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WJC: Division I-III

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Tobias said:
Lol you have something against him or something?

I think he was amazing, and even better than Ehlers in a lot of situations, though Ehlers does have a higher gear in terms of skating.

The reason he was picked 89 is because of his size....
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I agree, and also 2013 was a very strong year. He was considered a late first to late 3rd.

He was brilliant.. Don't see how you could be dissapointed.
 
Tobias said:
Lol you have something against him or something?

I think he was amazing, and even better than Ehlers in a lot of situations, though Ehlers does have a higher gear in terms of skating.

The reason he was picked 89 is because of his size....
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ImGoingNucks said:
I agree, and also 2013 was a very strong year. He was considered a late first to late 3rd.

He was brilliant.. Don't see how you could be dissapointed.
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Exactly. Players of his size but with such skill and who can skate are late 1st / early 2nd round picks (Aberg, Zykov, Collberg, etc.). Since 2013 was a really deep year I would have understood him slipping till mid, maybe even late 2nd. But to see him slip to as late as #89 meant that scouts see something they really dislike about the player and I thought in this tournament one could really see that.

His consistency shift-to-shift varies. There where times he looked completely disengaged. There was a shift where Denmark had to breakout out of their own zone, Bjorkstrand carried the puck, made a pass to no one, D had to skate to it, get it back, Bjorkstrand got the puck again, it ended up exactly the same one more time, third time he decided to skate the puck out himself and coughed it up, goalie had to make a save. Other time, he deked two guys on his own blue line near the boards trying to escape the zone when he was a second man back. If he gets checked or looses it it's an instant 3 on 1 for the other team. These are the things that are HUGE red flags for scouts who try to evaluate how good of an NHL player can one be although it may fly at the junior level.

His decision making and vision are a bit of a question marks too, too many of those chest snipes on the power-play but that's surely a lesser concern if he can improve.

I mean look, I don't have anything personal against him, he's a good prospect and he can be a really good NHL player someday but there is a reason he was picked #89 and I don't have rose glasses on because he's not one of the best my country's prospects (that's sort of my advantage over you, I guess). At this point if Ehlers were to be the Danish Patrick Kane, Bjorkstrand is the Danish Alex Semin. Both are very good players but still at the end in kind of a different category.

And Bjorkstrand has many Semin-ish question marks about him. Since with all that kind of stuff he still dominates games at the junior level it sure looks like a bit of a rocky transition to the pro's game awaits him since there he'll be held accountable for every bad decision he makes. And that's a reason why such a dominant junior player went #89 and completely unspectacular Teddy Blugers (who finished the tournament with one assist in 3 games and -4) was picked at #52. Unless you think the fact that he's one inch taller played a part in that decision :)

In other words, in this case size is just an excuse which no one should be buying.
 
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SoundAndFury said:
Yeah, sure, so do the scouts of 30 NHL teams.
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I dont buy into your explanation..

It is very one-sided and one-dimensional. Do you watch Bjork play? Other than this WJC ofcourse?

He might not give it 110% every shift, but who does. He is a good player where there are questionmarks as with most players.

again, 2013 was a very deep draft where good players were drafted all the way up to the 4th-6th round.

Bjork slipped to the suprise of many. I see none of those weekneses you mention, at least not on a consistent basis. But again. only time can tell.

And please do not compare him and Blugers. the 2012 draft was the weakest draft since the mid 90s.

Im sorry but you just sound sour.. YOu have been very anti-Denmark all the way through.

Oh.. And btw.. Oliver was considered a huge steal at that spot ;)
 
ImGoingNucks said:
I dont buy into your explanation..

It is very one-sided and one-dimensional. Do you watch Bjork play? Other than this WJC ofcourse?

He might not give it 110% every shift, but who does. He is a good player where there are questionmarks as with most players.

again, 2013 was a very deep draft where good players were drafted all the way up to the 4th-6th round.

Bjork slipped to the suprise of many. I see none of those weekneses you mention, at least not on a consistent basis. But again. only time can tell.

And please do not compare him and Blugers. the 2012 draft was the weakest draft since the mid 90s.

Im sorry but you just sound sour.. YOu have been very anti-Denmark all the way through.

Oh.. And btw.. Oliver was considered a huge steal at that spot ;)
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I would really appreciate if you wrote yours.

No, I don't watch him play and that's why I was disappointed (because he wasn't a disappointment per se, I just expected from a guy who averages over 1.5 in the WHL).

Sure thing he slipped to the surprise of many and surely he was considered a huge steal but that's the whole point of my post - why did that happen? I'm not saying the reasons I wrote are true but at least they are likely. I would gladly consider another explanation.

Deep draft is hardly THE reason too because guys like Anthony Duclair, Taylor Cammarata, Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau and Sven Andrighetto went earlier and they are all undersized scoring wings (not to mention that Bjorkstrand has a two-way element in his game which isn't really the case with those 4 guys) who are not even close to what Bjorkstrand is in junior hockey.

And I tell you what is one sided and one dimensional - those scouting reports we all read before the draft that mention how great the player is at almost everything without mentioning even one flaw and despite that he ends up being drafted at the end of the third round. That's what really is one dimensional. And if there is the reason why I'm sour it's that, not because he's from Denmark.
 
SoundAndFury said:
I would really appreciate if you wrote yours.

No, I don't watch him play and that's why I was disappointed (because he wasn't a disappointment per se, I just expected from a guy who averages over 1.5 in the WHL).

Sure thing he slipped to the surprise of many and surely he was considered a huge steal but that's the whole point of my post - why did that happen? I'm not saying the reasons I wrote are true but at least they are likely. I would gladly consider another explanation.

Deep draft is hardly THE reason too because guys like Anthony Duclair, Taylor Cammarata, Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau and Sven Andrighetto went earlier and they are all undersized scoring wings (not to mention that Bjorkstrand has a two-way element in his game which isn't really the case with those 4 guys) who are not even close to what Bjorkstrand is in junior hockey.

And I tell you what is one sided and one dimensional - those scouting reports we all read before the draft that mention how great the player is at almost everything without mentioning even one flaw and despite that he ends up being drafted at the end of the third round. That's what really is one dimensional. And if there is the reason why I'm sour it's that, not because he's from Denmark.
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You ask an awfull lot of questions... Why did Zetterberg go in the later rounds? Why did clubs pass him up? What about Jannik Hansen, Mark Streit, Daniel Winnik. Not to mention there are A LOT of guys drafted in the 3rd round who are more than capable at NHL level.

His draft pos# has a lot of factors in it, one being his nationality and his size, others being his strenght.

You cant argue his pos. on the factors you mention. We have clubs who have different needs. When a club drafts a very small player early it is because he has superstar written all over him. We have clubs who draft high upside players with A LOT of question marks high in the 1st round. Because of talent alone. We have players who fall because of theur size or other small factors. And when I say, the 2013 draft was really strong. I am not exaggerating. There were so many players he could easily drown in the lot.

What did you expect from him? he is 18, and plays u20? He was on of the more prominent players on the team. More than some of the big guns on team Latvia. Also factor in the role he was given by the Danish coach, and the playing style overall.

Also he gets more points in the WHL because he is on team he plays with day in day out on small ice in high scoring games.
These WJC are seldom that.

These so called scouting reports always have a negative and a positive side, at least the ones I read...

You sound sour at Denmark.. You couldn't even muster a positive word about DK during the tourney..

Besides, I don't really get your point? No one here called Oliver a future NHL elite star. We called him a superstar in terms of Danish talent and in terms of the rest in the WJC Div.1A
 
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ImGoingNucks said:
You sound sour at Denmark.. You couldn't even muster a positive word about DK during the tourney..

Besides, I don't really get your point? No one here called Oliver a future NHL elite star. We called him a superstar in terms of Danish talent and in terms of the rest in the WJC Div.1A
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Well, whatever, I wasn't really trying to make a point I just shared an observation that he's likely to have a tough start to his professional which was taken the wrong way by many Danish posters. That's all there was, really.

Regarding Denmark, I have no reason to be sour and at the end it's probably for the best that they got promoted because they definitely have a best chance to stay up next year.

On the other hand, I can't see why I should had "mustered a positive word" about them during the tourney though. Other than Latvia game (where Latvians looked terrible) they weren't very impressive and I was pretty much indifferent to the final outcome of the tournament so.. Other than amusing Eller's storyline there wasn't much of the stuff to be very positive about. I didn't muster anything too positive about the other teams too but hey, that's what indifference is all about.
 
The WJC being over, there is still some U20 hockey left :handclap:

Do you think there is a chance for streams from the Div IIB and Div III Torunaments starting this weekend?
Who are the favourites and who's gonna get destroyed?
 
I'll be surprised if there are any streams available, but we never know.

In Division IIB, Spain is at home and just got relegated from Division IIA so they'll definitely be the favourite here. South Korea and Serbia are expected to battle with them for the promotion spot.

What's interesting is that Serbia has 21 returning players from last year (when they finished in 3rd position), which is basically unheard of. Dimitrije Filipovic is the only player who is no longer eligible but he was the team's captain and will be a huge loss.

In Division III, I expect Belgium to be promoted back and I expect Bryan Henry to light up the tournament. Interesting prospect who is putting up solid numbers in the Jr. A Mestis in Finland.

South Africa I believe will be making its first appearance in the U20 level since 2008 which is excellent news.
 
boris4c said:
I'll be surprised if there are any streams available, but we never know.

In Division IIB, Spain is at home and just got relegated from Division IIA so they'll definitely be the favourite here. South Korea and Serbia are expected to battle with them for the promotion spot.

What's interesting is that Serbia has 21 returning players from last year (when they finished in 3rd position), which is basically unheard of. Dimitrije Filipovic is the only player who is no longer eligible but he was the team's captain and will be a huge loss.

In Division III, I expect Belgium to be promoted back and I expect Bryan Henry to light up the tournament. Interesting prospect who is putting up solid numbers in the Jr. A Mestis in Finland.

South Africa I believe will be making its first appearance in the U20 level since 2008 which is excellent news.
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Thanks for the insight, appreciate it :handclap:
 
You're welcome, and btw, Serbia will be coached by former NHLer Dan Kesa who also happens to be Milan Lucic's uncle.

For the past year, he has been working on the popularization of the sport in Serbia and he organized a few hockey camps for children in Belgrade.

When Kesa played for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1998-99, he took Milan and his brothers to a game where they met Jaromir Jagr.

LGE4a4408_jagr_lucic.jpg
 
I really wonder how South Africa will do at the Div. III Tournament, will be some good hockey for sure :D
How does the qualifying work below the Div. III?
 
There is no qualification below the Division III level because there are no other teams, but there was a mini qualification tournament for the men's senior competition last time around. There were 4 automatically qualified teams (Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, North Korea and South Africa) and 2 more qualified through the mini tournament (Greece and UAE).
 
2014 U20 Div IIB WJC in Jaca, Spain

As people have already set their minds on the Olympic games, there are still some championships running.

In Jaca, Spain, the host country is one of the favourites to win the tournament among with South Korea.

The game between South-Korea and Iceland has already started and it's 0-0 in 1st period.
 
Teams in the tournament:

Spain
South Korea
Iceland
Serbia
Australia
China

Schedule:

11.1 Korea -Iceland 13:00
11.1 China-Austria 16:30
11.1 Serbia-Spain 20:30

12.1 Iceland-China 13:00
12.1 Korea-Serbia 16:30
12.1 Spain-Australia 20:00

14.1 Serbia-Australia 13.00
14.1 Korea -China 16.30
14.1 Spain-Iceland 20.00

15.1 Australia-Korea 13.00
15.1 Iceland-Serbia 16.30
15.1 China -Spain 20.00

17.1 Serbia-China 13.00
17.1 Australia-Iceland 16.30
17.1 Spain -Korea 20.00

Times are local time GMT +1
 
After scoreless 1st period, Korea and Iceland had a real scoring rally in the 2nd period.

22:04 1 - 0 EQ KOR 9. LEE Chongjae
(4. JEON Jungwoo)
(23. YOON Jaehyun

25:12 1 - 1 PP2 ISL 23. SNORRASON Sturla
(18. GUDNASON Falur)
(6. HELGASON Andri)

30:23 2 - 1 EQ KOR 17. KIM Hyungkyeum

34:06 2 - 2 EQ ISL 6. HELGASON Andri
(12. GUDMUNDSSON Gunnlaugur)

38:29 3 - 2 SH1 KOR 14. HWANG Doo Hyun
(22. KIM Geonwoo)

38:57 4 - 2 PP1 KOR 21. LEE Dounggun

39:59 5 - 2 PP1 KOR 23. YOON Jaehyun

SOG 24-23 for Korea
 
I think Korea is the favourite to move up, their Roster is the oldest one and I'm not sold on the Spanish yet. Let's see if the can beat Serbia tonight..
 
swissexpert said:
I think Korea is the favourite to move up, their Roster is the oldest one and I'm not sold on the Spanish yet. Let's see if the can beat Serbia tonight..
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Korea has changed almost their entire roster from last year and that might affect their chances.

Very tight game against Iceland. Last year it was 5-1 for Korea and this time 6-4 for Korea.

40:16 5 - 3 EQ ISL 23. SNORRASON Sturla
(10. BERGMANN Brynjar)

52:54 5 - 4 EQ ISL 10. BERGMANN Brynjar
(23. SNORRASON Sturla)

58:31 6 - 4 PP1 KOR 3. SEO Yeongjun
(24. KIM Youngjun)
(4. JEON Jungwoo)

SOG 37-34, PIM 18-14

Next game China-Australia. The promoted China was two days ago overwhelming favourite according to sports bookers and they offered odd 7.00 for Australia and like 1.31 for China.

Now the odds are 4,40-5,60-1,55 in favour of Australia.

I'm so glad I made my bet Australia +1,5 for odd 2.15 :laugh:
 
Australia +1,5 came home more than easily. If I only had also bet for their straight win..

5-3 for Australia. I wish these games also had live streams just like the other groups have had.

Opener for the host Spain starts soon against Serbia. I suppose it's a tight one but Spain should win it. Spain has many -96 born players, few -97 and even one -98. Serbia is also icing many -96 born players so they both have very young teams.
 
Very tight 2-1 win for Spain despite they outshot Serbia hevily 38-21. Spain took two penalties in the last 5 minutes of play but could keep the them off the score board.

04:17 0 - 1 EQ ESP 13. CARBONELL Alejandro
(12. GONZALEZ Gaston)

10:03 0 - 2 PP1 ESP 12. GONZALEZ Gaston
(13. CARBONELL Alejandro)

39:03 1 - 2 PP1 SRB 9. NOVAKOVIC Ugljesa
(11. BJELOGRLIC Uros)
(23. BOSKOVIC Stefan)
 
5.50 on Serbia tonight seems like a very high odd doesn't it?
They kept the game close against Spain and should be able to do that against Korea as well I think.
 
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