WC: 2014 Division IB • Apr. 20-26 • General Discussion (Mod warning post 453)

[SoundAndFury]

Can't evade to notice the big gap in quality between 1B and 2A.

1B is real hockey.
2A is amateurish play.

That's because in D2A almost all the players are amateurs or semi-pros at best and in D1B almost all the players are pros or semi-pros at worst.

Dude all scorers and assistants and the goalie are pure Croatians. i dont think you got the right game to talk about cronucks.

Who cares who the scorers are, Namejs illustrated the point perfectly. Especially since my worries were more future-related anyway. I could live with the Croatian team the way it is now but it's very evident already that those AHL/ECHL level Canadians are a huge force at this level

 

[Ivan94]

What if 20 players were Canadian and the only goal scorer in a 1-0 game was Croatian? Does it mean that the win was achieved regardless of any Canadian contribution?

only 3 Canadians are on the roster. Letang, Waugh and MacAuley. All 3 are D-mens. Together with Martinovic we have 2 good D-Lines.

We have only 4 pro forwards. Kostovic(KHL), Rendulic(Liiga), Kanaet(Denmark) and Novak(Austria2)

this 8 pros and 14 amateurs(2 goalies, 4 D´s and 8 F´s) are our roster

 

[cave troll]

Aaaah

Rendulić with a slapper on goalpost

 

[Ivan94]

stream is working again

 

[FinnSlovak]

Borna seriously is a skilled player. Saw him play in the FEL a couple of games, arguably was HPK's best player (with Saros). I liked his play although he played for the opponent.

This Croatian NT has been a big surprise for me. Didn't expect these kind of results, even though I did know they had new players added to their roster. I wonder how it looks like in the future... Perhaps Glumac, Katic and Popovic could join, also Ouzas and Dekanich - btw Tomljenovic seems to be awesome though.

Hoping for another win against Romania.

 

[Exarz]

I don't think Slovenia will relegate, they defeated Korea today.

But Croatia can get promoted

 

[SoundAndFury]

But Croatia can get promoted

No they can't

 

[Ivan94]

No they can't

yes we can

even if we lose against poland with 1 or 2 goals. only GB have to win against Poland with 1 or 2 goals. under the condition that all three win against Romania, Netherlands and Lithuana.

 

[Siamese Dream]

There are 3 Canadians in the team.
All other players are Croatian.

You have 3 Canadian born and trained players, a German born and trained player, an Austrian trained player, and a Swiss trained player

 

[Namejs]

only 3 Canadians are on the roster. Letang, Waugh and MacAuley. All 3 are D-mens.

I am aware of that.

Besides the 3 Canadians, you have a German, an Austrian and a Swiss guy on your roster as well.

 

[Ris]

Lithuanian basketball fans are amazing. Is it the same in ice-hockey?

 

[SoundAndFury]

yes we can

even if we lose against poland with 1 or 2 goals. only GB have to win against Poland with 1 or 2 goals. under the condition that all three win against Romania, Netherlands and Lithuana.

This seems like a lot of conditions, doesn't it?

 

[cave troll]

Yes, but they're not foreigners.
Kopitar was trained in Sweden and plays in NHL, but he is still and without any doubt Slovenian.

 

[Ivan94]

You have 3 Canadian born and trained players, a German born and trained player, an Austrian trained player, and a Swiss trained player

and whats the problem?

Kostovic and Martinovic are still 100% croats which represent their country.


we have only 3 naturalized players.

 

[Siamese Dream]

All the other teams in this group could fill up with dual nationals if they wanted but none would be of the same quality as what Croatia can get, because Russian oligarchs decided to put a team in their capital city.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Yes, but they're not foreigners.
Kopitar was trained in Sweden and plays in NHL, but he is still and without any doubt Slovenian.

Kopitar trained in Slovenia then moved to Sweden later. He was 16 or 17 when he left.

 

[Namejs]

Yes, but they're not foreigners.
Kopitar was trained in Sweden and plays in NHL, but he is still and without any doubt Slovenian.

Martinovic is German (born and raised there), don't know about the other two (they're both probably immigrants who started playing hockey outside of Croatia).

Kopitar was born in Slovenia and moved to Sweden when he was about 16 yo.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Besides the 3 Canadians, you have a German, an Austrian and a Swiss guy on your roster as well.

Well, let's not go there. You called Treijs Latvian few ours ago and you are calling Kostovič Swiss now.. That's just lame.

Lithuanian basketball fans are amazing. Is it the same in ice-hockey?

Lithuania has no ice hockey fans since Lithuania has no ice hockey

 

[Ivan94]

All the other teams in this group could fill up with dual nationals if they wanted but none would be of the same quality as what Croatia can get, because Russian oligarchs decided to put a team in their capital city.

all this players were already in zagreb during EBEL-time.

KHL-players can join the NT at WC-2016

 

[cave troll]

All the other teams in this group could fill up with dual nationals if they wanted but none would be of the same quality as what Croatia can get, because Russian oligarchs decided to put a team in their capital city.

These 3 foreigners were playing in Croatia before KHL.
Letang, and Kenny came here in 2009/10.
Kenny is not playing in KHL (plays in Olimpija Ljubljana in EBEL), and Waugh played only 4 games.

Canadians that came here this year are much, much better.
They'll probably pass through 1B without breaking sweat.
But, they are not eligible to play and don't know if they are even willing to play.

 

[bobbeaver]

Basically from the top five most popular Euro team sports its like this (currently):

Football: CRO
Basketball: SLO
Handball: CRO
Ice hockey: SLO
Volleyball: SLO?

Hockey wise I dont think a rivarly between the two nations even exists. In fact, I think the Croatian hockey experts have always looked upon Slovenia on how to achieve maximum result with limited resources and it was not uncommon that Croatian clubs were participating in Slovenian championships and working together with Slovenian clubs on all levels (when the Croatians were interested in doing so). The two NT's have played in the same WC divisions before and there wasnt much hype about it, neither in Slovenia or in Croatia. This could probably only change if in the years ahead Croatia would put together a team that would be competitive in the Div IA and would have been able to put a fight for the two WC spots.

Ichockey defenitively SLo is better and the Slo school is awsome.
But Basketball there was a period of 6-7 years they were better, but before that always and now we are better again.
Vollyball Cro is easily better in woman division. i dont know about the mens that might be where SLo is better.

But back to the game. it seams the whole team is playing much better even than with GB. Whole team seams to be very good and fast in transition and clicking. I think the thing is the few cronucks we have they make the whole team do better and try more. feel confidante cause the Croatian players are playing better and with more fire. YOu can see the difference on Tomljenovic from last year in 2A division.

 

[Ivan94]

Martinovic is German (born and raised there)

I´m born in Germany too. Am I German?

 

[Namejs]

Well, let's not go there. You called Treijs Latvian few ours ago and you are calling Kostovič Swiss now.. That's just lame.

I said that it's a shame he chose to accept Swedish citizenship and to join their junior national team. I have never called him a Latvian. He WAS a Latvian a couple of years ago when his name first popped up among Latvian hockey fans.

You shouldn't jump to conclusions so easily.

 

[SoundAndFury]

KHL-players can join the NT at WC-2016

Exactly, that's the problem - they can.

Keeping this at least a bit on topic, Croatia not conceding one goal in first two matches with Tomljenovic in the cage is, Canadians or no Canadians, amazing.

 

[Siamese Dream]

and whats the problem?

Kostovic and Martinovic are still 100% croats which represent their country.


we have only 3 naturalized players.

Why are they Croats? Because they have funny names?

That's like saying any American or Canadian with an anglo-sounding name is British and should therefore play for us.