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WC: Division 1B 2025., Tallin 26.04 - 2.05.

he didn't get an ICEHL deal, he stepped in for Villach because he was around. It's not like he beat competition from whole Europe and got the job, but this is not the topic.

I don't think it is impossible Croatia loses every game, or loses a couple of games hard, I just think it is most likely they lose 4/5. I am not in any way impressed by any of other teams and I don't understand why everyone pretends they are so much more different than Croatia.

Polish league, Erste Liga, Alps, Baltic league... all more or less same thing and as far as the stars are concerned... even the stars can have bad days.

Anyway, we'll see
 
HungryFrank said:
I don't think it is impossible Croatia loses every game,
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How ? Lithuania, Estonia and Korea are different stratosphere for us. China played very well at both Asian Championship and AWG, losing to Kazahstan on ENG while beating Korea. Spain won against us in 2023. and they stayed last year in D1B.
 
HungryFrank said:
I am not in any way impressed by any of other teams and I don't understand why everyone pretends they are so much more different than Croatia.
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Croatia has just spent 5 years in D2A, finishing below Georgia with 0 professional players there at one point and losing head to head against them 6-0. From my Lithuanian perspective, that is not a pretension to say that is much, much different from what we have ever achieved in hockey. And just before you say something about the Rendulic effect again, he was on the team that lost to Georgia as well.

Unfortunately, you choose to ignore all that and instead drum up how they are just as professional as everyone else because Croatian players have a safety net of a team now locally. And despite getting dunked on by Ivan Karelin from Bakurianis Mimino, Robert Rooba doesn't scare you.

I agree that in international hockey many things can happen: Armenia just beat VHL-level players representing Uzbekistan, the Netherlands B team somehow beat China represented by KHLers in their only win of the tournament. The games there are closer than they should be "on paper" due to the variety of factors. And Croatia can take advantage of that. But your argument that there is no skill gap between teams and "how are they so different" and the assumption that Croats are going to be at their best and cannot possibly be at their worst, is just disingenuous.
 
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I never said there is no gap, gap between countries exist, so please don't say I think level(Croatia) = level(Lithuania) or level(Croatia) = level(Estonia).

Gap exists, but it something that other factors might reduce: Very hot goalie, bad day, for example. (or other factors might amplify if goalie of an underdog has a bad day)

That's why I say that all teams in that division are not that different and I am not impressed with anyone in this level. You compare teams "if both played more or less to their potential, what would happen", I never make that assumption. Lower the level, more likely other factors influence the end result. You try to be accurate, I know I can't be accurate and I embrace the chaos. That's why we won't agree and I am under impression you think I claim Croatia is strong while we just simply use different metrics.

I stated in my first message, I think Croatia takes place 5 so I think it is clear where I put them in this division in most scenarios.
 
As I said I don´t think it is out of question that Croatia will beat Spain. Who knows they can challenge other teams too if they have a good start to the game.

But in my opinion Spain is better team. Now ofcourse there is limited amount of Croatia that I have seen. Spain has been pretty much been the same team and coaching after COVID. Especially the defence. 2022 they lost Croatia in shootout. 2023 they were promoted and won Croatia 5-2. Last year they showed that their disciplined game can work in 1DB. Even Ukraine had tough time cracking the code.

They have far less drama (who is coming to play, who is not). They have system that the players have bought and they can execute. And the team is still fairly young. That is why I rank Spain over Croatia even though by "league watching" Spain does not seem like much.
 
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Sanf said:
As I said I don´t think it is out of question that Croatia will beat Spain. Who knows they can challenge other teams too if they have a good start to the game.

But in my opinion Spain is better team. Now ofcourse there is limited amount of Croatia that I have seen. Spain has been pretty much been the same team and coaching after COVID. Especially the defence. 2022 they lost Croatia in shootout. 2023 they were promoted and won Croatia 5-2. Last year they showed that their disciplined game can work in 1DB. Even Ukraine had tough time cracking the code.

They have far less drama (who is coming to play, who is not). They have system that the players have bought and they can execute. And the team is still fairly young. That is why I rank Spain over Croatia even though by "league watching" Spain does not seem like much.
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I agree with everything you said. And let's not forget another thing, in the game against Serbia there was noticeable difference between Alps league players in zone breakout, defending, and overall energy on the ice compared to non-Alps. That means Croatia has "one and half line" advantage over Spain and this could easily be neglected since Spain is a "home" team against us and thus having last change.
 
Estonia plays Korea today at 16:00. Will go and see the game at the arena. Roster is here:
1745148966501.png

Compared to the first friendly against Lithuania, we added Jürgens, Arrak, Kulintsev, Slessarevski Novikov and Ossipov.

Jihlava has their 3rd Extraliga quali game, but it seems like Olomouc will win the series quickly and Burkov can join the NT after. Kozyrev's season in SPHL ended and he should be on the way. So now Kombe seems to be the only possible absentee.
 
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1-0 win for Korea. Not sure when Koreans arrived and wether jetlag played a role. I was glad to see that the speed of Koreans was not an issue for us, but our offensive game was rough. It was quite evident, that Koreans are quite familiar with each other as almost all of them play for Anyang.

I am glad that we will play Korea on the 4th gameday, so a win does not look impossible.
 
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bv29 said:
Spain took point against Estonia, played solid game against Lithuania (0:3) and Ukraine (despite 1:7 loss, there was 1:1 around 30 minute mark). Just that alone makes them overwhelming favourites against us.
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And in what way is Croatia worse than Spain? Spain dont have any players of the caliber of Katic, Rendulic, Izdan. The Spain hype in this forum is really weird.
 
Estonia won 3-2 to Lithuania. Timofejev was good just like yesterday. I am suprised that he can play with men already.

Kalpa just clinched their final spot while Jihlava lost the series, so Kombe out, Burkov in.
 
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MACRUIC said:
China - Spain was 8-4 ;)

Croatia beat Serbia 4-1 last night.

Lithuania - South Korea currently 2-0 to Lithuania at 1st intermission - live here:

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Isn't it a bit bizarre that there were so many friendlies between teams that will play against each other just a few days later in World championship?

Practically tournament before tournament.

As for Crotian win, on Croatian forum someone said that Rendulić scored hat-trick and Kanaet one, but another user just replied that that is not correct. Weird secrecy all together.
 
Yes, it is strange having all those friendly matches, but I guess it's the cheapest way to have friendly matches rather than having to pay travel fees to travel to another country for friendlies, and then more fees to travel to the host of the competition. And obviously they consider having some friendly matches is important.

Croatia 4-1 Serbia (1-1, 3-0, 0-0)
07:05 Andrija Španjević (0-1)
09:25 Borna Rendulić (1-1)
34:18 Borna Rendulić (2-1)
36:23 Nik Malenica (3-1)
38:35 Vito Idžan (4-1)

Estonia - China in the last of the pre-tournament games is going on right now. Estonia leading 5-1 after 2 periods (1-1, 4-0).
 
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MACRUIC said:
China - Spain was 8-4 ;)
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Granted allowing so many goals in two games does not look very promising for Spain. Though last year China was their poison too. And China is by far the biggest question mark for me. We will see.
 
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