WC: General Talk '14 — France

[Namejs]

I wasn't expecting much after those 2 exhibition games vs. Latvia, but you guys surprised everyone again. Congrats.

 

[Slohockey]

Very, very solid team (Huet, Auvitu, Bellemare, Da Costa, Fleury, Roussel, Desrosiers,..).

Congrats France!

 

[CHCl3]

New away jersey to be used against Italy:

 

[doug88]

This France team is on the rise, they could upset more teams in the upcoming games. Even though they lack depth, when I see players like Berthon who barely played in the playoffs with Geneva.. But still, they could be a great surprise.

 

[Exarz]

New away jersey to be used against Italy:

Beautiful! Feels like they're inspired by a football jersey!

 

[QuietContrarian]

New away jersey to be used against Italy:

I Want this so bad!!! Vers Nice looking

 

[YMCMBYOLO]

That's a nice looking jersey right there.

 

[SurMartin]

Vive la France!

(using the appropriate wallpaper during the WC )

 

[t0ny]

Nice one !
Let see if we can build on the first victory to draw some kind of "attention" in this tournament.... would be fun !

Next one against Italy tomorrow morning will be very interesting in that matter.

 

[t0ny]

The defeat in regulation against Italy is bad... now we have to grab some points to avoid the last seed and the relegation...

At least we will see if they can grind this thing out!

 

[doug88]

Now that's funny! They beat Canada but lose to Italy..

 

[t0ny]

2 games left and we are still in the hunt for the 1/4... awesome!
I would not guess that before the first game....

 

[ViD]

The State of French Hockey

Last year when France beat Russia, it seemed like a fluke, but this year they have provided some more upsets including a win over Canada

They already clinched a quarterfinal spot. It seems the French hockey is on the rise.

You guys think it's a one time wonder or is it actually a result of some reforms ?

 

[BalticWarrior]

Tell me this - how many prospects are gonna be drafted this year for France how.much were drafted last year or year before? How many new rinks have they built? this just a one hit wonder that won't last.

 

[SoundAndFury]

They have a pretty old which has gelled together and produced a great result this year but this is a one time thing, much like Swiss' silver last year.

Having said that, they are now a solid elite division team and this is their best generation of hockey which is the result of the reforms they've done in the past.

 

[ViD]

Tell me this - how many prospects are gonna be drafted this year for France how.much were drafted last year or year before? How many new rinks have they built? this just a one hit wonder that won't last.

They do have Roussel now at least

 

[letsgocaps]

Tell me this - how many prospects are gonna be drafted this year for France how.much were drafted last year or year before? How many new rinks have they built? this just a one hit wonder that won't last.

Tim Bozon was drafted "the year before".

 

[SoundAndFury]

Tell me this - how many prospects are gonna be drafted this year for France how.much were drafted last year or year before? How many new rinks have they built? this just a one hit wonder that won't last.

Actually with Da Costa, Bozon and Roussel it looks like they have more future NHLers than Latvia so I don't thing your argument is very valid.

 

[ViD]

Young French players can comfortably go play in the QMJHL

 

[Hubie]

France has obviously been moving forward for a while now. It's not just about producing NHL prospects altough they've had a few of those as well. They also have more quality guys playing in elite European leagues now. The national team has improved it's performance in recent years from being a fringe team battling to stay in the top 16 like Italy to clearly belonging in the middle group with Norway, Latvia etc. They were close to making the quarterfinals a couple of times already so it's really nice to see they finally made it.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Actually with Da Costa, Bozon and Roussel it looks like they have more future NHLermerlin ins.via so I don't thing your argument is very valid.

Well allow me to retort. we have girgensons ,blugers,gudlevskis. not to mention guys like bukarts punnenovs and merzlikns.and this has to do with latvia how exactly ? we aret talking about France here. They are nowhere near producing 5-10 players for.draft every year to call them an emerging hokey.nation

 

[SoundAndFury]

Young French players can comfortably go play in the QMJHL

It's not that easy. Nobody scouts them so they don't get drafted and without being drafted - they can't. Furthermore, QMJHL teams look for import players who could make an impact and France doesn't really produce many of those.

 

[kaiser matias]

While this year is largely just a fluke, I think French hockey is on the upswing. They have definitely improved since coming back to the Elite Division in 2008, and if you look at their roster this year, its got players from the Finnish, German, Swiss and Swedish leagues, as well as Roussel and Da Costa. While they may not be having many players get drafted into the NHL, they do see some young guys go to the QMJHL as mentioned, and if they are able to sign with teams in the top European leagues they can't be that bad.

A lot of this stems from the fact that French hockey is indeed trying to improve itself. It was only in 2006 that the French Ice Hockey Federation was finally spun off from the French Ice Sports Federation and allowed total independence. I don't think its coincidence that the resurgence of French hockey began around then, too. And considering that they actively sought (and won) the bid for the 2017 World Championship to be held in Paris (and Cologne), they are making efforts to make hockey bigger in France.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well allow me to retort. we have girgensons ,blugers,gudlevskis. not to mention guys like bukarts punnenovs and merzlikns.and this has to do with latvia how exactly ? we aret talking about France here. They are nowhere near producing 5-10 players for.draft every year to call them an emerging hokey.nation

Blugers appears to be a long shot to ever play in the NHL so there's that but like you've said, it's not about Latvia.

I don't anyone meant they can produce 5 prospects for a draft. Going by this criteria there are 5 hockey nations in the world, even Czechs don't hit this mark anymore.

 

[slovakiasnextone]

This year is a great one for the French but this is most likely the peak year for this team.

Also, when you look at the U18/U20 results they are usually behind all the other elite level nations and even some Division IA nations. For example this year, the U18 finished 5th behind Latvia, Norway, Kazakhstan and Belarus in Division IA and the U20s were actually playing in Division IB (which is only the third highest level) and only finished third there behind Italy and Kazakhstan.

So it's unlikely to see them being as good/better than nations such as Denmark, Norway or Latvia who are all elevator nations at the U18/U20 level.