WC: I'm speechless... USA to the Relegation Round

[William H Bonney]

Not sure if there was a particular reason you stopped there, but here's some more for the interested:

2005: http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournamen...xml/1000000009/IHM10000000090USA_33_11_0.html

2006: http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_06/output/WS/ihm0460usa_33_5_0.pdf

2007: http://www.iihf.com/Hydra/Tournaments_07/output/WS/hydra.iihf.com/113/IHM1130USA_33_6_0.pdf

2008: http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/132/IHM1320USA_33_6_0.pdf

2009: http://stats.iihf.com/Hydra/200/IHM2000USA_33_4_0.pdf

I was just showing the teams that were most like this years version but I could have probably included 2006 as well as they were pretty weak. 2005 was also weak considering the lockout and the whole talent pool being available.

 

[metalan2]

Whoa, the US is going to drop 2 divisions in one year?

All joking aside, I know what you mean and that would be Division I. If the US ever dropped all the way down to Division II then they would have some major problems. I doubt no NHLer would play, Im sure a few would.

Thats what I meant. they have no chance of dropping to division 2. Still no NHLers would go if they were on the D 1 level.

 

[Ribban]

Not that you would have to worry, but just to let you know a little trivia.

USA Hockey were actualyly relegated to the B-Group back in 1984 after losing to Italy amongst others.

The following year, the red/white/blue boys bounced right back up and had no problems attracting people to make sure the sojourn to the B-group was cut as short as possible.

If it ever were to come down to it, I think you'd see all sorts of people crawl out of the wood work to put the US back at Hockey's grown-up table, and maybe even make sure it got one of the end seats for some time to follow. Americans can claim they don't care about the IIHF, but I believe that rethoric only goes so far. It's a proud nation, and Joe Schmoe may not care or know much about hockey, but a great deal of people do, and many of the best players have been to IIHF championships at some level, and they would certainly care if the USA were relegated.

History supports the idea.

 

[jekoh]

excuses. How many danish or german players would fit into USA wc team? max 1-2 guys out from 2 teams to 3rd-4th line. USA has top 4 team in this tournament in paper.

They certainly should be expected to do better, but top 4? I don't think so.

 

[Nordic*]

If you look at their roster, it's a back up goalie, a bunch of 3rd liners, "Possible" top 6 guys, and Okposo...They need some scoring help.

That's still a lot better than Denmark.

 

[silverstick]

would have been better off sending our wjc team with : jj, okposo, yandle, oshie, and dubinsky subbed in... jack campbell would have been better than clemmeson

 

[pouskin74*]

i just wondering , where are all those guys who were saying that NHL players! means super quality obviously there is a lot of guys in europe who are much better than 3-4 liners in NHL! what is most embarassing , they were beaten by second tier europen players

 

[VladNYC*]

No excuse for this. USA should get relegated to teach them a lesson about taking this tourney a little bit more seriously.

 

[vwg*]

No excuse for this. USA should get relegated to teach them a lesson about taking this tourney a little bit more seriously.

LOL, there's barely any coverage over here about the tournament, they're during the playoffs (which most, if not all NA hockey fans prefer to this b-team tourney). I probably wouldn't even care if we won the gold in this tourney, especially after how the Olympics ended. But I can understand the Russians taking this tournament seriously and trying to put the Olympics behind them...

 

[ronnyweed]

LOL, there's barely any coverage over here about the tournament, they're during the playoffs (which most, if not all NA hockey fans prefer to this b-team tourney). I probably wouldn't even care if we won the gold in this tourney, especially after how the Olympics ended. But I can understand the Russians taking this tournament seriously and trying to put the Olympics behind them...

ahhh the cliche americans dont care about hockey reply, not unless they are winning of course

 

[LiveeviL]

LOL, there's barely any coverage over here about the tournament, they're during the playoffs (which most, if not all NA hockey fans prefer to this b-team tourney). I probably wouldn't even care if we won the gold in this tourney, especially after how the Olympics ended. But I can understand the Russians taking this tournament seriously and trying to put the Olympics behind them...

Russian, or even European interest in the tourney is detached from the success of respective countries success in the Olympics. There is a genuine hockey interest in many countries and they do care about the big international tournaments Olympics, WC and somewhat about Canada Cup (a bit in decline I think).

And even if the media coverage in the USA sucks, so what? The professionals and those who work with the sport surely knows about the tourney. Besides, I can't say that the US coverage of the Winter Olympics did outshine the Tiger Woods Soap opera, or even the after season talk for NFL. Heck even NASCAR competed with the winter Olympics.

 

[metalan2]

i just wondering , where are all those guys who were saying that NHL players! means super quality obviously there is a lot of guys in europe who are much better than 3-4 liners in NHL! what is most embarassing , they were beaten by second tier europen players

Lol. The US only likes to play well on the grand stage, unlike Russia who can only win meaningless world championship games.

 

[vwg*]

ahhh the cliche americans dont care about hockey reply, not unless they are winning of course

No, I care about USA and international hockey. I'm a huge fan of it, but not this tournament. I like the Olympics and WJCs (and not because we just won gold this year either) much better. I actually like watching some of these games but honestly I couldn't care less if we lose with this team. It's a B team.. I like watching the best compete.

 

[Noldo]

Playing against Denmark in preliminary round is clearly bad omen for USA. In Finland 2003, USA met Denmark in preliminary round and ended up into relegation round (although they remained in top division without difficulties) and the same can happen this year.

Although I doubt USA could actually end relegated, poor placement in WC could actually affect their position in IIHF ranking (although the effect could be mitigated by their better placement in Olympics compared to Turin. If USA were to fall below 9th place in rankings, we could namely have three "big" nations in same preliminary group the following season.

 

[jekoh]

No, I care about USA and international hockey. I'm a huge fan of it, but not this tournament. I like the Olympics and WJCs (and not because we just won gold this year either) much better. I actually like watching some of these games but honestly I couldn't care less if we lose with this team. It's a B team.. I like watching the best compete.

Why do you follow the WJC then? It's a Z team.

 

[daver]

Why do you follow the WJC then? It's a Z team.

Context anyone?

 

[pld459666]

.

USA should be relegated.

Their performance thus far has been disappointing.

I understand that some of the better players were in the PO's but on an overall basis I feel that the US program doesn't take this tournament seriously.

People like to complain about world rankings and forget that this is a tournament that is taken into consideration when judging where a Country should be ranked.

It's nice to play for the gold medal, but that's just one leg.

Relegation is just what the doctor ordered for the USA Hockey Program.

 

[Vic Rattlehead*]

No excuse for this. USA should get relegated to teach them a lesson about taking this tourney a little bit more seriously.

Are you serious?

There are Americans still playing hockey in the NHL playoffs, and the ones who declined are probably tired/injured after playing a full 82 game schedule + playoffs.

 

[Vic Rattlehead*]

Why do you follow the WJC then? It's a Z team.

Z team? Those players are the best of their respective age group.

Nice to see you miss the boat, though.

 

[BigT2002]

USA isn't exactly taking this seriously, along with quite a few other countries. Kind of defeats the purpose to 1) have it obviously when some of the best of the best are still playing in the playoffs and 2) the same season as the Olympics when the Gold Medal team has already been decided.

 

[Evil Doctor]

Why do you follow the WJC then? It's a Z team.

The World Jrs. is a best on best tournament, where every country sends their best players and show cases the future stars in hockey. One just has to look at the 2005 Team Canada roster where about 7 of those players played on this years Olympic Gold Medal team (plus about 4 more that were on the short list that didn't make it...)

So for your rather silly comment, you get a big....

 

[joe89]

The World Jrs. is a best on best tournament, where every country sends their best players and show cases the future stars in hockey. One just has to look at the 2005 Team Canada roster where about 7 of those players played on this years Olympic Gold Medal team (plus about 4 more that were on the short list that didn't make it...)

So for your rather silly comment, you get a big....

False, regular NHL juniors are not going. Canada missed a bunch and Sweden missed Hedman and Karlsson this year. It's more of a best on best than WCH but not the same as the Olympics either.

No matter what we say about a tournament's dignity, the players in it want to win. A casual US hockey fan might not care, but the players do and that's why relegation round would be a fiasco.

 

[jekoh]

The World Jrs. is a best on best tournament, where every country sends their best players and show cases the future stars in hockey. One just has to look at the 2005 Team Canada roster where about 7 of those players played on this years Olympic Gold Medal team (plus about 4 more that were on the short list that didn't make it...)

So for your rather silly comment, you get a big....

Countries don't send their best to the WJC, they send juniors. Hardly any WJC player would make the WC team, so it's far less of a best on best.

 

[BIG BLUE]

where are the Buffalo Sabre forwards??

 

[ViD]

I hope USA gets relegated. May be if that happens they will finally bring at least a bit decent roster.