of Skate America 2006.
Impressions, results and more under the cut.
Getting there
We had an easy drive down in the middle of the day, leaving Cambridge at 1 pm and parking the car at 2:30 pm in an outdoor lot on Ann Street for a miniscule $8.50. That may be the lowest event parking price I've ever seen near a major arena.
We wandered around three sides of the Civic Center trying to find an open entrance, then found the box office. We called our friend Ruth from California, who had been there since early Wednesday. She was coming out the same door we were standing beside!
We caught up on her news, then headed off to scope out the local restaurants. We strolled up one block, over a block and back through a shopping mall. There were a lot of choices! We found three delicious places to try depending on where the crowds headed.
We headed over to the lobby of the Hilton Hotel next to the arena, and camped out to watch for skaters. In less than an hour, I saw Kimmie Meissner, the Polish pairs - Suideks (who entertained me by bringing back an early dinner from McDonald's), the Bulgarian ice dancers Denkova and Stavisky, and many coaches.
The CD's
We went to the arena at 4:30 pm for the compulsory dances.
I found the security people quite friendly. They wanted to look inside my purse, but were pleasant and joked with us about how we weren't like hockey fans. I had neither camera, not food, so that may have helped. They had posted the USFSA camera policy on every entrance door around the entire building.
I bought a program - a very reasonable $5 - with lots of photos and score sheets.
I was horrified to find out there were no pins for sale! The sales person said the local organizing committee had decided not order any. Arrrrgh!
Oh, the arena...it was empty. I would be surprised if there were 1,000 people. It was eerily quiet.
The only people there as vendors were the USFSA. The Skating Museum in Co. Spring had a table, and Marshall's Dept. store was handing out signs, but that was it. I hope more tables show up for weekend. I had hoped to buy Christmas presents and had no luck at all.
Unlike most people, the CD's are my favorite part of the competition. With the music and the steps pre-determined, you can compare the dancers and get a real sense of the competition. With the Westminster Waltz (in 3 or 4 music variations these days, to decrease the ear bleed of previous years' repetition of the same one over and over), the costumes were mostly tasteful and ballroom-like, with most of the men in tux tails and the women in flouncy feathered skirts. There was a memorable costume on the French woman, made of neon blue straps that looked like a mostly unwrapped mummy.
I don't remember anything particularly good or bad. These 2 patterns go by in an instant and the entire thing ended in less than 90 minutes.
Getting the scores takes a long time and people tend to sit in silence...they need to play the "Jeopardy!" theme or something...
There were wonderful coaches to see - Platov, Kraatz...ah....and Grushina and Goncharov were around in the stands watching.
Results:
1) Denkova and Staviski
2) Gregory & Petukhov
3) Pechalat & Bourzat
4) Kerrs
5) Matthews & Zavozin
Our other U.S.A. team, Navarro & Bommentre, ended up 8th of the 11 teams.
A quick dinner
We dashed out to Pratt Street, and into Vaughn's Public House, a very authentic pub. I had a delicious plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, with a bread pudding chaser. Yum.
The Men's Short program
We got back to the arena just as the first man took the ice, a rather unimpressive new Russian, with a very impressive coach (Urmanov). I'm afraid I'm at the stage, especially early in the season, where I'd rather watch the coaches.
We noticed three media teams - the first time I can recall more than the ABC/ESPN team on-site. We picked out the Japanese with Yuka Sato on the trio of commentators, and the Canadians with Paul Martini and a woman, not sure who. The Canadians had a rinkside table near the Kiss & Cry, and several times got up and leaned over the rail to see the tracings on the ice as they commented.
The U.S. booth was full with Kurt Browning, Dick Button and my favorite Terry Gannon, Susie Wynne in the background, and Peter Carruthers running around the Kiss&Cry area. I also saw Judy Blumberg in a corner up there, likely doing the commentary for the ISU feed as she did at Worlds 2003.
It was interesting to watch the three guys in the booth. Kurt leans slightly forward, staring intently at the ice the entire time a skater is skating. Dick chats with the booth folks, and Terry keeps an eye on the ice and shuffles index cards and papers.
I am eager to see the TV coverage...I hope it explains what Dick said at one point that had the other two laughing so hard that Kurt had to take off his headset and Terry could be heard across the arena.
I thought most of the men were not ready for the season to begin. This was a competition where it may take 3 years to know the importance of what I saw, in the "I saw him when" way. It was good to see the "new faces."
It is hard to tell the relative technical content and who two-footed, so much of my comments don't factor that in.
There were two groups, and the first one was rather sad.
Van der Perren's program I liked, but others whispered "Sloppy!" to me. He did make the triple axel he'd missed over and over in practice and rewarded us with a big smile.
Ryan Bradley was his usual goofy self, which doesn't work for me in a short program. But the judges liked something, as he placed highest of the first six.
Karel Zelenka from Italy was a lovely, lanky, blonde flowing presence, but ended up in 10th.
The second group was a little better.
Evan Lysacek's "costume" didn't look like a costume at all. It looked like his real costume is not ready or was lost on the flight. It was completely plain, black shirt and pants. He looked stiff in warm-up and nervous talking to Frank Carroll. And he blew his first jump, turned out of the 2nd part of the combo and just broke my heart. But it's early yet...right?
Scott Smith looked very fit and I thought he skated well, but he ended up 8th, so not so much. Mark Mitchell was on the side with him. He had dyed his hair blond since the Harvard show.
Alban Preaubert was distracting. He looked like an S&M bumble bee, with a striped black and yellow shirt, then a bolero black jacket, and black pants with a leather butt and spirals of leather down one leg. Yes, he is French. The program was called "The Busy Bee" and it was too busy for me.
All I remember about the Canadians was bad costumes (a cowboy for Young, and too much leather for Mabee). Please go back to black with a belt!
The highlight of the entire night was Nobunari Oda. He is so cute, and fit, and skates so smoothly...he had great music in "Fly me to the moon" and actually danced to it! I think he was the only one who skated clean, and looked ready to compete.
Results:
1) Oda
2) Preaubert
3) Lysacek
4) Bradley
5) VDP
We were done at 8:30 pm and had time to stroll around the empty concourse. The food offerings are plain vanilla - hots dogs, hamburgers, fries...good thing there are restaurants out and about.
The Pairs
The pairs competition, such as it was with only 8 pairs, started at 9 pm.
Most of the costumes were strange...seemed like their real costumes are not ready. Many looked like the man and woman were going to different parties...I am not one for a complete match, but some color or element in common would be nice.
It started with two Russian pairs, neither of which live up to the name. They looked like juniors. Dmitriev was not listed as couch for either one, but he put both of them on the ice and sat with them in the Kiss & Cry. No sign of any of the big name Russian pairs coaches...no Moskvina, no Tarasova...
Inoue and Baldwin were next. They looked fit, but his costume was odd. A spanish red velvet open vest, with a short-sleeved white t-shirt under it? She had on yellow. Eh. They seemed shaky, and he had to push and pull her through the spins. But they still ended up in 1st. That is commentary on the rest of the field.
Naomi Nari Nam and Them Leftheris were marvelous to watch. I thought they presented better than I&B, but probably didn't have as much technical content. She is so happy-looking, and I glory every time I see her back on the ice. They had very interesting choreography. Karen Kwan and Peter Oppegard were in the Kiss & Cry with them.
The second group was lackluster.
Vise and Trent were hampered by her bright neon green bikini backless without gauze costume. It looked like the most outrageous of the dance costumes rather than pairs. And they ended up next to last.
The Siudeks had great black and red matching unitards, but made me wonder if she was hurt. She feel twice on their sit-spin! Caught a toe-pick both times...never seen that before. He was breathing heavy before the end, and despite their classy presentation and years of experience, they didn't look ready to compete tonight.
Next up was Anabelle Langlois and her new partner, Cody Hay. It was great to see her back, but this couple has not come together yet. Even so, they got the marks to take third place.
Piatkowska and Khromin, the 2nd couple from Poland...sorry...eh. Ended up in last.
Results:
1) Inoue & Baldwin
2) Nam & Leftheris
3) Langlois & Hay
4) Siudeks
We took off at 10:15 pm and were back home before midnight.
I had thought I might drive back down today if it was mesmerizing, but I am sad to say it was not. I think the ISU has got to make some changes, or this format will not survive.
For those of you within driving distance, I'd say go on over. There were so many empty seats, you won't have to worry about where you sit or lines or traffic or parking, and you can get a look at live skating and make up your own minds.
Impressions, results and more under the cut.
Getting there
We had an easy drive down in the middle of the day, leaving Cambridge at 1 pm and parking the car at 2:30 pm in an outdoor lot on Ann Street for a miniscule $8.50. That may be the lowest event parking price I've ever seen near a major arena.
We wandered around three sides of the Civic Center trying to find an open entrance, then found the box office. We called our friend Ruth from California, who had been there since early Wednesday. She was coming out the same door we were standing beside!
We caught up on her news, then headed off to scope out the local restaurants. We strolled up one block, over a block and back through a shopping mall. There were a lot of choices! We found three delicious places to try depending on where the crowds headed.
We headed over to the lobby of the Hilton Hotel next to the arena, and camped out to watch for skaters. In less than an hour, I saw Kimmie Meissner, the Polish pairs - Suideks (who entertained me by bringing back an early dinner from McDonald's), the Bulgarian ice dancers Denkova and Stavisky, and many coaches.
The CD's
We went to the arena at 4:30 pm for the compulsory dances.
I found the security people quite friendly. They wanted to look inside my purse, but were pleasant and joked with us about how we weren't like hockey fans. I had neither camera, not food, so that may have helped. They had posted the USFSA camera policy on every entrance door around the entire building.
I bought a program - a very reasonable $5 - with lots of photos and score sheets.
I was horrified to find out there were no pins for sale! The sales person said the local organizing committee had decided not order any. Arrrrgh!
Oh, the arena...it was empty. I would be surprised if there were 1,000 people. It was eerily quiet.
The only people there as vendors were the USFSA. The Skating Museum in Co. Spring had a table, and Marshall's Dept. store was handing out signs, but that was it. I hope more tables show up for weekend. I had hoped to buy Christmas presents and had no luck at all.
Unlike most people, the CD's are my favorite part of the competition. With the music and the steps pre-determined, you can compare the dancers and get a real sense of the competition. With the Westminster Waltz (in 3 or 4 music variations these days, to decrease the ear bleed of previous years' repetition of the same one over and over), the costumes were mostly tasteful and ballroom-like, with most of the men in tux tails and the women in flouncy feathered skirts. There was a memorable costume on the French woman, made of neon blue straps that looked like a mostly unwrapped mummy.
I don't remember anything particularly good or bad. These 2 patterns go by in an instant and the entire thing ended in less than 90 minutes.
Getting the scores takes a long time and people tend to sit in silence...they need to play the "Jeopardy!" theme or something...
There were wonderful coaches to see - Platov, Kraatz...ah....and Grushina and Goncharov were around in the stands watching.
Results:
1) Denkova and Staviski
2) Gregory & Petukhov
3) Pechalat & Bourzat
4) Kerrs
5) Matthews & Zavozin
Our other U.S.A. team, Navarro & Bommentre, ended up 8th of the 11 teams.
A quick dinner
We dashed out to Pratt Street, and into Vaughn's Public House, a very authentic pub. I had a delicious plate of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, with a bread pudding chaser. Yum.
The Men's Short program
We got back to the arena just as the first man took the ice, a rather unimpressive new Russian, with a very impressive coach (Urmanov). I'm afraid I'm at the stage, especially early in the season, where I'd rather watch the coaches.
We noticed three media teams - the first time I can recall more than the ABC/ESPN team on-site. We picked out the Japanese with Yuka Sato on the trio of commentators, and the Canadians with Paul Martini and a woman, not sure who. The Canadians had a rinkside table near the Kiss & Cry, and several times got up and leaned over the rail to see the tracings on the ice as they commented.
The U.S. booth was full with Kurt Browning, Dick Button and my favorite Terry Gannon, Susie Wynne in the background, and Peter Carruthers running around the Kiss&Cry area. I also saw Judy Blumberg in a corner up there, likely doing the commentary for the ISU feed as she did at Worlds 2003.
It was interesting to watch the three guys in the booth. Kurt leans slightly forward, staring intently at the ice the entire time a skater is skating. Dick chats with the booth folks, and Terry keeps an eye on the ice and shuffles index cards and papers.
I am eager to see the TV coverage...I hope it explains what Dick said at one point that had the other two laughing so hard that Kurt had to take off his headset and Terry could be heard across the arena.
I thought most of the men were not ready for the season to begin. This was a competition where it may take 3 years to know the importance of what I saw, in the "I saw him when" way. It was good to see the "new faces."
It is hard to tell the relative technical content and who two-footed, so much of my comments don't factor that in.
There were two groups, and the first one was rather sad.
Van der Perren's program I liked, but others whispered "Sloppy!" to me. He did make the triple axel he'd missed over and over in practice and rewarded us with a big smile.
Ryan Bradley was his usual goofy self, which doesn't work for me in a short program. But the judges liked something, as he placed highest of the first six.
Karel Zelenka from Italy was a lovely, lanky, blonde flowing presence, but ended up in 10th.
The second group was a little better.
Evan Lysacek's "costume" didn't look like a costume at all. It looked like his real costume is not ready or was lost on the flight. It was completely plain, black shirt and pants. He looked stiff in warm-up and nervous talking to Frank Carroll. And he blew his first jump, turned out of the 2nd part of the combo and just broke my heart. But it's early yet...right?
Scott Smith looked very fit and I thought he skated well, but he ended up 8th, so not so much. Mark Mitchell was on the side with him. He had dyed his hair blond since the Harvard show.
Alban Preaubert was distracting. He looked like an S&M bumble bee, with a striped black and yellow shirt, then a bolero black jacket, and black pants with a leather butt and spirals of leather down one leg. Yes, he is French. The program was called "The Busy Bee" and it was too busy for me.
All I remember about the Canadians was bad costumes (a cowboy for Young, and too much leather for Mabee). Please go back to black with a belt!
The highlight of the entire night was Nobunari Oda. He is so cute, and fit, and skates so smoothly...he had great music in "Fly me to the moon" and actually danced to it! I think he was the only one who skated clean, and looked ready to compete.
Results:
1) Oda
2) Preaubert
3) Lysacek
4) Bradley
5) VDP
We were done at 8:30 pm and had time to stroll around the empty concourse. The food offerings are plain vanilla - hots dogs, hamburgers, fries...good thing there are restaurants out and about.
The Pairs
The pairs competition, such as it was with only 8 pairs, started at 9 pm.
Most of the costumes were strange...seemed like their real costumes are not ready. Many looked like the man and woman were going to different parties...I am not one for a complete match, but some color or element in common would be nice.
It started with two Russian pairs, neither of which live up to the name. They looked like juniors. Dmitriev was not listed as couch for either one, but he put both of them on the ice and sat with them in the Kiss & Cry. No sign of any of the big name Russian pairs coaches...no Moskvina, no Tarasova...
Inoue and Baldwin were next. They looked fit, but his costume was odd. A spanish red velvet open vest, with a short-sleeved white t-shirt under it? She had on yellow. Eh. They seemed shaky, and he had to push and pull her through the spins. But they still ended up in 1st. That is commentary on the rest of the field.
Naomi Nari Nam and Them Leftheris were marvelous to watch. I thought they presented better than I&B, but probably didn't have as much technical content. She is so happy-looking, and I glory every time I see her back on the ice. They had very interesting choreography. Karen Kwan and Peter Oppegard were in the Kiss & Cry with them.
The second group was lackluster.
Vise and Trent were hampered by her bright neon green bikini backless without gauze costume. It looked like the most outrageous of the dance costumes rather than pairs. And they ended up next to last.
The Siudeks had great black and red matching unitards, but made me wonder if she was hurt. She feel twice on their sit-spin! Caught a toe-pick both times...never seen that before. He was breathing heavy before the end, and despite their classy presentation and years of experience, they didn't look ready to compete tonight.
Next up was Anabelle Langlois and her new partner, Cody Hay. It was great to see her back, but this couple has not come together yet. Even so, they got the marks to take third place.
Piatkowska and Khromin, the 2nd couple from Poland...sorry...eh. Ended up in last.
Results:
1) Inoue & Baldwin
2) Nam & Leftheris
3) Langlois & Hay
4) Siudeks
We took off at 10:15 pm and were back home before midnight.
I had thought I might drive back down today if it was mesmerizing, but I am sad to say it was not. I think the ISU has got to make some changes, or this format will not survive.
For those of you within driving distance, I'd say go on over. There were so many empty seats, you won't have to worry about where you sit or lines or traffic or parking, and you can get a look at live skating and make up your own minds.
