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Olympics: 2018 Winter Olympics Qualifying

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Apparently there will be 3 on 3 overtime starting with this qualifications.
 
Namejs said:
The only thing Smirnovs, Smons and Krastenbergs have in common is that they're all midgets. :)
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See, that's the problem with Austrian hockey Development. Smirnovs, Smons and Krastenbergs in our little world are not midgets but average size players. Meanwhile, larger players are overlooked because there's this premium on "skill" and skating, hockey IQ without the realization that size is necessary for winning games. That's why today Latvia was obviously bigger other than like T.Raffl and Lebler and the NT is actually abnormally large compared to average Austrian teams. It literally took two Austrians every time to take the puck away from one Latvian.

Smirnovs and Smons both had really bad situations last season resulting in both playing in the U17 league, it really hurt their development. They put up pretty stats, but U17 league in Switzerland is for 15 year olds, I don't know who their agents are but their agents probably tried to pressure the clubs to let them move up. Problem is at Geneve Servette there are too many imports, generally French, so I think they must have gotten stuck via import rule.
 
kabidjan18 said:
See, that's the problem with Austrian hockey Development. Smirnovs, Smons and Krastenbergs in our little world are not midgets but average size players. Meanwhile, larger players are overlooked because there's this premium on "skill" and skating, hockey IQ without the realization that size is necessary for winning games. That's why today Latvia was obviously bigger other than like T.Raffl and Lebler and the NT is actually abnormally large compared to average Austrian teams. It literally took two Austrians every time to take the puck away from one Latvian.

Smirnovs and Smons both had really bad situations last season resulting in both playing in the U17 league, it really hurt their development. They put up pretty stats, but U17 league in Switzerland is for 15 year olds, I don't know who their agents are but their agents probably tried to pressure the clubs to let them move up. Problem is at Geneve Servette there are too many imports, generally French, so I think they must have gotten stuck via import rule.
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Well Latvia ranking 4th in the world when it comes to mens height also helps:laugh:
 
Namejs said:
Final score Latvia 8-1 Austria. :) Not a shabby start to the tournament.
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Good job :yo:

Love the Latvians and what they bring to the hockey world. Some of the most fun I've had at an international event was partying and celebrating with Latvian fans.

"win or lose, we booze" should be the motto of the Latvians :cheers:.
 
Looking at how Dave Lewis won that game I think he's some kind of a genius.

Sergei Kostitsyn's contract with KHL Torpedo was terminated by the team just a month ago. What would you do to a regressing winger who was cut off by his KHL team? Lewis makes him his 1st line center and he scores twice.
Last season Artyom Volkov was cut off by the best Belarus Extraleague team Yunost-Minsk and played for HC Gomel, he scored only 3 goals in 48 Extraleague games. What would you do to a 3rd line center from an average Extraleague team? Lewis puts him on the 1st PK unit against NHL line-up and he scores a SH goal! I mean no one else would have recalled that Volkov still plays hockey somewhere.
That's some great coaching decisions.
 
WhiteWings said:
Looking at how Dave Lewis won that game I think he's some kind of a genius.

Sergei Kostitsyn's contract with KHL Torpedo was terminated by the team just a month ago. What would you do to a regressing winger who was cut off by his KHL team? Lewis makes him his 1st line center and he scores twice.
Last season Artyom Volkov was cut off by the best Belarus Extraleague team Yunost-Minsk and played for HC Gomel, he scored only 3 goals in 48 Extraleague games. What would you do to a 3rd line center from an average Extraleague team? Lewis puts him on the 1st PK unit against NHL line-up and he scores a SH goal! I mean no one else would have recalled that Volkov still plays hockey somewhere.
That's some great coaching decisions.
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It is the same Dave Lewis who looked like he will be sacked last spring, when Belarus was one loss away from relegation in WC.
 
Would be great for us if Austria could pull an upset, but i guess thats science fiction seeing how they look against us.
 
I think Belarus has a big advantage with so many of the players already playing together, and that crowd yesterday. wow. Fifteen thousand fans for an olympic qualifier, that is fantastic.
 
HOLY ****, Slovenia is leading Denmark 1-0 in the second period. The wheels have really fallen off the wagon for the Danish team.
 
Is the olympicchannel.com stream working for you guys? Doesnt work for me :/
 
rano said:
Is the olympicchannel.com stream working for you guys? Doesnt work for me :/
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Nope, doesn't work for me either. Yesterday all games worked except for Germany vs. Japan.
Then I thought it was geo blocked or something. But maybe not.
 
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