WC: 2019 Division I, II, III
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Going to be a neat final few days in both Divison I tournaments. Looking forward to seeing how it all works out. Much as I like Poland, it would be great for Romania to hold on and earn promotion. Same with Korea somehow pulling that off, even if it's a temporary move.
DIVISION I GROUP B
Round 4 results:
Japan - Netherlands 2:3
Ukraine - Romania 1:5
Estonia - Poland 2:3
Current standings:
1. Romania - 10 pts
2. Poland - 10 pts
3. Japan - 6 pts
4. Estonia - 4 pts
5. Ukraine - 3 pts
6. Netherlands - 3 pts
Round 4 results:
Japan - Netherlands 2:3
Ukraine - Romania 1:5
Estonia - Poland 2:3
Current standings:
1. Romania - 10 pts
2. Poland - 10 pts
3. Japan - 6 pts
4. Estonia - 4 pts
5. Ukraine - 3 pts
6. Netherlands - 3 pts
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Uncle Rotter
Registered User
This year's tournament has been a let-down especially compared to last year's fantastically exciting tournament.
Kazakstan and Belarus will go up but neither will stay there permanently. Belarus are safe from relegation next year because they are hosts in 2021 but in the long run they will go up and down between the levels.
Kazakstan and Belarus will go up but neither will stay there permanently. Belarus are safe from relegation next year because they are hosts in 2021 but in the long run they will go up and down between the levels.
I'm not so sure about that. At both Junior level KAZ and BLR are much better than nations like Austria, Italy, Norway, France.
I think those nation will much more have a problem to be competitive at the highest level. Especially Italy. But it all depends on how good you develop your junior players and how good they transform to elite level.
I think those nation will much more have a problem to be competitive at the highest level. Especially Italy. But it all depends on how good you develop your junior players and how good they transform to elite level.
HockeyFan101
Registered User
Expected Ukraine to put up a better fight judging by the score. Looking good for Romania promotion.
SoundAndFury
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SoundAndFury
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- May 28, 2012
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Case in point, Hungary is getting murdered by another extremely uninspired effort.
Drozg with 3 points though, nice game for him.
Also, the way it is, Hungary and Poland really need to rethink what the hell are they doing with their hockey. Club hockey is moving in a positive direction in both countries but their NTs bombed big time.
Can't be too hard on Poland, it just feels they didn't take the tournament seriously. Few important vets refused to go (Zapala, Pasiut), Chmielewski probably didn't want to play in 1B without a contract because it seems (and it absolutely makes sense) he wants to move to a team which gives him a bigger role. Pretty weird roster decisions but again, I think they just wanted to give young players a taste while not dragging the vets into something they had in their pocket. The game against Romania was an unlucky loss as well although that game shouldn't even be close.
Hungary, on the other hand, bloody hell. Their club hockey is on a high with every team doing better than expected in both EBEL and Slovakian league but the performance they showed here.. Disgusting. The junior teams are back to sucking as well after the golden generation with Gallo, Erdely, Stipsicz, etc. And even most of their best prospects right now are born in Romania. /dramatic take
Drozg with 3 points though, nice game for him.
Also, the way it is, Hungary and Poland really need to rethink what the hell are they doing with their hockey. Club hockey is moving in a positive direction in both countries but their NTs bombed big time.
Can't be too hard on Poland, it just feels they didn't take the tournament seriously. Few important vets refused to go (Zapala, Pasiut), Chmielewski probably didn't want to play in 1B without a contract because it seems (and it absolutely makes sense) he wants to move to a team which gives him a bigger role. Pretty weird roster decisions but again, I think they just wanted to give young players a taste while not dragging the vets into something they had in their pocket. The game against Romania was an unlucky loss as well although that game shouldn't even be close.
Hungary, on the other hand, bloody hell. Their club hockey is on a high with every team doing better than expected in both EBEL and Slovakian league but the performance they showed here.. Disgusting. The junior teams are back to sucking as well after the golden generation with Gallo, Erdely, Stipsicz, etc. And even most of their best prospects right now are born in Romania. /dramatic take
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Hungarians are really disaster this WC. There is no other nation in this part of Europe who invest so many money and energy in last 10-15 years in ice hockey, but still it is not enough for them. Over 20 new ice rinks, good domestic league, three clubs playing abroad....but still nothing. Maybe ice hockey is not for them. Sorry, but they have really problems with all collectiv sports. They are strong sport nation for individual sports, but with collective sports they arent.
If lithuania win in regular time over Slovenia, then Hungarian going down. Of course, that is not possible, but just saying..
Belarus u-18 will play in the elite division for the 4th year in a row, they were 5th in the world this year and spanked Czechs and Finns even without their best WHL forwards, 2 of their players will be drafted in the top-2 rounds this summer. Their u-20 has destroyed teams like Austria and Norway. But you're right, there's no way they gonna stay top-16 in the world in 3 years.
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Before this generation takes over their national team, which is still 5+ years ahead, they will have huge problems to stay in elitě division and even then, there is no guarantee they will stay there.
SoundAndFury
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Yeah, I don't see Belarus bouncing up and down much. Once their top guys grow up they should easily be able to overtake countries like France and Norway which they did a long time ago at the U20 level. All the post-Soviet East European countries, even ones with good hockey schools, suffered from the lack of money through the 90s so their level stagnated or fell to crap but a lot of those are starting to push again and the Western countries that were just cruising over the last few decades will be pressured and probably forced out.
You can see it at a more minor scale in lower divisions where Estonia and Lithuania has kinda steadily pushed out Japan and the Netherlands from where they once were.
You can see it at a more minor scale in lower divisions where Estonia and Lithuania has kinda steadily pushed out Japan and the Netherlands from where they once were.
SoundAndFury
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Sharangovich, Sushko, Protas, Kolyachonok, Buinitsky are ~2 years away from being top players at that level. It will only take 5+ years for U18 guys to catch up.
If they actually get relegated again with those guys it can only be down to terrible goaltending if nothing fixes it.
This generation has already took over. The 21-22 y.o. guys like Buinitsky and Vorobey would have been among the best players for this NT, but both of them got injured. Soloviyov (18y.o.) and Bokun(22 y.o.), who play at this WC, aren't even top-10 young defensemen in the country.
Buinitsky just got a big contract offer from the KHL power-house Metllurg Magnitogorsk and Vorobei has re-signed with Sibir Novosibirsk. Who are those Norwegians, Italians and Austrian that gonna push them down to the 2nd division in 2 years?
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SoundAndFury
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Have you heard of Marco Rossi?
I mean, for the most part, your logic is sound but you should learn where to stop. With Rossi supported by Komarek, Zwerger, Hofer, Haudum, Baumgartner they aren't exactly going to just roll over and die against Belarus either. Meanwhile, you are boasting about how good Vorobey is who, at this point, is a VHL level defenseman and it's quite unlikely he will ever get to more than KHL mid-pairing D with good offensive potential.
It's kinda Belarus - Germany WJC debate repeating itself.
I don't know about Italy, but in a Latvian context these two 1997 guys you mentioned would be a bottom 6 energy guy and a bottom pairing D guy at best. Nice to have them, but they don't look like elite talent capable of leading a team to WC play-offs or anything.
Are there any more talented U-23 prospects playing pro hockey?
At-first, I just asked a question.
"Rossi supported by Komarek, Zwerger, Hofer, Haudum, Baumgartner"... Is that sounds better than Kopitar supported by Drozg, Sabolic and the other AlpsHL and EBEL leagues? Cause those just lost to the 3rd string Belarus team without any chances.
At-second.While you're at it who are those Norwegians and Italians who would kick down the "KHL mid-pairing defensemen"?
At-third. VHL defensman who's played 80 KHL games over the last 2 years at the age of 21 and just signed a one-way KHL contract? At the same time Pavel Karnaukhov, who is older and has played 25 KHL games less, is a legit KHL player... OK, that's your world.
Haha. They're never going to see the light of day. You keep hoping structural problems will disappear, I guarantee they won't. Also, you really keep hyping the Protas train, but I don't know if you noticed, you're basically one of like three guys tooting that horn, and all of you guys are stat watchers, which is fine but the scouts watch the games and they know what's up.
Also, just some basic math. The argument is that they were going to be an elevator team. That means that they wouldn't be top 14, not top 16, because 2 teams are promoted/relegated every year.
I wouldn't call Buinitsky an energy guy, he just isn't very good. He doesn't play well with the puck, doesn't skate particularly well and isn't particularly aggressive, his one function is that he's a decent finisher on a line with a good playmaker like Howden or Kostitsyn. I mean, he can make smart passes to move the puck along, but he's not a line-driver, and I know su24 doesn't believe in that because he thinks possession is unimportant, but modern hockey disagrees. Vorobey spent a third of last season in the VHL, and he's not young, he's 22 before the season starts. Sharangovich is good, but he's less bullish on him because he hasn't really lit it up this tournament. Latvia is in a much better place than Belarus, and will be for the foreseeable future.
Sorry, I didn't read that nonsense any further. Even before the WHL playoffs Protas was ranked #44 by the aforementioned scouts. Now he's the best WHL playoffs goals scorer and the twitter was full of posts where "WHL games watchers" were comparing him to Draisaitl.
That was a pleasure to see your future at the last U-20 WHC. Too bad I didn't have a chance to see your team at the U-18 WHC.
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SoundAndFury
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I should know better but I will actually try to have a civil conversation here.
So for starters, yes, a team with good depth sounds way better than the team who has one superstar and next to nothing else. Just the fact that you mentioned a 5th round pick straight out of junior among the names worth pointing out shows how (relatively) bad that Slovenian team is. Solid SHL and NLA players I've listed surely do sound way better. And Rossi, hopefully, will get to a similar level Kopitar is at now.
Secondly, I haven't said anything about Italians or Norwegians because there isn't much to say. That's where you are right. Like I said, your logic is sound for the most part, Belarus should overtake the countries whose hockey is on life support, basically.
Karnaukhov, it's obvious to anyone, would be a KHL regular on any team outside of KHL's top 4 or so. Vorobei, meanwhile, played his 1st KHL season under peculiar circumstances being a designated hitter on Kunlun, so to speak. He was at ~8 minutes per game average when Kunlun still had a chance to make PO and most of those came either on 2nd PP unit or when the team had a solid lead. While in his 2nd for Sibir he played because they had nobody else to play and got sent to the VHL again when they healed up their injuries. Also, any info on his new contract actually being one way?
It's funny because when you just assert something without a referent, the claim is unintelligible.
If you were referring to the CSS list, there literally is no #44.
2019 Draft Prospect Rankings | NHL Draft Prospect Rankings
You can say that the referent was your guy, and you're free to believe that. For grins and giggles we can even give you that he is the #44, and the redaction was mistaken, as opposed to being fully intentional. Then you still run up against the problem that you're reading on the NA skaters list. I've cross referenced other sources you could be looking at, this one is likely it, because no other reference gives even in the ballpark of 44. So you make an assertion, but the assertion is unverifiable, and even then you make a mistake still in apprehending the information.
It's also funny because you use the plural for posts, and you're correct grammatically, because all of two posts from anonymous individuals did compare him to Draisiatl. However, the latter explicitly mentioned his skating in a negative light as well, but you probably just glossed over that because it didn't fit the narrative. Anyone around here will tell you that the exact breed of skater that the NHL is moving away from are slow, 6'5" behemoths...
