Canadians 2006
Jan. 9th, 2006 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
desoto_hia873Cough, wheeze... yeah, that rink air isn't doing a thing for my cold.
Last night was just practices. We went to the arena to watch the Junior Men and made the happy discovery that the Civic Centre has installed new cushioned seats which are a good bit more comfortable than the old plastic ones. There's still no leg room, though. I'm 5'2" and my knees almost bump against the seats in front of me. People of normal height are gonna be in pain by the end of the week, while tall people are going to be downright crippled.
My party of five (mother, sister, cousin, aunt, and me) had the stands almost to ourselves last night. There were maybe 30 people in attendance and that's including the coaches. Most of the Junior Men showed up, though most of that most only skated skeletons of their programs and didn't jump much. Probably they only arrived in town yesterday and just came out for a good stretch after their flights.
I haven't been to Canadians in a few years now, so I didn't recognise the names of any of the Juniors. The ones who stood out to me were: Jeremy Ten, who is a great spinner with lovely lines; Karolin Metevier, who had good flow and nice lines; Joey Russell, who is from Newfoundland (woot!), was pleasingly balletic, did a 3S-2T in Boitano fashion with one arm over his head, and is just as cute as a button; and Jamie Forsythe, who looks a little like Pluschenko, has great speed and a huge 2A. Those four are my extremely preliminary predictions for contenders in Junior Men.
Past Star sighting: Ravi Walia was down by the boards for one of the flights - I'm guessing that he's a coach now.
Today is the Senior Women's Qualifying. Cynthia Phaneuf and Annie Bellemare have both withdrawn due to injury. It's too bad for Annie - she's a veteran and this was likely her last shot at going to Olympics. Cynthia will be around for a while yet, but I'm disappointed we won't get to see her. With two of our strongest women out, this competition could turn out to be a splat-fest. I'm hoping it doesn't.
Off to torture my throat some more in the cold!
Last night was just practices. We went to the arena to watch the Junior Men and made the happy discovery that the Civic Centre has installed new cushioned seats which are a good bit more comfortable than the old plastic ones. There's still no leg room, though. I'm 5'2" and my knees almost bump against the seats in front of me. People of normal height are gonna be in pain by the end of the week, while tall people are going to be downright crippled.
My party of five (mother, sister, cousin, aunt, and me) had the stands almost to ourselves last night. There were maybe 30 people in attendance and that's including the coaches. Most of the Junior Men showed up, though most of that most only skated skeletons of their programs and didn't jump much. Probably they only arrived in town yesterday and just came out for a good stretch after their flights.
I haven't been to Canadians in a few years now, so I didn't recognise the names of any of the Juniors. The ones who stood out to me were: Jeremy Ten, who is a great spinner with lovely lines; Karolin Metevier, who had good flow and nice lines; Joey Russell, who is from Newfoundland (woot!), was pleasingly balletic, did a 3S-2T in Boitano fashion with one arm over his head, and is just as cute as a button; and Jamie Forsythe, who looks a little like Pluschenko, has great speed and a huge 2A. Those four are my extremely preliminary predictions for contenders in Junior Men.
Past Star sighting: Ravi Walia was down by the boards for one of the flights - I'm guessing that he's a coach now.
Today is the Senior Women's Qualifying. Cynthia Phaneuf and Annie Bellemare have both withdrawn due to injury. It's too bad for Annie - she's a veteran and this was likely her last shot at going to Olympics. Cynthia will be around for a while yet, but I'm disappointed we won't get to see her. With two of our strongest women out, this competition could turn out to be a splat-fest. I'm hoping it doesn't.
Off to torture my throat some more in the cold!