WJC: 2019 WJC Divisions II/III

[SoundAndFury]

So D2A starts in Tallinn today with Liam Kirk-led GB trying to win promotion over Korea, Estonia and Lithuania.

GB should honestly have an easy stroll through the park here as other teams aren't even close. Lithuanian '99 generation is pretty poor hence we only have 6 '99 born players on the roster and even then one of them is pretty much a spare part.

Estonia might be realistically aiming for silver as all their best players are 19 with Linde, Kuznetsov and Slessarevski leading the team last year already. Furthermore, they managed to talk Emil Svartbro, Fabian Hast (both raised in Sweden) and Kirill Lodeikin (Finland) to represent Estonia. I don't really remember anything like this at this level but the influx of talent (especially Svartbro) will definitely help Estonia.

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[ozo]

Cheering for Estonia here, If Arrak wasn't injured and Kombe didn't decline the invitation, this team would give GB run for the money. Despite missing these two, it still is the best Estonia U20 team probably ever.

Also hoping Estonia, keeps up the tradition with quality streams and announcing in hilarious and jovial English

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well the stream from Estonia is just like last year with the same guy calling the games, it seems.

 

[ozo]

Well the stream from Estonia is just like last year with the same guy calling the games, it seems.

Yes, everything is perfect Romania looks surprisingly good so far.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Romania looks surprisingly good so far.

Well one needs to keep in mind this is Romanian team that actually won U18 D2A two years ago against exactly the same nations. This is a substantially more talented group than your usual Romanian squad.

 

[kabidjan18]

Why does Kombe keep declining? Has he not yet come to peace with the fact that he's not going to play for Finland?

 

[ozo]

Why does Kombe keep declining? Has he not yet come to peace with the fact that he's not going to play for Finland?

Probably doesn't want to take the long journey over the Gulf of Finland But in reality, it does seem strange, maybe he indeed does have some ill advised Finland aspirations.

 

[filip85]

Why does Kombe keep declining? Has he not yet come to peace with the fact that he's not going to play for Finland?

My thoughts exactly. I like when kids are so short-sighted. We can all enjoy Sim Liivik's wounderful carrer with Finalnd men's NT...

Tomorrow starts D2B in Zagreb. Serbia and Netherlands for promotion, rest will play for staying in this group with Croatia having best chance to stay. While U20 has chance, our U18 this year will get steamrolled towards D3A.

 

[SoundAndFury]

He has just started playing in Liiga around the time he had to make the decision. Maybe he sees it as a crucial time to stick with the big team which is more valuable than playing some games against inferior competition. From a cynical unpatriotic point of view, it would seem right.

 

[ozo]

My excitement for Estonian chances took a massive hit. That was pretty unconvincing display. Lithuania - GB might be the old game already.

Props to Spain's goalie. Might be a reason why he was on their senior roster last spring.

 

[SoundAndFury]

As I look at this lineup, it doesn't seem that bad.. Maybe we actually do have a slight chance. Sure we have 2 17 year-olds on the 1st line but thank God for them as the high-end forward situation is otherwise dire. The rest of the team doesn't look that bad though so if these boys can score against 2 years older competition we have a chance.

 

[ozo]

Sure we have 2 17 year-olds on the 1st line but thank God for them as the high-end forward situation is otherwise dire. The rest of the team doesn't look that bad though so if these boys can score against 2 years older competition we have a chance.

Are you from future? lol

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well those 17-year-old boys are 2/2 on PP and 2-0 after 3 minutes.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Are you from future? lol

I have my reverse jinx powers turned on for this tournament

Generally, Lithuanians flat out outskating GB so far. Brits look shell-shocked.

Domeika with a great hip check there.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The Estonian announcer is great and all but he is clueless about the rulebook on the 5th Lithuanian goal.

 

[ozo]

The Estonian announcer is great and all but he is clueless about the rulebook on the 5th Lithuanian goal.

I also need explanation what happened there. Goalie was miles out but Lithuanian player was on top of him so interference, no?

 

[Shrimper]

That 5th goal should not stand, he sat on him!

 

[SoundAndFury]

I also need explanation what happened there. Goalie was miles out but Lithuanian player was on top of him so interference, no?

Well after extensive discussion in the stream chat I concluded everyone can see it their way. To me, Lithuanian player tried to play the puck, made effort to avoid falling on the goalie and the GB goalie himself was all over the place nowhere near the crease. It reminded me of Tim Thomas in 2011 (or whatever it was) finals. But sure, I guess you can just say Lithuanian F just fell on the goalie eventually.

 

[ozo]

Well after extensive discussion in the stream chat I concluded everyone can see it their way. To me, Lithuanian player tried to play the puck, made effort to avoid falling on the goalie and the GB goalie himself was all over the place nowhere near the crease. It reminded me of Tim Thomas in 2011 (or whatever it was) finals. But sure, I guess you can just say Lithuanian F just fell on the goalie eventually.

I've seen IIHF taking goals away for an inch of an skate inside of blue paint on the other side of the actual play, yet they allowed Lithuanian player on his own sit down on a goalie, albeit outside the crease, and overturned a waved-off goal without any review. It is just against everything I have learnt about IIHF reffing in all my years watching international hockey.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I've seen IIHF taking goals away for an inch of an skate inside of blue paint on the other side of the actual play, yet they allowed Lithuanian player on his own sit down on a goalie, albeit outside the crease, and overturned a waved-off goal without any review. It is just against everything I have learnt about IIHF reffing in all my years watching international hockey.

The great Lithuanian conspiracy begins

 

[ozo]

As huge as this win is, I don't think it is over already. Lithuania will have to face teams with an actual goaltending so they might drop points, and this GB offense should be too much for weaker defenses they will have to face from now on.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah, I think this is a pretty rare case in IIHF tournaments where winning against your direct opposition doesn't quite guarantee anything. Korea, Estonia and Romania are all dangerous if you take them easy. But surely we are in a very good position meanwhile GB with their amazing roster have a mountain to climb from the day 1.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Pretty good, even game Spain vs. Romania. Both teams are.. let's say flawed. Romanians are a mess in their zone and Spain is giving up odd-man rushes like it's candy and generally seems to lack footspeed a lot on D.

2-2 after 2 despite both teams having very good chances to take the lead.

 

[ozo]

Pretty good, even game Spain vs. Romania. Both teams are.. let's say flawed. Romanians are a mess in their zone and Spain is giving up odd-man rushes like it's candy and generally seems to lack footspeed a lot on D.

2-2 after 2 despite both teams having very good chances to take the lead.

To quote the annoucer of this tournament "this particular year is all about better-than-usual goalkeeping". Only the GB pair of sieves are falling out of the picture.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well 2nd day is starting to paint a clearer picture who is who, I think Estonia is the last serious threat on our way to promotion. There seems to be a considerable gap between GB/Lithuania and Spain, Korea, Romania. No disrespect to them but they do look awful. That 8-1 trashing GB gave Korea before the tournament could have given it away but at the time it seems like the evidence of GB's might rather than Korea being that bad but in reality, GB has flaws but Korea just had nothing to expose those.

Korea taking an absolute beating today even though they managed to take Romania to OT yesterday. And Romania barely won against Spain. So one can get the picture.

Estonia having so much trouble against Spain yesterday is the only remaining head scratcher.