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WJC: 2015 U18 World Championship

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BobDobolina said:
No. It's just the nature of this tournament. Last year Finland lost to Sweden in the quarters by the score of 10-0 (ten to nothing)
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I was just about to say that was pretty comparable result to this shocking result of Rus-Swiss.
 
Mestaruus said:
I was just about to say that was pretty comparable result to this shocking result of Rus-Swiss.
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Except that the loss by itself wasn't shocking at all in the Russian case. They were mediocre throughout the tournament and they were ultimately saved by their goaltending every time they faced a top 6 team in the group stage.

Russia ending the group stage as the top seed is as shocking as the loss to Switzerland.
 
Somehow Tretiak and Russian hockey federation will blame khl for this loss :D
 
True Hockey Fan said:
Is Russia missing some important players from their junior league? It looks like that.
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There may be some missing players in the CHL playoffs, and there were one or two controversial non-selects (Abramov), but I would attribute Russia's typical early departure from the U18 tournament to 2 factors: (1) completely incompetent coaching from a guy who has been consistently incompetent for years, but holds his job because of heavy political connections that consider merit irrelevant; and (2) probably a sense of entitlement combined with what Russian teams often face in these tournaments - a sky-high emotional outpouring from a team, playing in front of home fans, that has nothing to lose and is not afraid of Russia.

They played a fantastic game yesterday, and the gap in coaching between the two teams was massive, but the Swiss are afraid of Canada, and I expect them to enter into their game with the thought that they are going to lose, with the margin of defeat the only question to be resolved. As for Russia, it was sheer luck plus an astounding goaltending performance that allowed them to beat the USA in preliminary - they could play a much better game and still lose to the US if they met them in the playoffs. But U18 Russian kids are much more inexperienced in competitive hockey than their counterparts from other countries, and they lack the competent coaching that is essential to bridge the gap between inexperience and success. This Russian team had some really excellent individual players, and my prediction is that those who make it will do fine at U20.
 
Yakushev72 said:
There may be some missing players in the CHL playoffs, and there were one or two controversial non-selects (Abramov), but I would attribute Russia's typical early departure from the U18 tournament to 2 factors: (1) completely incompetent coaching from a guy who has been consistently incompetent for years, but holds his job because of heavy political connections that consider merit irrelevant; and (2) probably a sense of entitlement combined with what Russian teams often face in these tournaments - a sky-high emotional outpouring from a team, playing in front of home fans, that has nothing to lose and is not afraid of Russia.

They played a fantastic game yesterday, and the gap in coaching between the two teams was massive, but the Swiss are afraid of Canada, and I expect them to enter into their game with the thought that they are going to lose, with the margin of defeat the only question to be resolved. As for Russia, it was sheer luck plus an astounding goaltending performance that allowed them to beat the USA in preliminary - they could play a much better game and still lose to the US if they met them in the playoffs. But U18 Russian kids are much more inexperienced in competitive hockey than their counterparts from other countries, and they lack the competent coaching that is essential to bridge the gap between inexperience and success. This Russian team had some really excellent individual players, and my prediction is that those who make it will do fine at U20.
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Correction. I was operating from erroneous information - the Swiss actually play Finland in the Semis, and not Canada. Psychologically, they are probably in better position to beat Finland than Canada, although that seems unlikely as well.
 
Mitens lets in the first shot he sees for the third time in this tournament. :shakehead
 
ozo said:
Mitens lets in the first shot he sees for the third time in this tournament. :shakehead
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Well yeah, that was a problem. Luckily we have a guy who scores 2 shorthanded goals in a row too :laugh::laugh:
Good effort from '97. I'd even say, perhaps our best display ever, even better than 94, though 94 did not have Girgensons with them that year...

Dzierkals sets new team Latvia record in the elite with 3+6=9 points in 6 games. Čukste sets a record for D-man, 2+4=6 points in 6 games.
 
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Latgale_fan said:
Good effort from '97. I'd even say, perhaps our best display ever, even better than 94, though 94 did not have Girgensons with them that year...
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For sure. From the stuff I managed to catch (and deduct from protocols) this team was more into the lost games than 94's ever did. Lets hope 98's can also surprise us and will take care of Denmark for a nice survival streak. :)
 
Do you know if today's games are streamed? Would love to see Finland's game. Couldn't see QF anywhere.
 
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