Latest news with #WorldFigureSkatingChampionships

The Star

19-05-2025

Sport
The Star

Seize the moment

TWO months ago, after easily winning his third consecutive US Figure Skating national title, Ilia Malinin showed up at his rink to train for the world championships, yet he could not bring himself to skate for even a second. Malinin, the overwhelming favourite to win the gold medal in next year's Winter Olympics in Italy, had laced up his skates, looked around and felt an emptiness that stopped him. That week, 28 people involved in skating had died when an Army helicopter collided with a passenger jet over the Potomac River, killing all 67 passengers. Among them were young skaters, including three from the Washington Figure Skating Club, which is Malinin's club, and others who at times would use the rink in Reston, Virginia, where he trains. A coach, a skater and his father, and a whole family – two young sisters and their parents – from that club died, and Malinin, who is 20, was so brokenhearted in the weeks afterward that he could not even bear to say their names, he said. 'Skating usually helps me handle hard things going on in my life, but it was just too emotional to be there,' Malinin said in an interview with The New York Times the first week of March. 'I tried to have a productive day of skating. But I just couldn't take my mind to another place. I just couldn't.' When he returned to the rink several days later, he said, he redoubled his efforts to be the best men's singles skater in the world, one bound for stardom at the Winter Games nearly 10 months from now. He said he focused on fine-tuning his programmes and immersed himself in them, determined to dedicate his performances in Boston at the World Figure Skating Championships to the people who died. The result was a pair of spectacular programmes that brought Malinin his second consecutive world championship, which he won by about 31 points, a colossal edge in a sport in which margins of victory are often measured in single digits, or even tenths. Ilia Malinin competes in his short programme at the world championships in Boston on March 27. — NYT The capacity crowd at TD Garden for the free skate was on its feet long before his performance was done, and for good reasons: Malinin, from Vienna, Virginia, is a dynamic skater who is single-handedly lifting the sport into another stratosphere with his technical skills and his ability to connect with a new, younger audience. He landed a breathtaking six quadruple jumps, including a quad axel, which requires a mind-boggling 4½ rotations in the air. No one else in the world has done it in international competition. No one else has landed six quads in one programme, either. For years, the top skaters in the world could only dream of landing the quad axel, a jump made harder by its forward-facing entry. But Malinin, now a student at George Mason University, first landed it when he was 17. He said performing those quads at worlds meant a lot to him because he did it in front of a crowd in his home country, although he couldn't hide his disappointment that he hadn't executed the seven that he had planned. As a teenager, Malinin – a hoodie-and-jeans kind of guy – started calling himself 'Quad God' for his ability to execute quad jumps. But now his unique performances are just as memorable. With his flowing movements and unique body shapes, his routines could double as modern dances. For the long programme, he marched into the rink, taking each step with determination, as if heading for a street fight. His song was 'I'm Not a Vampire (Revamped)' by the rock band Falling in Reverse, and his outfit matched the theme of the music. It was a blinged out version of what looked like Dracula's tuxedo, and under the lights the array of sequins and rhinestones on it made him look sprinkled with glitter. He moved masterfully, in synchronicity with the song's every note, and he even shouted along with a few of the more aggressive vocals. Malinin logged 110.41 points in the short programme, one of the highest short programme scores ever at an international competition, beating Japan's Yuma Kagiyama by 3.32 points. After that programme, Kagiyama, the Olympic silver medallist at the 2022 Beijing Games, said he was in awe of Malinin's transformation from a skater largely known for the strength, speed and timing required to land impeccable quads to one with artistry nearly as untouchable. 'I'm starting to think he's invincible,' Kagiyama said. Malinin said his practices before worlds were easy. The jumps. The spins. The movements to the music. It all felt so right, he said. Yet at the rink, there were times when he thought about the skaters who died, he admitted, forcing him to pause. His parents – Tatyana Malinina and Roman Skornyakov, who skated for Uzbekistan at past Olympics – coach him and helped him regroup, he said. Those skaters he knew were not there anymore, gliding by or standing back, wide-eyed, to watch him and learn from him, or to train next to him, and that 'really upsets me,' Malinin said. — NYT

It's nice that Charlie Jacobs feels Bruins fans' pain, but that's not nearly enough

New York Times

18-04-2025

Sport
New York Times

It's nice that Charlie Jacobs feels Bruins fans' pain, but that's not nearly enough

BOSTON — Plenty of meaningful skating has taken place at TD Garden this year. The groundbreaking 4 Nations Face-Off final. The Beanpot. The Hockey East tourney. The high school tourneys. The World Figure Skating Championships. What's missing from this list? You know the answer to that question: The Boston Bruins. It's been a long time since the Bruins have played much in the way of meaningful hockey, unless you count their 'Centennial Game' against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 1. We can all agree it was a grand night across the boards for the Bruins: They roared to a 6-3 victory on the 100th anniversary of their first game in the NHL, a 2-1 win over the Montreal Maroons on Dec. 1, 1924, at Boston Arena. Stick tap to Thomas 'Smokey' Harris for scoring the first goal in Bruins history. Advertisement But just as the 1924-25 Bruins didn't qualify for the playoffs, neither did the 2024-25 Bruins. How bad was this latest edition of the Bruins? Their 32-39-9 record included a coaching change and a trade deadline housecleaning that sent Brad Marchand, the last remaining Bruin from the 2011 Stanley Cup champions, to the Florida Panthers. The Bruins lost 10 straight games as the season was mercifully winding down. Here's something else that connects the 2024-25 TD Garden Bruins and the 1924-25 Boston Arena Bruins: Ownership believes things are going to be just fine. Back then, it was Charles Adams, founding owner of the Bruins. Sportswriter John J. Hallahan spoke with Adams at the end of the 1925 season and filed this report for The Boston Globe: '(Adams) says that in another year he will give Boston a team that will be in the thickest of the fight, and expresses appreciation to the fans who supported the team.' One hundred years later, we have Charlie Jacobs, CEO of the Bruins and son of longtime owner/chairman Jeremy Jacobs, crafting a letter that was sent to B's fans. The big takeaway, as has already been widely discussed, is Charlie Jacobs' belief that 'expectations and accountability are higher than ever.' The only real accountability that seems to be going on with the Bruins these days is with the coach. The track record in recent years is that the blame pie is a single serving that's been delivered to Claude Julien, followed by Bruce Cassidy (who has since won a Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights), followed by Jim Montgomery, who was fired by the Bruins in November and was quickly hired by the St. Louis Blues. Monty's Blues are in the Stanley Cup tourney, with Game 1 of an opening-round series against the Winnipeg Jets set for Saturday night. As for Bruins president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney, they will be seated with Jacobs at the team's annual end-of-season news conference Wednesday at the Garden. 🎥 Coach Sacco reflects after the #NHLBruins season: "Over a decade here being part of a great organization. The Bruins have treated me very well…to be in the same place for that long, I'm pretty fortunate." Complete end-of-season media sessions ➡️ — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 17, 2025 I'm not here to rant for Neely and/or Sweeney to be escorted off the premises. What's bothersome about the letter — and give me some rope here — is the suggestion that Charlie Jacobs is just another townie who wants to see the Bruins win. 'I'm incredibly proud to be a Bostonian,' Jacobs writes. 'I take even greater pride in being a Boston Bruin. Together with leadership, we are embarking on an ambitious journey to restore glory to this great franchise.' Advertisement In fairness to Jacobs, he has lived in Boston for a long, long time. Though born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y., which is his family's base, he went to Boston College and later settled in the area to raise his family. He's the absentee owner's son, but he's present and accounted for in the Boston community. His name is attached to several charitable endeavors in Boston. According to the Bruins' website, he is the founder and chairman of the Boston Bruins Foundation, 'whose mission is to assist charitable organizations that demonstrate a commitment to enhancing the quality of life for children and families throughout New England.' The betting here is that Jacobs knows a couple of good sub shops around town, and maybe a neighborhood bar where everybody knows your name. It's the context that's all wrong. Bruins fans are rightly worked up about the way this season played out. And whether you want to call it a 'rebuild' or a 'retooling' (the latter being no more than a rebuilding's euphemistic cousin), the customers are concerned about the future. To borrow from the iconic folk song that was popularized by The Kingston Trio, the CEO of the Boston Bruins is Charlie Jacobs, not Charlie on the MTA. He's not some grown-up kid from Inman Square who knew how to sneak into the old Garden. He didn't see the Boston Braves of the AHL, or the New England Whalers of the WHA. He's seen Bobby Orr on Level 4, but not on top of Pat Quinn. Now it's not necessary for Jacobs to have been any of those things. But for the purposes of this discussion, it's not a good sell for ownership to pretend to be one of you. The late Tommy McVie, a hockey lifer who had a long tenure with the Bruins as an assistant coach, AHL coach, scout and ambassador, was fond of saying, 'If you start thinking like the fans, you'll soon be sitting with them.' McVie was a coach, and he had coaching in mind whenever he'd roll out that line. But it works just as well with the front office and with owners. In this case, Charlie Jacobs. Advertisement The Bruins have not been a complete disaster over the years. They've been competitive more often than not. But if the ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup, the sobering reality is that the Bruins have brought the Big Goblet to Boston just once since 1972. Yes, they came close in 2013 and 2019. Alas, there is no second-place Stanley Cup unless you count the Prince of Wales Trophy, which nobody does. While we're on the topic, can we please stop with the revisionist history that the Jacobs family would have no Stanley Cup titles were it not for the otherworldly goaltending of Tim Thomas in spring 2011? No doubt about it: Thomas stood on his head. His stick save against the Tampa Bay Lightning's Steve Downie in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals is the finest net thievery these eyes have seen. But to suggest it was all Thomas is disrespectful to the likes of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, etc. I seem to recall Mark Recchi scoring a few goals from the slot that spring while opposing skaters were bludgeoning him with tire irons. To give all the credit to Thomas is like saying the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 because David Ortiz got hot. My point is that if ownership counts for anything, then Bruins ownership delivered a Stanley Cup in 2011. And now Bruins fans are saying, 'OK, that was 14 years ago. Time for another Stanley Cup.' It's up to Charlie Jacobs, not Charlie on the MTA, to make that happen.

In Boston, the one constant through all the months has been the Celtics

New York Times

16-04-2025

Sport
New York Times

In Boston, the one constant through all the months has been the Celtics

BRIGHTON, Mass. — Hold on to your caution flags until the fifth paragraph, OK? Here goes: If their 2024-25 regular season is any indication, the Boston Celtics have an excellent chance to repeat as NBA champions. The Celtics went 61-21, which includes a 19-3 record in March-April. During that stretch, they went on the road and won six straight games — at Utah, at Portland, at Sacramento, at Phoenix, at San Antonio, at Memphis — while the World Figure Skating Championships were taking place at TD Garden. The Celtics no doubt travel in grand fashion — unlike the Patriots and their dumpy, F-graded plane per a report from the NFL Players Association — but six victories in 11 days in all those far-flung places is not to be taken lightly. Advertisement As for Jaylen Brown and his bruisy right knee, he was a full participant at Tuesday's practice session at the Auerbach Center. The betting here is that he'll also be fully participatory when the Celtics host the Orlando Magic in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Sunday at TD Garden. What does all this mean? Nothing. That I bring it up at all is to remain faithful to a sort of annual tradition of mine, which is to roll out what the late, great Tommy Heinsohn always said whenever anybody dared to dredge up a game, a stat or an anecdote from the regular season and apply it to the postseason. 'It's not the same,' Heinsohn would say, the words accompanied by an eye gaze that could melt steel. But — and, again, Tommy would bestow no points for this — the Celtics delivered a measure of focus during the regular season that I believe can be applied to the postseason. It's not just the 61-21 record. Heck, the 2007 Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season and then lost to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII. (For those offended by the cross-pollination of sports here, neither the Bird-McHale-Parish Celtics of the 1980s nor the Havlicek-Cowens Celtics of the 1970s won two championships in a row.) This is less about records and more about mindset. Jayson Tatum put it perfectly the other day. 'Defend the title? No. Not defend it,' Tatum said, as reported by The Athletic's Jay King. 'Can't nobody take away what we did last year. We the champs for 2024. This is a new season, a new year. We're trying to win another championship.' A companion quote was provided by Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who, also according to King, has left little signs at each player's dressing stall that read: 'You're only a success at the moment you perform a successful act. You have to do it again.' Tommy Heinsohn would have loved that. You locked in? We locked in. — Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 15, 2025 But before moving on from the 2024-25 regular season, which Mazzulla is clearly doing, one small observation. Perhaps it's just the company I keep, or maybe it's from listening to the wrong talk shows at the wrong time of day, but too often over the past couple of months, I heard variations of: 'I just want to get the regular season over with and start the playoffs.' Advertisement Such a sentiment was never on display this season at the Garden, where the Celtics always deliver a fan experience that can be heard as far away as Woonsocket, R.I. But the let's-start-the-playoffs thing rattled around just often enough to be irritating. 'For me, you learn how to appreciate and embrace the journey,' Al Horford said after Tuesday's practice session. 'The day-to-day (of the regular season) was great. Coming in, trying to get better, continuing to work on different things, and to put ourselves in this position. Win (61) games, get a good seed — and now that this is here, now I can kind of put my eyes on it and take it a step at a time. 'You never want to look too far ahead and worry about things that are not here yet,' Horford said. 'Nothing is guaranteed. Today was a good start for us. We had a good practice, and we have to continue to build on that as the week goes on.' If you'll pardon the repurposing of a great line from 'Field of Dreams,' here's another way to applaud the Celtics' stellar regular season without making any presumptions about the postseason: In Boston, the one constant through all the months has been the Celtics. The Patriots are in a rebuild. The Bruins are at the front door to a rebuild. The Red Sox have presumably undergone a rebuild, but April would like to have a word. Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. On May 27, 2023, the Celtics were blown out of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals by the Miami Heat. Practically from the next morning on, they've been a spectacularly-run franchise in every possible way. True, all bets are off if the playoffs don't lead to one of those fancy duck boat parades through the Back Bay. That's all later on. This is today, and the Red Sox, Bruins and Patriots have their noses pressed up against the glass, watching the Celtics do their thing.