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U18: WJC U18 - Grand Forks, North Dakota (14th - 24rd April)

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Keller's missing his chances, but it seems like there are two of him. He is so quick to the puck, always getting his rebounds, a step ahead of everyone else, he thinks so quickly.
 
Finland wins 4-3 after shootout. Two lucky goals by Czech Republic at the end to tie it. 3 crossbars for Finland and some really good saves by Korenar.
 
Bitsadze misses an easy chance on one end by shooting it right into Oettinger when he had most of the net to shoot at, and the USA responds with goals on two straight shifts. The first one was by Keller, although he just threw the puck at the net, and the goalie let in a bad goal. The second one was off a scramble for the puck in the neutral zone, the Russian defense wasn't paying attention, Bellows got behind them for a one on one with the goalie, which he finished.

4-2 USA
 
Russia has only generated a handful of good chances offensively, but that miss/Oettinger save right before USA goals #3 and 4 was the killer. They were tied despite not having the puck all that much, and were playing a sound defensive game.

I've been impressed by Team Russia overall. In the face of obvious adversity and the age difference, they've played a pretty committed game. I've probably been trying to key in for Svechnikov too much, but I haven't noticed him at all. Not surprising though as a double underager.

Keller is a real treat to watch play, but Team USA is still too much of a Keller/Bellows led team offensively. Brown/Yamamoto have shown flashes of some budding chemistry, so hopefully they can build on that.
 
6-2 USA. Anderson scored on the PP. He just kept trying to jam the puck in from in close until it went in. He's a good player. He works very hard and has some skill. He's the 3rd best player on the Keller and Bellows line, but I think he'll also play in the NHL.
 
8-2 USA. Brown scored off a slap shot, Yamamoto found him with a nice cross ice pass. The USA is just outworking Russia late in this game.
 
Sergachyov hasn't had his best game. Svechnikov hasn't stood out. None of the Russian players have been that good. Kostin and Yaroslav Alexeyev have been the best Russian players.
 
So was the Czech-Finland game streamed and how was the quality? I forgot about the match.

If anyone finds game highlights for this match, would be appreciated.
 
SanDogBrewin said:
How did Oettinger look ?
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I'm not a goalie expert, but I thought he was okay. I missed the first Russian goal, and the second one was a wrap around that went right through him. He made some saves, but Russia didn't have that many good chances. I remember one big save he made with the game tied 2-2. Bitsadze had an open net, but Oettinger made the save, and then the USA scored on the next two shifts.
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
This group of USA defenseman isn't that good. Fox is the only one who I think is good.
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I'm glad people are noticing Adam Fox, I've been tooting his horn since the start of the year. Lights-out skilled with the puck, maybe the best offensive defenseman in the draft; how was he defensively?
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
I'm not a goalie expert, but I thought he was okay. I missed the first Russian goal, and the second one was a wrap around that went right through him. He made some saves, but Russia didn't have that many good chances. I remember one big save he made with the game tied 2-2. Bitsadze had an open net, but Oettinger made the save, and then the USA scored on the next two shifts.
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Thanks for the update.
 
docbenton said:
I'm glad people are noticing Adam Fox, I've been tooting his horn since the start of the year. Lights-out skilled with the puck, maybe the best offensive defenseman in the draft; how was he defensively?
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He had one standout defensive play where he stole the puck from who I thought was Russia's best player during the game Kostin, and then sprung Keller for a goal with a nice pass. It was a very good sequence for him.

I was struggling with the numbers, but once I finally figured them out, I thought Fox did pretty well. He's not very big, I don't think he's the type of player you want battling in the corners or in front of the net, but his defense doesn't seem like a huge liability, and his offensive game is very good.
 
Too bad Russia couldn't send their U18 team to this tournament. They played together as a team for the whole season in the MHL, and they would have been a contender for Gold.
 
William H Bonney said:
Russia has only generated a handful of good chances offensively, but that miss/Oettinger save right before USA goals #3 and 4 was the killer. They were tied despite not having the puck all that much, and were playing a sound defensive game.

I've been impressed by Team Russia overall. In the face of obvious adversity and the age difference, they've played a pretty committed game. I've probably been trying to key in for Svechnikov too much, but I haven't noticed him at all. Not surprising though as a double underager.

Keller is a real treat to watch play, but Team USA is still too much of a Keller/Bellows led team offensively. Brown/Yamamoto have shown flashes of some budding chemistry, so hopefully they can build on that.
Click to expand...

Ya, it's really only the exceptional players that would stand out as a 2x underager. but in fairness, it was against some pretty formidable opposition, theeeee GM contender...but once acclimatized and the competitive imbalance isn't so pronounced, he should be better. It's the 1st time I've seen him play a full game, to this point just highlights and hype. It will be interesting to see how he fights through some rather difficult circumstances.
 
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