FS Worlds Day 3...Amazing outgoing champs and Sasha gets a good start...and Nucks win!
Yesterday was the pairs' free and ladies' qualifying. Tatmianina and Marinin of Russia took gold in pairs. Well, to start, I'd like to say congrats to Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin for a solid Worlds debut. Their free skate was quite strong, they had some glitches and the jumps and the twist, etc. but they skated with good energy and it was good to see. Great Spanish-inspired costume for Valerie, by the way. They finished in 9th.

I'm so proud of Langlois and Archetto. Patrice had ligament damage in his finger, and Anabelle was using brnad-new boots, but you couldn't tell. They skated their long program very well, hardly any mistakes. I love their Lawrence of Arabia music and choreography, I always love their programs. Great footwork towards the end. They were clearly robbed by the judges, I don't know what they were thinking, they got one 4.9 for presentation, ridiculous! I can't fathom how anyone sane could put Obertas and Slavnov ahead of L&A. O&S had bad choreogrpahy, no chemistry, bad music and costumes and there was no polish. I think even M&B should have been ahead of them. Oh well. What can you do. Next year hopefully we will have the code of points and this won't happen.

As for the other skates...Zagorska and Siudek were okay, not particularly inspiring, for a 6th place finish. Zhang and Zhang, who were 5th of China were quite good, I like them better than Pang and Tong, who won bronze. Petrova and Tikhonov never fail to put me to sleep with their lack of pizzaz, and I can't stand that ugly slouchy lift they do! But they got 4th. As I mentioned, Pang and Tong were 3rd, they are quite nice and musical, but again interesting judging...the 6.0 was too much. T&M won gold with a solid free skate. This is another team that I don't find particularly exciting, although I like them much better than P&T. Their music was nice, I believe it's the same as Plushenko's this year. It was a nice skate, but I don't think it was worthy of the 6.0 they got. But speaking of 6.0's, Shen and Zhao were the story of night. The came from 4th place in the short, to lay down a stunning free and rise up to take the silver. This team has completely transformed from the technically perfect but artistically challenged pair they once were. They are a true pair on the ice, and magical to watch. They showed what a real 6.0 is like, and got 10 for presentation. They deserved it. It's too bad they couldn't win, because that was the real gold medal skate. Oh well, congrats to T&M for gold.

Ladies qualifying...Sasha won her group, woo-hoo! Super pumped about that. Great to see her stepping it up. Shizuka Arakawa won the other group, which was also great to see. I love her Turandot music. Two surprises for me: Michelle Kwan stumbled in her skate, she popped one jump and fell on another. I guess it was because she hadn't skated much this year...but she was so incredible at US Nats! Oh well. She was 3rd in her group. But the shocker of the day for me was Grand Prix Champ Fumie Suguri...she is now tied for 15th! How did that happen??? I have no idea, they didn't show her...yikes. That's too bad, I had high hopes for her :(. For Canada, Joannie's tied for 9th and Jennifer tied for 11th. Overall a good start for Canada's ladies. And also, 16-year-old Miki Ando of Japan (who did a quad at Japanese Nats!) was 2nd in her group and is now tied for 3rd. Good stuff! Ladies' short is on Friday...*excited*... Men's free and OD goes today. Finally some ice dancing!

Meanwhile, in the BIG GAME (aren't they all big games now?) the Nuckers came out absolutely smokin' and hung on to beat LA 1-0. Great to see Cookie score in his first game on the BIg Line, and nice to see Malik jump up and get an assist. Dan Cloutier had a big effort in his first game back since injury, especially in the 3rd period. Kudos to May Day and Keaner for setting the physical tone in the 1st. It was an overall gritty and workmanlike effort by the boys, great to see! And Calgary beat Phoenix, and Dallas beat Edmonton in OT, grr....So the Nucks are still in 5th...and 3 points behind Colorado with 5 games left! Go Canucks Go!

FS Worlds Day2...Spectacular highlights and crushing disappointment
The men's short program went yesterday, and there were some surprises for sure. Let's start with the bad stuff...Emanuel Sandhu bombed out yet again. Popped his quad and fell on his triple axel. Complete disaster. I've come to the conclusion that he is not a competitor, he is an artist. Just listening to the way he speaks about his skating, (Lethargic because he slept in??? This is the Worlds!!!) and the way he can't seem to perform when the pressure's on seems to prove this point. He will make an exquisite professional skater, but I don't think amateur comptetion is in his nature. What I am most worried about is, could this prevent Canada from sending two men next year? I think Sandhu will have to improve tenfold in the free skate to move up...By the way, he is currently in 11th.

Another disappointment for me was Ilia Klimkin. He just didn't have it today; he fell on his quad and over-rotated his triple. His presentation was pretty good though, which sort of saved him. But I don't think this program did justice to his eccentric skating style. His long program, to the crazy Dr. Diesel music is far better suited to quirkiness. Alas, he's in 8th, but I'm looking forward to his free skate.

On to the better stuff. I have to say I was mighty impressed by some of the young guys. Johnny Weir of the US surprised me, he's quite a nice elegant skater (he's currently 6th). And I was even more impressed by Russia's 18-year-old Andrei Griazev. Although his technical work isn't very high right now, I loved his presentation. I love it when skaters "sell" their programs and he sure did. The commentators were bang on when they likened his footwork to Yagudin. I think this guy's a rising star. He's in 9th. Another delight was Germany's hometown hero, Stefan Lindemann. He nailed everything, and had great energy, it was awesome to see. He's in 3rd! Stephane Lambiel of Swizterland is in 4th, he didn't impress me very much till the very end of his program when suddenly he pulled out these amazing spin combinations! That was pretty cool.

As for the top two...Well, of course Plushenko is brilliant, but I am just not a fan. I'm a Yagudin gal after all. He is breathtaking to watch at times but I can't say I am excited when he wins. He is currently first though. He's head and shoulders above everyone in the field, no one will touch him (only Sandhu has the artistic sophitication to match Plushenko, too bad his head's not in it!). Oh, why did you have to retire Alexei? Speaking of Yagudin...19-year-old Brian Joubert of France put in a solid, clean skate and is currently 2nd. Brian works with Yagudin and you can totally tell that from his super-cool footwork sequences. I love a good footwork sequence. I think great footwork makes a program come alive and sparkle. Brian channels Yagudin pretty well, but he doesn't skate with enough emotion. He's a tad on the robotic side. I thought Griazev did a better job of selling his footwork, despite not being as technically proficient. But Brian's still young, I think he's still maturing as a skater, and he has the potential to be great. Oh, and by the way, Canada's Ben Ferreira put in a pretty solid effort, couldn't quite get that quad to work, but he did his best and is currently 15th. Good on ya, Ben! Should be an interesting men's free!

Today is the pairs' free, that's gonna be a crazy show. It's wide open for sure. And it's the ladies qualifying, I'm super pumped for that, I hope they show some highlights, of Sasha at least...

In other news, Colorado tied Chicago, hahaha! (And Pittsburgh beat the rangers (haha!), that's 8 wins in 10, hilarious!) Colorado's still only 5 points up on us. There' still time...The Nucks play LA tomorrow, gonna have to tape the figure skating...Go Canucks Go!

FS Worlds Day 1...Down with the 6.0 system!
Yesterday was day 1 at the World Figure Skating Championships in Dortmand, Germany. It was men's qualifying (worth 20% overall) and the pairs' short. CBC showed much of the pairs and highlights of the men.

I have to say, it's time for the 6.0 judging system to be put to rest and the new era of the code of points system to begin. I'm no technical expert, but I can tell a good skate from a bad skate, especially presentation-wise. I thought some of the judging in the pairs was absurd. To start with, Langlois and Archetto had a great, energetic skate; their only tangible mistake was some unison problems on their spins. I really believe they're the future of Canadian pairs skating. Great music, by the way. But the judges were really unfair to them, especially with their presentation mark. 4.9? Come on. The fact that they're 8th, behind Obertas & Slavnov, who had an obviously inferior skate, is ludicrous. But good job to L&A for coming out and having a great skate.

The story of the night was the shocking mishap by Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao. Zhao fell on his side-by-side and took forever to get back into the program. This cost them dearly and now they're in fourth. Wow is all I can say, didn't expect that. Pang & Tong from China are in 3rd, they were okay I thought, didn't like the costumes though. I like S&Z much better than them. Totmianina and Marinin had a really good skate I thought, and they're currently 1st. I thought the 6.0 for presentation was a little excessive though. Whatever, these judges make no sense. I like their music (gotta love that Variations on Paganini), but I thought their lift was boring. Maxim's shirt was rather, uh, open, haha. Petrova and Tikhonov, also of Russia, are in 2nd. Honestly, I don't like them. I find them boring. But they were good technically, and that's why they're in 2nd. I really wish she would do something about that hair though...Meanwhile, Valerie Marcoux and Craig Buntin had a pretty good Worlds debut, she fell on her side-by-side but overall it was quite good. They're in 10th. Aside from the suspect judging, I thought it was a good night of pairs skating.

As for the men, Emmanuel Sandhu won his qualifying group (as did Evegni Plushenko). Go Canada! Klimkin and Joubert were 2nd in their respective qualifying groups, so I'm liking how the mens is shaping up now...men's short tonight! Can't wait for the ladies, to see Sasha Cohen hit the ice, Michelle light it up, and some major Japanese domination!

Up and running...
Hi! Hmm...well it's not as good as it could be, but it's good enough for now. Well, I've procrastinated enough, I'm going to go work on my History discussion questions...and then go for a run with Yuki, watch Alias, and the Nucks vs CBJ!

Edit *Sigh*...Nuckers lost again :( Nazzy is so frustrated...he has a right to be. Hopefully they can get this ship righted...I know they can! Now that Jovo's back, and the Sedins are flying with Sanderson, Nazzy's gotta get back on track, you know he will, and Clooch will come back, and it'll be good! ...In the meantime, kudos to Anahiem for beating Detroit 8-6, gotta love those high-scoring games...and yay Edmonton for beating San Jose, 6 Canadian teams in the playoffs is the only way to go! ...Until next time, Go Canucks Go!
...And oh yes, figure skating World Championships start tomorrow, so excited!!