05 Dec 2016
by rinksidecafe
in Competition predictions
Tags: adam rippon, alex shibutani, anna pogorilaya, cheng peng, dmitiri soloviev, ekaterina bobrova, elena radionova, eric radford, evan bates, evgenia medvedeva, evgenia tarasova, gabriella papadakis, grand prix final, guillaume cizeron, hao zhang, javier fernandez, katelyn osmond, madison chock, maia shibutani, maria sotskova, meagan duhamel, nathan chen, patrick chan, satoko miyahara, scott moir, shoma uno, tessa virtue, vladimir morozov, xiaoyu yu, yang jin, yuzuru hanyu

I swore that I would be on top of things for the GPF so I am starting early this week. The only downside to this is that if there’s last minute withdrawals, I’ll have to change things up.
In any case, the GPF is looking to be an exciting competition where skaters will want to line themselves nicely going into Worlds. The stakes are higher this season because their standings at Worlds determine a) how many skaters their country gets to send to the Olympics and b) their reputation and momentum going into the Olympic season. The GPF will determine the course of a few things as we head into the stretch of the season devoted to Nationals, 4CC and Euros.
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10 Nov 2016
by rinksidecafe
in Competition predictions
Tags: adam rippon, aliona savchenko, bruno massot, evgenia medvedeva, evgenia tarasova, gabriella papadakis, guillaume cizeron, javier fernandez, madison hubbell, mao asada, maria sotskova, morgan cipres, nathan chen, paul poirier, piper gilles, teb, vanessa james, vladimir morozov, zachary donohue
Apologies for the late post. Like a good chunk of the world, I’m still reeling at what happened Tuesday. Although I’m north of the border, the global trend is truly alarming and I pray for the safety of many of my American friends. So readers, please hug a loved one today, and call someone that you haven’t talked to in a while and reconnect. More than ever, we need to stay decent to each other in times of great fear.

Time is tight, as always and I’ll admit to writing this clandestinely at work so I can do nothing more than names on the podium. Let’s go.
Men
Gold: Javier Fernandez
Silver: Nathan Chen
Bronze: Adam Rippon
Possible spoiler: Denis Ten if he gets it together.
Ladies
Gold: Evgenia Medvedeva
Silver: Maria Sotskova
Bronze: Mao Asada
Pairs
Gold: Aliona Savchenko & Bruno Massot
Silver: Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov
Bronze: Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres
Ice Dance
Gold: Gabriella Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron
Silver: Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier
Bronze: Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue
Let me know what your predictions are in the comments! Hugs!
~Rinkside Cafe
28 Oct 2016
by rinksidecafe
in Competition predictions
Tags: alexander smirnov, anna capellini, brandon frazier, dylan moscovitch, elizaveta tuktamisheva, eric radford, evan bates, evgenia medvedeva, han yan, hao zhang, haven denney, katelyn osmond, liubov ilyushechkina, luca lanotte, madison chock, meagan duhamel, mirai nagasu, misha ge, patrick chan, rika hongo, scott moir, takahito mura, tessa virtue, xiaoyu yu, yuko kavaguti, yuzuru hanyu

Tessa & Scott from Skate Canada International 2009.
I am so unbelievably excited for this weekend. I hesitated for the longest time to buy tickets but when I saw that Yuzuru and Tessa & Scott were on the roster, I was sold. Unlike Skate America last week, the roster here seems to be more focused on creating a pretty decent field with a seeded event. (Though right now, I’m good with the U.S. winning all the medals. Seriously, darling southern neighbours, you guys are already great. K? Hugs.) Now, onwards to predictions!
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30 Mar 2016
by rinksidecafe
in Competition predictions
Tags: #Worlds2016, alex shibutani, andrew poje, ashley wagner, boyang jin, cong han, elena radionova, evgenia medvedeva, fedor klimov, figure skating, gabriella papadakis, gracie gold, guillaume cizeron, javier fernandez, kaitlyn weaver, ksenia stolbova, maia shibutani, mao asada, maxim trankov, patrick chan, satoko miyahara, shoma uno, tatiana volosozhar, wenjing sui, world championships, yuzuru hanyu

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter long weekend! Once my precious days off were over, I realized that Worlds was starting very soon and I had to get my act together and do a Worlds predictions post. My last few predictions have been off the mark but hey, it happens and it won’t deter me from making more. So here goes!
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10 Mar 2016
by rinksidecafe
in State of the Union
Tags: alex shibutani, cong han, elena radionova, eric radford, evgenia medvedeva, fedor klimov, javier fernandez, ksenia stolbova, maia shibutani, maxim trankov, meagan duhamel, patrick chan, satoko miyahara, tatiana volosozhar, wenjing sui, yuzuru hanyu

I usually write my State of the Union posts in January so that it coincides with the actual American SOTU address but things kept coming around and I find myself writing this now. Which in hindsight, isn’t actually that bad because some monumental things have happened at National-level competitions, which change the tone of the figure skating world going into the World Championships.
This season, I’ll change it up a little. This post used to be a long rambling of all the bits and pieces and I figure I’d try a new format and focus on four main themes, one for each discipline.
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27 Jan 2016
by rinksidecafe
in Competition
Tags: ashley wagner, daisuke murakami, elena radionova, evgenia medvedeva, figure skating, gracie gold, grand prix final 2015, javier fernandez, mao asada, patrick chan, satoko miyahara, shoma uno, yuzuru hanyu

As a few of you have remarked, my predictions for the Grand Prix Final were oh so terribly wrong. Although my predictions are incorrect a lot of the time, these ones were wrong through and through and when I thought about it, I drew these conclusions:
- Not having the 2nd half of TEB really messed things up. I point to my overestimation of Gold and Chan’s abilities. I thought they were going to medal here but I suspect that should TEB have played out completely, their weakness for this season would have been a lot more clear.
- Never base your predictions on your hopes. Just stick to the status quo until it changes.
- Even if you do stick with the status quo, ice is slippery. I did not think that anyone could beat Duhamel & Radford. Their streak is over.
Moving on, let’s go to the highlights and debrief!
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28 Oct 2015
by rinksidecafe
in Competition
Tags: Alexa Scimeca, Chris Knierim, cong han, denis ten, elizabet tursynbaeva, evan bates, evgenia medvedeva, florent amodio, gracie gold, julia lipnitskaia, karen chen, madison chock, max aaron, nikita katsalapov, paul poirier, piper gilles, satoko miyahara, shoma uno, skate america, viktoria sinitsina, wenjing sui

The figure skating season started last week at Skate America. The competition had many surprises and overall, I thought it was a great start to the season! Let’s start with some highlights.
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