2025 FISU Hockey - Torino, Italy

[UNB Bruins Fan]

The US goalie held them in it for longer than I thought

 

[TruthBombs]

USA scores to make it 2-1 in the 2nd and CAN wakes up with 5 goals including a PP and SH.
Shots were 25-2 for CAN.
6-2 after 40.

CAN adds 3 more in the 3rd for a 10-2 win. Shots 64-14.

Good effort by the USA but they were overmatched once CAN got on track.

Gold Medal game Wed vs SVK at 3 pm AST.

No real surprise there. It's long past time that USA Hockey and the NCAA send Division I players that can compete with the top teams in the event.

 

[AUS Fan]

No real surprise there. It's long past time that USA Hockey and the NCAA send Division I players that can compete with the top teams in the event.

They won't do that. It's not a high profile event like the IIHF U20 or U18. It's a couple of weeks after U20, so teams would be missing players for over a month. There are no NHL scouts at FISU, so no exposure.

In reality, the US is the only country with NHL ready players in university. In Canada they're in the CHL and other countries they're in men's leagues. If the US were to send a team of 22-24 yr olds from D1 teams, they would never lose a game.

But, FISU without the Russians is pretty watered down. Having said that, I think it's great for some girl or guy from JPN, GBR, KOR, TPE, POL to have a chance to play hockey for their country.

The US goalie held them in it for longer than I thought

He was solid in the 1st. Had some kind of injury during the 2nd and the other guy played the 3rd.

 

[DrPabloRamirez]

After seeing the Canada - USA match, I still can't understand how this Canadian team could not beat the Czech Republic in the group. The Czech Republic had players from the 2nd-3rd league. Likewise, Slovakia has players mainly from the 2nd league, only a few of them have played something in the highest competition. Kazakhstan had a very strong selection of the domestic league. 8 players played at the 2025 U20 World Championship, Nikitin was drafted by Ottawa and Buyalski by Colorado (2021, 3rd round). A few players have experience from the KHL and also from the World Championships in the men´s category.
Ukraine also has several players of the national team, but their level does not reach the strength of Kazakhstan. Anyway, I don't know how the USA will approach the bronze medal match, here Ukraine could have some chances, despite the 1:5 loss against the USA in the group. Canada should dominate in the finals.

 

[AUS Fan]

After seeing the Canada - USA match, I still can't understand how this Canadian team could not beat the Czech Republic in the group. The Czech Republic had players from the 2nd-3rd league. Likewise, Slovakia has players mainly from the 2nd league, only a few of them have played something in the highest competition. Kazakhstan had a very strong selection of the domestic league. 8 players played at the 2025 U20 World Championship, Nikitin was drafted by Ottawa and Buyalski by Colorado (2021, 3rd round). A few players have experience from the KHL and also from the World Championships in the men´s category.
Ukraine also has several players of the national team, but their level does not reach the strength of Kazakhstan. Anyway, I don't know how the USA will approach the bronze medal match, here Ukraine could have some chances, despite the 1:5 loss against the USA in the group. Canada should dominate in the finals.

The CZE goalie stole that game and CAN goalie got scored on 3 times in the SO while the CZE goalie stopped all 3. None of that matters because CAN is playing for Gold and CZE is not. USA won all 4 of their games including against UKR. I think USA will regroup and have a good game. CAN should win over SVK.

 

[TruthBombs]

They won't do that. It's not a high profile event like the IIHF U20 or U18. It's a couple of weeks after U20, so teams would be missing players for over a month. There are no NHL scouts at FISU, so no exposure.

In reality, the US is the only country with NHL ready players in university. In Canada they're in the CHL and other countries they're in men's leagues. If the US were to send a team of 22-24 yr olds from D1 teams, they would never lose a game.

But, FISU without the Russians is pretty watered down. Having said that, I think it's great for some girl or guy from JPN, GBR, KOR, TPE, POL to have a chance to play hockey for their country.


He was solid in the 1st. Had some kind of injury during the 2nd and the other guy played the 3rd.

Maybe on the women's side, the U-20 is a consideration, but let's be real - most of the players in NCAA men's hockey are overage for that event. Do teams want to lose players for a week or two? No, but the players they'd be missing for the World Juniors and the players they'd be missing for this are not the same pool of players, by and large. A team assembled of B-level US born talent playing NCAA hockey could go to this event and win.

At some point, USA Hockey needs to figure out that sending a bunch of plugs overseas to get pumped by teams we could easily beat if we sent NCAA players isn't really a good representation of college hockey and of hockey in the US in general.

 

[AUS Fan]

Maybe on the women's side, the U-20 is a consideration, but let's be real - most of the players in NCAA men's hockey are overage for that event. Do teams want to lose players for a week or two? No, but the players they'd be missing for the World Juniors and the players they'd be missing for this are not the same pool of players, by and large. A team assembled of B-level US born talent playing NCAA hockey could go to this event and win.

At some point, USA Hockey needs to figure out that sending a bunch of plugs overseas to get pumped by teams we could easily beat if we sent NCAA players isn't really a good representation of college hockey and of hockey in the US in general.

I think the age limit for FISU is 24, but I'm not sure. I didn't say the US should send the NHL picks, I said a team of 22-24 year olds, or even 20-21. But also said that it's great to represent your country and ACHA players will never have the chance unless it's at FISU. Winning isn't everything.

 

[TruthBombs]

I think the age limit for FISU is 24, but I'm not sure. I didn't say the US should send the NHL picks, I said a team of 22-24 year olds, or even 20-21. But also said that it's great to represent your country and ACHA players will never have the chance unless it's at FISU. Winning isn't everything.

Winning isn't everything, but winning still matters. USA Hockey sending a team with no chance to win, though, says that either 1) the tournament doesn't matter to USA Hockey, or 2) that the tournament doesn't really matter at all - to anyone - when the national governing body that is now producing as many (and soon, more) top level players than Canada can't be bothered to send a competitive team.