Olympics: 2018 Winter Olympics Qualifying

[Dueling Banjos]

Damn. Are we great or what.

As good as it gets. Glad we have Kroselj, he deserves contract in one of the better leagues, there's little doubt he ll get one.

 

[kabidjan18]

Really hoping Slovenia quals now. This could be the last time we see the golden generation together.

 

[Tronador]

What a great PP goal by Germany...

5-0!

 

[Tronador]

Another great goal...now it is 6-0!

But the game against Latvia will be pretty hard.

 

[ozo]

Really hoping Slovenia quals now. This could be the last time we see the golden generation together.

Very true, and kinda home-ice aside, I think they are very tight unit and could be even considered favorites against Belarus.

Also I feel sorry how much Austria let you down in these quals

 

[kabidjan18]

Very true, and kinda home-ice aside, I think they are very tight unit and could be even considered favorites against Belarus.

Also I feel sorry how much Austria let you down in these quals

They have better 1v1 talent than Belarus. Other than Kopitar they've played the same guys together forever so chemistry shouldn't be a problem.

Well no one expected us to go in and win it but of course what happened was ridiculous. The silver lining is that Suhonen will probably be let go and then many of our starters will come back to the program. What is sad for me personally is that this is effectively the last we'll see of a generation. Guys like Michael Grabner, Michael Raffl, Thomas Raffl, by 2022 they'll be 34, 33, 35. Vanek will be 38.

Team makeup should be pretty weird in the following years because 89' and 90' were the last good classes then a drought between 91' and 94' only Obrist and Komarek really (albeit Steven Strong, maybe Curtis Loik). Then 95' has Viveiros and Ali Wuk, Reisinger and Leiler maybe, and then 96 and 97 get really good and we'll see them soon so the team will be a juxtaposed with young and old.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Really hoping Slovenia quals now. This could be the last time we see the golden generation together.

Thanks. Although this core is still fairly young, so (offense wise) we are pretty much set for next decade. Kopi's availability is icing on the cake. D is different story.

 

[BalticWarrior]

They have better 1v1 talent than Belarus. Other than Kopitar they've played the same guys together forever so chemistry shouldn't be a problem.

Well no one expected us to go in and win it but of course what happened was ridiculous. The silver lining is that Suhonen will probably be let go and then many of our starters will come back to the program. What is sad for me personally is that this is effectively the last we'll see of a generation. Guys like Michael Grabner, Michael Raffl, Thomas Raffl, by 2022 they'll be 34, 33, 35. Vanek will be 38.

Team makeup should be pretty weird in the following years because 89' and 90' were the last good classes then a drought between 91' and 94' only Obrist and Komarek really (albeit Steven Strong, maybe Curtis Loik). Then 95' has Viveiros and Ali Wuk, Reisinger and Leiler maybe, and then 96 and 97 get really good and we'll see them soon so the team will be a juxtaposed with young and old.

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel in the future? Maybe some decently talented 98s, 99s ,00s?

 

[mrkolice]

Thanks. Although this core is still fairly young, so (offense wise) we are pretty much set for next decade. Kopi's availability is icing on the cake. D is different story.

D: kovacevic is huge for D, without him it's another team, another story. Å¡tebih is maturing well, he's 24 and i guess he has a great potential to become a really good defender. we don't have many backups for injuries or missing players, basically this is as good as it can get.

 

[kabidjan18]

Thanks. Although this core is still fairly young, so (offense wise) we are pretty much set for next decade. Kopi's availability is icing on the cake. D is different story.

Wait, decade!? All your forwards are currently in prime. I really don't see them going prime + 10. I mean Kopi is 29, Mursak, Jeglic, and (2 weeks) Sabolic are 28, Pance, Ticar, and Urbas are 27, I think for current prime players across the board even making Beijing is a stretch. All about them Nachwuchs.

 

[mrkolice]

plus today we saw kopitar and mursak 100% focused on defense, that helps a lot.

 

[kabidjan18]

Is there any light at the end of the tunnel in the future? Maybe some decently talented 98s, 99s ,00s?

96 and 97 are great. 98 is terrible, 99 is pretty good, 00 is the best class I've ever seen, 01 has amazing top prospects (eg. Marco Rossi). I actually think the future is pretty bright but we'll see. Juniors have been really impressive.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Wait, decade!? All your forwards are currently in prime. I really don't see them going prime + 10. I mean Kopi is 29, Mursak, Jeglic, and (2 weeks) Sabolic are 28, Pance, Ticar, and Urbas are 27, I think for current prime players across the board even making Beijing is a stretch. All about them Nachwuchs.

Yeah decade is obviously wrong, my mistake, i meant another Olympics qualifications. But yeah 2018 olympics are def top of the wave for current squad.

 

[Tronador]

I am very sorry about the current situation of the Austrian hockey. Hopefully, there will be some steps to change that.

 

[kabidjan18]

I am very sorry about the current situation of the Austrian hockey. Hopefully, there will be some steps to change that.

Haha someone just put put a graphic and we're ranked below Japan right now. It would be all sorts of Internet fun if we lost Sunday.

Honestly our Junior teams and ranks are pretty strong we just need to get Alpo out.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Haha someone just put put a graphic and we're ranked below Japan right now. It would be all sorts of Internet fun if we lost Sunday.

Honestly our Junior teams and ranks are pretty strong we just need to get Alpo out.

I checked EBEL stats 2 or 3 years ago, somewhere in the mid season, there was only 1 Austrian player in top 20 and something like 19 in top 100 (g+a), needless to say i was pretty shocked.

 

[rj]

Factoid: if Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan all qualify for the Olympics, which based on results to this point can occur, these are nations that have 0 players on Team Europe in the World Cup. (You can argue Kazakhstan is in Asia, which it is, but in some sports they're conveniently European and in some sports they're conveniently Asian.)

 

[BalticWarrior]

Factoid: if Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan all qualify for the Olympics, which based on results to this point can occur, these are nations that have 0 players on Team Europe in the World Cup. (You can argue Kazakhsttan is in Asia, which it is, but in some sports they're conveniently European and in some sports they're conveniently Asian.)

Team Europe is the biggest hockey abomination i have ever seen. The concept of World Cup is pretty cool but the whole Team europe and Team NA is just stupid.

 

[mrkolice]

Factoid: if Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan all qualify for the Olympics, which based on results to this point can occur, these are nations that have 0 players on Team Europe in the World Cup. (You can argue Kazakhstan is in Asia, which it is, but in some sports they're conveniently European and in some sports they're conveniently Asian.)

i argue. slovenia will win and team europe will be represented with Raccoon Jesus, Our Lord,
Who was conceived in Jesenice, Slovenia, Drafted by Dave Taylor, Suffered under Crawford and Murray, But in 2012, ascended into eternal glory.

 

[Sanderson]

Factoid: if Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan all qualify for the Olympics, which based on results to this point can occur, these are nations that have 0 players on Team Europe in the World Cup. (You can argue Kazakhstan is in Asia, which it is, but in some sports they're conveniently European and in some sports they're conveniently Asian.)

I find the World Cup to be pretty useless as well, but I don't see much wrong with the idea behind your example. Team play =/= player skill. Just because (for example) Latvia would play more successful (it doesn't even have to be better) as a team than Germany in one single game, doesn't mean that Latvian players would be more skillful than the Germans who are on the World Cup roster. After all, someone isn't suddenly a better player just because his team won. You can even use two Germans as an example: Kühnhackl just won the Stanley Cup, Draisaitl finished at the bottom of the standings with Edmonton, yet Draisaitl is clearly the better player, regardless of how their teams performed.

It does feel a bit weird that no one from Latvia or Belarus got nominated, but I'm not going to bother going over the roster and see which player could probably be replaced by a better one from one of those two countries, I simply do not care enough about the tournament to do so. I just wanted to clarify that winning the Olympic qualifiers doesn't say a whole lot about who should be on a Team Europe roster. You don't want to end up with a situation in which you would have to cut Kopitar

 

[baronsforever]

Factoid: if Belarus, Latvia, and Kazakhstan all qualify for the Olympics, which based on results to this point can occur, these are nations that have 0 players on Team Europe in the World Cup. (You can argue Kazakhstan is in Asia, which it is, but in some sports they're conveniently European and in some sports they're conveniently Asian.)

Kazakhstan is out with their loss to France. They can only tie for first and cannot win any tie-breaker

 

[rj]

I find the World Cup to be pretty useless as well.

I do like the World Cup just because I like international hockey. I find the situations of Europe and North America U23 egregious and wish they'd invited the Swiss and Slovaks instead, maybe come 2020. Unfortunately all you get at the moment without the World Cup for proper international hockey is a two-week long tournament every 4 years and that's it, I don't consider the Worlds proper international hockey, so for that reason I hope the World Cup is successful.

 

[Heia Norge]

France with a nice victory against Kazakhstan this afternoon. Still light in the tunnel for our team then.

A must win game against Italy tonight.
Absolutely pathetic performance by the Norwegian team last night, just horrible to watch.

I am one of those who sometimes wonder why Mathis Olimb never got a fear chance in the NHL, then watching the game against Kazakhstan last night then you know why he never became an NHL player….

 

[kabidjan18]

Not watching but can only imagine the game over in Riga is a real snooze fest.

 

[DangeRouss]

Go France !

leading the group but it will not be an easy one Sunday vs Norway