WC: 2021 Great Britain roster talk
- Thread starter ChaiTiefling
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ChaiTiefling
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Seems so through injury, he spent the majority of the 19/20 season out and has been named as Cardiff's equipment manager going forward.
6 debutants and a couple more who have only made fleeting appearances previously, plus the guys on standby. It's good that we're taking the opportunity presented by the lack of relegation to introduce a few younger players.
I guess a further test for the team is that some of the team only played a dozen of games this season (due to British league stopping in last autumn) and the rest had to change teams and played mostly lower league somewhere.
SoundAndFury
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- May 28, 2012
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Well, to be fair those who did move abroad mostly played in the leagues fitting their level. Dowd was the only one who chose to make a vacation out of it.
What surprises me is that Alex Graham didnt have a spot even this would have been the year when its safe to use younger players while theres no fear of relegation.
Yeah, I guess so, but they probably had to take what was around at that time and couldn't look for the best possible solution for them. If you're 33 years old and on the eve of your career I don't blame Dowd for making a vacation out of it.
SoundAndFury
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- May 28, 2012
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Oh for sure, that's his privilege.If you're 33 years old and on the eve of your career I don't blame Dowd for making a vacation out of it.
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
I'm not sure he's shown enough in the Elite Series to warrant a spot, I understand the urge to blood new players but not to the extent that they're so far behind the play as to be a liability. His time will come, probably within a couple of years.
Jesus wept, compare this roster to the teams we'll be playing; it won't be pretty. It would've been tough enough anyway, but when you then factor in that most of the squad have barely played any meaningful hockey this year, it's just lucky for us there's no relegation. Don't get me wrong, I'm overjoyed and amazed that we managed to get to the top division, let alone pull off a miracle last time around to not get relegated, but it shouldn't mask the fact that ice hockey in the UK is the most minor of minority sports.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
Squad change, Evan Mosey's bowing out due to a nagging injury and he doesn't feel he can give his best. Mark Richardson, arguably GB's best defender, replaces him after initially making himself unavailable for family reasons. Mosey's versatility and workrate are so useful and will be missed, but Richardson is such an important part of the GB team. Really happy to have him in the squad.
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
He's a rock solid two-way centreman, not the slick scorer his junior stats promised. He's never going to be good enough offensively to drive the play but he can contribute positively to the attack and he's only 22 so that could still appear. Teammates seem to love him.
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Any chance Scott Conway, Joey Lewis and Travis Ehrhardt joins the team?
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ChaiTiefling
Registered User
Team's set. Conway's sticking in NA, Lewis was average at best last time round and Ehrhardt's not played in over a year.
I always kind of like watching guys from the British league play. Of course they cannot compare to the top teams in terms of stickhandling skill, never say creativity, but they are usually decent skaters and above all very physical, playing with really a lot of grit. I don't expect them to collect handful of points, would't be surprised if they actually lose all their games. But I am looking forward to their enthusiasm, they are kind of more fun to watch than, say, Italy.
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
Certainly wasn't always the case under some previous coaches, but a big reason that Pete Russell's been so successful in his short time as GB coach is that players want to play for him. He seems to know exactly how to get the best out of them.
This is true. Over the last few years team GB has certainly been greater than the sum of its parts if you look at the pedigree (or lack thereof) of the players and compare this to results on the ice. With that said, I still expect that we are going to get utterly destroyed
SoundAndFury
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- May 28, 2012
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Coaching is coaching but getting Hammond, Perlini, Ehrhardt, Lake, Connolly went a long way as well. It's kinda unfair to compare Russell's teams to what previous coaches before him had to work with.
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
If we're playing that game then he doesn't have prime Shields, Clarke, Weaver, Longstaff, Tait etc. either. Agreed that those are better than say Fussey, Hutchins, Chambers, Sarich and the like but there's a difference in players like the latter group sticking around just long enough to appear before retiring and the former group taking their chance to represent much earlier in their careers and for multiple years in a row.
A Bundy
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- Mar 3, 2021
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ChaiTiefling
Registered User
Had a serious, almost career-ending concussion a couple of seasons ago and is playing a top-line scoring role in the NIHL where it's less physical rather than as a grinder in the EIHL, was set to john Raiders IHC in the NIHL Cup but was injured again so hasn't played in over a year. Seems like he'd rather enjoy his hockey after the injury than go full-time pro. I know he was on the reserve list for the 2022 Olympic qualifiers so he is in consideration but I'm not sure he's up to the standard anymore.
