WJC: 2018 Division I, II, III

[Belizarius]

France has a lot of trouble today vs Hungary, who leads 3-2 after 2 periods.
It's getting better but still, lack of speed, support and accuracy...

 

[ozo]

Just saying, I was the one who saw the Kazakh surge coming

No, neither Belarus nor Kazakhstan is going to touch Latvia soon. They'll always be competitive as far as squad continuity so they will still be a threat in major tournaments, however, they have their own developmental problems that are worse, I believe, than Latvia's.

Define "soon", please. Maybe not five years, but these countries are building mass on groundroots level and, I following them as much as I follow our own hockey, see vast improvement in junior hockey. And frankly there is not that big of a leap needed to catch us.

Oh boy, it must be international tournament season if I again argue with Kabidjan. So tell me, is this crop of Belarussians you see playing at U20 level, isn't the best one you have seen in general?

 

[kabidjan18]

Define "soon", please. Maybe not five years, but these countries are building mass on groundroots level and, I following them as much as I follow our own hockey, see vast improvement in junior hockey. And frankly there is not that big of a leap needed to catch us.

Oh boy, it must be international tournament season if I again argue with Kabidjan. So tell me, is this crop of Belarussians you see playing at U20 level, isn't the best one you have seen in general?

Well 5 years is of course a stretch. A lot of work has to be done, especially if much of it starts now.

Haha yes, you know it

Does it even really matter? You may think this crop is nice but it doesn't even approach the Latvian crop from 94'-97' and look how that panned out. How are Edgars Kulda, Roberts Lipsbergs, Nikita Jevpalovs, Rihards Bukarts? How are Martin Dzierkals, Rodrigo Abols, Teddy Bluegers, Kristians Rubins? What of Kristophers Bindulis or Gvido Jansons? Did Kristaps Zile and Frenks Razgals become what you expected them to? And maybe one does succeed, maybe Rudolfs Balcers or Karlis Cukste. I don't think it' very likely but for the sake of optimism. That's just one player.

And look, I'm probably pressing a lot of buttons right now. I like Latvia, not more of course than Austria, but in general terms. The way things have gone is displeasurable for me too.

But even Latvia has a significantly better conversion rate than Belarus. There are Czech contacts. Swedish contacts. Belarus has one instrument: Dinamo Minsk. These players may look good now and they may actually be good for their age but there's a crucial step that needs to be taken from junior hockey or farmteam level hockey to top tier senior hockey. You may think Dinamo Riga is crowded, Dinamo Minsk is worse. There's a very small probability that once those Belorussians in the CHL graduate they will get good stable positions in the AHL and develop into NHL players. There is an extremely high probability that they will ride the pine for a season in the AHL, get demoted to the ECHL, go back to Dinamo Minsk where there's no room and end up rotting away in the domestic league. I'm not barring the possibility that one or two are successful, perhaps we give Sharangovich and Yeryomenko. 2 players doesn't make a team. Latvia may not be in the best of places in terms of offering senior level playing opportunities to it's youth. Belarus is way worse, and until that changes it's hard to not assume most of the kids who represent Belarus today won't bust and disappear.

 

[Pan]

When I look at our next three or four upcoming years, it is hard to see where the next draftee for us is coming from.

From what I've seen of Latvia U17 at recent tournament in Minsk they were absolutely ok. Dominated us almost the whole game, so I was surprised Latvia and Belarus finished with the same result: a tie in regulation in face-to-face game and the same score in games vs Russia and Slovakia. According to our commentator, Ozols said that team was not even half of the top U17 roster.
Not that this comparison with our team is to convince you in anything but from what I've seen your expectations seem pretty over-pessimistic for me, unless you are expecting all of them to show a Big-6 level of playing.
The other thing is that other countries don't stand still, and once you get relegated it's gonna be way harder to promote than it was like 10 years ago (but who am I saying it to).

 

[BalticWarrior]

One thing tho(and i know this wasnt your point) kabdijan you should check out Rudolfs Balcers stats, hes doing quite well - Barracudas top scorer and right now the closest of the bunch to be called up to big league.

 

[kabidjan18]

One thing tho(and i know this wasnt your point) kabdijan you should check out Rudolfs Balcers stats, hes doing quite well - Barracudas top scorer and right now the closest of the bunch to be called up to big league.

Sorenson and Labanc are already up. O'Regan is the next in line.

I've heard questions about his defense and scoring abilities. I would be led to believe that his stat line belies little need for improvement, that is unlikely the case. I'm not worried though for him specifically. Inasmuch as he's been scoring well he has earned a spot for himself on the Barracuda squad until at least 2020 where he can develop his game and adopt all the necessary skills he would need to realize his potential. Where that is, of course, is uncertain. However, worst comes to worst he will at least return to Riga with the skills to step in and be a leader immediately.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Sorenson and Labanc are already up. O'Regan is the next in line.

I've heard questions about his defense and scoring abilities. I would be led to believe that his stat line belies little need for improvement, that is unlikely the case. I'm not worried though for him specifically. Inasmuch as he's been scoring well he has earned a spot for himself on the Barracuda squad until at least 2020 where he can develop his game and adopt all the necessary skills he would need to realize his potential. Where that is, of course, is uncertain. However, worst comes to worst he will at least return to Riga with the skills to step in and be a leader immediately.

When i said "of the bunch" i meant our players like dzierkals, bļugers etc not players in barracuda.

 

[kabidjan18]

When i said "of the bunch" i meant our players like dzierkals, bļugers etc not players in barracuda.

Ohh right, yes.

I still hope Dzierkals can make it, I remember very distinctly he was the favorite of Namejs, who we miss greatly. Marlies are just so stacked. Realistically if you could find a competnet league for a lot of the NA based guys to thrive in, they probably would, I just don't think the Latvian league is that, or the belorussian league for that matter. The little Bukarts had a shot in Zlin...if they had more patience then perhaps.

 

[Belizarius]

France finally edged Hungary 4-3 in OT.
The French squad tied it very late, with 4 minutes to play. In OT, Hungary had a too many men on the ice penalty and Enzo Guebey blasted it home with a one-timer (assist to Texier of course).
Guebey was great today, with 9 shots on goals. Our best d-man and probably our best prospect d-man from 18 to 26-year old in France...

 

[Siamese Dream]

Sammy Duggan coming up big for GB

I still attribute his faceoff prowess to mine own puck dropping ability from lining his games in his junior days at Bracknell

 

[tony d]

France is hosting the event, be interesting to see if they can also win the event. I expect both Germany and Austria to put up challenges as well. Those 2 nations play today.

 

[SoundAndFury]

France is hosting the event, be interesting to see if they can also win the event. I expect both Germany and Austria to put up challenges as well. Those 2 nations play today.

Well Austria is probably the worst team in the division judging from the games played so far.

Norway not looking dominant at all against Ukraine today. The line of thinking probably was that they will win the division without Borvik and Pettersen anyway but in actuality they are playing with fire.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Fast game between Poland and Slovenia. Poland is not bad, we're not too good either on the other hand, it's a good match up though.

 

[Belizarius]

France is hosting the event, be interesting to see if they can also win the event. I expect both Germany and Austria to put up challenges as well. Those 2 nations play today.

Austria is already out and a prime candidate for relegation (vs Hungary).
I'm betting on Latvia, who looks solid. France could be a darkhorse, at home and with a returning team. But it's a long shot : Germany, Kazakhstan are in the mix too.

 

[kabidjan18]

If we could be competitive it will be because of speed, so watch Baumi, but don't bet all your money either.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Austria is already out and a prime candidate for relegation (vs Hungary).
I'm betting on Latvia, who looks solid. France could be a darkhorse, at home and with a returning team. But it's a long shot : Germany, Kazakhstan are in the mix too.

We lost to Kazakhstan yesterday in SO, so not that solid im afraid.

 

[kabidjan18]

If we could be competitive it will be because of speed, so watch Baumi, but don't bet all your money either.

I'm prophetic.

 

[SoundAndFury]

So Poland seem like promotion favorites to D1A, Lyszczarczyk's line is really dominant. Norway needs to win against both them and Slovenia which is unlikely to happen, looking at the way the are playing.

 

[kabidjan18]

Can't maintain possession and can't figure out why has absolutely nothing to do I'm sure with being down 5 cm and 8 kg on avg.

 

[SoundAndFury]

1-0 Lithuania up on Italy. The usual suspect Markas Kaleinikovas with 3rd goal in 3 games.

 

[kabidjan18]

The irony is that Germany was as slow and lead-footed as all German teams are traditionally stereotyped to be and it didn't matter. Exact scoreline as I predicted in my article 3 weeks back. I'm just upset because we had better guys, but we left them home because they did not fit the narrow-minded conception of what a good player is.

 

[SoundAndFury]

And yet Italy wins a close game in OT. Pretty even game which somebody had to win. Sucks to be on the losing side but oh well, can't really complain.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

And yet Italy wins a close game in OT. Pretty even game which somebody had to win. Sucks to be on the losing side but oh well, can't really complain.

You played a fairly good game against Slovenia, was there at the game.

Disappointing loss today against Poland for us but they were good, scored couple of really nice goals, including beauty in the SO, they deserved it.

 

[HungryFrank]

Lyszczarczyk is really a difference maker here.
On the other hand, going into this match, I was kind of hoping Slovenia might win this match and fight for promotion (which would be a good scenario, especially since most of the team is born in 1999), but well, Poland has some really good players.

Also, I hoped Lithuania might win against Italy, they deserved to stay in this division. I always liked their player development model, glad it is paying off.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Lyszczarczyk deserves a ton of credit but he is just an excellent bonus to what would otherwise be a great Polish team as it is. Jeziorski and Pas are Poland's best prospects in ages, not to mention they are playing together on the same team. Wronka and Guzik are really the only guys who were at least close and they were still quite far behind. Aron Chmielewski was the last one to be really at or above their level and that's all the way back in 2010. Not to mention that Poland has 2 of such guys now. AND Lyszczarczyk to accompany them.