For the U.S. and Canada’s pairs entries, Nebelhorn Trophy marked a fresh start: both Lindsay Davis & Rockne Brubaker and Natasha Purich & Mervin Tran were new teams making their international debuts together, both men having sat out the 2012-13 season after unexpected splits from the partners with whom they competed at the world level.
1. The Numbers — The scores each team earned here were respectable for the early date. Last season, Davis’s best total with then-partner Mark Ladwig was 143.70 earned at NHK Trophy, far exceeded here by a total of 156.91, which itself sits a roughly equal distance from Brubaker’s last international mark with Marley, a 170.90 at the 2012 World Championships — though that pair’s overall best was a 178.89 at 2012 Four Continents. Tran, a World bronze medalist with Takahashi, set in that partnership a more-distant benchmark of 189.69 at those same World Championships. Purich’s international results with partner Sebastien Arcieri came on the Junior Grand Prix and are therefore more difficult to compare with senior numbers, but a total here of 156.15 from a previous best of 128.21 certainly showcases the significant differences in level between junior and senior requirements and point-gaining elements.
Purich & Tran’s short program was a particular highlight among the performances from these pairs, with moderately-high level elements landing the team a third-place spot in the segment despite an underrotation from Purich on the side-by-side triple toe and a negative GOE on the triple twist; their fourth-place program components of 50.68 in a sixth-place long program also suggest that with a cleaner performance — and more positive GOEs — than delivered here, the team’s segment score is likely to improve beyond this event’s mark of 99.44. For Davis & Brubaker, TES and PCS remained fairly equal in each segment, indicating the potential for growth of both components and GOEs as the team continues to gel on the technical end.
2. The Programs — Davis & Brubaker spent the summer picking up mileage by participating in a handful of club events, including July’s Skate Detroit. Video of their Nebelhorn short program, set to selections from Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, is currently unavailable, but the performance of their Umbrellas of Cherbourg long program hints as some development in the team’s connection, though continued technical polishing in advance of Skate Canada International will be their major focus.
This marked the debut of Purich & Tran’s Life is Beautiful long program, though they competed their “Tiny Dancer” short at the Quebec Summer Championships in early August. The performances here suggest improving speed and smoothness from Purich, though both programs currently indicate a somewhat simpler approach than may have been taken in Tran’s work with Takahashi, with the goal at this stage to grow the partnership and permit for differing levels of experience between partners.
3. The Stumbles — Both teams presented somewhat messy outings, particularly in the long program, but the most significant problem may have been an aborted lift in the free skate for Davis & Brubaker — the loss of an element cost the team a potential base value of at least 5.50 points, which would have moved their fifth-place 102.87 to a third-place position. Each pair struggled with side-by-side salchows in the long, and the jump issue also marked Purich & Tran’s biggest error, a miss on the triple toe combo with Purich falling in the first jump and Tran stumbling on the second, hitting them with a severe -2.10 GOE and deduction for the fall. In the short program, while Purich & Tran’s errors had minimal impact on overall mark, Davis & Brubaker’s fall on the throw triple salchow picked up its own deduction and negative -2.10 GOE. With their score in that segment of 54.04, those additional 3.10 points could have pushed the team just ahead of Purich & Tran’s 56.71.
4. The Takeaway — Davis & Brubaker compete next at Skate Canada International, while Purich & Tran make their Grand Prix appearance at Trophee Eric Bompard; either is also in the running to pick up a second assignment as a substitute, though the results each earned at Nebelhorn will have little impact on their selection.
Although a finish of fifth and sixth place, with close scores, seems negligible, for the ISU’s purposes such a difference means the world to world rankings. With their fifth-place finish, Davis & Brubaker earned 164 world ranking points — their first as a new team. But because those points, as granted at Senior B competitions, are allotted only to top five finishers within a discipline, Purich & Tran must wait until their Grand Prix assignment to join the list. World rankings points are relevant primarily for matters of designating short program start order at a Grand Prix event, and to a certain extent in deciding eligibility for future Grand Prix assignments. Regardless, it does suggest a minor setback for the team in a race for international visibility — at least, and perhaps only, for the short-term.
While both teams seek Olympic entry, for Davis & Brubaker the contest is more pressing, with the U.S. possessing only two pairs spots to Canada’s three. Davis & Brubaker’s segment and total marks fall behind those of Caydee Denney & John Coughlin, Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir, and Tarah Kayne & Danny O’Shea from the U.S. International Figure Skating Classic; their scores did, however, far exceed those of Felicia Zhang & Nate Bartholomay, though the latter team presented an unusually troubled set of programs at that event. For Purich & Tran, with competition primarily for a third spot behind that of top pairs Meagan Duhamel & Eric Radford and Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch, their major rivals are likely to be Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers and Margaret Purdy & Michael Marinaro; the latter will not begin their international season until Skate America, but the former also competed in Salt Lake City, earning a total 155.00 — just one point and change behind Purich & Tran’s total and hinting at a tight race to come.
5. The Odds & Ends — Their third-place segment finish earned Purich & Tran an appearance in the short program press conference. Davis & Brubaker will next be seen at Skate Canada International, October 25-28, while Purich & Tran compete at Trophee Eric Bompard from November 15-17.