Team 18 2025

[ThunderStrike]

Strange that the national team in the age group considered to be the strongest in many years contains two minors. None of the other age groups have minors selected for the national matches in February. There should be a few more players in the age group who deserve the chance to try international play this season. Any thoughts?

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[hockeyprospects9]

Strange that the national team in the age group considered to be the strongest in many years contains two minors. None of the other age groups have minors selected for the national matches in February. There should be a few more players in the age group who deserve the chance to try international play this season. Any thoughts?

Only that I like his choices tbh

 

[luddf]

Björck is too good not to be taken out. Hermansson would probably benefit more by playing important minutes in U17.

What’s most surprising is that Hillström doesn’t take a place in bottom 6 instead of Anderberg?

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Björck is too good not to be taken out. Hermansson would probably benefit more by playing important minutes in U17.

What’s most surprising is that Hillström doesn’t take a place in bottom 6 instead of Anderberg?

Hillström & Drott should be on the team.

 

[HockeyAnalys]

If you look at today’s U18 national team, all selected players play in J20, and all 07:player have played senior hockey accept two player. The fact that they are promoting two players born in 2008 in a year group considered strong is remarkable. This year, only 30 players have participated in the three tournaments for which selections were made. Only 10% of all HG players have been part of any national team since U16.

The national team is sending completely the wrong signals and is far too narrow in its selections, which could be one of the reasons why results are lacking in the World Juniors.

This also creates pressure to quickly move up, causing players to miss critical years of development over time.

The Swedish Hockey Federation preaches not to rush development, yet they do the opposite in their selections.

The risk is that Swedish hockey will lose genuine talents as everything starts shifting to younger and younger age groups.

 

[erikhamren]

Hermansson makes sense, we have no right handed offensive winger apart from Wozniak and Hermansson isnt some kind of nobody that will go undrafted, he's a big talent and probably have a higher ceiling than Wozniak. Maybe the best 08 after Björck. (competing with Nordmark).

 

[ThunderStrike]

Hermansson makes sense, we have no right handed offensive winger apart from Wozniak and Hermansson isnt some kind of nobody that will go undrafted, he's a big talent and probably have a higher ceiling than Wozniak. Maybe the best 08 after Björck. (competing with Nordmark).

But that's exactly the problem: right now is not their time; that time will come. There are right handed talented players like Hillström, Drott, P. Larsson, Boije, Sundqvist, Wedin, and others who could be given the chance during a tournament like this. The squad for the U18 World Championship in Texas is something else. Hockey Analysis is on to something—if Swedish Hockey continues to send signals that if you don't play seniorhockey at the age of 17, you are not considered for the U18 national team, we will lose talents along the way.

 

[Gazewithin]

But that's exactly the problem: right now is not their time; that time will come. There are right handed talented players like Hillström, Drott, P. Larsson, Boije, Sundqvist, Wedin, and others who could be given the chance during a tournament like this. The squad for the U18 World Championship in Texas is something else. Hockey Analysis is on to something—if Swedish Hockey continues to send signals that if you don't play seniorhockey at the age of 17, you are not considered for the U18 national team, we will lose talents along the way.

I don't really mind picking a younger player who is clearly better than the older competition. I can see why tiebreaks generally goes to the older player, but it's quite bizzare how obsessed our teams usually are with picking mediocre older player for our junior teams. Keep in mind, this is the national team, not a club rushing young player into an environment they won't prosper in.

I would actually say it's the opposite regarding your point about senior hockey in this case. Hillström has looked better than pretty much every other player in this age group at the senior level, and plays one of the most projectable and mature games(not the highest potential, but at this point it should definitely be noteworthy). How he(and Drott as well) doesn't even make the team, let alone behind Hermansson, is odd from any performance based assessment. Björck absoutely makes sense, but to me there is nothing Hermansson has done that warrants this. He is not even a clear top2 08, in fact I would say there a couple of more interesting players than him in his own age group.

 

[ThunderStrike]

I don't really mind picking a younger player who is clearly better than the older competition. I can see why tiebreaks generally goes to the older player, but it's quite bizzare how obsessed our teams usually are with picking mediocre older player for our junior teams. Keep in mind, this is the national team, not a club rushing young player into an environment they won't prosper in.

I would actually say it's the opposite regarding your point about senior hockey in this case. Hillström has looked better than pretty much every other player in this age group at the senior level, and plays one of the most projectable and mature games(not the highest potential, but at this point it should definitely be noteworthy). How he(and Drott as well) doesn't even make the team, let alone behind Hermansson, is odd from any performance based assessment. Björck absoutely makes sense, but to me there is nothing Hermansson has done that warrants this. He is not even a clear top2 08, in fact I would say there a couple of more interesting players than him in his own age group.

But it seems like it operates like a club team that rushes in younger players. Part of the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation's mission, besides performing in championships, is also to develop talents in our national teams through play at the international level. Therefore, I believe that we should ensure that many have the opportunity to play against international competition in those tournaments that do not aim for us to have "the best" team, such as the U18 World Championship and the Junior World Championship. We see that Canada and the USA allow many players to participate in these international tournaments, so Sweden should also be able to try this and take the concept further with clear goals on how many players should be given the opportunity to play for the national team in smaller tournaments. So far, 57 players born in 2007 have participated in national teams, which is about 15% of the total number of players born in 2007 admitted to NIU. Or, recalculated, 1.7 players per NIU. The goal should be to have 2 players per NIU, totaling 82 players or 22%. It is my firm belief that Swedish hockey would benefit from this over time.