(31 October 2016) The level of the men’s competition was a bit disappointing and did not reach the level of the ladies this time. Especially the big names made several mistakes, but were ahead nevertheless. In the short program, Kevin Reynolds was the only one out of 12 skaters without serious mistakes. In the long program, Michal Brezina, Misha Ge, Alexander Petrov and again Kevin Reynolds skated almost clean or made not more than one mistake, while the others made more.

The winner with 266.95 points and 18,000 U.S. dollars prize money is the 2014 Olympic silver medalist Patrick Chan, but he got so many points only for his obvious superior skating skills and his excellent interpretation. Since August, Marina Zueva, Oleg Epstein and Johnny Johns in Canton, Michigan are his main coaches. In the short program (90.56 points), his combination of quad toe loop and triple toe loop was spectacular, but he fell on the triple Axel. The triple Lutz was ok, the spins very good and the step sequence (level 3 and seven GOEs of +3) as outstanding as usual. He skated to a modern version of "Dear Prudence and "Blackbird by the Beatles in his usual excellent manner with deep edges, big steps and high speed. "Today I felt good energy, a lot of excitement, lot of adrenalin rushing through the body after landing the opening jump, he commented. "The Axel just kind of got away from me. I felt very good with the footwork, everything else felt really clean."

In the free program he skated to two music pieces and an arrangement which pair skater Eric Radford had composed. Chan had heard this music for the first time at a meeting of the Canadian federation in St. John’s in June. He had been looking for new music but had not found anything which he liked. Radford was sitting in the lobby of the hotel and was playing piano. Chan went to Radford and said he liked this music very much and found out that it was Radford’s own composition. Radford sent Chan two pieces and Chan played it to Kathy Johnson, who was his coach at that time, and to his choreographer David Wilson who both liked it as well. They went to a music studio and arranged the music to a 4:30 minute piece with Radford’s title "A Journey. The music really suits Chan’s style very well and therefore the interpretation in Mississauga was outstanding. The average level of the components was 9.1, with some 9.50 as highest ones.

The components for performance would even have been higher if Chan had not fallen on the quad Salchow which he tried for the first time in competition. He began his free program with a trademark combination of quad toe loop and triple toe loop, followed by a very good triple Axel. After missing this quad Salchow, he tripled his second toe loop which was planned quadruple, and added only a double toe loop to his second triple Axel which was shaky. After a very good triple loop he seemed to give up a bit and doubled and singled the next four jumps, which cost him a lot of points. The spins were excellent and the step sequence at the end outstanding as usual. He had seven points less than Yuzuru Hanyu in the free program, but it was enough to remain first.

I spite of his mistakes he commented: Good opening, I felt light, I felt confident going into the first two jumps. My goal was to at least rotate the quad Salchow, not matter how I felt going into it. I started dying a little bit and getting heavier towards the end of the program, but it is a good start to the season. I do the quad Salchow in practice, I want to do it even more. But he has to be careful not to injure himself, so he does not do it too often.

Olympic Champion Yuzuru Hanyu is a kind of superstar especially among the Japanese fans, more than 1,000 of whom had come to Mississauga to see their idol. But they must have been disappointed because Hanyu made two serious mistakes in the short program and had only 79.65 points there. He opened his program to "Let’s Go Crazy by Prince with a quad loop which he had landed as first skater in the history of the ISU at the Autumn Classic in Montreal four weeks ago. But in Mississauga, he landed this jumps forward and on his knees, so that it was judged a bad triple jump with 3.00 instead of around 13 points. Instead of a quad Salchow out of steps he did a shaky triple Salchow. His triple Axel was superb and looked very easy. His spins and steps were as excellent as usual.

After the fourth place in the short program the Japanese federation got a shit-storm of phone calls and E-Mails. A lot of fans, some of them really fanatics, wrote that the Japanese federation must do more to support him to guarantee that he is always first and some heavily criticized the judges for deducting points for his faults. For some of these fans Hanyu is like a god who will never make mistakes.

Hanyu‘s long program to the Japanese music "Hope and Legacy" by Jo Hisaishi had been used as one of the official music pieces for the Olympic Winter Games of 1998 in Nagano. With the best free program of the competition he could move up from fourth to second place with overall 263.06 points.

His first element was the quad loop again, but it was downgraded again and this time he clearly fell. His quad Salchow was very good, the triple flip good, but then he turned the second quad Salchow into a double one, but added a quad toe loop which must have been painful for him because of a foot injury which he had in spring 2016. Two triple Axels were good, steps and spins first class. His components were far from the height they had last season and reached a level of 8.8. This year’s program is not (yet?) as fascinating as last year‘s program because the music is too heavy for a person who skates like a feather and it is too monotonous.

"I felt nervous and I didn’t have the focus for the quad loop so I could not land it," he commented. "But I think I challenged the quad loop in both programs and I can get a very good experience for the next Grand Prix event. I feel regrets about the result and my performance, but I am a little satisfied with the quad toe. I really practiced my free program a lot for this event. However, as you know, I was not able to land in either program the quad loop, so I left points on the table, but those are things are have to work on."

Kevin Reynolds from Vancouver, BC won the bronze medal, earning 245.06 points. The Canadian has recovered well from several longtime injuries and boot problems. He started short program with a combination of quad Salchow and triple toe loop, but the Salchow was under-rotated. The quad toe loop was almost clean, the triple Axel good, but his camel combination spin slow and wobbly. He skated to three Finnish folk music pieces, among them a Polka which is very popular in Finland and he got components of around 7.6. I was researching all sorts of music in the off-season and came across this piece of music and it was a Finnish composer. It’s a compilation of Finnish folk music and it’s a perfect choice with the World Championship being in Helsinki," he noted. He just has to qualify and Canada has only two spots after Patrick Chan was fifth and Nam Nguyen was only 27th in Boston.

In the long program, Reynolds skated to the soundtrack of "Grand Piano by Victor Reyes, but he was a bit slow. His opening quad Salchow was O.K, his combination of quad toe loop and triple toe loop as well, but he fell on his second quad Salchow. His second quad toe loop was good, four triple jumps as well. Spins and steps were good, the components around 8.9. It feels great to be back on the Grand Prix circuit again as it has been four years since I’ve been on the circuit. To come back from my injury and start the season the way I did with two strong performances here feels great", he said.

Michal Brezina from the Czech Republic finished on fourth place with 227.42 points. Since this summer, he has no longer trained in Germany, but in Lakewood, California, with Rafael Arutunian and Nadja Kanaeva (who went with him to Canada). In the short program to "The Way You Look Tonight by Jerome Kern, he began with a superb triple Axel, followed by a combination of triple flip and triple toe loop, the last of which was stepped out. But then he doubled the Lutz which is required triple (or quadruple) and brought him zero points. The rest of the program was good. He said: "When I come back home, my main coach Rafael (Arutunian) will say you are a chicken because you doubled the Lutz. But I will learn from it and try not do to it any more.

His free program to the famous western soundtrack "Once Upon a Time was the best program he has skated in years – maybe the first step back to the success he had about five years ago. His quad Salchow was under-rotated but it was the first time since a long time he did not fall on this jump. Six triple jumps were good, spins and steps as well and got a huge applause. He was the best of the four skaters in Mississauga who train in Southern California.

Daniel Samohin from Israel, who had skated for the USA as a novice skater, trains in San Diego and finished fifth, earning 226.53 points. The reigning World Junior Champion was much better than three weeks ago at the Finlandia Trophy, but his shape is still not as good as last spring.

His quad toe loop in the short program to "Delilah by Tom Jones was a bit shaky, but landed on one foot. In his combination, he landed the double toe loop after the quad Salchow on two feet and the triple Axel was not a hundred per cent as as well. He skated a spin which is not allowed in seniors, for which he got zero points. In the free program to "The Illusionist by Maxim Rodriguez, he fell on his opening quad toe loop, but the quad Salchow was relatively clean, as well as the second quad toe loop, but he stepped out of the double toe loop which came next. Some other jumps were good, some shaky and during his step sequence he did a kind of single Axel which did not count because it was the ninth jumping element and only eight are allowed.

Mishe Ge from Uzbekstan ended up sixth with 226.07 points. He trains part-time in Southern California with his father. His triple Axel was clean, but he fell on the quad toe loop which was downgraded. But his free program to the classical version of the Nutcracker by Peter Tchaikovsky was the best one he ever skated. After a clean triple Axel he landed a quad toe loop for the first time, under-rotated but without fall. Six triple jumps were good, the triple toe loop of his combination under-rotated. His highlight was the choreographic step sequence for which he got seven times GOEs of +3. For his show skating he got a standing ovation. Alexander Petrov from the school of Alexei Mishin in Russia is seventh with 224.39 points. He made almost no mistakes, but had no quad and no sparkling interpretation.

Takahito Mura from Japan had been second in the short program after stepping out of the quad toe loop in the short program, but performing otherwise very good elements. In the long, however, he dropped to eighth place (222.13 points) after stepping out of and under-rotating six jumps. Liam Firus from Canada moved from Vancouver to Montreal in hte summer to train with Bruno Marcotte. He finished ninth, winning 210.89 points. The Chinese skater Han Yan had weak nerves and ended up tenth with 209.11 points.

The two U.S. skaters are second to last and last after making many mistakes. Grant Hochstein from Artesia, CA, has 204.69 points. He fell on his quad toe loop in the short program, his triple Axel was under-rotated and he popped his Lutz. In the long, he began with a clean quad toe loop, but then singled the Axel which was planned triple. Several of his triple jumps were not a hundred per cent clean and he even fell during his choreographic step sequence. Right after his competition he found out that one of his two triple Lutzes was incorrectly rated double. Maybe the data operator put the wrong button. Therefore he and his team leader went to the officials right away. They reviewed the Lutz and changed it quickly before the last skater had competed. But it did not influence his eleventh place.

Ross Miner was twelfth with 196.53 points. After a good flip in the short, he popped the triple Axel and stepped out of the double toe loop after the triple Lutz. The other elements were o.k. In the free program, he doubled the opening Salchow which was planned quadruple. He fell on the triple Lutz and four other jumps were not clean.