U20: World Junior A Challenge (Dec. 13-19)
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I am a bit confused with this tournament and WJC, the swiss, Russia and czech squads for example being a Dogs OHL fan we have Ondrej Kachyna from czech rep playing for them. My question is is it a) hes too young to take part in the WJC tournament and thats why hes on the Junior A tournament or b) because Junior A tournament is for teams like swiss russia and czech players who arent good enough for WJC yet to prove themselves to show what they have for next years WJC... so World Junior A like the U18 pretty much tournament? where as U17 is the players whowere just drafted by OHL and WHL and QMJHL and WJC is obviously 18-19 yr olds
Russia lost 6-1 to Canada West last night. Major jet lag or are the Russian's just not a very strong squad? Thanks.
Gotta remember that was only a pre-tournament game.. as their first game isn't until monday
http://stats.hockeycanada.ca/schedule/league_instance/34365?subseason=244018
Yes, but isn't this a team that plays together in the MHL? Hoping it's just jet lag, as am looking forward to seeing a high-powered squad.
I think mostly jetlag and small ice adjustment. Team is #2 in the the MHL right now while being U18 underagers. From games that I've seen they've looked pretty good, but this tournament would be a good indicator.
AlternateSideParking
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- Dec 11, 2005
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Canada-West leads 3-1 in the 2nd against the Czechs. Jost (Joe-st not Yost) is centering the top line and already has a goal and an assist. He corralled a pass in the slot and ripped it home. Fabbro moving the puck quickly but necessarily creating.
It's a bit of both. He is only 17. It's relatively rare for 17 year olds to make their country's team for the World Juniors unless they're very good. I've noticed that a lot of nation tend to treat this tournament like a U18 tournament even though it's actually a U20 tournament, I remember last year Denmark sent their U20 team to the Junior A and then went and competed in the World Juniors with the same team.
Nice 6-0 win to start the WJAC for the USA. Next game against Canada West will be a challenge though.
NTDP
Registered User
That'll be a good game, really looking forward to watching that. I think the U.S. has more speed up and down their lineup but this Canada West team looked pretty good thus far as well. The U.S. tried to do to much at times against the Czech's, but I guess you sometimes fall into that trap when you control the whole game. They can't do that against Canada tomorrow.
I checked the rosters (skaters only).
Skaters born in 96/97/98/99:
CAN W: 4/8/8/0
CAN E: 5/10/5/0
USA: 5/13/2/0
CZE: 0/0/19/1
RUS: 0/0/18/2
SUI: 0/0/15/5
Seems strange to have players barely 16 playing against 19-20 y/o on an international level.
Skaters born in 96/97/98/99:
CAN W: 4/8/8/0
CAN E: 5/10/5/0
USA: 5/13/2/0
CZE: 0/0/19/1
RUS: 0/0/18/2
SUI: 0/0/15/5
Seems strange to have players barely 16 playing against 19-20 y/o on an international level.
It's a weird tournament. The USHL is considered tier 1 yet plays against Canadian teams built out of tier 2 players, you had a national U-20 team against U-18 teams last year. Sort of a choose your own adventure type tournament.
NTDP
Registered User
Good points, I also think it's because Hockey Canada views the USHL as a junior A league because you can play there and maintain your NCAA eligibility, even though the USHL is now more comparable to major junior.
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Ah, that makes sense. The way the USHL team handled Canada East, you'd think they're closer to Major Junior than they are Tier 2.
NTDP
Registered User
I have a question for you guys that follow Canadian Junior A. Is the western leagues like the BCHL, AJHL, SJHL better and deeper than the OJHL or NOJHL on any given year? Not sure if it's an off year for Ontario Junior A players but it seems the talent is better out west compared to east.
NTDP
Registered User
What a game that just was, I thought the U.S. had a few plays where they tried the extra pass and should have shot it but that Team Canada West continues to impress me. Lots of really good players this year and they deserved that win. Great game.
canuck2010
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- Dec 21, 2010
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Yes, the tier 2 out west is usually considerably stronger. You'll often get top guys from Ontario go out west to play tier 2, as they find it more competitive and it does a better job at getting them ready for the pace of D1 hockey.
Just got home from the Canada West/USA game. Excellent game between two evenly matched squads. Felt somewhere between an OHL game and a World Junior game. Very fast hockey. Was pleasantly surprised at the pace. These are the two best teams in the tournament by quite a margin.
NTDP
Registered User
Thanks for the feedback, yeah I watched online and enjoyed it as well, I hope to see these two in the gold medal game.
StevenEllisNHL
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- Nov 29, 2014
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I watched the Canada West victory on the way home from Whitby. Wow, what a game. The Russia/Swiss game...yeah, a bit of a snoozer. Mikhail Maltsev is going to be a special player, though. Took a ton of hits in Russia's first two games, still scored three goals.
Watched the Canada West- USA game just now on demand. I don't know a ton about the kids out west, but was really impressed with the 98's. Of course Jost and Fabbro are quite well known and I know a lot about them and where they're expected to go, but what do you guys think Makar and Cholowski will end up going in the draft? I haven't heard much about them, but they looked great. Both have great mobility on the back end and can move the puck, seemed to be quite smart as well.
