This thread was going really well and then homers decided to strike
It's coming home and all that indeed.
I was told it’s because the UK is officially named the “United Kingdom of Great Britain”.
This thread was going really well and then homers decided to strike
How about those 4 years straight in D1B before? Or you haven't been there yet? Because you know, if you don't want to dive into ifs and buts let's just accept the fact that D1B is where GB spent the most time after the reorganization of IIHF championships and its U20/U18 teams are stuck in the 2nd division for years trailing Poland, Hungary and similar countries by a mile.
One could even go as far as saying that the only reason you were competitive in D1A and, to the extent, elite is because you finally naturalized some decent high-end talent. Otherwise, it would be back to EIHL role players who have a job there thanks to their passports and have a hard time scoring against 1B countries in must-win games, nevermind Hungary.
And Perlini. And Hammond. And Mosey who was instrumental in finally getting promotion from 1B (as was Brooks in both of those championship wins). You can argue the former two are Brits all you want but there is a reason why they played for GB for the first time in 2018. And how many local players of that caliber GB had at that point? 2? Bowns and Dowd? O'Connor and Farmer as well maybe if you are really reaching for it.
Yes, I agree. Just like I said everyone was perfectly reasonable in this thread (as you continue to be) until the 1865 guy showed up.
That's a kinda sketchy argument to prove your point. You can say you were the best team, I can say you were because Lithuania was missing Zubrus, Armalis, Alisauskas, and Kumeliauskas x2. Basically, you know, every player that made our team good at that level. Which you had trouble beating both before and after.
This thread was going really well and then homers decided to strike
How about those 4 years straight in D1B before? Or you haven't been there yet? Because you know, if you don't want to dive into ifs and buts let's just accept the fact that D1B is where GB spent the most time after the reorganization of IIHF championships and its U20/U18 teams are stuck in the 2nd division for years trailing Poland, Hungary and similar countries by a mile.
One could even go as far as saying that the only reason you were competitive in D1A and, to the extent, elite is because you finally naturalized some decent high-end talent. Otherwise, it would be back to EIHL role players who have a job there thanks to their passports and have a hard time scoring against 1B countries in must-win games, nevermind Hungary.
His brother has literally chosen to represent Canada as he himself most likely would have if he had a chance (as in was good enough) and you call that much of a reach?
It's not even close to the Gallo situation, I have no clue how those are even similar in your mind.It's not even a dig, it's literally how it was. And you listed it more or less correctly, your best local center is an aging EIHL utility guy. You have some good pieces, no one argues with that, every country at 1B does. But don't tell me the guys you brought in don't fill the crucial holes like the guy quoted above tries to.
His brother has literally chosen to represent Canada as he himself most likely would have if he had a chance (as in was good enough) and you call that much of a reach?
I'm not acting like you brought in KHL ringers but, compared to your local talent level, you bringing in the guys you did is very similar to Kazakhstan bringing in the guys from the KHL. Kazakhstan managed to get to elite division at U20, you are stuck in D2. Regardless, people are of course right to get on their case for it but it feels like you just want GB to get a free pass.
And you go into these long-ass arguments how they weren't good and whatnot. When in reality you only need to ask yourself: did GB have anyone better who could play those roles? Why were they on the team then? Because they did play those roles because it made the team stronger because GB has nothing else. Case closed. Of course, it won't stop you from going around banging your drum like in every other thread. You can probably come up with dozens more paragraphs about why things actually aren't the way they are.
He could have played for GB all the way from U18s and he only made ECHL playoffs 3 times, what does ECHL have to do with this?
Yes, he just didn't have a chance to play for his national team for 12 years or so. Cool story.
Well Armalis parents are Lithuanian and he played for Lithuania from U18s up soo..... But like I said, if you want to pretend Perlini is bona fide British, sure, go ahead. Like I said, if he was a single isolated case it wouldn't be a big deal at all.
But it's the case with almost all imports (big exceptions being Croatia and, maybe, South Korea). The naturalized players just add depth, they are roughly on par with the [best] players you already have. Once again, people want to get on Belarus/Kazakhstan case but the guys they naturalized weren't better than Grabovksy/Kostitsyns or Antropov. Or Sharangovich or Mikhailis moving it more to the current setting.
Don't forget that Hammond was in fact born in the UK.
Whatever you think is fine is fine. Like honestly, if the fact your U20s are in D2 while the threads on HFBoards trump up how you belong in elite doesn't cause you any discontent it indeed is fine. I mean it's all a matter of perspective. There is no right or wrong here.
I'd wonder how you would feel about it if the Lithuanian league was anything other than a glorified beer league, and so you might be able to get some imports over that you could naturalize?
I think we are in the same boat as our Baltic brothers Latvia in that sense, we are fine with what we have. We are one of the biggest countries in basketball you know and are yet to have any naturalized players play for us. I'm somewhat proud this was so easy to answer.
