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2017 U18 Division I, II, III

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SoundAndFury

SoundAndFury

Registered User
May 28, 2012
12,284
6,274
Figured since the IA championship started today there will be a few things to discuss. France got off to a strong start beating Germany, Texier with just one point.

In D2A where my native Lithuania is playing, usual crazy stuff is happening. Romania is somehow leading the division and favorite Korea just saved their hopes of promotion by tying the game with empty net and less than minute left to play. GB isn't even in the picture for promotion, Croatia is most likely getting relegated.
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Texier is so intriguing. I hope his name gets called in June. Any decent Lithuanian prospects?
 
So Estonia wins against Korea in OT meaning that:

a) Romania needs to win against Korea to get promoted
b) Lithuania needs regulation win against Estonia (likely) and Korea to win against Romania
c) Korea needs Lithuania to lose against Estonia and win against Romania in regulation
 
First goal by France was amazing.

And as usual the German forecheck is going to get here...any day now...
 
jhutter said:
Any decent Lithuanian prospects?
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This is actually one of the weakest generations for Lithuanian hockey in recent memory hence we only have a couple of players on the team who won't be able to play U18 year. That's why winning promotion would be pretty amazing. Patrik Misiuk can be a decent player by Lithuanian standards but he has a ways to go.

Eimantas Noreika and Lukas Washco are overall best prospects on the team but one is 14 and the other 15 so it's a little early to talk.
 
Washco is such a weird last name for a Lithuanian, I wonder what's is story.
 
ozo said:
Washco is such a weird last name for a Lithuanian, I wonder what's is story.
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This is hearsay but he is supposed to be Vaško which is kind of an usual Slavic surname. His father's parents (grandparents?) moved to USA and turned from Vaško to Washco. His father came back to Europe, married a Lithuanian and had a son here. Named him Lukas (very common name in Lithuania). Since he has or has an opportunity to have a USA passport they kept it as Washco instead of going back to Vaško/Wasko/Vasko to avoid more confusion regarding the name in the future.

He is also known as Vashco because he is certainly one in a birth certificate as at the time of his birth you couldn't use letters not in Lithuanian alphabet in documents. And W is such letter so it got replaced by V.

Meanwhile, Romania beats Korea and wins D2A fair and square. First time Romanians got that high.
 
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Wait, why is the U18 D1A tournament in Slovenia and not in one of the six host countries?

Been a bad start for Germany who's defense is looking quite bad. Good for Mathias Emilio Petersen though leading the tourney in points.


E: Wow, Texier is way too good for this age group. Question for the French fans here, who is number #74? He's not on the EP roster.
 
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There's no #74, it's 24 I think and Jules Gallet is pretty good.

France beats Denmark 4-2.
Texier scores with 1'24" and 1'01" remaining...
Great work from Jules Gallet on the 1st and from Hugo Sarlin on the 2nd.

Terrific game from Gaetan Richard in the net.
 
I was about to come and post my correction. You're right it was Jules Gallet and he was amazing in this game. Surprised he doesn't have better stats in the Liiga Jr. B.
 
On the down side Louis Olive got hurt. He was pretty good before that. #19 Samuel Rousseau also had a good game, a fast player.
 
S E P H said:
Wait, why is the U18 D1A tournament in Slovenia and not in one of the six host countries?
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They are hosting both 1A and 1B for some reason. Maybe everyone wants a nice trip to Bled. Having seen pictures can see the merit.
 
What's the level of play like? I'm guessing 1A = NA Tier 2 Junior, and 2A = Midget AAA. About right?
 
Also it really is nice to see Texier delivering the goods. Even if it doesn't get him drafted it opens so many more development opportunities.

jhutter said:
What's the level of play like? I'm guessing 1A = NA Tier 2 Junior, and 2A = Midget AAA. About right?
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It's not as cut and dry because teams have star players sometimes way above their average level and countries have good years/bad years but yes, I'd say that's a decent comparison. Although I'm not entirely sure what's the midget AAA level but still, I'm quite confident you aren't far off in general.
 
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jhutter said:
What's the level of play like? I'm guessing 1A = NA Tier 2 Junior, and 2A = Midget AAA. About right?
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I think you mean 1A and 1B, not 1A and 2A.

And no, competent tier 2 juniors absolutely tear up even the U20 1A division of the World Championships. A solid U18 1A side would be a pretty good AAA team, likely a contender but easily short of tier 2.
 
S E P H said:
Wait, why is the U18 D1A tournament in Slovenia and not in one of the six host countries?

Been a bad start for Germany who's defense is looking quite bad. Good for Mathias Emilio Petersen though leading the tourney in points.


E: Wow, Texier is way too good for this age group. Question for the French fans here, who is number #74? He's not on the EP roster.
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None of the six Division IA countries submitted a bid to host, so Slovenia was asked to double-host both tournaments. Not sure why no one wanted to host, but it is what it is.

And indeed nice to see both Texier and Pettersen leading the tournament in scoring so far. Hope they keep it up, one of them is sure to help their team get promoted, kind of want Pettersen to as he could then play in the top division next year.
 
SoundAndFury said:
You are saying average (competent) NAHL players tier up U20 1A? :laugh: Are you serious?
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Bastien Maia
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=164103
Gabin Ville (ish, hardly competent)
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=156953
Max Reisinger
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=92391
Gvido Jansons
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=149893
Matiss Kivlenieks
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=190622
Maurin Bouvet
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=113119
Pierre Crinon
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=149104
Oskars Batna
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=52426

some others from that timeframe of course didn't perhaps dominate but still contributed well like Filips Buncis, Tobias Fladeby, Justin Addamo, Marc Michaelis and some big names like Janis Jaks. And of course a few bombed, Nico Sturm and german starting tender Kevin Reich from 2015, but even CHL kids sometimes bomb. These kids are all pulled from the past 3 editions. If to save face you want to frantically note that every single player doesn't actually "tear up" the tournament and lead goalscoring then go ahead, but NAHL players generally perform well above the average curve in the U20 D1A.
 
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GB regularly have guys in the team who play in tier 3 of USA juniors (WSHL/USPHL)

This year's u20 goalie Ben Churchfield started the season in USPHL Premier then got a call up to NAHL. Matt Headland would have been on the GB team but stayed committed to his USPHL Elite team, scored a lot of points and played a few games in NAHL.

On the U18 team quite a few players from midget AAA
 
SoundAndFury said:
So if I post here a bunch of links of guys like Sushko and Buinitsky who, despite being a solid CHL players, didn't do well at all in D1A I will look smart and you will look stupid? Can I make a case now that D1A > OHL? This is how it works?
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You could try to do it but you'd be wrong. The heavy body of evidence indicates that CHLers do well at the D1A. I stress trends and not exceptions. You're taking a handful of exceptions and trying to establish them as trends. CHL players and CHL rejects have done incredibly by and large, especially older ones who aren't subject to coaching bias like many draft year kids. Many CHL players tend to be younger or in draft year and face more senior favoritism so the tend is not as strong but we see that older CHL players or former CHL rejects have done incredibly. Exceptions exist of course like Yeryomenko was wonderful. This year had a smaller number because of Latvia's ascent and lower Austria/German totals. Still, Christof Kromp, Jakob Mayenschein, now as older CHL rejects were fantastic. Go back a year for Dominic Zwerger, Flo Baltram, Mario Huber, Rodrigo Abols, Andreas Eder, Martins Dzierkals. Go back another year, Dmitri Ambrozhiechek, Markus Soberg. Go back another year, Arturs Gavrus, Nikita Jevapalovs, Mikkel Aagard, Roberts Lipsbergs, Edgars Kulda, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mads Eller etc. Of course, some do only decent like Dario Winkler or the aforementioned Buinitsky, but you have absolutely no point with that. 0 points and 1 point rotate as the most common number of points scored by players going to worlds. CHL players, like NAHL players are multiple levels of significance in performance above the average player.

You won't have guys like Texier or Pettersen playing in the NAHL but a depth player in the NAHL will be better than that in U18 D1A, obviously. But like I said, as a general comparison, U18 D1A is way closer to tier 2 than tier 1 or 3 so it wasn't that far off.
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Pettersen is a decent USHL player, he'd be a very good NAHL player but the idea that you won't find a player of his caliber in the NAHL is wrong. His conversion factor to NAHL points isn't ridiculous.

And again, please show evidence. Hungary's U18 played in the Mac's AAA tournament for Canadian AAAs in the west, they didn't make it out of the group stage. Belarus, an Elite tier team, won the tournament but had a few pretty close games. Multinational club teams like Red Bull that are generally stronger than U18 national teams finish 2nd and 1st in a AAA then a High School tournament. If you need evidence of that strength, the French U18 team that is leading this U18 tournament lost 2 of 3 against the Slovak, German and Swiss U17s. Red Bull Juniors split the recent series against the Czech U17s without Martin Pospisil from the Slovak U18. Jeppe Meyer, Norway's top scoring D, is a AAA kid, one of two on the team. Hungary's team also has a below-average WSHL player and a low division Swedish team player. Norway's team scrimmaged during the season against D2 U20 teams and D1 U18 teams from Swedish clubs. You really think Swedish U18 clubs are NAHL level?

The opinion I'm offering is not at all extreme. A match between North Jersey Avalanche, Fox Motors or Victory Honda and say the German U18 National team I could see the German team contending, but some people would take the AAA team in a heartbeat.
 
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