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2017 U18 Division I, II, III

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Maverick41 said:
I might be wrong, but maybe these tournaments cost more money than they make, and making them longer with more games (even if it is just one) could end up costing even more. Add to that the fact that 5 games in 7 days is not something most of these kids are used to. And again that would only become worse if you add more game(s).

So, I think there is a vested interest to keep these tournaments as short as possible.
They might even be worried about the players not missing too many days at school. I assume most of the kids are still in school. Not sure how the tournaments might line up with the school breaks.

I am not saying I am opposed to adding a playoff, but this is what I believe could be the reasoning the IIHF is using against it.
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Yes, I think it's as you said. However, this doesn't mean that it's not possible to address things.
 
Belizarius said:
You just can't imagine a change just because the team you rooted for won't promote...
Kazakhstan played great, but still lost points, as Norway, where France didn't...
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Touché, I guess :D
But I still think that a playoffs phase should be considered. I think that it isn't hockey without playoffs and international tournaments are great, and a pure round-robin tournament is anticlimactic and reminds too much of football.
 
Great to see France get promoted, definitely going to help raise Texier's stock even more for the draft, even if he didn't show up on the scoresheet as much as possible. But in a way I'm kind of disappointed Norway wasn't the winner here, it would have been neat to have Pettersen play in the elite division next year, would have really helped his profile, though he's definitely not doing to bad at this tournament so who knows what could happen for him.

Now hopefully France can remain competitive next year without their biggest name joining them, though just being there should do some good things for French hockey in general.
 
I've honestly been pretty unimpressed with the teams in the last few editions of this tournament. Not really since 2015 did you feel like "dang, there are a lot of future pros in this tournament," perhaps even have to go back to 2013, 2012.
 
kaiser matias said:
Great to see France get promoted, definitely going to help raise Texier's stock even more for the draft, even if he didn't show up on the scoresheet as much as possible. But in a way I'm kind of disappointed Norway wasn't the winner here, it would have been neat to have Pettersen play in the elite division next year, would have really helped his profile, though he's definitely not doing to bad at this tournament so who knows what could happen for him.

Now hopefully France can remain competitive next year without their biggest name joining them, though just being there should do some good things for French hockey in general.
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4 of the French players will be there next year.
The U17 generation is pretty good and did well internationally this season, so we have some hopes to fight vs Belarus or Latvia to stay in elite. We'll see !
 
kabidjan18 said:
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.
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I find the comparison between levels interesting and it's a tough question to answer because the team selections are not always static. But that French team had 12 players + 2 goals that are in the WC D1A team. And not all the same level, again. Normally France selects last year U18 (or U20) players for the WC so they have the most experience on the ice.

But it's a great win for France to be Champions of D1A and go up next year. It will be interesting to see who they select in the WC D1A U20 in 2018 because many from this U18 team have the level to play in the U20 team. And this year, France finished 3rd in U20 D1A, with many '97, and got short losses except against BL.
 
Shlapshot said:
I find the comparison between levels interesting and it's a tough question to answer because the team selections are not always static. But that French team had 12 players + 2 goals that are in the WC D1A team. And not all the same level, again. Normally France selects last year U18 (or U20) players for the WC so they have the most experience on the ice.
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The same is as and far more true for U17 squads that donate players to the U18 squad.

Akos Mihaly with probably the worst embellishment I've seen here :laugh: he may have gotten hooked but not egregiously and proceeds to jump up, do a 360 twist and fall on the ice.
 
Well, Norway definitely was not as good as Germany yesterday, but did just enough to reach 10 goals at the end there a great individual effort by Samuel Solem.
 
Hungarians were put in their place allright. No imports to bail them out here.
 
One of life's greatest struggles is that the IIHF Live Ticker gets so many assists wrong.
 
kabidjan18 said:
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.
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Just saw this. Can't say I agree. My hometown (Brooks, Alberta) hosted an exhibition game between Latvia and Denmark in 2012, a few weeks prior to the 2012 WJC in Calgary/Edmonton. Brooks is a perennial powerhouse, and it wasn't too difficult to see that they wouldn't have beat either team. Maybe they'd beat a bottom feeder in the U20 1A division, but they wouldn't tear them up.

This year may be a little different, they have a top 10 NHL draft pick in Cale Makar.
 
jhutter said:
Just saw this. Can't say I agree. My hometown (Brooks, Alberta) hosted an exhibition game between Latvia and Denmark in 2012, a few weeks prior to the 2012 WJC in Calgary/Edmonton. Brooks is a perennial powerhouse, and it wasn't too difficult to see that they wouldn't have beat either team. Maybe they'd beat a bottom feeder in the U20 1A division, but they wouldn't tear them up.

This year may be a little different, they have a top 10 NHL draft pick in Cale Makar.
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Sure, this is a good discussion.

Firstly I'd like to note that my statement was that individual Tier 2 athletes dominate the level. I outlined the statistics for individuals above, so it's hardly debatable from this angle.

Now to debating team merits, which wasn't my claim but is worth discussing. To lay out some background information, Latvia wasn't a D1A team that year. Neither were they this year. Denmark hasn't been for the last three years, and won't be this upcoming year. Secondly, the discussion was tier 2. There are persons more apt to make the comparison between the NAHL and the AJHL than myself, as I'm sure this is a heated discussion in some places. I personally would give an edge to the NAHL. for numbers I can provide if asked.

It's hard to draw conclusions without actually having the boys play. Now, the NAHL and the SuperElit leagues appear to be pretty even judging by the performance of SuperElit alums in the NAHL (with the understood difficulty of factoring the extra year of development). Norway traditionally plays in a tournament called the U20 Super Challenge in Sweden. Have they ever won? No, they usually finish lower-mid pack. Three of the four editions have been taken by SuperElit clubs, the other was taken by Austria, who has participated in the last two editions. Farjestad won this last year's, which was a bad omen for team Austria who finished second, and signaled Norway's demotion. Hungary will play on the D1A level next year and participated this year as well, placing last in the tournament. Otherwise there isn't all that much data.

I tend to agree with you that U20 D1A teams are traditionally stronger than tier 2 teams because of the high end talent some teams possess. NAHL teams by comparison aren't restricted by the age limit and tend to be older and more physical. Unfortunately and especially pertaining to this latest edition we haven't seen the same high end talent in the division recently.
 
Slovenia won the gold in D1B, promoted to D1A for the first time
This tournament was a great effort by this team, even without Drozg on the scoresheet in the last game... good generation of hockey players, hopefully they stay (successful) in hockey.
Moment to rejoice, what we'll do next year when only 5 players are left? We can think about it next year.
 
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