U18: Team Switzerland U18 WJC roster talk
- Thread starter Speyer
- Start date
-
Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
Oberyn Martell
Registered User
- Dec 26, 2018
- 454
- 213
Looking at the stats, are those goaltenders a problem? And at the beginning of the season I thought Kimo Gruber would have a legit chance to make it. How did he look this season?
Gruber is injured right now and is therefore not an option. He started the season very strong but his production faltered a bit as the season progressed. I still think he is a very promising prospect but even for a team like Switzerland it takes a lot to make a U18 team as a double underager. Hischier is the only one I can think of from recent memory and he was put on the fourth line in 2015. Even guys like Josi, Meier and Fiala didn't make the team that young. So I don't think he would have been selected even if he was healthy. He should be a lock for next year though.
Goaltending is a bit of a crapshoot every year for Switzerland. It will always require a goalie to get hot to enable the team to have a good tournament. I dont know enough about those goalies to make an edjucated claim if they are worse than average though. The Swiss u20 league is a pretty high scoring league as well wich could have deflated their save% stats a bit.
Last edited:
filip85
Registered User
- Feb 7, 2017
- 1,589
- 780
Hans played for the U17 team a couple of weeks ago and looked really good, puting up quite a few points. So he didn't make the team. The roster is already pretty young compared to other nations so the staff probably wanted to go with experience over talent. Should be a slam dunk next year though.
I have seen the exhibition against the Czechs. We lost 3-1 but the game was rather close. Czechs were not that much better though. High danger chance were about even and the Czechs got an empty netter in the end. Quality of play wasnt great with many broken plays wich wasnt just because of the age level but probably also because the preperation games against Germany were cancelled and the team hasnt had much game practice.
Tournament starts today against Latvia. This game will probably be a close affair; apparently the Latvians did in the Germans 5-1 in their exhibition game. This is an absolute must win game though if this team wants to advance to the knockout stage.
Tournament starts today against Latvia. This game will probably be a close affair; apparently the Latvians did in the Germans 5-1 in their exhibition game. This is an absolute must win game though if this team wants to advance to the knockout stage.
pgfan66
Registered User
- Jun 26, 2019
- 1,334
- 1,212
This was the lineup vs. Czechia:
Garesus-Biasca-Nicolet
Taibel-Henry-Reichle
Perrenoud-Jabola-Truog
Spring-Bougro-Alge
Greuter
Zanetti-Sidler
Bichsel-Cantin
Streule-Despont
Dionico-Pauchard
Is that a realistic opening-night lineup or were they trying some players out to see who cracks the actual lineup? Surprised to see that Robin was missing – was he the odd man out for lineup experiments or is there actually a chance that he won't play?
First impression of the team wasn't great, but Bichsel looks promising. Excited to see what he can do in Leksand next season. The centre depth is quite funny, with 3 players 5'7" or smaller. Could be difficult against bigger teams.
Garesus-Biasca-Nicolet
Taibel-Henry-Reichle
Perrenoud-Jabola-Truog
Spring-Bougro-Alge
Greuter
Zanetti-Sidler
Bichsel-Cantin
Streule-Despont
Dionico-Pauchard
Is that a realistic opening-night lineup or were they trying some players out to see who cracks the actual lineup? Surprised to see that Robin was missing – was he the odd man out for lineup experiments or is there actually a chance that he won't play?
First impression of the team wasn't great, but Bichsel looks promising. Excited to see what he can do in Leksand next season. The centre depth is quite funny, with 3 players 5'7" or smaller. Could be difficult against bigger teams.
No idea if Latvia is any good, but I can tell you that Germany isn't. There's some talent upfront, led by potential 2022 first-rounder Julian Lutz, but the rest isn't great and the defence is awful. Missing 2/3 of the potential 1st line in Hänelt and Kechter. A few of the players haven't played since October, including the new 1C Robin van Calster.
Watched Biasca a lot with the Mooseheads this year. Good all around player. Works hard. Hope he nets a couple
4-2 win against Latvia. It was pretty much a team effort. Switzerland was clearly the better skating and more talented team and could convert this into the win. There is big room for improvement though. The PP was really bad with the exception of the first one and the inability of our centers to win faceoffs will probably cost us dearly as the tournament goes on. Bichsel stood out a bit with his offensive contributions but also had some shaky defensive plays. Biasca, Robin and to a lesser extent Reichle were the most notable forwards.
On a side note. Jeremy Jabola Prada is a really interesting player. He doesn't put up great numbers in the Swiss junior leagues and I was surprised he was even given a roster spot with his size. For the national team however his numbers are always off the charts wich is a weird discrepancy as the level of play is much higher. Will be interesting to see if he can carve out a pro career for himself in the next few years.
On a side note. Jeremy Jabola Prada is a really interesting player. He doesn't put up great numbers in the Swiss junior leagues and I was surprised he was even given a roster spot with his size. For the national team however his numbers are always off the charts wich is a weird discrepancy as the level of play is much higher. Will be interesting to see if he can carve out a pro career for himself in the next few years.
Last edited:
Kuracmugger
Registered User
- Oct 15, 2019
- 557
- 208
Haven’t seen the game against Belarus yesterday. Can someone tell what the issue was? It’s a bit shocking to see our guys lose 7:1 to belarus.
ozo
Registered User
- Feb 24, 2010
- 4,521
- 570
Special teams were the difference. Belarus scored on their first four PP opportunities after you guys were not able to capitalize on early PP's including one double minor, and the game was somewhat done in first 30 minutes.
Kuracmugger
Registered User
- Oct 15, 2019
- 557
- 208
In my oppinion a few factors played into each other. Special teams were probably the biggest issue. On the double minor you have to score in such a tournament there is no way around it. Then the team took to many penalties in the second peroid especially Greuter. But in general the whole team needs to be smarter in that area. I would say that there was also some bad luck as not every penalty kill sequence was bad, rather did the players from Belarus execute very well.
Then after trailing with a few goals I also felt the teams morale faltered a bit and they made some nervous mistakes like the delay of play penalty bi Bichsel etc. As the game went along the physical edge of Belarus also started to show, maybe the swiss used a bit to much energy in the first peroid when they came out guns blazing.
Then after trailing with a few goals I also felt the teams morale faltered a bit and they made some nervous mistakes like the delay of play penalty bi Bichsel etc. As the game went along the physical edge of Belarus also started to show, maybe the swiss used a bit to much energy in the first peroid when they came out guns blazing.
pgfan66
Registered User
- Jun 26, 2019
- 1,334
- 1,212
I thought Switzerland looked better early on, at even strength but also on the PP where they had some great puck movement going. Definitely could’ve scored one there. But as previous posters said, Belarus scoring 4/4 on the PP shifted the game. After that, it was all Belarus.
