Almanack Contributor Christie Sausa

Christie Sausa of Lake Placid is a member of the historic figure and speed skating culture in the Olympic Village, and writes about those sports for the Lake Placid News and on Lake Placid Skater which she founded in 2007.

Christie holds degrees in Communications and Sports and Events Management and when not on the ice herself, or writing about what happens there, you can find her helping her mom with their local business, the Lake Placid Skate Shop.

Christie is a also a member of the Skating Club of Lake Placid and the Lake Placid Speed Skating Club.


Saturday, December 5, 2009

Scott Hamilton Returns To Lake Placid With A New Show

Figure skating icon Scott Hamilton is back, ready to thrill audiences with a new skating show, Scott Hamilton’s Holiday Concert on Ice, coming to the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Tuesday, Dec. 29, at 7:30 p.m.

For more than 20 years, the Olympic Champion and four-time World and U.S. National Champion wowed audiences with his annual Stars on Ice tour, which kicked off annually in Lake Placid. Several of those performers are set to join the skating legend again including Ekaterina Gordeeva and Steven Cousins. The show will also feature Kimmie Meissner, Jozef Sabovcik and Caryn Kadavy, all skating to music performed by a live band and American Idols Phil Stacey and Melinda Doolittle.

Tickets for the Dec. 29 performance of Scott Hamilton’s Holiday Concert on Ice range in price from $90-$30 and are on sale now at the Olympic Center Box Office 518.523-3330 or online at tickets.com or whitefacelakeplacid.com.

About the Skaters: Together with her late partner and husband, Sergei Grinkov, Ekaterina Gordeeva was the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion. She also began touring with Stars on Ice in 1991.

Steven Cousins is an eight-time British National Champion; he competed in eight World Figure Skating Championships and three Olympic Winter Games and toured with Stars on Ice until 2007, while Kimmie Meissner won both the 2007 World Championship crown and the 2007 U.S. National Championship title. Ms. Meissner was also the youngest American athlete to compete in the 2006 Torino, Italy Olympic Winter Games.

Jozef Sabovcik claimed the 1984 Olympic bronze medal and won both the 1985 and 1986 European Championship titles, while Caryn Kadavy, a 1988 Olympian, is a three-time U.S. National Championship medalist.

NOTE: THIS POST COMES DIRECTLY FROM AN ORDA PRESS RELEASE


Friday, July 3, 2009

Emily Hughes, Jason Wong Headline Saturday Night Ice Show

The Citizens Bank Summer Skating Series resumes this weekend with Freaky Friday and the Saturday Night Ice Show, presented by North Country Community College, this Friday and Saturday, July 3-4 at the Olympic Center. Olympian Emily Hughes, the younger sister of 2002 Olympic champion Sarah Hughes, placed seventh in Torino during the 2006 Olympic Games. She won the silver medal during the 2007 U.S. National Championships and has skated in many national and international events, including Grand Prix events.

Jason Wong is the 2008 U.S. Collegiate National Champion and recently competed in the 2009 World University Games in China. Wong has won the New England Regionals in the junior, intermediate, novice and senior divisions and also earned the silver medal at the U.S. Junior National Championships in 2004. Wong skates for the Skating Club of Boston.

Joining Hughes and Wong on the famed 1932 Rink Jack Shea Arena ice will be skaters participating in the 77th Annual Miracles of Gold summer skating program. The skaters will perform their individual and group numbers during this entertaining event. Showtime is at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the show is $9 for adults, $7 for juniors and seniors. Children six and under may enter for free.

The ever-popular Freaky Friday show is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in the 1932 Rink Jack Shea Arena. Students in the Miracle of Gold summer skating program create their own unique routines for this event. The skaters have come up with wonderful costumes and ideas, such as baseball players playing in Fenway Park, girls dressed in Poodle skirts, hula hoops and much more. This free event is a great way to support the figure skaters.

To learn more about the Lake Placid Summer Skating programs visit www.lakeplacidskating.com.


Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Evan Lysacek, Sasha Cohen to Headline 2009 Skate America

The International Skating Union (ISU) and U.S. Figure Skating have announced the skater selections for the 2009 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series, including Skate America. Skate America, which historically is the first competition in the ISU Grand Prix Series, occurs later in the calendar this year, as the fifth of six events. This year’s Skate America will take place Nov. 12-15 at the 1980 Rink Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. This marks the 30th anniversary of the event and the sixth time the state of New York has hosted the event and the fourth time it has been held in Lake Placid (1979, 1981-82).

Skate America will welcome 18 top U.S. athletes in addition to its international field. The Americans competing in Lake Placid include current World champion and two-time national champion Evan Lysacek and the five-time U.S. Championship ice dancing team of Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, also the 2009 World silver medalists and 2006 Olympic silver medalists. This year’s Skate America marks the return of 2006 U.S. Champion, 2006 Olympic silver medalist, and 2006 World bronze medalist Sasha Cohen to competitive skating.

Other U.S. athletes competing at Skate America are 2008 World Junior Champion Rachael Flatt, Ryan Bradley, Brandon Mroz, two-time defending U.S. Pairs Champions and 2007 World Junior Champions Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, and the ice dancing teams of Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein – the 2009 World Junior Champions and U.S. Junior Champions – and Kim Navarro and Brent Bommentre.

The international field is led by World champion Yu-Na Kim of Korea. Kim is the 2008 Skate America ladies gold medalist and 2008 Grand Prix Final champion. Kim will be joined by six-time French ice dancing champions and 2008 World ice dancing champions Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder. Three-time World pairs champions (2002-03, 2007) and two-time Olympic bronze medalists (2002, 06) Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao of China will make their competitive debut this season, following a two year absence. For the complete list of international skaters competing at 2009 Skate America, please visit the ISU web site at www.isu.org.

Tickets to Skate America are on sale now at the Olympic Center Box Office in person or by phone at (518) 523-3330. Tickets may also be purchased online through tickets.com. For a complete schedule of events, ticket prices and more information, please log on to skateamerica2009.com.

The ISU Grand Prix Series consists of the following six events: Trophée Eric Bompard Oct. 15-18 in Paris, France; Rostelecom Cup Oct. 22-25 in Moscow, Russia; Cup of China Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in Beijing; NHK Trophy Nov. 5-8 in Nagano, Japan; Skate America Nov. 12-15 in Lake Placid; and Skate Canada Nov. 19-22 in Kitchener, Ont. This is the 15th season for the series.

At the conclusion of the six events, athletes’ points are totaled, and the top six ladies, men, pairs and ice dancing teams are invited to compete at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Dec. 3-6 in Tokyo, Japan.


Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Skate America Competition Announced For Lake Placid

U.S. Figure Skating has announced that Lake Placid will host 2009 Skate America. The international figure skating event is one of six stops on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. Competition will take place Nov. 12-15, 2009, at the 1980 Rink Herb Brooks Arena. The inaugural Skate America was held in 1979 in Lake Placid and this marks the sixth time the state of New York has hosted the event, and the fourth time it has been held in Lake Placid (1979, ’81, ‘82).

Skate America is an Olympic-style international figure skating event featuring three days of competition in ladies and men’s singles, pairs and ice dancing. The event attracts dozens of world-class figure skaters from all over the globe. Past champions include five-time World and nine-time U.S. champion Michelle Kwan, 2002 Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Goebel, 2002 Olympic pairs champions Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada, 1992 Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi and 1984 Olympic champion Scott Hamilton.

Other stops on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series each year include Skate Canada, the Cup of China, Trophée Eric Bompard (France), the Cup of Russia and the NHK Trophy (Japan). The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final takes place each December and rotates among the countries that host the ISU Grand Prix Series events.

2008 Skate America was held at the Everett Events Center in Everett, Wash., where U.S. skaters won medals in all four disciplines and four of the 12 total medals. Johnny Weir, the 2008 World bronze medalist, won the men’s silver, while reigning U.S. champion Evan Lysacek took the men’s bronze. Reigning U.S. pairs champions Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker garnered the silver in pairs, and five-time U.S. champions Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto won ice dancing silver.

The ISU also recently announced that Lake Placid will host an event in the 2009 ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. The event will be the second of seven in the series and take place Sept. 2-6, 2009.


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Local Qualifies for U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Kendall Wyckoff from the Olympic Center Skating School claimed silver during the Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships in Boston to qualify for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships to be held January in Cleveland, Ohio. Wyckoff, originally from Panton, Vt., currently lives in Lake Placid and trains with Gilberto Viadana and Michela Boschetto of the Olympic Center Skating School. She placed sixth in the novice division at last year’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships and went on to represent the U.S. at the Triglav Trophy in Slovenia, where she finished second.

This is Wyckoff’s first season competing at the junior level. Skating for the Vermont Skating Club, Wyckoff took the silver medal in the Junior Ladies division. The 16-year-old skater earned 127.11 total points, winning the free skate portion of the event. The gold medal winner was Kristiene Gong of the Skating Club of New York. Gong finished third in the free skate and won the short program, earning a total of 131.23 points. Third place went to Samantha Cesario, who also skates for the Skating Club of New York. Cesario placed sixth in the short program and second in the free skate to earn 123.46 points.

In October, Wyckoff won gold during the New England Regional competition in the Junior Ladies division. She earned 119.48 points, placing first in both the short program and free skate. By winning the event she qualified for the U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships. This event will be held next week, December 8-13, in Wyckoff’s home arena – the Lake Placid Olympic Center.

The Olympic Center Skating School is directed by Viadana. He coaches World and Olympic figure skaters and is an International Skating Union Technical Specialist. Boschetto is a professional ballet teacher and choreographer with demonstrated record of developing and building skills with all levels of skaters, developing creative choreography and coaching competitive skaters at national, international and Olympic levels. For more information on the school, visit www.lakeplacidskating.com.


Thursday, November 27, 2008

Lake Placid: US Junior Figure Skating Championships Returns

The U.S. Junior Figure Skating Championships will take place Dec. 8-13 at the historic Lake Placid Olympic Arena in Lake Placid, N.Y. More than 300 figure skaters from across the country are expected to compete at the four-day event, which is being hosted for the second time since 2003 by the Skating Club of Lake Placid and the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA).

Qualifying rounds begin Wednesday, Dec. 10 at the Herb Brooks Arena with the intermediate men’s event. The intermediate ladies short program will kick off the championship events Friday, Dec. 12 at the Herb Brooks Arena. Competition concludes Saturday, Dec. 13 with the intermediate men’s competition in the Herb Brooks Arena and the juvenile boys’ competition at the Jack Shea Arena.

The annual event crowns the U.S. champion in ladies, men’s, pairs and ice dancing in the first two levels of the U.S. Figure Skating competitive structure: juvenile and intermediate. The remaining three levels – novice, junior and senior – will compete Jan. 18-25, 2009, at the 2009 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.

Skaters qualified for the U.S. Junior Championships by finishing in the top four at one of nine regional championships held throughout the country this fall. Past champions of the event include two-time World bronze medalist and two-time U.S. champion Evan Lysacek and 2008 U.S. silver medalist ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

An updated event schedule can be found on the Skating Club of Lake Placid’s web site, http://www.lakeplacidskating.com.

Lake Placid and ORDA have also hosted the U.S. Adult Figure Skating Championships (five times), the annual Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships and the first event in the 2007 ISU Junior Prix of Figure Skating Series.


Friday, June 20, 2008

Lake Placid Skating Summer Camp

Lake Placid Skater, the blog of a figure skater/speed skater living and training in Lake Placid, will be covering the Skating Summer Camp at the Olympic Center (OC). Here are some of her “bits of info about the coming week”:

* Lake Placid’s resident Olympic Champions, Ludmila and Oleg Protopopov, are back! The Pairs champions will be available for lessons. See their signs in the OC for more information.

* US National and International level ice dancers Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov will be hosting a seminar on Friday, from 6-7 pm in the 1980 rink. They are also available for private lessons. See their sign on the bulletin boards in the OC for more info.

* The first Freaky Friday of the summer will be held this Friday (of course). Check the schedule for exact time and location.

* There will be two Skating Shows on Saturday. The first will be the Adult Skating Exhibition, where the adult skaters get a chance to perform. Come support them! Check schedule for exact time and location!

* The second show is the famous Saturday Night Ice Show, in the 1932 rink! Almost every Saturday night in the summer there is a show in which campers can perform, along with a different guest skater every week. The Show is at 7:30 pm.



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