After landing a nice triple Axel and a couple of Lutzes (thus proving with the latter that he's put the spiking incident well behind him), he set to work on the quad - thus demonstrating that at least as of now the idea of doing the quad in the short program has by no means been abandoned. He only had time to warm up the jump with a couple of triple Toes before his sp music played and he had to stop to do a jumpless (and mostly spinless!) run through of his program (most of the guys this morning did jumpless run throughs), which in turn gave us a chance to really appreciate the choreography of this program. After that and in short order, he landed a solo quad, not pretty but clean. This was followed almost immediately by a beautifully done quad/double Toe. He looked immensely pleased with himself right afterward and immediately looked at his watch, as did we. The time was exactly 7:24 am. Not bad for an "old guy" at the crack of dawn who'd obviously had very little sleep the night before.

Yet another nice quad/double Toe followed, before a couple of misfires (a solo triple Toe, then a fully rotated quad that ended in a fall), but then he was right back on track, landing another quad/double Toe just as the session ended.

He did spend a short amount of time working on the entry to the Flip/Toe combination, all of which tells me they have not as yet made a definite decision to go for the quad. In all likelihood they are waiting to see how consistent the jump is as the week progresses and are prepared to fall back on the Flip/Toe if necessary.

I must confess that I didn't get a chance to pay much attention to Tim Goebel, as he is in Todd's practice group, but I now have someone on tap who has promised to keep an eye on him for me in the future. Only three guys were absent from this morning's practice - all from Group A - Danny Claussen, Derrick Delmore and Michael Weiss.

Todd's next practice session, a free skate session, is scheduled for 4:25 pm at the Fleet Center. Report to follow later.

Afternoon Free Skate Practice Session

Practice sessions were running a bit late this afternoon, so Todd's group did not actually take the ice until 4:40 pm, later than the scheduled 4:25 start time. When Todd first appeared for the warm-up, I was temporarily distracted with trying to identify the shirt he was wearing. I just knew I'd seen it somewhere before! Finally conceding defeat in the ID department, I asked Kyla if she could help me out and Kyla hastened to inform me what I was looking at was in fact the shirt that made its debut in the now infamous Who Let the Dogs Out program at the Improv. My problem, I realized, was that I failed to recognize it alone, in other words in isolation without the pants!

By the time I'd solved this problem, Todd had landed a triple Axel, a triple Lutz and was working on the quad. The first attempt resulted in a triple, but the second attempt resulted in an absolute beauty!

After this he took it relatively easy as he waited for his music to come up, and it was obvious because of this that we were to be treated to a complete run-through of the 13th Warrior program - what resulted was not perfect, but it sure was a pretty good start! Noteworthy was the fact that the run-through began with a nicely executed quad. He then went on to land a triple Axel/double Toe (rather than the 3A/3T he'd intended), a triple Lutz, a triple Flip/double Toe (rather than the 3F/3T he'd intended), followed in due course by a second triple Axel, then a triple Loop and then - are you ready for this? - a horrible splat - on guess which jump? You got it! THE TRIPLE SAL! Knew that was coming, didn't you? . After he'd managed to get to his feet and resume the program he finished nicely with a strong triple Toe (thrown in of course because he'd missed the previous two attempts - if he gets those expect to see a double Axel here instead, assuming of course he hits both triple Axels .) Total tally - six triples and a quad, not too shabby, but we know he can do better, and to prove it Richard had him practice the sal a couple of times, and then had him do a triple Axel/triple Toe and a triple Flip/triple Toe.

Tim Goebel also did a complete run-through that also consisted of six triples and a quad. He also doubled the Toe of the intended 3A/3T combination, popped the solo quad sal and then fell on the quad Toe. Later, in Group C, Matt Savoie didn't have a particularly good run-through. Danny Clausen and Derrick Delmore finally put in an appearance in their Group A, leaving Michael Weiss as the only man in the competition who has yet to put in an appearance on practice ice.

Todd's next scheduled practice is another free skate practice, tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 pm, again in the Fleet Center. More reports from the frontline trenches to follow in due course.

Wednesday Afternoon Free Skate Practice Report

Todd's group took the ice at the Fleet Center for their free skate practice at approximately 1:05 pm, as scheduled, although Todd (for whatever reason) didn't appear until the preliminary warm-up was nearly over; however, it didn't really matter as his music wasn't scheduled to play until near the end of the session. He was wearing a new shirt, a white button up shirt with collar (it looked like a twin of the black shirt he wore for practice Tuesday morning).

Within five minutes of taking the ice he landed a gorgeous triple Axel in the center of the rink - with very little preparation beforehand, and shortly thereafter he landed another beauty. Then, after landing assorted other jumps, he went to work on the quad and today it didn't come quite as easily as yesterday in that it took him six attempts (all ending in triples) before he was able to execute a gorgeous quad/double Toe.

His run-through of 13th Warrior wasn't perfect, but was in a couple of ways a *huge* improvement over yesterday afternoon's run-through. The opening quad was fully rotated, but he had to put a hand down on the landing. However, from there he went on to land a gorgeous triple Axel/triple Toe, followed by a nice triple Lutz. He doubled the Toe of the intended triple Flip/triple Toe, but went on to land the second triple Axel, followed by a triple Loop and *then* by a really nice triple Salchow! He then executed a triple Toe (to make up for the one he missed after the Flip) and concluded to a round of thunderous applause from the spectators (such as they were - we aren't exactly talking a huge crowd here ). This, I might add, was the first 8 triple performance (8 triples and an almost quad!) I've seen him do in long time. I might also add that when he finished he didn't look winded in the least. Totally amazing. Before the end of the session, after one or two misfires, he ended the day with one of the nicest quads I've ever seen him land.

On the Other Competitors front - Matt Savoie continues to have jump problems. Tim Goebel didn't do a complete program run-through, possibly because his music was played first and he didn't have sufficient time to warm up beforehand. However, he did manage to land a truckload of quads and quad/combos before leaving the ice early. Michael Weiss put in his first appearance at practice this afternoon. Prior to his music being played, he landed a quad (2 footed)/double Toe, then did a partial run-through when his music started. He did a nice quad/double Toe, followed by a triple Axel/triple Toe, then he did a triple Axel in which he was forced to put a hand down on the landing. He then stopped, resumed long enough to land a triple Flip, stopped again, then landed a triple Salchow and then a triple Lutz. He didn't do much else before leaving his practice about 5 minutes early.

Todd's next practice session is a short program practice, scheduled to begin at 10:00 pm tonight at Matthews Arena. More news from the Front to follow later.

The Wednesday Night Non-Report By Fran

Todd elected to skip his 10 pm practice session tonight so Fran could watch Braden Overett (in Todd's practice group) without other distraction....No, seriously, folks, I suspect Todd elected to get a good night's sleep prior to tomorrow's short program competition rather than do a last minute run-through of his program on non-competition venue ice. Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to watch Braden do Todd's program. Goebel and Weiss were also no shows at his evening's practice.

Todd's warm-up without music is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning at 9:35 at the Fleet Center.

Thursday Morning Warmup Report

This morning the men had what was for all practical purposes a short program practice session in the Fleet Center, although it was called a "Warm-Up" session. The men practiced in their Start Order groups, which meant Todd was in Group 3, while Michael Weiss and Tim Goebel were both in Group 4.

Todd's group took the ice at exactly 9:35 am. During the initial warm-up period and within 5 minutes of taking the ice, Todd landed a gorgeous triple Axel, then moments later landed another one. Then, after landing a nice triple Lutz, it was quad time. After tripling the jump three times, he landed a beautiful quad/double Toe. Then when his music came up, he did a jumps only run-through, meaning he did the jumps when and where they were supposed to be, but cut out most of the rest of the program (it is never a good idea to do a complete run-through on competition day). First he landed the quad/double Toe right where it's supposed to be, and then the triple Axel and finally the triple Lutz. He seemed fairly pleased after this. He ended his session practicing the triple Flip/triple Toe combination, as it is still a distinct possibility this (rather than the quad/2t) will be the combination he tries tonight.

He was in a relaxed, really good mood, when he left the ice a couple of minutes early, which extra minutes he used to stop by the boards and sign a number of autographs and pose for pictures with admiring fans.

Tim Goebel looked okay if not spectacular this morning. He did land a few quads and quad combos, although he missed some as well, especially when trying the quad sal/triple Toe combo (he did a triple sal/triple Toe on one occasion, a quad/double Toe on another and fell on the triple Toe on yet another). As he also practiced the triple Axel/triple Toe combo, he might be planning to fall back on his former sp makeup of solo quad sal and then triple Axel/triple Toe as his combination.

Michael Weiss didn't do too awfully much, as usual. He fell out of a triple Axel on his first attempt, then landed a nice triple Axel/triple Toe. His first quad attempts resulted in a couple of triples and a pop, but then he finally landed a nice quad/triple Toe.

Todd has a free skate practice scheduled for Matthews Arena this afternoon at 3:10 pm. I haven't asked whether he plans to attend and, since the competition is but several hours later, wouldn't be surprised if he decided to skip town - I mean, the practice session. Your fearless reporter will be on hand anyway, but by the time she's able to file a report, whatever does or doesn't happen at this practice will be moot anyway.

Expect the next report after the short program competition tonight.

Friday Afternon Practice Report

Todd had a practice session this afternoon at 2 pm in Matthews Arena. After going through the usual routine of landing a couple of his triples (two beautiful axels and a lutz), he went to work on the quad and, after adjusting to the new rink conditions, was able to land a beautiful quad on the fifth attempt and basically within 15 minutes of hitting the practice ice. When his music came up, he decided to go for a complete run-through, which attempt was somewhat marred by a couple of other skaters getting in his way (first Tim Goebel, then Kurt Fromnicht). He began with a beautiful quad, then followed it with a solo triple axel (it looked like he ran out of room for the scheduled 3A/3T combo). This was followed by the triple lutz, then Goebel got in his way so the intended 3F/3T turned into a double flip. He then executed a nice triple axel/double toe (to make up for the earlier missed axel combo), then Fromnicht got in his way so he had to abort the intended loop. He picked up the program again after that, landing a slightly off kilter triple salchow, and then a triple toe. Not a bad effort considering the obstacles in his way. After the run-through, he landed a nice triple flip/triple toe and then did an equally nice triple axel/triple toe. Then back to the quad where he had a couple of tripled misfires before VOILA! A quad/triple toe!!

As for the competition, Goebel looked fairly good today, and Weiss - well, with him it's always hard to say. Neither tried complete run-throughs, and both landed quads and quad combos (and both missed quads and quad combos). Weiss appears to be working on the quad lutz again, but I have no idea if he's planning to try it tomorrow.

Todd's Warm-Up with Music Session is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:40 am. More reports to follow, probably after the competition - which, of course, most of you will be able to see live!

Page © 2001-2009
Andrea "Hoo" Chempinski and Jennifer Riskind
Additional site credits