Was it really 17 years ago?

This past Tuesday, May 24, the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in seventeen years, exact to the very day. I remember it like it was only yesterday. The Canucks came only 1 goal short of sending Game 7 of the Final into overtime. After weeks of thrills and excitement, I was devastated when they lost. But, the whole experience sparked a love of hockey I never knew I had, and was one of the catalysts that convinced me to hang up my figure skates and pick up a hockey stick instead.

My family was not a hockey family. My sister and I dabbled in various sports and as a family we liked activities but weren't into pro sports. Contrary to the Molson Canadian commercials, not every Canadian family is glued to Hockey Night in Canada. But as I got older it was probably inevitable. Strangely, the way I remember getting interested in hockey was that one of my eighth-grade teachers loved the Calgary Flames, and my girlfriends and I hated this teacher. It turned out that year that the Vancouver Canucks found themselves down 3 games to 1 in their series against the Flames, and we found ourselves with a new interest in hockey somehow, so we could stick it to this teacher if the Flames lost (we were 13). From that moment on I followed the playoffs with a sudden excitement, discovering just how fast and thrilling a game hockey is. We were amazed as the Canucks pulled out three overtime victories in a row to beat the Flames and then only lose 2 of their next 10 games to win the Western Conference. It was bedlam. The announcer shouting 'Greg Adams! Greg Adams!' as the goal-scorer skated into the glass, arms overhead. Trevor Linden picking up the trophy and the lid falling off behind him. Then the fear of having to face the New York Rangers, yeah the guys from the Big City.



After they Canucks won Game 6 of the Final decisively, this iconic photo was taken. Yep, that's blood on his jersey.



Many of the games I actually listened to on the radio while I was doing my homework (I was a weird kid). I would keep my own little boxscore going on a scrap of paper. As the Canucks continued to surprise with win after win, the players started appearing in corny radio commercials and clever musical montages were put together. I would eagerly search for good photos in the paper hunting especially for good shots of Cliff Ronning and Jyrki Lumme.


It was a different time, before you could watch the archived game on CBC.ca and download pictures from the web immediately after the game. I knew all the names and numbers of all the players, men whom I had never heard of only a few weeks earlier.

As they continued to win there was no way to ignore it and I would have gotten into the excitement at some point or another. A sort of fever took over the province, even other parts of the country. It was the sort of experience that does not come along very often when you are one of those cities that's never had a 'hockey dynasty'. And now 17 years later they are going to the final again! There are a lot of differences this time of course. The Canucks had the best record in the regular season and expectations are much higher. The uniforms are different and not a one player is the same from 1994 since Trevor Linden retired. In fact many of them were just little babies in 1994. But the fever is still powerful, and this time since I live in the city, I'm hoping to get a chance to go watch one of the games with the crowd downtown. Yes, all the games start at 5pm so it might be tricky. But I may never get this chance again, and I'm going to follow the action as much as I can!

It's at times like this, I just can't play enough hockey.

Stars on Ice

My mom and my sister and I went to Stars on Ice last Friday. It was amazing! So many great stars were there and I could not believe they were skating right past me, the real deal. There were so many exciting performances, how to comment on them all?

• Sale and Pelletier showed that they still make a great team on the ice. One of their programs was a bit forgettable but their other one had all their signature tricks. Still like last year's 'Scream' the best though.
• Sasha Cohen, whom I had never seen live before, did a fun number in a sassy outfit and another one with Browning and Pelletier dressed up like old-school clowns. Oh, and when they start that number she climbs out of a little box that the boys had just brought out! They used a bunch of balloons and a kite in that number, it was very creative.
  
• Evan Lysacek was there, and it was also my first time seeing him. They kinda made him the 'star' of the show and I was really admiring his smooth edges and grace. He also let loose a bit in a 50's number complete with poodle skirts and Tessa Virtue as the knockout blonde.
• Virtue and Moir. Can't get enough. They did part of their free dance from this year. She is one lucky girl.
• Kyoko Ina is just as adorable as she was on Battle of the Blades. She and Shawn Sawyer were acting goofy together in the 50's number.
• Shawn Sawyer kept his shirt on this year, but still managed to dazzle me with great personality and feats of weirdness. The joy was so evident on his face, no wonder he skipped Worlds to do this. He is truly a performer.
  
• Joannie Rochette! Still strong, beautiful, and flawless. Ah JoRo, please compete next year!
• I appreciate Jeff Buttle more each time I watch him. I thought he was absolutely stunning.
  
• Kurt Browning is still my favourite skater. What else can I say about him? Love that he is still going strong at 44.
  
• It was a surprise (at least to me) that they actually brought in Miki Ando and Takahiko Kozuka! I am not a big fan of Ando's but she is World Champion and her show program was actually much more artistic than her competition programs. Still had too many of her feature move though, what I call the 'two-foot grimace'. And Kozuka was fabulous, again with all this personality that just doesn't come out in his competition programs.
  

Anyway it was a great show and my throat was sore from the rest of the weekend from all the screaming!

Back on the Ice

Well I haven't done a ton of skating in the last 6 weeks, hence the lapse in blogging.

• Primarily this is due to the closing of the public rinks for spring/summer, and because I experienced an injury to my neck and I wasn't able to jump or spin for a while.
  
• This week I had terrible luck and tweaked my neck again so I had to miss a session and then two other sessions were canceled for an ice show.
  
• That would not have been so bad if they had at least let us know that the sessions were canceled, but it was a surprise to everyone even my coaches.
• I've skated 3 times with the Adult synchro team. Now I see why it was called 'Precision' in the past. It's really hard! But it's so cool to skate with other Adults and they even talk to me.
• My skills have not taken too much of a hit and I think my spins have even gotten better. I've been working on more attack in all of them and I recently started putting more work into a layback spin and a sideways leaning spin. Camel spins are still inconsistent but because they've gotten a little wild as I try to make them faster. OK, my jumps have probably gotten worse, they barely leave the ground. But, I'm doing better at bracket turns and pivots.
• I got to play a couple of playoff games with my hockey team and we even made it to the final! We lost in the final, but whatever. For the spring I am playing in a league that plays on a day that works better for me, but so far it's very disorganized. The first game was ok but in the second game we only had 6 players and nobody arrived to give us jerseys or pucks. Eventually we procured jerseys and a couple of subs but double-shifts are not my favourite way to play hockey. Fortunately the other team was not too skilled and I had a lot of chances to breathe. Had a couple shots on goal too, not bad for a defender.
• I got both sets of skates sharpened and it made a huge difference. Duh!

Here's a video of my new layback spin. My parents watched one of my practices recently and brought their camera! OK so it doesn't look like Alissa Czisny's layback spin, but it sure feels like I am bent back until my body is parallel to the ice. The camera really has a way of shattering my internal perceptions ;)

Thoughts on Worlds

We finally had the 2011 World Championships after it was moved due to the tragedies in Japan.

Here in Canada we were blessed with free, complete coverage of all post-preliminary skates on the CBC streaming video. Unfortunately it was a bit choppy for me and commentated by PJ Kwong but I endured it. I stayed up late a couple of nights getting through it all! As usual there was plenty of intrigue. Here are some of my thoughts.

• Patrick Chan! He skated brilliantly and truly deserved to win here. Not quite as good as his skate at Canadians but so thrilling anyway. Feels like ages since a Canadian won anything, so very exciting.
  

• I wish his competition had been a bit better though. The men's freeskate was a bit of a gong show with Takahashi losing a screw, Oda having a combination disallowed, and generally a disappointing number of wipeouts.
• Brian Joubert's FS outfit is so pretty, I want one for myself. Also I thought the camera was shamelessly zooming in on his package after his skate, but later I realized he had cut his hand and I guess the intention was to get a shot of that. Shows where my brain is I guess! Also Joubert didn't put a combination into his SP and did not do very difficult spins which generally left me disappointed.
• Speaking of the Frenchmen, Florent Amodio skated his 'Once upon a time in Mexico' program right before Joubert's, and I thought Amodio's was really superior. Then Amodio dropped my jaw not with his great FS but with the vocals he apparently chose to keep in the music. I actually think it was kind of a cool move but wish he had chosen better vocals with which to make his statement...I mean, the Black Eyed Peas really deserve this honour? meh.
• I didn't watch Artur Gachinski's programs because I had this impression from GP season that he was some kind of nobody in pink gloves. Looks like I have to go back and watch his bronze-medal performances...oops. In my defence I was trying to get through all those programs at 2am and I had to skip some performances.
  
• Adrian Schultheiss missed the cut for the FS, which I thought was kind of a shame.
• Michael Brezina was 4th. WTF?
• Richard Dornbush actually making me root for an American man. WTF?
• Peter Leibers really fun to watch.
• The other Canadian boys not having great skates. For Joey Russell it was his first trip to worlds so I cut him some slack. But Kevin Reynolds needs to step it up. If I understand correctly we will only get to send 2 men next year?
  
• In pairs, I didn't see all the performances yet but the real winners in my mind were Vol/Trank and their stunning triple twist. It looks like she is going to hit the rafters! Almost as stunning as SavSzol's huge triple flip. The pink bodysuit is a bit much for me but there is no denying that they nailed every single element including those pesky SBS spins they missed at Europeans. The other two Russian couples were a bit lacklustre in my opinion but maybe I'm just distracted by how hungry the girls look, it's just not a look I'm into. Pang and Tong were also a bit off in their FS with jumping errors and just not a lot of wow factor bumping them down to bronze.

• The Canadian pairs skated well but small mistakes were enough to keep them out of contention. In fact they even came close to qualifying 3 teams for next year but it was not to be. Eric and Meaghan were fierce competitors, she accidentally broke his nose early in the SP on a triple twist but they finished their program and even brought in a great score. Serious competitiveness to push through that! Anyone that thinks figure skaters are not tough as nails should watch the video.
• I actually really enjoyed the American team YanCoughlin and they skated very well and placed surprisingly high in 6th place.
• Takahashi/Tran really surprised me by placing so well in the SP, I didn't know they were actually contenders.
• Really like some of the choreo in the other German FS from Prince of Persia even if the outfits are a bit over the top.
• Miki Ando put together two clean programs to win. Yawn. Watching her programs I got the feeling it is like watching her practice, only there happens to be some completely unrelated music playing. Kudos for her for really nailing the technical content though.
• Overall I thought the ladies really brought it in the SP. Lots of those elusive 3/3 combinations that we just did not see on the GP season.
• Amazed at who beat out the Canadian ladies. They did not bring their best performances, but I thought PCS would hold them up. Mae-Bernice Meite and Sarah Hecken, seriously? Ok, in the FS the Canadians really imploded. It's a bit saddening that that is the best our country can produce, when you look at how popular figure skating is in Canada. We have top coaches, top facilities, tons of participants, and a sad lack of 3Lutzes, 3flips, and 3/3 combos in world-class competitions. JoRo, when are you coming back? And the Americans think their ladies were a disappointment, pshaw.
• To Sarah Hecken's credit, she has a 3/3 combo and clearly loves to skate, she brings a real exuberance to the ice.
• Pleased to see a couple of girls with actual boobs skating at this level and even placing well. Elene G is a real sassy one, fun to watch.
• Shocked to see the Russian ladies do so well. Not because they are Russian, but just because of their inconsistent GP seasons. Wow! Leonova and her new hairdo really sold the Witches of Eastwick. I have to say, it's not fair that the guys get to do footwork with attitude, drunken footwork, and Sherlock Holmes while the girls have to look pretty in their footwork/characterization. It's kind of refreshing to see someone do something slightly out of the ordinary (is Stephanie Rosenthal ever going to come back? Sigh)
• Mao Asada smiling! Hate the new SP dress. Love her FS, dress and all. Wonky entrance to the camel spin made me feel better about mine.
• Kanako Murakami changed her SP dress and look which really did not do it for me, shame because she is a sheer delight.
• Kiira Korpi did not skate well, and Carolina Kostner skated forgettably but well enough for bronze. Her SP is good, but I just can't get into her FP and I'm tempted to blame it on that awful dress. Why do the dresses impact my opinion so much?
• The return of Yuna Kim! Ok, she wasn't perfect, but it was really exciting to have her back. It was sad to see her tearing up on the podium, maybe it will inspire her to , um, actually compete next year?
• Voir are back! And they brought a sassy FD with them which was amazing to watch in its entirety. I thought the ice would melt! It was thrilling and should have won over Marlie's snoozefest of a tango. Yeah, I get that it's difficult, but it looks difficult, and I just don't get the feeling that they need a chaperone the way Voir do. They didn't even look pleased afterwards, bah.
• Fabian Bourzat fell on a bracket turn. Stupid bracket turns! On the one hand I feel a bit vindicated for finding them so difficult. If Fabian Bourzat can fall on a bracket turn, they must be hard. On the other hand I thought it was really tacky of him to get so mopey in the KNC and then walk away leaving Nathalie looking like a limp pile of bones.
• Ok I love the Shibs, but since when is it possible to medal in ICE DANCE in your first trip to worlds? Where was this kind of love for Bourne and Kraatz? I absolutely adore their Nat King Cole FD but apparently it's not that difficult....dunno. However I'm very pleased that they took the bronze and not one of those awful Russian couples. At least Bobroviev got rid of Tom Jones!
• Did Cappelinni and Lannotte change their FD music? It was a classy selection and they just seemed to float in the air, it was beautiful. We didn't see them for a while, glad to have them back and skating so nicely.
• Crone and Poirier were fun to watch yet again but they just weren't getting any love from the judges, leaving them in 10th. But Weaver and Poje skated their little butts off to place 5th overall! Their SP is sensational and classy. Their FD feels 'messy' to me with all the musical cuts and I just want to pull her hair back into a bun already but it didn't bother the judges. Ice dance is definitely the strongest discipline in Canada.

Shockingly good public ice

I don't have any freestyle ice until Saturday, but it's spring break this week and there are extra public skate times on at one of the private rinks all week. I dropped in after work today and for only $2 I skated for almost an hour with only about 20-30 other people on the ice. It was pretty roomy! I did do some spinning but 'figure skating' isn't technically allowed so I didn't spend the whole time spinning in case someone complained. What I did do was practice my bracket turns a LOT. I just learned them a little over a week ago. The inside ones are not so bad but the outside ones are pretty tricky. Last Monday I fell pretty hard on a left outside bracket and I am a little spooked on those ones now. The inside ones are actually decent and I worked up the nerve to do them with a little speed. They're almost fun! But not nearly as effortless as 3-turns. Anyway I checked the tracings and some of them really look bracket-shaped. I'm amazed! I never learned these before and figured that it was a distinct possibility that they would just be too hard to learn.

I also practiced back outside pivots because they are also in the Sr. Bronze Skills patterns. The RBO pivot is not too bad probably because of more familiarity with the RBO edge because of jumps. The LBO pivot is much harder but I found that deeper knee bend and patience were very helpful. I have learned some bits and piece of the Sr. Bronze patterns and worked on what I could remember. I should be learning the patterns in full soon especially once I get the hang of the brackets and the pivots.

No skating until Saturday - which is probably good for my knees.

I passed my Jr. Bronze Skills test!

I have been devoting a decent piece of each practice to my Jr. Bronze skills ever since my skills coach convinced me to test them. It paid off yesterday when I passed my test! I didn't skate them perfectly (had a few wobbles) but I thought they were pretty good considering the circumstances. Apparently they were good enough to pass but only with 'Satisfactory' ratings. The judge told me that one of my 3-turns was flat which I completely did not believe because my coach always tells me my turns are too curvy. She has spent all this time with me trying to get the 3-turn into my flip more flat and it ALWAYS curves. I also felt that I had strong edges and good control thoughout the patterns and figured I should have had at least one 'Good' rating....but you never can tell with judges, maybe she was picking up on those wobbles that I had. No comments on the wobbles though.

Today was the last day of our club ice and we had our year-end show. All the skaters in all the levels got to skate and there were a couple of solos from our higher-level skaters. It was fun! There were awards given out at the end and I didn't get one but I privately felt that if there were a 'Most Improved' award, I would have earned it. In July when I stepped on the ice I could hardly even skate. I couldn't do a crossover or a 3-turn. Now I have won a competition and passed two tests. I'm learning stroking and skills at the Sr. Bronze level and sometimes I have a fierce camel spin. I learned how to do jumps all over again. Except for the Lutz, I think all my elements are better than they were when I was a child and I've even learned some new ones. So I don't want to sound stuck-up but I think it is a big progression in only 8 months and even if nobody else have noticed, I have noticed, and I feel proud :)

I am sorry to see the end of the season but I will still be able to skate on Mondays and Saturdays at private rinks at least for the spring. Then we will have to see what the summer holds.

Today I picked up some fabric to make practice outfits. I think I am entitled to indulge myself!

The A-word

It's been a busy week in ice sports again. On Sunday I had another great hockey game. We actually won it! First game in quite a while. I had one cool rush where I came around my net, swooshed around a forechecker, managed to hang on to the puck through the neutral zone, and get a weak shot somewhere in the vicinity of the net. I don't remember if it was on goal or not...funny how it's always a blur.

On Monday I had another dreaded jump lesson! I really hate doing 2 in a row. That is what I get for not having any ideas for what to work on, my coach will always pick jumps! My coach was really not pleased with any of my jumps, some days she is like that. She had me try toe-toe and loop-loop combinations; the second jump is always the better one. Not sure if this is typical. Otherwise the rest of the hour was pretty routine, nothing remarkable happened just more good practice. It always feels so lame to skate for only an hour.

This morning coach surprised me by talking about stroking. We haven't done a stroking lesson in ages, and I don't know if that is because I've improved so much or because she is obsessed with jumps, haha. She wants to teach me all the stroking patterns that are on the freeskate tests! This is great and will help me be a better overall skater. It was just surprising because she didn't want to teach skating skills but it's optional for freestyle skaters and stroking isn't so maybe that's why. We started in on some of the Jr. Bronze patterns which involve edges down the long sides of the rink and crossovers around the ends. For someone who did patch I thought it would be a breeze but it's a different beast going fast! My forward outside edges are fine but we did forward and backward inside and they need a LOT of work. But this is exactly the type of thing I'm happy to practice.

Because we were talking about freeskating tests we got on to the dreaded 4-letter word: AXEL. Dum dum dum. She asked if I want to learn it and I admitted that I want to be able to do the Axel but without all that hard work and falling. She pointed out that with her technique most of her kids don't fall that much. As if on cue, a girl beside us wiped out on a wonky Axel attempt. She wasn't helping! Strangely, Coach says that I'm ready to try it, this is weird because she seemed so displeased with my jumps this week. I'm sure that my waltz jumps need to be 1000 times better first. Who knows?

I filled out the rest of the hour practicing my Skills patterns and just a few of all my spins and jumps. One hour is just not enough time to skate!