Liberty Summer Competition

The Liberty Summer Competition is the first major club competition of the summer and is one of the competitions that satisfy the U.S. ISP readiness requirements.

Notable participants include:

SENIOR MEN
Max Aaron
Wesley Campbell
Harrison Choate
Timothy Koleto
Keegan Messing
Ross Miner
Brandon Mroz


Emmanuel Savary

SENIOR LADIES
Aimee Buchanan
Ashley Cain
Samantha Cesario
McKinzie Daniels
Haley Dunne
Joelle Forte
Jenelle Herman
Nicole Rajic (former US competitor, now competing for Slovakia)
Yasmin Siraj
Allison Timlen

SENIOR PAIRS
Bautista/Harris (former US competitors, now competing for Philippines)
Donlan/Speroff
Duarte/Grafton
Dube/Wolfe (Canada)
Kayne/O'Shea (new team)
Kemp/King (Great Britain)
Zhang/Bartholomay

JUNIOR MEN
Chase Belmontes
Alexander Bjelde
Jimmy Ma
Marcus Mimidis
Andrew Nagode
James Schetelich
Matej Silecky

JUNIOR LADIES
Kay Bergdolt
Ana Draovitch
Amanda Gelb
Avery Kurtz
Brianna Laxson
Barbie Long
Haley Mulera
Olivia Serafini
Madison Vinci

JUNIOR PAIRS
Belt/Johnson
de la Mora/Wilson
Goldberg/Dolkieiwcz
Pearce/Silecky
Shaughnessy/Morgan

Wednesday, July 18

                                                                                                           

Rink No. 1

9:00 – 10:20 a.m.                    Novice Ladies Group A Short Program (13)

10:20 – 10:35 a.m.                  RESURFACE

10:35 – 11:55 a.m.                  Novice Ladies Group B Short Program (13)

11:55 – 12:10 p.m.                  RESURFACE

12:10 – 1:40 p.m.                    Novice Ladies Group C Short Program (13)

1:40 – 1:55 p.m.                      RESURFACE

1:55 – 3:25 p.m.                      Novice Ladies Group D Short Program (13)

3:25 – 3:40 p.m.                      RESURFACE

3:40 – 5:15 p.m.                      Novice Ladies Group E Short Program (13)

5:15 – 5:30 p.m.                      RESURFACE

5:30 – 6:50 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Group A Short Program (12)

6:50 – 7:05 p.m.                      RESURFACE

7:05 – 8:30 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Group B Short  Program (13)

8:30 p.m.                                 End of Day

 Rink No. 2

3:25 – 4:45 p.m.                      Junior Men Short Program (12)

4:45 – 5:00 p.m.                      RESURFACE

5:00 – 6:40 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Group C Short Program (13)

6:40 – 6:55 p.m.                      RESURFACE

6:55 – 8:40 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Group D Short Program (13)

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

                                                                                               

Thursday, July 19

Rink No. 1

7:30 – 10:05 p.m.        Junior Ladies Group B FS (14)

Thursday, July 19

Rink No. 2

                                                           

8:00 – 9:25 a.m.          Novice Men Short Program (13)

12:15 – 2:15 p.m.        Novice Ladies Short Program Final (18)

3:50 – 5:30 p.m.          Junior Men Free Skating (13)

5:30 – 5:45 p.m.          RESURFACE

5:45 – 7:25 p.m.          Junior Ladies Group A Free Skating (14)

8:15 – 9:00 p.m.          Junior Pairs Short Program (5)

9:00 – 9:15 p.m.          RESURFACE

9:15 – 10:00 p.m.        Senior Pairs Short Program (6)

10:00 p.m.                   End of Day

Friday, July 20

                                                                                               

Rink No. 1

8:00 – 9:35 a.m.                      Novice Ladies Group A FS (14)  

9:35 – 9:50 a.m.                      RESURFACE

9:50 – 11:30 a.m.                    Novice Ladies Group B FS (14)

11:30 – 11:45 a.m.                  RESURFACE

11:45 – 1:20 p.m.                    Novice Ladies Group C FS (14)

1:20 – 1:35 p.m.                      RESURFACE

1:35 – 3:10 p.m.                      Novice Ladies Group D FS (14)

3:10 – 3:25 p.m.                      RESURFACE

3:25 – 5:05 p.m.                      Novice Ladies Group E FS (14)

5:05 – 5:20 p.m.                      RESURFACE            

5:20 – 7:00 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Group C FS (14)

7:00 – 7:15 p.m.                      RESURFACE

7:15 – 9:00 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Group D FS (15)

9:00 p.m.                                 End of Day

Friday, July 20

Rink No. 2

10:05 -11:35 p.m.                   Novice Men Free Skating (13)

11:35 – 11:50 p.m.                  RESURFACE

11:50 – 2:20 p.m.                    Senior Ladies Group A Short Program (20)

2:20– 2:35 p.m.                       RESURFACE

2:35 – 4:55 p.m.                      Senior Ladies Group B Short Program (20)

4:55 – 5:10 p.m.                      RESURFACE

5:10 – 7:00 p.m.                      Senior Men Short Program (15)

7:00 – 7:15 p.m.                      RESURFACE

7:15 – 7:55 p.m.                      Junior Pairs Free Skating (5)        

8:05 – 8:20 p.m.                      RESURFACE

8:20 – 9:15 p.m.                      Senior Pairs Free Skating (5)

9:15 p.m.                                 End of Day

Saturday, July 21

Rink No. 1

                                                                        

3:30 – 5:25 p.m.                      Novice Ladies Final Free Skating (20)

5:25 p.m.                                 End of Day

Saturday, July 21

                                                                                                           

Rink No. 2

8:15 – 8:30 a.m.                      RESURFACE

8:30 – 10:50 a.m.                    Senior Ladies Free Skating Group A (19)

10:50 – 11:05 a.m.                  RESURFACE

11:05 – 1:30 p.m.                    Senior Ladies Free Skating Group B (19)

1:30 –1:45 p.m.                       RESURFACE

1:45 – 3:10 p.m.                      Senior Men Free Skating (11)  

3:10 – 3:25 p.m.                      RESURFACE            

3:25 – 5:30 p.m.                      Junior Ladies Free Skating Final (16)

5:30 p.m.                                 End of Day

U.S. Qualifying Competitions

September
28-Oct 2 Northwest Pacific Regional (Eugene, OR)

October
5-9 Eastern Great Lakes Regional (Ann Arbor, MI)
5-9 North Atlantic Regional (Hackensack, NJ)
12-16 New England Regional (Warwick, RI)
12-16 Southwest Pacific Regional (Peoria, AZ)
12-16 Upper Great Lakes Regional (Hobart, WI)
19-23 Central Pacific Regional (Murray, UT)
19-23 South Atlantic Regional (Wake Forest, NC)
19-23 Southwestern Regional (Littleton, CO)

November
9-13 Eastern Sectional (Hyannis Port, MA)
9-13 Midwestern Sectional (Cleveland, OH)
9-13 Pacific Coast Sectional (Provo, UT)


January 
19-27 U.S. Figure Skating Championships (Omaha, NE)

Major U.S. Summer Competitions

Liberty Summer Competition
July 18-21, 2012
Aston, PA

Skate Detroit
July 25-28, 2012
Bloomfield Hills, MI


Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships
July 25-28, 2012
Lake Placid, NY

Glacier Falls Summer Classic
August 2-5, 2012
Anaheim, CA


Indy Challenge Pairs Competition
August 3-5, 2012
Indianapolis, IN

The Canton Split

The Detroit Free Press broke the story that Igor Shpilband was fired from his position at Arctic Edge in Canton, Michigan where he and Marina Zoueva train several of the top ice dance teams in the world, including Virtue/Moir, Davis/White, Shibutani/Shibutani, Chock/Bates and Tobias/Stagniunas.  Rink management stated that the skaters were unhappy with the lack of attention they were receiving and that they would not come back to the rink as long as Shpilband was there.  Shpilband contends that the firing was a complete shock and that there has been a growing rift between himself and Zoueva as he sought to take on skaters by himself and she left him out of scheduling decisions.  

While it seems like the whole story has not been disclosed and it's unlikely we'll know the whole story of what happened in Canton, it is clear that the coaching team that led to the dominance of North American Ice Dance has gone their separate ways.

Russian officials were reportedly making offers to Shpilband to give him any resources he needs to come coach in Russia.  He defected from the Soviet Union in 1990 while on tour and became a U.S. citizen in 2000.  Shpilband's wife Adrienne Lenda is a coach at Arctic Edge but nothing has been announced regarding her position at the rink.

Shpilband announced his intentions to stay in Michigan and was reportedly seen checking out the Compuware Ice Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, about 10 miles from Canton.

Davis and White along with the Shibutanis announced today that they intend to remain with Zoueva.  Virtue and Moir along with Chock and Bates and Tobias and Stagniunas have yet to make a comment about their decision.

Davis and White's decision in particular may seem surprising as they have seemed closer to Shpilband over the years and he regularly travels with the team.  However, in light of his uncertain circumstances the safe bet is to stay at their current rink.  No one knows how quickly he'll be able to find a new rink and skaters are already working on their programs for next season.  And elite skaters need more than just a coach; they have off-ice training daily including dance classes, strength training and conditioning which they may not be able to get at a new rink.

It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the off-season plays out as Shpilband attempts to find a new rink and create a new school of skaters (one of the reported reasons for the falling out was that Shpilband had secured two teams who wanted to work exclusively with him) while Zoueva attempts to keep up with the demanding training and travel schedule of her top teams on her own.   They will likely both need partners, as Shpilband was the technical expert while Zoueva did the bulk of the teams' choreography.  With only a year and a half before Sochi, how the coaches are able to handle the transition and provide consistency for the skaters will be essential, especially with their top competition training just a few minutes down the road at Detroit Skating Club.

UPDATE 6/13: Igor Shpilband has a new rink at Novi Ice Arena in Novi, Michigan, about 20 minutes outside of Canton.  Madison Chock and Evan Bates have publicly announced that they will be joining Shpilband at his new rink.  Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir announced last week that they would be remaining in Canton with Zoueva.

Update 6/14: The Lithuanian team of Tobias/Stagniunas announced today that they will also join Shpilband in Novi.