WC: 2021 Norway Roster Talk

[Fjorden]

What can we say so far:

Against Germany and Italy:
The 1st line haven't worked well so far(Pettersen, KA Olimb, Rosseli Olsen). It dosen't create good chanches, and struggles to establish a play inside the oponentes zone. Haven't found any good chemistry so far.

2nd line(Lindstrøm, Trettenes, Olden): Lindström do very good job at face offs and create goals and chanches for us. Trettenes have been our best player so far. He have taken huge steps the last two years. Olden skates a lot.

3rd line(M-olimb, Haga and Valkvae-olsen) was the best against germany. Good speed and creativity in that line. Created some good chanches and scored a goal.

4th line forwards have done as expected, playing simple and not making mistakes. Did also create some chanches against Italy.

Backs: A lot of stupid personal mistakes against Germany from Lilleberg, Holm and Kåsastul. We struggle to much with transporting the puck out of our own zone in a safe and effective way, and esablish a play in the oponents zone, that's a problem. This part has to work against Finland and Canada if not we'll end up as blowout in those games. Lilleberg also had a problem controlling his temper against Germany when he got tackled and decided to revenge that with a tackle against the head on the german and roughing so he got a 2+10 + one game suspension. We probobaly need to give our experienced backs like Holøs and Lesund more icetime. Krogdahl and Espeland have also been decent so far. I hope the youngsters Lilleberg and Holm learns fast, but it is nice to have two young new backs in the team for future development.

For the rest: If we can pick up three more points against either Latvia or Kazakhstan it'll be an ok tournament for this team, not good but ok given that this team has a lot of youngsters and must be seen as a team under developement. Against Finland and Canada I hope to see a good and extremly tight defence so we can make them work hard for the points. USA will probobaly be the worst team to meet for us here, they've got so much creativity and speed in that 1st line that they can break up any defence easily.

 

[A Bundy]

Anyone have a projected lineup for today? My bet is Arntzen will get his first shot tonight, but a bit uncertain on where Holm fits in in Lillebergs return. Holm did a good job against Italy, and belongs in top 4 in my opinion. He could take Espelands slot, but he is logging big minutes and an offensive asset. Krogdahl had done very well, but is maybe the one who has to take the 7th spot? Assume the forward lines will remain unchanges. Nice to see Olden much better than in the warm-ups, and Trettenes delivering. Think they have a shot at Finland this game, if they can get some increase their efficiency early on and the goalie has a good day. Haukeland has been ok, but against the likes of Niederberger and a presumably better team that is unfortunately not good enough.

 

[mattihp]

Don't expect Finland to blow Norway out of the water. Finland will win, but with just a couple of goals.

 

[A Bundy]

I think this was a positive tournament for Norway, and a lot of good takeaways that brings some hope for the future. Better and better for every game in the tourney, and Latvia, USA and Kazakhstan games where the highligts where the puck was clicking quite well for long streches and they played tight and effective defensively. The games against Canada and USA where much more even than earlier years, also reflected in shots, and they actualy had a fair chance.
Some take-aways:
New generation of Ds, with Holm, Lilleberg, Krogdahl did very well in my opinion and will contribute on for this team for the next decade and beyond.
The goaltending (as in Haukeland) was much better than expected on my behalf, and we also have Artnzen with great potential.
The bottom half of the forward lines looks good coming years, with Solem, Hoff, Brekke Henriksen, Salsten and probably Bordvik as well next WC.
My biggest worry for the future is the two top lines, however Trettenes has taken real steps PPG this tourney and same with Olden.
Depends how you see it, but with 12 players from Norways top league could be a sign of weakness, but on the other hand they held their own very well against all KHL Kazakhstan and most of the other teams. It might be a sign that the Norwegian league has taken some steps past years as well.
Biggest worry next 3-5 years is maybe who will be the next generation top lines, and right now there is not that much top talent to fill the gap behind the Olimbs, Thoresen, Zuccarello, Rosseli Olsen along with Emilo Pedersen. Phillip Granath, Leo Halmrast, Spaberg Olsen are some names but it will take time and hard work. Tobias Fladeby just signed a contract with Tingsryd in Allsvenskan, and a year on big ice might make him more interesting for the next WC. The most likely option is maybe to run with the older guys some years beyond their peak (aka Olimb, Thoresen) when the younger ones develop.
Most positive for me: Haukeland, Brekke Henriksen, Saltsen, Lilleberg, Korgdahl, Holm, Hoff, Solem, Trettenes, Olden and the Olimbs.
Rest were all good, but given the good performances in the warm up games I was slightly dissapointed by Kristiansen. The era when the defense was 33 % Holøs might maybe come to an end. He had an ok tourney, but involved in a bit too many goals against and could gradually take a less prominent space with all the younger ones coming up.
I hope that the good performances will make some of the players interesting for bigger leages. Trettenes should play at a higher level than Swiss League, and Olden as well. Hofff, Salsten, Brekke Henriksen could also be interesting for SHL teams, and Krogdahl really impressed me and think he easily could be the next Holøs for Norway.
Lastly, very impressed by the team management /Petter Thoresen. I was a bit underwhealmed last WC (2019), but when looking back at the roster that year I think it was an uphill battle.
Looking forward to the OG qualifyer in August with enthusiam, and think we have a good chance there even though Denmark will have a star-studded roster.

 

[mattihp]

Norway have pretty good goalies the last few years, but they reach a certain point of the development and then they stall. Hopefully in the short term more norwegian goalies will find their way into the finnish or north american system where goalie coaching can help them reach new highs.

 

[A Bundy]

Norway have pretty good goalies the last few years, but they reach a certain point of the development and then they stall. Hopefully in the short term more norwegian goalies will find their way into the finnish or north american system where goalie coaching can help them reach new highs.

Yes, agree with this. Haugeland apparently got a lot out of his play in Liiga. I think there have been some improvements past years locally. Going back 5 years you would only have a handful of goalies above 90 % SVS while the last representative season 19 / 20 had 10 +. Our best goalie last WC was Holm, who has never played outside Norway. It looks like the teans are allocating more attentioan (and probably money) to goalie coaching now than before, but I don't have any stats to follow that up.

 

[A Bundy]

Another positive news, is that the Norwegian Icehockey federation had an increase in members by 12 % in the corona year from 14 867 to 16 628. These are actually from year-end 2020 while they normally report these numbers in April after the season ends. This was second of all sports-federations in Norway after basketball, meanwhile the overall ass. membership mass shrinked by 200 000 same year. Also bear in mind, that the oudoor ice did not come before January, and every single shop basically ran out of hockey equipment in a month when every kid in the country started with pond hockey for the lack of other sports mixed with perfect conditions for pond hockey nationwide. The numbers must be expected to increase way beyond these when season starts. Norway will become a powerhouse in the WC 2032, for sure, whereever that will take place.