- May 28, 2012
- 11,346
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I don't think there was a thread yet, the tournament starts on Sunday in my hometown Kaunas, Lithuania. Participants are France, Japan, Korea, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania.
Tournament info: WJC-18 D1B - Standings, Teams, Games, Scores, Stats & More
France should be the favorite despite finishing in a very disappointing 4th place last year which I will guess was their lowest finish ever. Annoyingly, they are also the only team not to announce their roster yet. But from what I gather, they should be missing their best forward - Mathis Dufour - to the BCHL playoffs however icing the D-core of Ligue Magnus regulars including Belgium-born Noa Nsonsa-Kitala who is ranked #114 amongst the EU skaters for the upcoming draft by the NHL Central Scouting. Considering he plays for Marseille in France, that could be a significant undervaluation and the kid has a reasonable chance to be drafted.
Lithuania is going to try to mount a title challenge after a surprising 2nd-place finish last year. Positives: playing at home and a heap of our top prospects in the last year of eligibility: 5 top scorers of our U20 team are on this U18 one. Downsides: Algirdas Jaras aside, both defense and goaltending are unproven, either debuting or having played very limited roles at the international level previously. Feels like in terms of the talent level, this is a pretty usual crop in those positions which is average at the very best for the D1B level.
Japan and Korea are bringing their usual mystery teams, no prospects with particular credentials in the NHL/Europe-oriented hockey world. The last time Japan played at this level was in 2020 so they surely aren't just going to take it lying down but the quality they could utilize to mount a title challenge isn't obvious.
Estonia also surprised last year finishing 3rd but they were led by Maxim Burkov and David Timofejev who are objectively very good prospects so the surprise was not so much based on the quality of their team but on the fact that this was Estonia's best-ever finish at the U18 WC (Lituania, Estonia and France have all achieved some kind of record last year, safe to say not a very typical tournament). Maybe Estonian posters can correct me but this feels like the weakest Estonian U18 team in quite some time. Their best prospect - Nikita Antonov - is actually a teammate of Lithuania's Pijus Pranskevicius but while Lithuania has 5 forwards of similar or even better quality, Antonov should be an outstanding leader of the Estonian squad.
Poland got promoted from the D2A and, as usual will be fighting for survival. Pretty regular squad with most guys playing in Poland or the Czech junior system. 3 kids represent the Czech Extraliga clubs at the U20 level so this certainly isn't the worst Poland has ever had but the regular one meaning 50/50 chances of survival, I'd say.
Tournament info: WJC-18 D1B - Standings, Teams, Games, Scores, Stats & More
France should be the favorite despite finishing in a very disappointing 4th place last year which I will guess was their lowest finish ever. Annoyingly, they are also the only team not to announce their roster yet. But from what I gather, they should be missing their best forward - Mathis Dufour - to the BCHL playoffs however icing the D-core of Ligue Magnus regulars including Belgium-born Noa Nsonsa-Kitala who is ranked #114 amongst the EU skaters for the upcoming draft by the NHL Central Scouting. Considering he plays for Marseille in France, that could be a significant undervaluation and the kid has a reasonable chance to be drafted.
Lithuania is going to try to mount a title challenge after a surprising 2nd-place finish last year. Positives: playing at home and a heap of our top prospects in the last year of eligibility: 5 top scorers of our U20 team are on this U18 one. Downsides: Algirdas Jaras aside, both defense and goaltending are unproven, either debuting or having played very limited roles at the international level previously. Feels like in terms of the talent level, this is a pretty usual crop in those positions which is average at the very best for the D1B level.
Japan and Korea are bringing their usual mystery teams, no prospects with particular credentials in the NHL/Europe-oriented hockey world. The last time Japan played at this level was in 2020 so they surely aren't just going to take it lying down but the quality they could utilize to mount a title challenge isn't obvious.
Estonia also surprised last year finishing 3rd but they were led by Maxim Burkov and David Timofejev who are objectively very good prospects so the surprise was not so much based on the quality of their team but on the fact that this was Estonia's best-ever finish at the U18 WC (Lituania, Estonia and France have all achieved some kind of record last year, safe to say not a very typical tournament). Maybe Estonian posters can correct me but this feels like the weakest Estonian U18 team in quite some time. Their best prospect - Nikita Antonov - is actually a teammate of Lithuania's Pijus Pranskevicius but while Lithuania has 5 forwards of similar or even better quality, Antonov should be an outstanding leader of the Estonian squad.
Poland got promoted from the D2A and, as usual will be fighting for survival. Pretty regular squad with most guys playing in Poland or the Czech junior system. 3 kids represent the Czech Extraliga clubs at the U20 level so this certainly isn't the worst Poland has ever had but the regular one meaning 50/50 chances of survival, I'd say.
. Lot of hopes are put on those guys.
