WC: Divisions I, II, III

[Kiraly]

Man, if only we had won that game against South Korea. It's a shame we were able to beat both Slovenia and Austria and still don't get promoted.

5-0 vs Japan after ~15 minutes including two PPG and two SHG. Looks like we want to finish this tournament off on another high note.
Still a great tournament for Polish hockey.

Edit: 6:0

10-4 Final. If they could have gotten at least a point against Korea or Italy, they would of advanced. Its too bad they didn't I (and I imagine many others) was really rooting for them. Would have been great to see another non-traditional team up with the big boys. That said, if they play like they did during the latter half of the tournament, there chances for promotion next year are very good.

 

[kabidjan18]

I hope austria gets someone like klopp as coach. His Teams always play to their best when there is almost no hope left

The rumors are about Bengt Ake Gustafsson and Dean Chynoweth, who have both been in Austria recently, though Gustafsson's motive for being there is undetermined. I personally want Darby Hendrickson, we'll see, but I'm not sure you can do much worse than Coach Ratushny so...

 

[Kschey]

10-4 Final. If they could have gotten at least a point against Korea or Italy, they would of advanced. Its too bad they didn't I (and I imagine many others) was really rooting for them. Would have been great to see another non-traditional team up with the big boys. That said, if they play like they did during the latter half of the tournament, there chances for promotion next year are very good.

Yeah, at this point I'm really optimistic it will happen sooner or later. They need a better start next time and then take it from there on.

Things are getting better and better, though. In Polish sports in general, and in hockey in particular.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Well done to Italy - they used to be a staple at the top level (albeit the lower end of the top level) but other countries overtook them and I am sure they wondered if they would ever get back....well now they have.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Glad we won and move up (we ll get destroyed there), we've been between top and 2nd tier for some time now, our destiny but knowing circumstances that's more than ok and it might drastically change for worse in near future.

Congrats Poland, positive surprise, gutsy performance, i must say this D1 tourney was one of the more exciting in recent years.

 

[S E P H]

Great to see Poland rebound well as the tournament went along, but sad to see Japan get relegated. They were never this bad, were they? Sounds like they were all out of sorts this year. Would rather see Italy fall down, they don't really care about hockey (more people watched triathlon than hockey in the country at the last Olympics). In Japan, they are top 15 in the most registered user and it's the number one sport in the upper regions of the country where it gets snow.

 

[tade]

Oh my polish friends, that's too bad, it would be awesome to see you in elite group. Next year!

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

Happy with the result. I'd like consistent results before getting slaughtered in the top division.

 

[kabidjan18]

Austrian news is getting fan's hopes up by reporting that the Rat is gonna stay because he wants to stay. Pretty sure that's not the way it works, HC Lausanne would be anything but thrilled to let their new head coach spend two weeks away from the team leading up to his first season. Anyhow, it gives more time for Darby Hendrickson to come on the market.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

Prediction for 2017:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2018:
Slovenia & Italy
for 2019:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2020:
Slovenia & Italy

Why not just have a permanent 18 team top division?

 

[kabidjan18]

Prediction for 2017:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2018:
Slovenia & Italy
for 2019:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2020:
Slovenia & Italy

Why not just have a permanent 18 team top division?

So that people will show some interests in the D1A as well, promotion relegation is a euro thing keeps things competitive, or should.

 

[Garl]

Prediction for 2017:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2018:
Slovenia & Italy
for 2019:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2020:
Slovenia & Italy

Why not just have a permanent 18 team top division?

Expanding to 18 will not erase elevator teams. They are present in every division.
It is up to either this teams to improve to the level of Latvia, Belarus, Norway, Denmark, France or for teams like Poland, South Korea, Japan, Great Britain, Hungary to improve to the level of let's say Austria.

If you mean a closed league, it makes no sense.

 

[kabidjan18]

Expanding to 18 will not erase elevator teams. They are present in every division.
It is up to either this teams to improve to the level of Latvia, Belarus, Norway, Denmark, France or for teams like Poland, South Korea, Japan, Great Britain, Hungary to improve to the level of let's say Austria.

If you mean a closed league, it makes no sense.

Slovenia, Kazakhstan (+imports) and Austria are on the level of the teams you mentioned, if not better. The rest are all generally accepted to be a tier below. He's postulating that since some of the elevator teams are a level above the T3 teams they should just be closed into the Top Division, but it's honestly not a great idea.

 

[tony d]

18 teams wouldn't be a good number for groups, if anything expand it to 20 or even 24. You do 24 and you use the current playoff format for the Euro soccer tournament.

 

[kaiser matias]

18 teams wouldn't be a good number for groups, if anything expand it to 20 or even 24. You do 24 and you use the current playoff format for the Euro soccer tournament.

24 teams would mean that countries like Ukraine and Great Britain would be in the top division, and would see Lithuania and Croatia fighting for promotion (based on this years results). They have enough trouble against the likes of Slovenia and Austria, and would look real bad playing against Canada or Russia. Hockey just doesn't have the international depth to have a tournament that large. As it stands there are only 46 countries that played in the World Championship this year; having half of them in the top division doesn't really make sense.

 

[Urbanskog]

I would like to see the number of teams increased but I'm not sure what would be the right number. With 18 teams there would be two groups of nine teams so each team would play eight games in the group stage and I feel that even the current seven is slightly too many. 24 would be the ideal number of teams from a structural point of view but as kaiser matias stated, it would augment the disparity between the participating teams, likely to an unreasonable extent.

 

[JTD]

I would like to see the number of teams increased but I'm not sure what would be the right number. With 18 teams there would be two groups of nine teams so each team would play eight games in the group stage and I feel that even the current seven is slightly too many. 24 would be the ideal number of teams from a structural point of view but as kaiser matias stated, it would augment the disparity between the participating teams, likely to an unreasonable extent.

It would be fine if they went to 18 teams and went to the Olympic format of 3 groups. Top 12 teams advance to playoff round, top 4 seeds get byes into quarters and bottom 4 teams play relegation games. I think that would be the best format. Play less games which the players would like and still get to add more teams.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

18 teams was a sarcastic suggestion. But here's a more serious one: how about 14?
The battle for 11th and 12th would be more competative.

 

[kabidjan18]

18 teams was a sarcastic suggestion. But here's a more serious one: how about 14?
The battle for 11th and 12th would be more competative.

I actually like this idea...it would prevent fluke promotions to the top division. It keeps a certain amount of mid-major programs in the D1A at each time. If we were to do a power ranking of the teams (very roughly, and based on the B-teams each country sends to Worlds, not A-team strength):
Top division: Canada, Russia, Sweden, US, Finland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus, Slovakia, Germany, Denmark, Latvia
Elevator teams: Norway, France, Slovenia, Austria
D1A: Hungary, Kazakhstan, Italy, Poland

 

[BayStreetBully]

I'm a couple days late to the Div I recap, but I've been impressed with the quality of all the teams this year. It's unfortunate to see Japan relegated. They've been a mainstay of this div for years now, and they've put in some good performances in recent years. I also like the diversity they bring to this div.

 

[kaiser matias]

I'm a couple days late to the Div I recap, but I've been impressed with the quality of all the teams this year. It's unfortunate to see Japan relegated. They've been a mainstay of this div for years now, and they've put in some good performances in recent years. I also like the diversity they bring to this div.

For that at least South Korea is still there (naturalised Canadians notwithstanding; though of course Japan was in the elite division for years simply because the IIHF wanted an Asian country there, and China and Korea were not options at the time, so it evens out sort of).

 

[Milansdad]

Prediction for 2017:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2018:
Slovenia & Italy
for 2019:
Kazakhstan & Austria
for 2020:
Slovenia & Italy

Why not just have a permanent 18 team top division?

And where is Hungary? Should not be overlooked just like that. We beat Austria 4 times in a row now (friendlies), beat Italy last year at Div/A WC 4-1, barely got beaten by Kazakhstan and Russia B team just now (2-3 both times, led against both team). I would say we are at the Kazah/Italy/Austria level now.

 

[kabidjan18]

And where is Hungary? Should not be overlooked just like that. We beat Austria 4 times in a row now (friendlies), beat Italy last year at Div/A WC 4-1, barely got beaten by Kazakhstan and Russia B team just now (2-3 both times, led against both team). I would say we are at the Kazah/Italy/Austria level now.

*cough* we beat Austria B 4 times in friendly matches. We also barely lost to Kazakhstan without Dallman and Russia C.

I don't really know anyone who puts Italy on the same level as Austria, so that's a very strange level pairing you have there haha.

 

[airbus1094]

And where is Hungary? Should not be overlooked just like that. We beat Austria 4 times in a row now (friendlies), beat Italy last year at Div/A WC 4-1, barely got beaten by Kazakhstan and Russia B team just now (2-3 both times, led against both team). I would say we are at the Kazah/Italy/Austria level now.

Not yet, getting close but I don't think you're quite at that level yet. Also, I'm very interested in how Hun will do at the u20 and u18 levels with both Kaz, Aus and Ita getting more competitive and imo that's a good indicator for future senior team strength.

 

[Kiraly]

Not yet, getting close but I don't think you're quite at that level yet. Also, I'm very interested in how Hun will do at the u20 and u18 levels with both Kaz, Aus and Ita getting more competitive and imo that's a good indicator for future senior team strength.

Funny thing about the Hungarian teenagers born in the 90's is that it seemed a strong group of kids would be followed by a weak group. The stronger group was born in an even-numbered year whereas the weaker group was born in an odd-numbered year. This goes back to 1992. The result is a strong showing in one year which is usually followed by a disappointing relegation. Looking back now between 1992 and 1998, I would consider the 93, 95, & 97 age groups to be weaker than the others.

That said 1999 may be different as quite a few were part of the team that won promotion to Division 1A. As you mentioned, next year's tournament may give us some indication where Hungarian hockey may be trending when they are tested by the Kazakhs, the Norwegians, the French and the Germans.