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2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup

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While I would not call the game fun, it was interesting and made me, as a Canadian hockey fan, happy. The future looks VERY bright.

**

Nice way to finish off the game. Very nice.
 
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Team Canada could have scored 40 goals tonight if they really wanted to do it.

The Swiss seem to have hit a dry spell in terms of producing young talent after the great run from 2008 through 2017.
 
ORRFForever said:
While I would not call the game fun, it was interesting and made me, as a Canadian hockey fan, happy. The future looks VERY bright.

**

Nice way to finish off the game. Very nice.
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It‘s one of the first times we get a close look at the players of the future and compare them against past teams and players at the same age.

I love this tournament.

There was a number of outstanding players on display for Canada tonight.

The future of hockey is in good hands.
 
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Honestly would be fun to see a team WHL with how insane this age group is, think they'd win.

Benson-Yager-Heidt
Howe-Bedard-Christall
Oremba-Lind-Wormald
Tulk-Miller-Brown
Singer

Molendyk-Dragicevic
Price-Leslie
Weinstein-Hammell
Zemlak

Ratzlaff
Unger
Bjarnason

Plus guys like Wood, Perron, Slipec, Lacroix going college route
 
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Was at the Canada Switzerland game tonight, Ewan Huet played his absolute heart out for the Swiss and wad really the only reason the score wasn't even worse for them.
 
starkravingsabres said:
Happy with the USA win, but I really want up-and-coming hockey programs like Germany to excel, and not regress like other nations which have had brief success, e.g. Denmark and Austria. The more elite hockey nations the better afaic.
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Speaking of Germany being an up-and-coming hockey nation, the TSN crew should really pay some attention and talk to German players, coaches and agents about the Powerplay2026 program they keep referring to in the most positive way.

They explained that there’s a point system where clubs get financial rewards for collecting a certain number of points, which isn’t tied to club performance but things like ice time, number of teams per age group etc. While that’s true and sounds good, it’s a real struggle for most teams. Outside of Mannheim, who have multiple rinks in the same complex similar to what even Canadian junior cities have, every club struggles to find ice time for their players. If you don’t have multiple rinks, you’ll struggle to offer enough ice time for teams. If you don’t offer enough ice time, you get less funding. With less funding, you can’t build/sustain rinks to offer more ice time. That’s just one example. But for smaller clubs it’s impossible to move up and it’s just rewarding the big clubs.

As to more and more players getting a chance to play in the DEL, sure. But outside of the Seiders and Stützles, almost no U20 player actually gets a chance to play regular minutes. Even Julian Lutz barely played in the DEL last season. Teams are forced to dress a certain number of U23 players, but the U20 and sometimes U18 kids just sit there all game. It’s awful for their development.
 
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Speyer said:
Yes the lack of profesionalism and the obstacles of our dual education system certainly have an effect. In an interview this fall Joshua Fahrni said that he had only started to take nutrition seriously this summer and that he made a nutrition plan for the first time in his life. Of course this had a huge impact on his performance. But you have to take this sort of things more seriously from an even earlier age. I know Marco Rossi had his own personal trainer and a skating coach when he was still in Zürich. But as you said the swiss education system doesnt give the players a lot of room to focus on hockey.
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Yeah nutrition is a big key factor but i see improvement there in the OYM. And also i think there are some tries to help the players to train more often- trainingscenter in davos and OYM. Regarding this i think the lions missed a big chance with there new stadium because they didn’t build infrastructure similar to they OYM or Davos.
 
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pgfan66 said:
Speaking of Germany being an up-and-coming hockey nation, the TSN crew should really pay some attention and talk to German players, coaches and agents about the Powerplay2026 program they keep referring to in the most positive way.

They explained that there’s a point system where clubs get financial rewards for collecting a certain number of points, which isn’t tied to club performance but things like ice time, number of teams per age group etc. While that’s true and sounds good, it’s a real struggle for most teams. Outside of Mannheim, who have multiple rinks in the same complex similar to what even Canadian junior cities have, every club struggles to find ice time for their players. If you don’t have multiple rinks, you’ll struggle to offer enough ice time for teams. If you don’t offer enough ice time, you get less funding. With less funding, you can’t build/sustain rinks to offer more ice time. That’s just one example. But for smaller clubs it’s impossible to move up and it’s just rewarding the big clubs.

As to more and more players getting a chance to play in the DEL, sure. But outside of the Seiders and Stützles, almost no U20 player actually gets a chance to play regular minutes. Even Julian Lutz barely played in the DEL last season. Teams are forced to dress a certain number of U23 players, but the U20 and sometimes U18 kids just sit there all game. It’s awful for their development.
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Thanks for this.

I wouldn't expect TSN to have more than a superficial understanding of development programs outside of North America. Things are rarely as straightforward as we are led to believe.

Yes, without sufficient ice time, no player or program can flourish.
 
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Antiillafire said:
Tsn commentators said that the Slovak Swedish game tomorrow should be a good one to watch. They must be joking, or don’t realize that it won’t be streamed :laugh:
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JOJ Šport will broadcast all Slovak games. That means, the signal should be there. Question is, if they will send ot only for TV or also for stream.
 
Screenshot this Team Canada and let's hope most of them make it to the IIHF tournament next April. oh yes, and Bedard as well. That would be a blast.
 
landy92mack29 said:
Honestly would be fun to see a team WHL with how insane this age group is, think they'd win.

Benson-Yager-Heidt
Howe-Bedard-Christall
Oremba-Lind-Wormald
Tulk-Miller-Brown
Singer

Molendyk-Dragicevic
Price-Leslie
Weinstein-Hammell
Zemlak

Ratzlaff
Unger
Bjarnason

Plus guys like Wood, Perron, Slipec, Lacroix going college route
Click to expand...
Definitely a golden age (or year or two!) for the WHL. I don't recall it ever being this dominant at a national team level.
 
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starkravingsabres said:
Fingers crossed that Bedard and Michkov will both play in December.
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The IIHF U18 tournament for the '05 born players is next April. The U20 tournament is in December/January, why wouldn't Bedard be there? unless injured, of course.

as for Russia, they are banned from tournaments for the 2022 -'23 season, so you can forget the other player.
 
Gold Standard said:
The IIHF U18 tournament for the '05 born players is next April. The U20 tournament is in December/January, why wouldn't Bedard be there? unless injured, of course.

as for Russia, they are banned from tournaments for the 2022 -'23 season, so you can forget the other player.
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Bans can be rescinded. Injuries can happen.

Like I said, fingers crossed. I want to see the 2 most celebrated juniors since McDavid play in the same tournament, whether you care about "the other player" or not.
 
starkravingsabres said:
Bans can be rescinded. Injuries can happen.

Like I said, fingers crossed. I want to see the 2 most celebrated juniors since McDavid play in the same tournament, whether you care about "the other player" or not.
Click to expand...
Participants for IIHF tournaments in the 2022-'23 season are already fixed. We'll get Bedard and that's it. Watch and enjoy...or don't watch. The choice is yours.
 
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1E1D0234-265B-4809-B3F1-7E79B686744B.jpeg


Slovakia lineup. Pobežal as 1C has a chance to prove himself, the youngest player in the tournament and can show why he will be a high pick for the 2025 draft.
 
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