WC: 2015 — Team France

[ergi24]

Cristobal Huet - Lausanne/NLA
Florian Hardy - EHC München/DEL
Ronan Quemener - Jukurit/Mestis


Yohann Auvitu - HIFK/Liiga - L
Nicola Besch - GKS Tychy/Poland - L
Jonathan Janil - Rouen/France - R
Antonin Manavian - Rouen/France - R
Maxime Moisand - Epinal/France - R
Benjamin Dieudé-Fauvel - Iowa Wild/AHL - L
Florian Chakiachvili - Briançon/France - L
Kevin Hecquefeuille - Langnau/NLB - R

Antoine Roussel - Dallas Stars/NHL - LW - L
Pierre-Édouard Bellemare - Philadelphia Flyers/NHL - LW/CE - L
Stephane Da Costa - CSKA Moskva/KHL - RW/CE - L
Charles Bertrand - Sport/Liiga - LW - R
Laurent Meunier - Straubing Tigers/DEL - CE - R
Sacha Treille - Straubing Tigers/DEL - LW/RW - L
Damien Fleury - Djurgården/SHL - RW - R
Teddy Da Costa - Pelicans/Liiga - CE/RW - R
Anthony Guttig - Jukurit/Mestis - CE/LW - L
Julien Desrosiers - Rouen/France - LW/CE - L
Brian Henderson - Angers/France - LW/CE - L
Yorick Treille - Grenoble/France - RW - R
Damien Raux - Briançon/France - LW/CE - L
Loic Lamperier - Rouen/France - CE - L/Nicolas Ritz - Gap/France - CE - L

Auvitu - Besch
Dieudé-Fauvel - Manavian
Chakiachvili - Janil
Hecquefeuille - Moisand

Roussel - Bellemare - S. Da Costa
Bertrand - T. Da Costa - Fleury
Desrosiers - Meunier - S. Treille
Henderson - Guttig - Y. Treille
Raux,Lamperier/Ritz

Click to read more...

 

[Belizarius]

The official team will not be that far from this list.

Goalies are set, barring injuries. Fouquerel and Bonvalot had good seasons (Fouquerel had a huge one) but the 3 vet's have the experience needed.

Defense will have to overcome Baptiste Amar retirement.
Auvitu is a lock, Hecquefeuille as well.
Besch and Manavian will probably return as well. Janil is becoming a fixture. That's 5.
So for the next 2 spots, Dieudé-Fauvel will probably have more ice time this year, because of his AHL experience.
The last spot will be played between Moisand and Chakiachvili, though kids like Dusseau or Baazzi could be in the mix as well.
And what about Llorca, great in CIS. He was decent in some friendlies this season.

Forwards, France will rely on the magic line from last year. S. Da Costa had a monster KHL season. Bellemare resigned with the Flyers and will probably miss the playoffs. Same for Roussel at Dallas.
That's line 1.
Next, Fleury had a nice start in Finland before leaving for Sweden. I expect more from him. He could be joined by Bertrand, who isn't a lock though. Betrand rebounded well this season in Liiga, and his chemistry with Fleury could help, but he doesn't seem to be a coach favorite, not enough responsible defensively. T. Da Costa played in a better league this season, could help. Same with Guttig, nice season in Mestis.
The 3rd line will be very experienced. Y. Treille, Meunier and Desrosiers are seasonned vet's now. Meunier is a prototypal captain, huge impact, a warrior. They will be used on the PK, they don't have the same speed or stamina anymore. Desrosiers had a huge season for Rouen, I didn't expect that at his age.
That means S. Treille could be a 4th liner with Guttig, showing we now have a lot of depth.
The last spots are difficult to chose. Henderson, Raux, Gaborit, Albert are decent defensive forwards with size. Lamperier is more a scorer, like Berthon, Ritz or Rech.

Tons of choices, and some kids are playing very well this season like Peret, Masson, Beron, Lebey, Kara, Terrier, Kazarine, Guillaume, Arrossamena... their time will come, but not for this tournament.

 

[jka*]

Manavian[/B]
Chakiachvili - Janil
Hecquefeuille - Moisand

Roussel - Bellemare - S. Da Costa
Bertrand - T. Da Costa - Fleury
Desrosiers - Meunier - S. Treille
Henderson - Guttig - Y. Treille
Raux

Good players.

In France national team before.

 

[moropanov]

France is really underrated team if they get theyr best players like bellemare s.dacosta roussel etc they can atleast make it to top 8. Its kind of weird how great player's france has these days.

 

[Artorius Horus T]

French possible line up looks really good,especially their offense,
one thing is for sure,no team gonna take them lightly this time,
so the task to improve gets more difficult each year.

Doesn't Teddy Da Costa usually play D at the worlds?
-if my memory serves me right,he has played D in last 2 worlds.

Team France gonna hit big 2017 at the France/Germany worlds.

 

[Belizarius]

No, Teddy Da Costa never played defense.

The preliminary roster was released yesterday, no surprises :
http://www.hockeyfrance.com/files/E...nvocation_Mondial_Senior_Masculin_2015(1).pdf

No injury at this point, which could be a first. Last year, Sasha Treille and Hecquefeuille were injured. This time, everybody is fit with 50 days remaining.

Hopefully, we'll ice our best team ever.

But as it was said in this thread, nobody will take France lightly this time, especially after wins over Russia or Canada in the last 2 years, and a quarter final last year.
Rosters are goi_ng to be better in a non-olympic year.
And our best d-man, Amar, retired. He'll be missed...

 

[Czech Yourself Pal]

France is a good team,they looked great last year especially offensively. And it looks like they will get Roussel & Bellemare back again.

 

[Namejs]

France is really underrated team if they get theyr best players like bellemare s.dacosta roussel etc they can atleast make it to top 8. Its kind of weird how great player's france has these days.

No offence to Team France, but who's the 'etc'? The way you worded it makes it sound like they should make the QFs with the potential of making semis or better, which makes one think that you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[moropanov]

I meant they can make it not that its propable maybe 20-30% change to top 8.... Well they have other good players also like Auvitu,Bertrand, Meunier, T.Dacosta, Hecguefuille, Bozon and Sacha Treille... I think France with its all best players at moment is about egual to latvia A team it would be very even if they would play series best of 7 i think. So if France gets its A team to WCH it has about same propability to succees as Slovakia's average WCH team has these days.

 

[Namejs]

I think France with its all best players at moment is about egual to latvia A team it would be very even if they would play series best of 7 i think. So if France gets its A team to WCH it has about same propability to succees as Slovakia's average WCH team has these days.

Sorry, but you're way off. The only area of the game where France is about on par with Latvia is goaltending. In fact, they might be slightly in front given Huet's form right now. At the same time he's 39 already and that's a point where the biomechanics and reaction time are constantly regressing, so that's only a short-term advantage.

The French top D pairings have guys from the Polish and French leagues. An ECHL/AHL guy is going to be one of their leading Ds. In the Latvian case an ECHL/AHL guy would most likely be the 7th defenseman (example: Ralfs Freibergs).

The depth is just incomparable. You can't be serious making a comparison with the Slovakian or even Latvian A team.

It's the same with attack. For France a below average Liiga forward would be a top 6 guy (Teddy da Costa), for Latvia he probably wouldn't even make the line-up (example: Roberts Jekimovs). Yes, France does have a couple of decent lines, but the drop off after that is pretty major, as you go from NHL/KHL/SHL to Mestis and the French league.

Team France still is the 7th-best team in their group. They're not as good as Germany or Latvia. And their chances of making the QFs are more like 5-10%, considering they have to beat Germany, Latvia, Austria AND Switzerland to get there.

 

[stv11]

Please keep this thread about team France, you can open a new one if you want to speculate about who will reach the elimination round.

Thanks.

 

[Belizarius]

France also has a very stable roster every year, so it's a team game
For the first time, we don't have, at this point, any major injury (Stephane Da Costa is still a huge question mark though).

Huet has awesome stats in NLA, Hecquefeuille is a force in LNB, Auvitu was marvelous in Liiga playoffs, Quemener and Guttig in Mestis.
Even Bertrand and Fleury were very good this season.

Yes, we only have 2 real NHLer's and a ot of players are coming from lesser leagues, but all of them had excellent seasons.
I was in Riga a few years ago for the Olympic qualifications and it was not an easy game for Latvia (in fact, France won in OT, though it was meaningless because the point qualified Latvia).
France recently beat Russia, Canada, Slovakia, Denmark, Norway, pushed Czech Rep to OT and nearly beat Sweden.

This 2015 event will be tougher than 2014 because it's a non-olympic year, but the roster is based on warriors, hard workers and team players. Sometimes, it works a lot better than a roster full of stars (see: Finland).

Anyway, the selection camp starts this week. Saturday, 1st preparation game, without our best players (still in NA). We'll see...

 

[Urbanskog]

For the first time, we don't have, at this point, any major injury (Stephane Da Costa is still a huge question mark though).

It was said on the KHL forum that the head coach of CSKA said that Da Costa will be back shortly.

 

[Belizarius]

Yep, we'll see.

Here's France roster for the next 2 games against Denmark on friday and saturday :
http://www.hockeyfrance.com/files/E...onvocations/2014-2015/Team_Roster_FRA-DAN.pdf

No huge surprises, as nearly half of the team is still playing :
-all NA players (Bellemare, Roussel, Bozon, Dieudé-Fauvel)
-Hecquefeuille, who just scored a hattrick in NLB finals game 7 (+2 assists) and will play Rapperswil for a spot in NLA
-Quemener and Guttig, still running for the title in Mestis
-S. DaCosta, still with CSKA.

 

[Belizarius]

France starts the preparation with a 4-2 win over Denmark.
Goals by Bertrand, Meunier, Fleury then Meunier again (empty net).

 

[kulenova seka]

I think France has realistic shot in repeating quarterfinals.

 

[DangeRouss]

Go France

Hey Beli, Lyon AC from maxit here

 

[Belizarius]

Hey, nice to see you here

France just won the 2nd game over Denmark 4-3.
1st international goal for Raphael Faure.
Great shot by Manavian as well.
Bertrand with a beautiful shorthanded goal.
Raux with the other goal.

http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=2649787

 

[Belizarius]

What a goal !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLQIRUL9COQ

 

[kulenova seka]

What is status of France in case if they get relegated, due to the fact that they are co-hosting WC in 2017 ? Can they even get relegated at all ?

 

[Belizarius]

I guess they can be relegated for the 2016 WC, but play in elite in 2017 ?
But they won't

 

[Belizarius]

Rapaces de Gap won the Ligue Magnus title this afternoon, winning game 7, 5-3.
Epinal couldn't close the series, leading 3 wins to 1...

New champions include potential NT players D Teddy Trabichet (playoffs MVP, stay at home D), G Clement Fouquerel, F Nicolas Arrossamena and Nicolas Ritz.
We'll see if they manage to make the team for Prague...

France will play in Latvia on thursday and friday. D-men Auvitu and Besch just joined the training camp.

 

[ergi24]

France have very good team...Brian Henderson is injury....

 

[ergi24]

France, Latvia and Switzerland will fight to advance from the group....Germany and Austria will fight to save....Sweden, Canada and the Czech Republic it will be very difficult.

 

[Namejs]

Any idea on who's starting for you today?