2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships Men's Short Program

Tonight I will be doing live commentary for the men's short program. Whether you don't have an Icenetwork feed or you would just like an additional interpretation of the happenings of the competition, I am hear to provide my analysis of every skater's performance tonight.

Start Order:
Warmup Group 1
1 Evan Lysacek, DuPage FSC
2 Jeremy Abbott, Broadmoor SC
3 Stephen Carriere, SC of Boston4
4 Adam Rippon, SC of New York

Warmup Group 2
5 William Brewster, Detroit SC
6 Shaun Rogers, University of Delaware FSC
7 Tommy Steenberg, SC of Northern Virginia
8 Jason Wong, SC of Boston
9Scott Smith, Salt Lake Figure Skating

Warmup Group 3
10 Nicholas LaRoche, All Year FSC
11 Parker Pennington, Winterhurst FSC
12 Jonathan Cassar, Detroit SC
13 Eliot Halverson, Ann Arbor FSC
14 Johnny Weir, SC of New York

Warmup Group 4
15 Douglas Razzano, Coyotes SC of Arizona
16 Ryan Bradley, Broadmoor SC
17 Dennis Phan, All Year FSC
18 Brandon Mroz, Broadmoor SC
19 Curran Oi, SC of Boston

8:25 ET time. First warmup group about to go on the ice, Lysacek is in his god-awful black costume with the cross in the front and back (same costume he was wearing at SA and SC in the short)

8:28 Men still waiting to go out on the ice for the warmup, Rippon has curls in case of anyone is interested LOL.

8:31 Decent triple flip+triple toe from Abbott, little bit slow coming out of it.

8:35 Crowd is a little bigger than last night. Lysacek is about to skate.

Evan Lysacek
3A-decent, little forward on landing but fully-rotated
3Lz+3T-little slow, possible UR on toe but I believe it was clean
3F-excellent
Very good expression and energy throughout performance, very creditable work overall and looks extremely fit. Lysacek is very happy with his skate.

Scores
TES: 45.30
PCS: 38.29
Total: 83.59-Excellent marks


Jeremy Abbott
3F+3T-Excellent
3A-Beautiful leg extension on landing
3Lz-Very centered and solid
Really immaculate edge work and musicality, program loaded with passion and speed, a truly exceptional performance that got him a standing ovation (Lysacek got one as well). I would put this first.

Scores
TES: 46.79
PCS: 39.61
Total: 86.40-WOW, well-deserved.


Stephen Carriere

3A-Great height but stepped out of it.
3F+3T-Very good speed but stepped out of the 3T, off-axis in the air on the second jump.
3Lz-Little forward on landing but clean.
A bit more maturity than he has displayed thus far in his career in terms of artistry, but seemed to not be able to control his speed in his jumps as much as he is usually able to do.

TES: 36.14
PCS: 33.22
Total: 69.36
Rank: 3rd


Adam Rippon

3F+3T-very smooth, good knee bend on both jumps
1A-unfortunate, also singled it in the warmup
Tano 3Lz-Fantastic
Very nice spins, just a tad bit slow throughout his program and doesn't have the depth to his artistry like Abbott. Rippon has nice basic skating skills and displays a lot of polish for his age, however. Brian Orser is not in attendance with Adam.

TES: 30.69
PCS: 31.53
Total: 62.22
Rank: 4th


William Brewster

Apparently someone dropped something onto the ice, a ball of yarn LOL as he was starting. Stopped the music and is starting again.
3S+3T-solid, jumps a bit low but rotated
3Lz-very short reach back on the entrance with the leg, but did pull off the jump.
2A-little bit low but landed
Nice low sit-spin position, has good posture but a rather flat program artistically, which is forgivable given his inexperience. Appears happy about the performance, a solid one overall. Kerrigan is informing us that Rippon got a jump downgraded.

TES: 32.59
PCS: 27.64
Total: 60.23
Rank: 5th


Shawn Rogers

Skating to Sweeney Todd
4T+2T-Excellent height, little off on the landing of the quad and had to do a double toe instead of a triple
3Lz-Little off on landing but clean, great height once again.
3A-Flipped out of it, too bad because his 3A in warmup was stunning.
Nice spins, very powerful piece of music but didn't convey that completely in his choreography.

TES: 35.16
PCS: 28.97
Total: 64.13
Rank: 4th (ahead of Rippon)


Tommy Steenberg

Very interesting dragonlike costume
3A-fall and possible UR
3R+3R-Struggle on landing of first jump but gutted it out and landed the second jump without a major error.
3Lz-Low but landed.
Steenberg has great speed and is a very quirky skater to look at, very interesting hitchkick type of element during the footwork.

TES: 33.70
PCS: 27.07
Ded: -1.00 (first fall of the night)
Total: 59.77
Rank: 7th


Jason Wong

3A-Good height, looked a tad UR
3Lz+2T-Intended 3Lz+3T, a bit of a toe-axel on 3T but a clean jumping pass
3R-fall, landed an exceptional one in the warmup, this jump was just a bit too low and his weight was back behind him
Excellent flexibility and posture, needs more speed in his spins and footwork and more connection to the audience, but overall Wong has quite a bit of potential.

TES: 35.34
PCS: 29.06
Ded: -1.00
Total: 63.40
Rank: 5th (ahead of Rippon as well)


Scott Smith-Has withdrawn, apparently injured his back in practice earlier today.

10:14 ET Ice resurfacing and hall of fane induction ceremonies have concluded, warmup group 3 about to go on the ice. Johnny in same SP costume as during the Grand Prix, looking very tanned LOL.

10:22-Weir singled an axel attempt in warmup but landed a beautiful triple axel later on.


Nicholas LaRoche

Skating to Moonlight Sonata
3S-excellent
3A-slight struggle on landing but clean
3Lz+3T-very nice height, fell out on the back-end of the combo, however
Very mature program, but a tremendous lack of speed throughout. LaRoche failed to go with the faster tempo of the music towards the end of the program with his footwork sequence.

TES: 31.19
PCS: 26.82
Total: 58.01
Rank: 9th


Parker Pennington

3A-Not a tremendous knee bend on landing but solid
3Lz+3T-very centered on landing
3F-very nice
Aside from his somewhat unsmooth landings there are absolutely no complaints here; he threw his entire heart into that performance. Wonderful speed throughout his spins and footwork, and is one of the few skaters tonight to really engage the crowd into their program. Standing ovation.

TES: 43.09
PCS: 33.08
Total: 76.17
Rank: 3rd-That should put him in the final group during the free on Sunday


Jonathan Cassar

3Lz+2T-forward on landing of lutz
3F-possible wrong-edge takeoff, but clean
2A-excellent
Very technically sound skater, good spins and edges and a very intriguing program. GORGEOUS spread eagle, and a large response from crowd.

TES: 27.22
PCS: 28.50
Total: 55.72
Rank: 11th (Big boos from audience)
Apparently his flip was downgraded, looking at it in slow-mo I couldn't disagree more.


Eliot Halverson

3A-Gutsy of him to try it without planning it but a flip out
3Lz-Fall
3F+3T- Triple toe was supposed to be after the triple lutz, good for him for doing it after the triple flip. 3F looked a bit UR, however, but it was landed.
Not trying to get into any stereotyping here, but he has a rather effeminate style which should have a bit more masculinity at this level.

TES: 25.30
PCS: 26.79
Ded: -1.00
Total: 51.09
Rank: 12th


Johnny Weir

3Lz+3T-smooth as silk
1A-Same error as warmup
3F-good solidity to the landing but usually gets dinged with an edge call on that, don't know why he hasn't switched to a triple loop for the short.
What sets Weir's skating apart is how he connects the dots, the program is a very linked work of art as opposed to just eight required elements.

TES: 33.54
PCS: 37.22
Total: 70.76
Rank: 4th (Oh dear, the national title may be out of the question at this point)


Douglas Razzano

3A-stunning
3F+2T-intended to be 3F+3T but put his hand down on the opening part of the combo and had to a double for the toe loop instead.
3Lz-fall backwards
Nice flexibility in the spins, but rather mundane choreographically and a bit slow overall.

TES: 31.54
PCS: 26.46
Ded: -1.00
Total: 57.00
Rank: 12th


Ryan Bradley

4T+3T-only quad-triple combo of the night, very nicely done but 4T looked ever so slightly UR
3A-excellent
2Lz-strange error but doesn't seem affected, goes write back into the choreography
Has such an incredibly vibrant personality, skating to an Elvis Presley number and the crowd was behind him the entire way. Lisa Ervin better have secret service with her if she decides to downgrade his quad (which I don't believe she should)

TES: 39.16 (quad got credited)
PCS: 34.89
Total: 74.05
Rank: 4th (Cautious applause from audience but those marks are right where they should be, and are very impressive)


Dennis Phan

3A-Superb
3Lz+2T-supposed to be 3Lz+3T but still clean
3F-Very soft landing
Excellent skate, very flowy and had good musicality and expression. Good posture and technique, just needs a bit more speed.

TES: 38.86
PCS: 30.25
Total: 69.11
Rank: 7th (Just behind Carriere)


Brandon Mroz

3A-excellent
3Lz+3T-very tight turns in the air, good landing
3F-revolutions finished well before the landing
Artistry has improved slightly, a bit slow coming towards the end of the program but his jumps were some of the most centered and consistent we have seen tonight. Great skate for him.

TES: 42.91
PCS: 31.97
Total: 74.88
Rank: 4th (Does this mean Weir is out of the final group on Sunday? NBC hadn't thought about that one)


Curran Oi

3A-decent
3F+3T-very tight revolutions in the air, little forward on landing but very clean otherwise
3Lz-excellent
Very good strength and power to his skating, needs a little bit more speed in his spins and could relate to the music and the audience a little more. His transitions are also a little rushed, but this was overall an excellent skate.

TES: 41.87
PCS: 30.89
Total: 72.76
Rank: 6th (Knocking down Weir to 7th, that's shocking)


Final Standings

1 Jeremy Abbott, Broadmoor SC 86.40 46.79 39.61 7.93 7.68 8.11 7.89 8.00 0.00 #2
2 Evan Lysacek, DuPage FSC 83.59 45.30 38.29 7.79 7.21 7.93 7.75 7.61 0.00 #1
3 Parker Pennington, Winterhurst FSC 76.17 43.09 33.08 6.54 6.18 6.89 6.61 6.86 0.00 #11
4 Brandon Mroz, Broadmoor SC 74.88 42.91 31.97 6.54 6.29 6.36 6.39 6.39 0.00 #18
5 Ryan Bradley, Broadmoor SC 74.05 39.16 34.89 6.96 6.18 7.57 6.93 7.25 0.00 #16
6 Curran Oi, SC of Boston 72.76 41.87 30.89 6.11 5.93 6.21 6.46 6.18 0.00 #19
7 Johnny Weir, SC of New York 70.76 33.54 37.22 7.68 7.14 7.43 7.43 7.54 0.00 #14
8 Stephen Carriere, SC of Boston 69.36 36.14 33.22 6.68 6.50 6.50 6.79 6.75 0.00 #3
9 Dennis Phan, All Year FSC 69.11 38.86 30.25 6.21 5.75 6.11 6.18 6.00 0.00 #17
10 Shaun Rogers, University of Delaware FSC 64.13 35.16 28.97 6.04 5.50 5.86 5.93 5.64 0.00 #6
11 Jason Wong, SC of Boston 63.40 35.34 29.06 5.96 5.57 5.96 5.82 5.75 1.00 #8
12 Adam Rippon, SC of New York 62.22 30.69 31.53 6.46 6.14 6.29 6.32 6.32 0.00 #4
13 William Brewster, Detroit SC 60.23 32.59 27.64 5.57 5.18 5.71 5.61 5.57 0.00 #5
14 Tommy Steenberg, SC of Northern Virginia 59.77 33.70 27.07 5.54 5.25 5.32 5.50 5.46 1.00 #7
15 Nicholas LaRoche, All Year FSC 58.01 31.19 26.82 5.75 4.86 5.46 5.43 5.32 0.00 #10
16 Douglas Razzano, Coyotes SC of Arizona 57.00 31.54 26.46 5.57 5.04 5.14 5.39 5.32 1.00 #15
17 Jonathan Cassar, Detroit SC 55.72 27.22 28.50 5.68 5.46 5.79 5.75 5.82 0.00 #12
18 Eliot Halverson, Ann Arbor FSC 51.09 25.30 26.79 5.29 5.00 5.46 5.50 5.54 1.00 #13

That is all.