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U18: Hlinka Gretzky Cup

WarriorofTime said:
They try to of course but the team they send are a year outside of essentially not making the USNDTP and most kids don’t play in the USHL at age 16 so it’s probably not the most efficient selection with a lot of kids that played in AAA and US-HS in 2022-23. While all youth national teams have busts, the former hlinka rosters for USA are filled with a lot of players that were never even notable enough to be busts, and only the occasional future big name shows up from time to time when scrolling.

It’s just not a very good tournament for USA Hockey that obsessively spends its resources on USNDTP to the detriment of everything else.
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they also seem to exclusively use 06s and no underagers and its a pretty weak forward crop outside of Hagens and Eiserman even on the ntdp
 
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Dominance said:
Personally I find it very refreshing for you guys to have to struggle with throwing together a team with no set systems or knowledge of who works well with who for this tournament. It’s what everyone else besides the US has to do at the U18s and U20s, too, where you guys have an incalculable structural advantage of having all your best players prepare together for years.
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I think the closest equivalent is Canadians at the U-18 with the Major Junior Playoffs still going on, but they still have about 2 years of Major Junior data to base it on, as opposed to this August tournament with kids that mostly haven't even played Juniors yet and intentionally lopping off 25 of your pre-selected a year prior best 17 year olds right from the get-go. I definitely wouldn't compare it to any country's U-20 selections.
 
I just watched the first period of the Canada / Finland game. The 2 Finnish goals weren't horrible. How did Finland get 7 more?

Oh well, I'll watch the rest before I go to bed.
 
Two periods in and the goaltending is a BAD but it's not the only reason for this mess. The team / play was awful. I guess the 3rd was even worse.
 
Dominance said:
Crazy that Park was once mentioned in the same breath as Celebrini and Eiserman. Kid works hard but the dynamism is not there.
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He's definitely not dynamic, but I still think he's decent offensively. He's defense first, but he skates well and his puck game certainly isn't bad. It's hard though to show it playing with a bunch of nobodies on the 3rd or 4th line. I don't even know which line it is. The US lineup makes no sense. Half the forwards are smurfs and they all play in the top six, meanwhile we got Park and Stefanek, both good centers with some size, playing in the bottom six with the worst forwards on the team as their wingers.
 
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Am I the only one that thought Catton was incredible again for Canada?

That backhand pass for the goal was so nice, and few players actually would have the confidence to attempt that and the touch to pull it off.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
He's definitely not dynamic, but I still think he's decent offensively. He's defense first, but he skates well and his puck game certainly isn't bad. It's hard though to show it playing with a bunch of nobodies on the 3rd or 4th line. I don't even know which line it is. The US lineup makes no sense. Half the forwards are smurfs and they all play in the top six, meanwhile we got Park and Stefanek, both good centers with some size, playing in the bottom six with the worst forwards on the team as their wingers.
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Park’s a good player who will definitely be drafted this year, and very likely within the first 100 picks. I was more just musing on how I remembered his name being out there among the best prospects for this draft early on, and how some liked him more than Celebrini or Eiserman when they were teammates.
 
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whos idea was it to frost the glass at this rink? thats gotta be awful for anyone near ice level
 
Speyer said:
Switzerland actually leading 2 nothing lol.
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Yeah, the two shots were far from unstoppable though. Having said that, the Swiss aren't giving Finnland much so the game is very much under control. Also, Lachat is a completely different presence than the nervous Kirsch.
 
Hinterland said:
Yeah, the two shots were far from unstoppable though. Having said that, the Swiss aren't giving Finnland much so the game is very much under control. Also, Lachat is a completely different presence than the nervous Kirsch.
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Agreed. Schöb might have been right to take him to the tournament. Should have left Kirsch and not Neuenschwander of the roster though. But taking a penalty 11 seconds before the end of the period is typical again. If Finland scores on the remainder the game is wide open.
 
Speyer said:
Agreed. Schöb might have been right to take him to the tournament. Should have left Kirsch and not Neuenschwander of the roster though. But taking a penalty 11 seconds before the end of the period is typical again. If Finland scores on the remainder the game is wide open.
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I have nothing against Lachat. But we also could have brought Solèr, McNutt or Hrdina. I'd have been cool with it. No matter who else you select, Neuenschwander has to be the guy. Leaving him off was dumb.

It's also dumb to play Antenen on the wing. I don't understand the obsession with Grossniklaus anyway. Antenen is the best (though not most talented, offensively gifted) and most experienced Swiss 06 Center. Gotta stop this bs. He's playing well but he'd have more influence and control down the middle.
 
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