WC: 2023 IIHF World Championship Division I

[ozo]

Senior D1A and D1B tournament starts Sunday. I'm sure all five international hockey lovers here will enjoy discussing which team has more "legitimate" roster haha

1A:

Hydra link:

2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Div I Group A

stats.iihf.com

Hydra link:

2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Div I Group B

stats.iihf.com

Click to read more...

 

[ozo]

To me division B is a coin toss between Ukraine and China with Japan being a serious dark horse. Again all depends on what roster China brings over, but Ukraine seemingly looked really good in exhibition games. Best on best Ukraine and China probably are better than 2 or even 3 countries in 1A. Netherlands looks a bit better than in recent years with more Tilburg players reporting to NT. Serbia should be going down as both Netherlands and Estonia surely has more firepower than they do.

1A looks boring as far promotion is concerned, GB and Italy should be going up up, but GB loves their upset - positive and negative in all levels of hockey. No idea how relegation will shake out because there are too many "good" candidates.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I'm sure all five international hockey lovers here will enjoy discussing which team has more "legitimate" roster haha

Drawing up my attack plan as we speak

The fact that China's roster isn't known with the tournament starting in 2 days is pretty wild though. While Ukraine has looked pretty strong in the friendlies, Japan beat Hungary 3-0 as well so 1B is definitely going to be an interesting tournament all around.

Sucks that Sato doesn't play for Japan, anyone knows the reason? I would insert "Iguchi is also absent" joke here too but I'm going to be a bigger man than that

Regarding the 1A relegation battle, indeed the bottom 3 teams all belong to the 1B much more than 1A but in the meantime, I suppose we hope Armalis gives us the edge in this snail race, Koreans hope the fact that they are pretty much the same team all year round does and Romanians hope their geriatric imports save them.

 

[ozo]

Drawing up my attack plan as we speak

The fact that China's roster isn't known with the tournament starting in 2 days is pretty wild though. While Ukraine has looked pretty strong in the friendlies, Japan beat Hungary 3-0 as well so 1B is definitely going to be an interesting tournament all around.

Sucks that Sato doesn't play for Japan, anyone knows the reason? I would insert "Iguchi is also absent" joke here too but I'm going to be a bigger man than that

Regarding the 1A relegation battle, indeed the bottom 3 teams all belong to the 1B much more than 1A but in the meantime, I suppose we hope Armalis gives us the edge in this snail race, Koreans hope the fact that they are pretty much the same team all year round does and Romanians hope their geriatric imports save them.

Yeah, IIHF in last couple of years somehow have become even worse at their job than their usual piss poor effort at covering lover level tournaments. Preliminary roster section might as well be scrapped, nothing appears there until the very last second when we already know starting rosters and it is frustrating as hell.

Japan is always like that, their roster is unpredictable, they nowadays have unprecedented number of good prospects, but they decide to bring over enigma like this.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Japan is always like that, their roster is unpredictable, they nowadays have unprecedented number of good prospects, but they decide to bring over enigma like this.

Yeah, interesting one. Right-handed defenseman bias I suppose, their roster is picture-perfect 4 righties, 4 lefties.

 

[ozo]

Yeah, interesting one. Right-handed defenseman bias I suppose, their roster is picture-perfect 4 righties, 4 lefties.

I'm not doubting Japanese love for perfection, but balancing the handedness at a semi-pro level? I sort of refuse to believe that lol.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I'm not doubting Japanese love for perfection, but balancing the handedness at a semi-pro level? I sort of refuse to believe that lol.

While it does seem pretty insane if any country can do it's Japan. And I struggle to come up with other reason.

 

[tornaado66]

Having seen China's exhibition game against Estonia, I can confirm that their roster is 95% the same as last year. No important changes

 

[Eye of Ra]

Uk has added some canadians, if eliteprospect is correct.

Nathanael Halbert
Sam Ruopp
Cameron Critchlow
Johnny Curran
Brandon Whistle

 

[HungryFrank]

Uk has added some canadians, if eliteprospect is correct.

Nathanael Halbert
Sam Ruopp
Cameron Critchlow
Johnny Curran
Brandon Whistle

Ruopp's mother was born and raised in England before moving to Canada aged 21 and Halbert was also dual national before.

 

[aquaregia]

Halbert also of course born in England, most pleased to have him on the roster because we can finally dispense of that doughnut called Dallas Erhardt.
Richardson will alsoleave some big skates to fill very soon but at least our D is no longer as big of a weakness as it had been while playing in the top division.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The Netherlands are looking really solid against Japan, it's a shame they are again missing so many of their best players for whatever reason. I would go as far as saying their best roster could easily go toe to toe with Estonia and such.

And what are their reasons anyway? Oberliga players too tired after their high-stakes season to play?

 

[Levshunov]

Italy Roster
Portieri: Justin FAZIO, Gianluca VALLINI (Asiago Hockey – ICEHL), Damian CLARA (Färjestad BK)

Difensori: Alex TRIVELLATO, Peter SPORNBERGER (Schwenninger Wild Wings – DEL), Lorenzo CASETTI, Gregorio GIOS (Asiago Hockey – ICEHL), Dylan DI PERNA, Enrico MIGLIORANZI (HC Bolzano – ICEHL), Daniel GLIRA (HC Val Pusteria – ICEHL), Phil PIETRONIRO (Dukla Trencin – SVK), Thomas LARKIN (Adler Mannheim – DEL)

Attaccanti: Josè Antonio MAGNABOSCO AGUIRRE, Michele MARCHETTI, Anthony SALINITRI (Asiago Hockey – ICEHL), Luca FRIGO, Daniel MANTENUTO, Angelo MICELI (HC Bolzano – ICEHL), Ivan DELUCA, Dante HANNOUN (HC Val Pusteria – ICEHL), Marco ZANETTI (HC Lugano – NLA), Marco INSAM (Rittner Buam – AlpsHL) Diego GLÜCK (HC Bolzano/HC Gherdeina -ICEHL/AlpsHL), Alex PETAN (Fehervar AV19), Daniel TEDESCO (Guildford Flames – GBR), Brandon McNALLY (Sheffield Steelers – GBR), Tommaso TRAVERSA (SG Cortina – AlpsHL), Pascal BRUNNER (HC Bolzano/HC Merano – ICEHL/AlpsHL)

Riserve a casa
Difensore: Cameron GINNETTI (HC Bolzano – ICEHL); Attaccanti: Leonardo FELICETTI, Hannes KASSLATTER (HC Bolzano – ICEHL)

Coaching staff: Mike KEENAN (head coach), Mike PELINO (associated coach), Fabio ARMANI, Giorgio DE BETTIN, Diego SCANDELLA (assistant coaches), David JAMIESON (allenatore portieri), Matias SARVELA, Jarmo Tapio KOIVISTO (preparatori atletici), David SCOTT (mental coach)

 

[ozo]

Welp, Japan is taking care of the business quite convincingly. Already can't wait for Ukraine - China game, it might be the promotion decider, I want to see how good China is with basically two good import lines.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Honestly, seeing this Japan game makes me think Ukraine will just get completely outmatched, much like the Netherlands in this game. Ukraine is a really solid team by 1B standards but in light of KHLers, they are still a semi-pro roster.

 

[Albatros]

The Netherlands are looking really solid against Japan, it's a shame they are again missing so many of their best players for whatever reason. I would go as far as saying their best roster could easily go toe to toe with Estonia and such.

And what are their reasons anyway? Oberliga players too tired after their high-stakes season to play?

Seems like the usual suspects are missing again, I don't think guys like the Bruijstens or Hermens or Loginov have any fundamental interest in playing for the national team anymore. At least Hessels is there this time.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Seems like the usual suspects are missing again, I don't think guys like the Bruijstens or Hermens or Loginov have any fundamental interest in playing for the national team anymore.

Vogelaar, de Hondt, van der Schuit.. It's weird how selectively they choose when to play for the NT and when not to.

 

[ozo]

Honestly, seeing this Japan game makes me think Ukraine will just get completely outmatched, much like the Netherlands in this game. Ukraine is a really solid team by 1B standards but in light of KHLers, they are still a semi-pro roster.

You are probably right about this game, but imo looking at player pools Ukraine (without RUS/BLR) should be a 1A team. They have a better team than Lithuania and Romania, maybe Korea too. I'm of course disregarding current Chinese roster too.

 

[Albatros]

Vogelaar, de Hondt, van der Schuit.. It's weird how selectively they choose when to play for the NT and when not to.

At least previously de Hondt supposedly had health reasons preventing him. Van der Schuit and maybe also Loginov might have been left out by the coaching staff this time rather than refused to join. But yeah, the issue is persistent.

 

[SoundAndFury]

You are probably right about this game, but imo looking at player pools Ukraine (without RUS/BLR) should be a 1A team. They have a better team than Lithuania and Romania, maybe Korea too. I'm of course disregarding current Chinese roster too.

I'm actually not sure about any of this. Even starting with what hits closer to the heart, I really don't think Ukraine has a better roster than us. Armalis being our biggest strength is the biggest hole for Ukraine and for that they have slight edge in the quality of skates. But even then the biggest names pretty much cancel each other out. Alisauskas and Merezhko, Kaleinikovas, Gintautas and Krakauskas - Lyalka, Deniskin and Peresunko. And the bottom of their roster play in Lithuania, just like our bottom of the roster.

All these teams - Lithuania, Ukraine, Romania, Korea and Japan - are definitely close. Each of those can beat each every other and I wouldn't be surprised. But What puts Ukraine ahead of them, I don't really see in most cases. Romania and Korea are of course maybe slightly weaker, especially if we were to consider the past results.

 

[ozo]

Ukraine playing as well as I hoped/expected. Really solid first 20 minutes.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Yeah. Ukraine playing well just like they did in the friendlies while Chinese imports thinking this is another one of those walkover tournaments they played before.

 

[Switlo]

Ukraine playing as well as I hoped/expected. Really solid first 20 minutes.

Yes, I expected/hoped the same.

Solid first period.
Good PP

 

[ozo]

Bad goal to give up, even worse boarding to follow it up...

 

[Albatros]

Good clean hit.