WJC: 2025 Team USA Roster Talk

it’s a short tournament so coaches need to be quick sometimes. But there’s also plenty of guys who have struggled at the beginning of the tourney (never mind, pre-tourney Game One) but bounced back to be very good. Jimmy Vesey is my poster child for this. He looked lost and overwhelmed through 3 games but was very important in the medal round.
 
Haven’t followed anything pre-tournament very closely but curious how has Fischer looked for you guys?
 
The PP was posted somewhere. I remember seeing Burnevik listed in the bumper. The rest of the PP seems like it would just be the top line and Buium on the point.

Edit- It was probably net front for Burnevik. He’s a big boy, isn’t he?
 
The Slovakian hockey YouTube channel posted some highlight clips in a post game interview. Of note at the 26 second mark you see us working the puck on the PP with Buium at the point and Hagens ripping a few shots from the right slot. Quick puck movement. Can't draw conclusions from it obviously, but it's fun to see a few highlight clips.
 
Exhibitions mean very little but it's nice to see a lot of the big names putting up points in them. Hopefully juicing their confidence to open the tournament.
 
Thursday should be a nice start for the boys to get going. Definitely a very top heavy team, the depth looks solid though unspectacular. But I usually prefer teams that look better on ice than on paper as we typically perform to our level and above with those types.

Truly wish Will Smith was here. The amount of feasting that trio would have done would feed other nations for years...
 
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One of my favorite times of the year, can’t wait for New Year’s Eve against Canada. The Hagens, Leonard and Perrault line really started to click the last 3 weeks before the break. Keep an eye on Leonard though, he was hobbled the last 3-4 weeks with an ankle injury against Maine. He didn’t miss any games but he’d miss shifts or look hobbled for a couple shifts from tweaking it. I’m not super concerned but it’s worth watching

Last thing I’m interested in is the PP. The BC pp has been atrocious but I think it’s more about Powell and the 5th person they’ve been cycling through it. I’m pretty confident with Buium and a better net front, they’ll gel quickly
 
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I eagerly look forward to this tourney every year. Guaranteed excitement, surprises, and drama.

It's a shame the WJC has such a low profile here in the USA. Don't know how to fix that.

I don't expect the general sports public to become aware of the tournament but I wish more hockey fans in the US were. It seems only the die hards follow it.

Note - Next year in Minnesota.
 
I don't expect the general sports public to become aware of the tournament but I wish more hockey fans in the US were. It seems only the die hards follow it.

Note - Next year in Minnesota.
Among non-Canadians, it's only the die-hards even here on HFB who follow it closely.

Next year the WJC rinks will be full of Canadians, just like in Grand Forks and Buffalo. I don't think there's any American city where that would not be the case.

Not even complaining about it. Good on Canadians for supporting their WJC teams with such fervor, wherever it's hosted.
 
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I still like this tournament, but it's not the same anymore. Junior hockey has also become much more organized and we see really entertaining games maybe a little less often these days.

I may feel this way partly also because I myself have a very difficult relationship with hockey these days. I want to like it as much as I used to, but it just doesn't feel the same. Especially the NHL is a constant PP, physicality and emotions have disappeared and the biggest problem is that the game is so over-coached with all the technological development. This same phenomenon has made many other sports more boring too.
 
I still like this tournament, but it's not the same anymore. Junior hockey has also become much more organized and we see really entertaining games maybe a little less often these days.

I may feel this way partly also because I myself have a very difficult relationship with hockey these days. I want to like it as much as I used to, but it just doesn't feel the same. Especially the NHL is a constant PP, physicality and emotions have disappeared and the biggest problem is that the game is so over-coached with all the technological development. This same phenomenon has made many other sports more boring too.
It happens as you get older. What matters to you when you were younger, loses its effect. Still, once it starts, the hockey is so exciting, we usually get caught up in it.
 
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Among non-Canadians, it's only the die-hards even here on HFB who follow it closely.

Next year the WJC rinks will be full of Canadians, just like in Grand Forks and Buffalo. I don't think there's any American city where that would not be the case.

Not even complaining about it. Good on Canadians for supporting their WJC teams with such fervor, wherever it's hosted.

The number of US fans in attendance will probably depend on the ticket prices. US Hockey tried to fleece the fans in Buffalo and it did not go well.
 
I think in Minnesota the attendance will be better and it'll be knowledgeable fans. A lot of the fans of amateur hockey in Minnesota watch these players at the U or some of the other Minnesota colleges and in high school (the best players usually only their first or second year before they go off to NTDP or junior, but occasionally a 4 year player makes the WJC team).

Buffalo isn't a bad place for hockey, but it's not Minnesota.
 
Agreed that MN has hockey fans, but the cost of tickets needs to be reasonable. Seems that the organizers of these tournaments would rather have 2000 watching a game at $150/seat than 10,000 at $50.
 
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I think in Minnesota the attendance will be better and it'll be knowledgeable fans. A lot of the fans of amateur hockey in Minnesota watch these players at the U or some of the other Minnesota colleges and in high school (the best players usually only their first or second year before they go off to NTDP or junior, but occasionally a 4 year player makes the WJC team).

Buffalo isn't a bad place for hockey, but it's not Minnesota.
Buffalo didn’t have a problem the first time around. They averaged over 10k per game in 2011. Up from well under 7K per the last time it was in the US. Then they returned too quickly, made the outdoor game the big event ticket, and overpriced everything else. It was a disaster gameplan just trying to do the big outdoor game with no thought put into anything else. But they did get over 44 thousand to the outdoor game. And couldn’t convert any of them into attending the regular games because the prices were out of whack. They only did 7K per in 2018. And that was with one game doing 44 thousand itself.
 

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