Temperature at altitude is waaaaaaaaaaay below freezing. The plane originated in LAX. Several hours at cruise with temperatures that should have been around -45 to -50 C. *IF* ice formed it's a function of how long the a/c was in above freezing temperatures to allow any ice to melt. Freezing issues would be more likely if they taken off from a wet airport, especially if slush is involved.
S-80's have had nose gear retraction/extension issues in the past.
Holding the nose off? To a certain extent it is always held off on landing. Sometimes guys don't lower it slow enough and it 'bangs' down. Only looked at the video one time but it appears to have happened slightly in this event. Granted the pitch attitude when the nose would touchdown was a complete unknown to the crew. And crews do use 'aero braking' on some a/c(not S-80's) to a limited extent but nothing like fighter a/c do(which is cool looking).
Tail authority is still available after touchdown. It would depend upon C.G. and a/c weight but it can be fairly slow(below 100 kts).
"Smooth 3G manuever"??? Hopefully you wrote the a/c up for an 'over G' since I've yet to see a transport category jet that's certified to 3 G's.
"G" the a/c to try to lower the gear was removed from manuals. It was there in the 1980/90's. Why has it removed? How many G's should the pilot pull? How's he know how many he's pulling? No G meter(see previous paragraph). Relative risk analysis apparently thought gear up was safer than trying pull G's and possible damage the a/c even more with an 'over G'. Frequently the a/c it raised, gear lowered, and towed to the mx hangar to fly again within days.
There are only two easy to know G's in aviation. One G(99+% of ops), and two G's (60 degree level bank). Almost everything else(30, 45 bank G's are published), absent a G meter, is just a guess.