By the numbers, Alissa Czisny's short program adds up to excellence

In the for-what-it's-worth department, a few points of reference about the personal-best score reigning U.S. champion Alissa Czisny racked up in today's short program at Skate Canada in Kitchener:

1. Skate Canada is the last of the six regular-season Grand Prix events, and Czisny's short-program total, 63.52, has been topped by just two other women on the circuit this season: Yuna Kim of South Korea (76.08 in Paris, 76.28 in Lake Placid) and Joannie Rochette of Canada (70.0 today to beat Czisny.)

2. It bettered Czisny's previous personal best, which came in 2005, by a whopping 5.98 points.

3. And although Czisny's artistry is considered her strength, her technical score, 36.60, has been topped this season by just Kim (43.80 and 44), Rochette (38.40) and Mirai Nagasu of the U.S. (37.40 in China).

What does that mean?

Despite the effort to create a system that seeks to standardize scores, each judging panel looks at things differently, so comparisons are tricky.

But the good thing is the Skate Canada judging did not appear overly generous (except for Rochette, the homie), so Czisny's scores seem a fair measure of her performance.

The bad thing is Czisny previously has been unable to do back-to-back strong performances (for evidence, check the 2009 U.S. Championships), so there will be a lot of breath held during Saturday's four-minute free skate -- especially because Czisny always seems to lose it at just about the point (2 3/4 minutes) a short program would have ended.

-- Philip Hersh

Photo: Alissa Czisny reacts to her high scores in the short program at Skate Canada. Credit: Paul Chiasson / Associated Press)

Belbin looks like an Olympic medalist. But we say the winner is . . .

(Judge for yourself whether ice dancer Tanith Belbin gets style points for this.  Photo courtesy Men's Health magazine.)

A few figure skating observations as the Grand Prix series heads into its last event before the Dec. 4-5 final in Tokyo:

*Over dinner Sunday night in Lake Placid, five reporters who will be covering figure skating at the 2010 Olympics agreed to hazard predictions on the Winter Games medals.

I decided to come up with an aggregate of our picks by assigning five points for a prediction of gold, three for silver, one for bronze.

I know the whole thing is very unscientific, but the point here is simply to have some fun.

The results showed: no man getting votes from all five of us; Yuna Kim of South Korea being unanimous for gold; wide difference of opinion on the other women's medals; and compelling unpredictability in three of the four disciplines.

In ice dance, we liked reigning world champions Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia even though they have not competed this season because of his knee injury, and a couple of us thought Isabelle Delobel would come back so strong from giving birth to a son Oct. 2, and that she and Olivier Schoenfelder, the 2008 world champions from France, could make the Olympic podium.

(Our panel was Juliet Macur and Jere Longman of the New York Times; Christine Brennan and Kelly Whiteside of USA Today; and me.  FYI: Groups of us have done this in the past, and although the predictions have been lost to the mists of history, it should be noted Longman was the only one among a previous panel to pick Tara Lipinski as 1998 Olympic champion.)

In listing the 2010 predictions, I will give total points and votes by place.  So, for example, in ice dance, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the United States had 17 (2-2-1), which means 17 points on 2 firsts, 2 seconds and a third.

Without further ado, the envelope, please:

WOMEN:  Yuna Kim, South Korea, 25 (5-0-0); Rachael Flatt, U.S., 6: (0-2-0); Joannie Rochette, Canada, 4 (0-1-1); Mao Asada, Japan, 3 (0-0-3); Miki Ando, Japan, 3 (0-1-0); Akiko Suzuki, Japan, 3 (0-1-0); Julia Sebestyen, Hungary, 1 (0-0-1).

MEN: Evgeny Plushenko, Russia, 16 (2-2-0); Evan Lysacek, U.S., 12 (1-2-1); Patrick Chan, Canada, 7 (1-0-2); Nobunari Oda, Japan, 6 (1-0-1); Brian Joubert, France, 4 (0-1-1).

PAIRS: Savchenko-Szolkowy, Germany, 21 (3-2-0); Shen-Zhao, China, 16 (2-2-0); Pang-Tong, China, 5 (0-1-2); Zhangs, China, 2 (0-0-2); Mukhortova-Trankov, Russia, 1 (0-0-1).

DANCE: Domnina-Shabalin, Russia, 19 (3-1-1); Belbin-Agosto, U.S., 17 (2-2-1); Davis-White, U.S., 7 (0-2-1); Delobel and Schoenfelder, France, 2 (0-0-2)

*Surest sign the Olympics are approaching:  an attractive U.S. female athlete pictured in a state of undress for a magazine.

This time, it's ice dancer Tanith Belbin on the cover of Men's Health, where she is called, ``America's hottest Olympic athlete.''

The hottest stuff is nothing new for Belbin, 25 a naturalized U.S. citizen from Canada (and ex-girlfriend of reigning world champion Evan Lysacek).  Voters on ESPN.com had called Belbin ``the hottest female athlete,'' period, in 2006, when she won the Olympic silver medal with partner Benjamin Agosto, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs.

The Men's Health photo spread, titled "How to Woo a Tech Girl,'' said Belbin, "loves SIM cards more than the average 25-year-old woman does.''

Belbin's relatively modest poses, by comparison with those of Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard and high jumper Amy Acuff, who posed nude for Playboy, follow in a tradition of self-revelation that includes, among others, swimmer Jenny Thompson, volleyball player Logan Tom, soccer player Brandi Chastain and water polo player Amber Stachowski.

Maybe Belbin is hoping the judges will find her love for everything hi-tech so convincing they give her higher technical scores in a scoring system that relies on all manner of gadgetry.

If it is an all-male panel, she's as good as gold.

*Rachael Flatt's performance at Skate America had big mistakes [fall on the jump combination in the short program, botched combination spin in the free skate] but it still clearly established her as the favorite in January's U.S. Championships -- unless, of course, Alissa Czisny or Caroline Zhang or Mirai Nagasu blows the doors off in this weekend's Skate Canada.

Flatt, known for her consistency, had been consistently lackluster in her earlier Grand Prix event, Cup of China, finishing 5th in the short program and free skate.  Slow and steady can only take you so far. 

"This certainly gives me a lot of confidence heading into nationals,'' Flatt said after Skate America, when she hit seven triple jumps.  "I have been doing clean programs or close-to-clean programs in practice, so I'm glad to finally compete the way I've been practicing.''

Should Flatt win nationals, she would be the fifth different women's champion in the past five years.  That never has happened before under normal circumstances.

The only similar streaks occurred in the seven years from 1990 through 1996 and the five years from 1960 through 1964.

There were six different champions from 90-96 but the 1994 title, won by Tonya Harding, was vacated because of Harding's involvement in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.  Harding also won in 1991.

There were five different champions from 1960 through 1964, but the elite of U.S. skating was wiped out in a 1961 crash of the plane taking the team to the world championships.

Flatt, 17, has been the runner-up at nationals the past two years.

*In the ships-passing-in-the-night dept., we have U.S. men Brandon Mroz and Ryan Bradley, who are both coached by Tom Zakrajsek in Colorado Springs.

Mroz had plenty of bravado after the short program at Skate America, telling reporters he had the same technical ammunition as Russia's Evgeny Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic champion, who has made an impressive return to competition after a three-season absence.

Then Mroz, 18, shot himself in the foot (feet?) over and over again at Skate America, in one of the worst performances I ever have seen an accomplished skater give.  It compared (unfavorably) with Carolina Kostner's mess at the 2009 worlds.

Against the weakest men's field in any of the first five Grand Prix events this season, Mroz finished 11th of 12 in the free skate.  His scorecard: one fall, only one decently executed triple jump, other triples repeatedly turned into doubles.

Bradley had several performances similar to Mroz's disaster since finishing second at the 2007 U.S. Championships.  One was at the Paris Grand Prix this season, where he finished 10th of 12 in a free skate he amazingly opened with a successful quad jump.  Bradley was 8th overall there.

Bradley, who turned 26 Tuesday, was headed for the abyss again at Skate America after botching his first two jumps and finishing eighth in the short program.  Then he rallied to finish second in the long program -- and overall -- with solid skating in a delightfully whimsical interpretation of a program called ``Chamber Music,'' which includes snippets of Albinoni, Mozart and others.

Bradley's scores were a long way from those of winner Lysacek -- but also a long way from where he had been.

``I didn't put myself on the Olympic team today, but I didn't take myself out of the running, either,'' Bradley said.  ``There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  It was looking a little dark for a while.''

*Frank Carroll, paraphrasing a quip he had heard another coach say, delivered the best line ever about most skaters' lack of relationship to the sounds they are skating to.  Said the coach of a skater after a particularly tone-deaf effort:  ``The music never bothered her.''

-- Philip Hersh

Stephen Colbert endorsement has fast effect on U.S. Speedskating coffers

By Philip Hersh

The deal all but fell into U.S. Speedskating's lap.

And it quickly has made the sport's athletes feel more confident they won't be lapped by the competition in this Olympic year for financial reasons.

I'm talking about the fundraising arrangement between the Colbert Report and the speedskating federation, making the Colbert Nation the official sponsor of U.S. Speedskating.

It was announced Nov. 2 on the show, barely a week after the U.S. media -- me among them -- reported that the collapse of Dutch bank DSB had left a $300,000 hole in the federation's budget with the 2010 Winter Olympics on the horizon.  (The deficit actually was bigger, as DSB's contract gave U.S. Speedskating $350,000 in cash, of which $50,000 went directly to athletes and $300,000 to federation programs.)

Host Stephen Colbert told viewers to send donations to U.S. Speedskating through www.colbertnation.com. He promoted the effort again last Thursday with an appearance by 2006 Olympic speedskating champion Joey Cheek, who played along with a Colbert riff about lambasting Canada for its decision to limit U.S. athletes' training time on the 2010 Vancouver oval.  The segment (below) ended with cheers of "U-Ice-A!''

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
On Notice/Dead to Me - Canadian Iceholes
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

Monday night, Colbert announced on the show that $202,000 had been raised in the first week.

"We are exuberant,'' said Bob Crowley, the executive director of U.S. Speedskating.  "The skaters are really pumped.''

Crowley first heard from the Colbert people Oct. 27.  The next day, he was on a teleconference with Colbert. Sunday, Nov. 1, when he was at a World Series game in his native Philadelphia, Crowley got a call saying the Colbert Report wanted him on the Nov. 2 show. He was joined by 1994 Olympic speedskating champion Dan Jansen, who had run the New York Marathon the day before.

"We signed the deal that night,'' Crowley said.

Since then, Crowley said the link to Colbert has prompted interest from several other potential sponsors.

"Most of them want something we don't own -- mentions on the show,'' Crowley said.  "But we have some other leads as well because of our partnership with the Colbert Nation.''

Nearly all the athletes began wearing skin suits with the Colbert Nation logo at last weekend's short- and long-track World Cup meets. Olympic champions Shani Davis and Apolo Anton Ohno, the leading U.S. long- and short-track skaters, respectively, so far have chosen not to wear the logo.  Some skaters are wearing a mix of old warmup gear with the DSB logo and new racing gear with the Colbert Nation logo.

"It's not an issue for us,'' Crowley said of Davis and Ohno's non-participation.  "Anyone who has not signed our athlete agreement (which provides some funding in return for endorsing federation sponsors) is under no obligation. We are talking to Shani and Apolo about it, but our main focus is supporting their efforts to do the best they can this season.''

Davis, who had a personal endorsement deal with DSB end two years ago, is off to a fast start.

At the U.S. trials for the World Cup team in Milwaukee two weeks ago, the Chicagoan told reporters he was faster and stronger than ever before at this point in the season.

At the opening World Cup meet in Berlin last weekend, Davis set track records in winning the 1,000 and 1,500 meters.

But Davis didn't get a mention in the segment on Monday's Colbert report about World Cup successes (see below) because he wasn't wearing the logo.

The props went to Colbert Nation citizens Tucker Fredricks, who won a 500-meter rave in Berlin, and Katherine Reutter of Champaign (left), who won the 1,500 at the short-track meet in Montreal.

Maybe that will convince Davis to buy into what could be a significant endorsement for Olympic sports.

Olympic leaders lately have noted  difficulty in attracting younger audiences.

Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" reaches just that demographic.  And it looks as if the host is going to play this for all it's worth leading up to the Vancouver Olympics. It already is worth plenty to U.S. Speedskating.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
U.S. Speedskating Team Takes Gold
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

(Photo of Katherine Reutter:  David Boily / Getty Images)

Sasha Cohen out of Skate America; Emily Hughes in [Updated]

Sasha Cohen is out of this week's Skate America with tendinitis.

It is the second Grand Prix event this fall from which the 2006 Olympic silver medalist has withdrawn because of the problem in her right calf.

This time, the withdrawal casts significant doubt on whether she can make a successful comeback after three seasons away from Olympic-style skating.

She will replaced at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y., by Emily Hughes, who finished seventh at the 2006 Olympics as an eleventh-hour replacement for an injured Michelle Kwan.

[Updated at 10:17a.m. Hughes, 20, who is taking a year off from Harvard University to train full time, missed the last two U.S. Championships with injuries. She has finished two years at Harvard.

By virtue of her 2006 Olympic medal, Cohen is an automatic qualifier for January's U.S. Championships, at which U.S. Figure Skating will pick its two women's singles entrants for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Hughes now will also receive a bye to nationals because the final qualifying event, Eastern Sectionals, begins just three days after Skate America.  She finished second in last month's North Atlantic Regionals, her first competition in a year.]

-- Philip Hersh

Team Canada beats U.S., 5-1, for women's Four Nations hockey title

Canada scored five straight goals to overcome a first-period deficit and defeat the U.S. women's national hockey team, 5-1, in the championship game of the Four Nations Cup in Tikkurila, Finland.

Jocelyne Lamoureux of Grand Forks, N.D., scored the only goal for the U.S., which had won its previous four major tournaments -- the 2008 World Championships, 2008 Four Nations Cup, the 2009 World Championships and 2009 Hockey Canada Cup.

Canada scored three times on the power play today to win its first tournament since the 2007 Four Nations Cup.

The U.S. and Canadian women's teams are expected to be among the medal contenders at the Vancouver Olympics in February.

Team USA will resume its pre-Olympic preparation on the Qwest Tour on Nov. 22 in Durham, N.H., against the Hockey East All-Stars.

-- Helene Elliott

U.S. women's hockey team to play Canada for Four Nations Cup

The U.S. women's hockey team will play Canada on Saturday for the 2009 Women's Four Nations Cup.

The tournament, which began on Wednesday and is taking place in Finland, brought together the top four women's hockey teams in the world -- the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden -- and is the last international women's hockey tournament before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in February.

In today's match, the final one in the preliminary round, the U.S. beat Canada 3-2 behind Natalie Darwitz, who had a goal, Hilary Knight, who tallied a goal and an assist, and Meghan Duggan, who scored the game-winning goal late in the second period after an assist from Kelli Stack. 

Team USA finished first in the preliminary round standings with a perfect 3-0-0-0 record.

Also Friday, Sweden beat Finland 2-1 with an overtime goal; they will play for third place Saturday.

The Americans are the defending champions after beating Canada in a penalty shootout last year. Saturday's championship is at 8 a.m. PST. USAhockey.com will have a live webcast of the game.

-- Debbie Goffa

A hundred days until the Vancouver Games is just another day to Evan Lysacek

While Olympic organizers marked the 100-days-out point before the Vancouver Games, world figure skating champion Evan Lysacek on Wednesday did what he’ll do with 99 days left, 98 days, and just about every other day before the Olympics.

He trained long and hard, skating powerfully through a morning practice session at the Toyota Sports Center.

Although a surprise blizzard delayed his return from last week’s Cup of China competition in Beijing, he was on the ice Wednesday as usual, sharing the surface with Italy’s Carolina Kostner, 2008 U.S. champion Mirai Nagasu, Bebe Liang and others. Afterward, he pondered whether 100 days is a long time or a short time to wait for what looms as the biggest moment of his career.

“Both. I have mixed feelings,” said Lysacek, who pulled up from third after the short program to finish second at the Cup of China behind Japan’s Nobunari Oda.

“I feel like I’m really in a good place physically and mentally for this season, but at the same time, 100 days is a long time to stay calm. As it gets closer, anxiety will start to kick in a little more than it already has, but I feel like the last several years for me have been so rewarding.

"I’m really satisfied with the way things are going. I don’t feel the constant need to be proving myself, and proving myself and proving myself, and I think with that, I’ve found an inner peace where I truly love skating every single day and being with my friends and traveling.”

That, he said, has helped him rediscover the essential joy of skating.

“I’ve sort of come full circle. I feel like I’m right back where I started where I’m just doing it because I love it,” he said. “And I really hope I can keep that, because I want to have that feeling at the Olympics and be able to enjoy the experience and not be so hung up on how every tiny little detail is going in my skating.

"I know it’s about the sport as a whole, but like any athlete will tell you, we’re ambassadors for our sport, our country, each of our families and cities and clubs and coaches.”

That sounds like a lot of responsibility, but not to him.

“No. It’s an honor,” he said.

Lysacek also said he was happy with his performance at the Cup of China.

“I just had a couple of questionable calls on edges,” he said. “I sort of had my list of what I wanted to work on, but reviewing them, I don’t so much. It seemed like just calls. I’ll just try to make it more obvious, I guess. What they say with this system is, ‘Don’t leave any gray area.’ Even though I think it was correct, what I did, I did leave a gray area so that’s what I have to correct.

“I’ve seen great skating so far this season. It’s going to be a really exciting season leading up to the Games.”

And, as of Wednesday, there were only 100 days left until the Feb. 12 Opening Ceremony.

-- Helene Elliott

Dates set for announcements of men's Olympic hockey rosters

Circle the dates on your calendars.  The International Ice Hockey Federation today announced the dates that teams participating in the Vancouver Olympics will announce their 23-man rosters.

In alphabetical order, the list is:

Belarus: Dec. 23
Canada: Dec. 31
Czech Republic: Dec. 30
Finland: Dec. 30
Germany: Dec. 30
Latvia: Dec. 29
Norway: Dec. 29
Russia: Dec. 25
Switzerland: Dec. 30
Slovakia: Dec. 29
Sweden: Dec. 27
U.S.: Jan. 1 (during NHL Winter Classic)

Each team can name 20 skaters plus three goaltenders. There will be no taxi squads.

The last day to change the roster will be Feb. 15, when members of the directorate -- the mucky-mucks in charge of the tournament -- will meet on the eve of the first men's game.

Here's the men's Olympic schedule.

In honor of today being the 100-days-out point before the Games, the IIHF unveiled a new hockey page on its website with links to Olympic hockey rules, trivia and other information.

-- Helene Elliott

U.S. men's Olympic hockey team to be announced Jan. 1; U.S. women win Four Nations Cup opener

The 23-man roster for the U.S. men's Olympic hockey team will be announced Jan. 1 during the NHL's Winter Classic game at Fenway Park.

The announcement of the team that will compete at the Vancouver Games in Canada will be made during NBC's national telecast of the Philadelphia Flyers playing the Boston Bruins on a temporary rink set up in the middle of Fenway Park.

"It’s terrific to have partners like NBC and the NHL,” said Dave Ogrean, executive director of USA Hockey, in a news release. "I think by announcing our men’s Olympic team as part of the broadcast of the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, we all feel like it will add to the pageantry of what is sure to be a spectacular event."

The men's hockey tournament at Vancouver will begin Feb. 16 and will end with the gold medal game Feb. 28.

The U.S. women, who have most of their team in place and will make only a few cuts before Vancouver, continued their Olympic preparation by defeating host nation Finland, 4-0, in the first game of the Four Nations Cup.

Goaltender Molly Schaus of Natick, Mass., got the shutout by stopping 15 shots. The U.S. women took 52 shots and got goals from Monique Lamoreux, Erika Lawler,Jinelle Zaugg-Siergiej and Hilary Knight.

-- Helene Elliott

Olympic flame arrives in Canada in advance of Vancouver Games

The Olympic flame completed its journey from Greece and landed in Canada early this morning. The first two torchbearers were two-time speed-skating gold medalist Catriona Le May Doan and triathlete Simon Whitfield, who won gold for Canada at the 2000 Sydney Games and silver at Beijing in 2008.

They handed it off to rower Silke Laumann, a three-time Olympic medalist, and diver Alexandre Despatie, a two-time medalist and the first Canadian man to win an Olympic diving medal.

The Vancouver Olympic website has a nifty section about the torch relay, with an interactive map, videos and stories on some of the 12,000 folks who will carry the torch across the country and back in time for the Feb. 12 Opening Ceremony. 

Among the higher-profile torchbearers: NHL standout Sidney Crosby, who is scheduled to carry the flame in his home province of Nova Scotia on Nov. 18. Crosby was left off Canada's Olympic team for the 2006 Turin Games but that won't happen this time.

-- Helene Elliott