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U18: Hlinka Gretzky Cup

Preds666 said:
Enjoying the Cze - Swe game. Lots of physical play and two teams wanting it bad. Liv looks so unpolished (but spectacular) in net. Reminds me of a certain Czech legend that was not really the most technically skilled goalie đŸ˜€
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I love and hate Liv at the same time.lol.

He's outstanding and his dad died in the KHL plane so I have a soft spot for him and hope to see him in the NHL for my Oilers.

On the other hand... He's killing us and Sweden need 4 more goals to kick us out of the tourney.
 
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Where is the Skoda car?

**

I need a day off from exercising but it is supposed to rain for the next bunch of days. What to do?
 
Dominance said:
Given that they clearly both are and project as centres, this is a little disqualifying of your entire take.
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Catton doesn't project as a center for most scouts (he could be).

That disqualifies every letter you have ever written (ie. stop with the disqualification BS, it's ridiculous)
 
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ijuka said:
Really don't see Catton as #1. Honestly don't know where this even comes from. Him being even top 3 is a stretch as far as I'm concerned.
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How do you not know where it's coming from? He's been one of, if not the best, players on a stacked Canada Hlinka team that'll have 8+ first rounders, like usual, and was equally as good for Canada at the WHC17. He also lead U17 players in points last season in the WHL.

Again, how is this not a body of work close to top 3? When you consider the eye test too, please explain how the other candidates have such a better skillset. I think he's the most electric player in this draft.

ijuka said:
You always make excuses for "your guy". Ever wonder why he was put in a 3rd line role, and Celebrini in a leading one?
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Is that what you're doing too? Celebrini was bad at the WHC17. Why doesn't that matter?

And to be clear, I'm not holding that against him. I understand that context matters, and not everyone can always be expected to be dominant every time they touch the ice. Sometimes the conditions weren't right for that to occur.

The Canadian U18 coaching staff thought Celebrini was a 1st line player, and I'm not arguing with that. However, I think they underused Catton, and it's not like they had such a good tournament as a team. They aren't beyond the point of criticism.
 
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Benak is having a very noticeable game but needs to bury a chance. Our best forward by a mile. 2 giveaways... 2 Swedish goals.

Love our battle and chances but Liv is looking great. I think the chippyness favors us.

If I am the Swedes coach.. I calm the boys down.. point out 2 goals a period is exactly what we need and slowly dissect the Czech game.

If I'm the Czech coach im probably throwing a chair or two.lol.
 
Czechboy said:
I'm in the Tetons in a laundry mat.lol. It's pouring here.
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LOL. It's been a wet summer in the Golden Horseshoe. I'm cutting the grass once a week at a time of year where I'm lucky if I cut the grass once a month.

Warm/Cool weather + Rain = Grass growth. :)
 
kyle44 said:
I'm of the same view. Celebrini led the USHL in scoring and smashed the USHL record for points by a 16-year old (I know Hughes had a better ppg), and followed that up with the most dominant all-around performance I've seen from a 16-year old Canadian at the U-18. You could also make an argument for Wright's 16-year old tournament but that team was loaded.

Yes Catton was far better at the U-17; however, it is well established that Celebrini was sick at that tournament. His performance before and after the U-17 proves this was an isolated occurrence. I just don't see how, on paper or in evaluating the skillsets of Celebrini and Catton (at this point in time), you could make an argument for Catton over Celebrini.

There's no way to know for sure how Celebrini, Eiserman or Demidov would perform at the Hlinka-Gretzky, but I'd wager their dominance would easily meet or exceed Catton's. I'm a biased Canadian fan, and I'd love to see Celebrini and Catton go 1-2 in this draft, but I can't rank him ahead of any of the above 3 forwards based on what I've seen thus far.
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The way you arrive at the view is that it's not all a resume contest pre age 17. You have to use your eyes. All of these guys have great resumes. None of them have generational resumes that they are so far beyond criticizing.

I mean, you're criticizing Catton's resume, yet he led the WHL in U17 scoring, he was 3rd in the WHC17 in scoring (1st besides the non-dominant champion), and now is looking like he'll be one of the leading scorers at the Hlinka, if not the leading scorer, so I'm not sure how this is a resume you'd say cannot be 1st overall. I'm not saying either that Catton's "resume" has no flaws, but I'm not sure how anyone could fairly argue any of these guys are consensus 1OA's. There are a bunch of options at this point, and it's all about who everyone personally prefers for that spot. We'll see if anyone emerges as the consensus option.

It's all about projecting who will have the most success in the NHL. Catton has more electric qualities and less value-based weaknesses (position, offense, defense, skating) than the other options.
 
Shots were 18-9 in first... I assume Czechs had 18 shots. Swedes up 2-0.
 
Czechia needs to shoot more - goalie is in their head.

Czechboy said:
Shots were 18-9 in first... I assume Czechs had 18 shots. Swedes up 2-0.
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Yikes! Czechia just needs to keep it close.

**

Does anyone have a link with the Finland score?
 
Postulates said:
Hasnt been close since Celebrini was the one of two with Eiserman who made the prep team at Shattuck and Catton decided to leave, they have both done nothing to lose the gap
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I'm not sure how you can use not making a pre-junior team against Catton.

If you go back to that team, Aidan Park had a much higher PPG than Catton. Do you really think Park is close to as good as Catton now?

And I'm not criticizing Park. I think he's very underrated, but players progress at different paces. Eiserman and Celebrini were very physically developed at a young age, while Catton wasn't. Could be as simple as that. Maybe it's not. Point is pre-junior is pretty irrelevant.
 
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Catton has been outstanding in this tournament, I think the right take right now is to have him the 4th forward behind Eiserman/Celebrini/Demidov in whatever order. He's just outside of it for me but if he remains consistent off of this tournament into his WHL year, then I think there's a path ahead of some of those guys, if not all of them.

The difference being I think we'd be able to point to Demidov's overall offensive game as a more tantalizing proposition for a team drafting high and then you have Eiserman's goal scoring toolkit. Catton might lack that stand-out tool those guys have but the totality of what he's brought so far has been awesome. Clutch, too.

But the way that he is showing out this tournament, I definitely think he could push for the 1 spot.. I also think Sam Dickinson and a number of other defenseman could, as well.

I don't think Celebrini has #1 on lock by any stretch of the imagination.
 
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SOLR said:
More dynamic, faster, better shot, better defensively, better IQ, more important position ...in every way possible. I don't see one segment where Catton beats Celebrini, not one.
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So is Celebrini Mario Lemieux? That's how you are making him sound.

He's a little better defensively. Maybe a little better shot. He's 1 inch taller.

Not more dynamic, not a better skater, doesn't have better puck handling, doesn't have better playmaking.

And he doesn't play a more important position. Not sure if you are aware that they are both centers.
 
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The thing I love about Swedish hockey? They capitalize on every mistake!

We had a horrible clear... Back of the net.

It's amazing year after year. Game half over and Swedes half way to eliminating us.

I think they can do it tbh.

The worst part? I don't think we are playing bad at all.
 
MeHateHe said:
You guys, British Columbia is on fire and we haven't had significant rain in two months. So no more complaining about weather.
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My first 20 days in this trip were 35 degrees and not one cloud... I'm thrilled it's raining!
 
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