U18: WC 2018 Division I, II, III

[Siamese Dream]

So it's basically all over for GB at this point, they need Poland to drop a point against Australia or Estonia.

People mentioned Kirk has kind of struggled this week. Kirk and Brown needed another guy on their line who could actually keep up with them to get them going, Ulrick wasn't that guy and held them back. I was expecting Buesa to be on the top line with them before the tournament but because that didn't happen from day 1 it messed up the rest of the tournament. The 2nd and 3rd lines were way too effective in the first couple of games to split up by moving Buesa or someone else up onto the Kirk and Brown line. The 4th line was non-existent and the injury to Robertson further screwed everything up because they took too many D and not enough forwards, and the forwards have looked tired the last couple of games playing mostly just 3 lines.

As I mentioned before the tournament, the goaltending has been quite poor, and in games when GB has dominated there have been bad goals against from stoppable shots and the D playing way too aggressively and giving teams chances on the rush like against Poland.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Wishful thinking.

Latvia has played 2 weakest teams so far while Germany played 2 of the strongest. If Germans win, sure they are in pretty good position. If Latvians win, they are just half way there.

P.S. People who get motion sickness from LHF stream check out "Sporta Studija" channel which is way superior.

Oh this does not look good retrospect

 

[SoundAndFury]

Oh this does not look good retrospect

Or this:

Seems that Germans are heavy favourites to promote. Another year for us dwelling in the basement ffs

Why can't you wait until Latvia wins against Kazakhs at least Well hockey is a funny game sometimes, both Germany and GB were quite clearly the best teams in their division and neither is getting promotion.

Regarding my post, Latvians managed to score 4 goals on 21 shots against Denmark. You can say one has to be good to be lucky but Latvians really are lucky in this WC.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Meh, none of the goals we scored against Danes were particularly lucky. Quality over quantity, my Lithuanian friend.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I want Lithuania to win but what the hell is this reffing

 

[Uncle Rotter]

So it's basically all over for GB at this point, they need Poland to drop a point against Australia or Estonia.

Aaaand the just did. Blew a 3-0 lead against Estonia, won in OT.

 

[SoundAndFury]

If there was a game I didn't see it coming, it's this one. Really, reaaaally didn't see Poland throwing this.

 

[kaiser matias]

If there was a game I didn't see it coming, it's this one. Really, reaaaally didn't see Poland throwing this.

The worst part about it is that it isn't totally unexpected. So many times in the past few years the Polish teams just seem to find a way to mess up, even when something like this is just gifted to them. Really embarrassing as a whole that it just keeps happening.

Good on Great Britain though; first time since 2011 they will be playing at the Division I level.

 

[Siamese Dream]

f***ing eh right.

Hilarious that the first year Beggs or Grubb aren't coaching we get promoted, as much as I criticised Tony Hand. But still, this was the best team we've had in at least 6 or 7 years so promotion should have been expected. Next year should be a decent enough team to avoid relegation, hopefully Louis Chabot reports, we will still have Brown as well.

Told you we would make it difficult for ourselves though.

 

[ozo]

Kabidjan, what's your expectations for the 1B this year? Any chance Austria doesn't go up this year? How is Steffler connected to Austria or he just is naturalized American?

 

[filip85]

Kabidjan, what's your expectations for the 1B this year? Any chance Austria doesn't go up this year? How is Steffler connected to Austria or he just is naturalized American?

With little help from google translator ÖEHV-U18 mit ungewöhnlichen Stärken zur WM here you have very detailed preview of Team Austria

 

[kabidjan18]

Kabidjan, what's your expectations for the 1B this year? Any chance Austria doesn't go up this year? How is Steffler connected to Austria or he just is naturalized American?

Promotion basically. If we didn't go up it would be a travesty. We beat a Slovakia team 5-2, not a complete team of course, that beat Hungary twice 3-1. Our coach, however, is capable of many unspeakable things.

Steffler's dad is Austrian I'm pretty sure. I asked his big brother Kele once but that was a long time ago.

With little help from google translator ÖEHV-U18 mit ungewöhnlichen Stärken zur WM here you have very detailed preview of Team Austria

I usually love Bernd's previews but this year...meh. There's almost like a false parity with which he puts two of the guys on a pedestal and the rest of the guys are equal, at least that's how it came across to me, couldn't be farther from the truth.

I'm looking for a stream, if anyone can find one please hit me up.

 

[ozo]

Nope, no streams so far.

 

[kabidjan18]

Looks like their goalie had a great game. On to the next.

 

[kabidjan18]

TBT that was a weak penalty call

 

[kabidjan18]

On the subject of weak *** penalty calls...

 

[ozo]

4 periods in Austria doesn't look as dominant as I expected.

 

[kabidjan18]

It's about as I expected. See, we play a much more progressive brand of hockey than any other nation. Other nations differentiate between skill and speed. We don't. So other teams may score on us a lot or keep our offense off balance all the time but at least all of our skaters are faster than all of theirs.

There is one player right now whose name I won't mention. He had some hype as a kid but that fell off real quickly when we discovered he had no hockey IQ. He put up decent numbers this year so I had some interest in checking him out. Well, nothing's changed. Not sure you can trust this guy with a driver's license because he wouldn't see the cars on the road. We'd probably have one or two more say Kleiss was on that line.

 

[ozo]

This Ukrainian win will make the tournament more exciting. Nobody saw this coming.

 

[SoundAndFury]

To be honest, I wonder if it really changes things. It's very unlikely Ukraine will be anywhere near the top and those are the teams Austrians will have to beat. The way current system is, as long as you win head to head games you are fine.

 

[ozo]

To be honest, I wonder if it really changes things. It's very unlikely Ukraine will be anywhere near the top and those are the teams Austrians will have to beat. The way current system is, as long as you win head to head games you are fine.

All true, but now Austria can't afford not to win in regulation and feel safe.

 

[kabidjan18]

Well the concern isn't mathematical elimination. This team obviously has a lot of problems, and it isn't the talent of the individual athletes. The individual athletes are incredibly talented, and if we had Hochegger, Harnisch, and Preiser I'm sure we would go toe to toe with any team in D1A on paper and only on paper.

We are a one-dimensional team. We will always be a one-dimensional team. We have 9 guys who could generously (and in some cases very inaccurately) be compared to a Swiss style of player. That "euro-dream" style athlete. The three other injured guys I mentioned are the same way. They're dominant in club, and in large part because other people play the other necessary roles for them in club.

We do not have any two-way do-it-all centers. We don't have any true snipers. We don't have any Auston Matthews types, Patrice Bergeron types, or any David Pastrnak types, or Patrik Laine types. We don't have a Ryan Kesler type forward or a Kevan Miller type defenseman. We don't have any Zach Hyman type players. It's like the European dream team. All skill guys, what could go wrong? If only we had 4 scoring lines wouldn't we win everything. Well, we were faster. We made more dekes and dangles. That's all we need right?

The individual athletes are going to be successful, I'm sure of this. Baumgartner, Maier, Payr, Rossi, Huber, they're going to have long and strong careers. But it's a chronic problem we see not just this year but last year as well and at the U20 level and even at the U16 level. Ineffectual forecheck. Ineffectual backcheck. Physically overwhelmed. But hey, we got more shots on goal. The scarier thought is if we get to the senior level, and we don't have a well-rounded team.

Idk what changes to make. Probably move Kleiss up from line 4, he's been good. Move Zundel up.

 

[ozo]

Well the concern isn't mathematical elimination. This team obviously has a lot of problems, and it isn't the talent of the individual athletes. The individual athletes are incredibly talented, and if we had Hochegger, Harnisch, and Preiser I'm sure we would go toe to toe with any team in D1A on paper and only on paper.

We are a one-dimensional team. We will always be a one-dimensional team. We have 9 guys who could generously (and in some cases very inaccurately) be compared to a Swiss style of player. That "euro-dream" style athlete. The three other injured guys I mentioned are the same way. They're dominant in club, and in large part because other people play the other necessary roles for them in club.

We do not have any two-way do-it-all centers. We don't have any true snipers. We don't have any Auston Matthews types, Patrice Bergeron types, or any David Pastrnak types, or Patrik Laine types. We don't have a Ryan Kesler type forward or a Kevan Miller type defenseman. We don't have any Zach Hyman type players. It's like the European dream team. All skill guys, what could go wrong? If only we had 4 scoring lines wouldn't we win everything. Well, we were faster. We made more dekes and dangles. That's all we need right?

The individual athletes are going to be successful, I'm sure of this. Baumgartner, Maier, Payr, Rossi, Huber, they're going to have long and strong careers. But it's a chronic problem we see not just this year but last year as well and at the U20 level and even at the U16 level. Ineffectual forecheck. Ineffectual backcheck. Physically overwhelmed. But hey, we got more shots on goal. The scarier thought is if we get to the senior level, and we don't have a well-rounded team.

Idk what changes to make. Probably move Kleiss up from line 4, he's been good. Move Zundel up.

All your theoretical writeup rings true, but at the end of the day the opposition you are facing at this level and one above has exactly the same holes in their rosters.

 

[kabidjan18]

All your theoretical writeup rings true, but at the end of the day the opposition you are facing at this level and one above has exactly the same holes in their rosters.

Touche, touche

 

[SoundAndFury]

Italy wins 7-1 just to ensure they aren't relegated but Deluca with 0 points in the process. Probably doesn't really matter but still, some dud performance from him.