WJC: Predictions for U20 WJC 2023/2024

[Pazucha]

Projected lineups from theathletic

 

[Czechboy]

Projected lineups from theathletic



View attachment 771186

What is with having every single guy on your rosters drafted.

How are the Czechs supposed to compete with 5 or 6 drafted players?

This is unfair.. drafted players should be capped at 5 per team if you want a real world championships.lmao

 

[Pazucha]

What is with having every single guy on your rosters drafted.

How are the Czechs supposed to compete with 5 or 6 drafted players?

This is unfair.. drafted players should be capped at 5 per team if you want a real world championships.lmao

Not only drafted but also almost everyone is from the first round....

 

[Czechboy]

Not only drafted but also almost everyone is from the first round....

True, we should just have an undrafted WJC! Would barely affect the Czech team.haha

I'm obviously just kidding around but it is funny when I'm excited we have Sale, Sapo and Kulich who are late 1sts and 2nd rounders and then not much else and I think it's a strong year. Odds are, they wouldn't make Team Canada at all.lol

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Projected lineups from theathletic



View attachment 771186

Gavin Hayes isn’t making it over Hagens. Preposterous.

 

[Goodman68]

True, we should just have an undrafted WJC! Would barely affect the Czech team.haha

I'm obviously just kidding around but it is funny when I'm excited we have Sale, Sapo and Kulich who are late 1sts and 2nd rounders and then not much else and I think it's a strong year. Odds are, they wouldn't make Team Canada at all.lol

Would Kulich not make Canada's roster?
Honestly, sometimes it's just too much on your part. But I still like you

 

[alko]

Slovakia has very crazy schedule. Every game is 12:00 local time... Imo, they made it purposely, that we cant watch their games...

 

[theslatcher]

Slovakia has very crazy schedule. Every game is 12:00 local time... Imo, they made it purposely, that we cant watch their games...

That's a little odd that Slovakia got literally all the early starts in group B.

Finland gets all the early starts in group A, but at least being in the host group means thst's 14:30 local time.

 

[kudla]

That's a little odd that Slovakia got literally all the early starts in group B.

Finland gets all the early starts in group A, but at least being in the host group means thst's 14:30 local time.

Yeah, what a joke. Quite sad actually. LIterally nobody will be able to watch the games and it's in Europe

 

[Pazucha]

Yeah, what a joke. Quite sad actually. LIterally nobody will be able to watch the games and it's in Europe

I don't know the schedule are any of the Slovak games played on Saturday and Sunday perhaps?

 

[kudla]

I don't know the schedule are any of the Slovak games played on Saturday and Sunday perhaps?

Luckily, the Czechia game will be on 26th - national holiday (in Czechia too) and I think the USA game will be on Sunday.

 

[Czechboy]

Would Kulich not make Canada's roster?
Honestly, sometimes it's just too much on your part. But I still like you

So 1?lol

Hrabal would too.

Maybe Dvorak as a 19 year old but not 18.

Sale as a 19 year old?

Last year, I think Svozil Spacek and Jiricek would've made it. No forwards though. 18 year old Kulich would've been in tough to crack the Bedard/Fantilli forward corps.

 

[Namejs]

Rosters not out yet, but we know what the rosters will look like, to 95 %

Group A

1, Canada
2, Finland
3, Germany
4, Sweden
5, latvia

Group B

1: USA
2: Czechs
3: Slovakia
4: Norway
5: Switzerland


Gold: USA
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Czechs

I went through the bottom 6 rosters and surprisingly enough there's not much that separates them. Switzerland, Slovakia and Norway can all end up in the relegation battle, with Switzerland and Norway being roughly on par while Slovakia looks a tiny bit better on paper.

Latvia and Germany are in that same tier. There's not a single team that stands out as being the weakest, which is unseen at this level.

If Switzerland ends up missing Bichsel, I would even go as far as agreeing with Eye of Ra.

 

[Hinterland]

I went through the bottom 6 rosters and surprisingly enough there's not much that separates them. Switzerland, Slovakia and Norway can all end up in the relegation battle, with Switzerland and Norway being roughly on par while Slovakia looks a tiny bit better on paper.

Latvia and Germany are in that same tier. There's not a single team that stands out as being the weakest, which is unseen at this level.

If Switzerland ends up missing Bichsel, I would even go as far as agreeing with Eye of Ra.

Honestly, that Norwegian team at the last WJC18 was so brutal, I have my doubts if the WJC20 squad is gonna be any better. Their skating was so bad, they were barely moving at times. Even with idiot coaching and minus the two best Centers and potentially Bichsel this should still be an easy win for Switzerland. If not, even better. Maybe that will finally get some clowns fired.

Those Norwegian junior teams always have a few really promising prospects but I feel like depth was almost never even close from good enough to really compete with even just Switzerland or Slovakia.

Switzerland vs Slovakia on the other hand is almost always an ultra competitive and close dog fight even if one team is seemingly significantly better than the other.

 

[Namejs]

Honestly, that Norwegian team at the last WJC18 was so brutal, I have my doubts if the WJC20 squad is gonna be any better. Their skating was so bad, they were barely moving at times. Even with idiot coaching and minus the two best Centers and potentially Bichsel this should still be an easy win for Switzerland. If not, even better. Maybe that will finally get some clowns fired.

Those Norwegian junior teams always have a few really promising prospects but I feel like depth was almost never even close from good enough to really compete with even just Switzerland or Slovakia.

Switzerland vs Slovakia on the other hand is almost always an ultra competitive and close dog fight even if one team is seemingly significantly better than the other.

I generally agree with you entirely regarding Norway and that is exactly what I wrote in the Norway thread, but they do have a fluke year this time around.

Switzerland is missing several key players, while Norway has its best and deepest team in ages. Having an entire forward line playing on the same team in Allsvenskan and previously in the juniors is a pretty neat bonus.

I am by no means implying that Norway has turned into a powerhouse, they have simply ended up in a very lucky set of circumstances.

I am not going to be surprised if they make the play-offs.

 

[Joka12]

Honestly, that Norwegian team at the last WJC18 was so brutal, I have my doubts if the WJC20 squad is gonna be any better. Their skating was so bad, they were barely moving at times. Even with idiot coaching and minus the two best Centers and potentially Bichsel this should still be an easy win for Switzerland. If not, even better. Maybe that will finally get some clowns fired.

Those Norwegian junior teams always have a few really promising prospects but I feel like depth was almost never even close from good enough to really compete with even just Switzerland or Slovakia.

Switzerland vs Slovakia on the other hand is almost always an ultra competitive and close dog fight even if one team is seemingly significantly better than the other.

Lol, it will probably be a maximum of 2-3 players from that team playing in this tournament. Solberg and then maybe 1-2 of Lafton, Vatne, Myhre, Granath and Indergaard.
I also feel like you are talking that team a bit down. Like it was insanely bad. Norway destroyed Germany in the relegation games, lost 1-0 to Latvia in a completely even game (same amount SOG). And the game against Switzerland ended in a 5-0 loss but it was only 23-20 in SOG to Switzerland.

And also: The 04 generetation is miles better than the 05/06 players we have, except from Solberg and Brandsegg Nygaard.

 

[Rusty7550]

As a Slovak, I hate to do any predictions. Usually when im optimistic we chokes but when i have zero expectations we are doing very well. If our team can be at full strenght (- Slafkovsky), I think we can play good hockey against any team. Biggest favourites are USA and Sweden imo.

 

[Hinterland]

I generally agree with you entirely regarding Norway and that is exactly what I wrote in the Norway thread, but they do have a fluke year this time around.

Switzerland is missing several key players, while Norway has its best and deepest team in ages. Having an entire forward line playing on the same team in Allsvenskan and previously in the juniors is a pretty neat bonus.

I am by no means implying that Norway has turned into a powerhouse, they have simply ended up in a very lucky set of circumstances.

I am not going to be surprised if they make the play-offs.

I hope you're right but that's what we heard ahead of almost every major international junior tournament Norway took part and they never met expectations.

It would be important to have more depth in international hockey though. For Swiss teams, the lone games that are almost always tight are the ones vs Germany and Slovakia. Belarus and Latvia at least sometimes. Sadly, countries like Norway or Austria never quite managed to be competitive in any tournament I watched. At least not as a team. There's certainly been an upwards trend in Norway though in recent years. I hope they'll find a way to be competitive in good years at the very least.

Wouldn't mind if they beat Switzerland. Swiss coaches gotta go and losses like that would certainly help to speed up the process. I doubt it's gonna happen in this tournament though. Slovakia is normally out of reach for Norway anyway.

 

[jj cale]

If we are going on just looking at the rosters and talent it's the U.S for gold,they also have quite a bit of built in familiarity. Sweden is at home and probably has the 2nd most talent and Canada slides in at the 3rd spot.

But hockey isn't basketball, upsets might happen.

 

[RedWingzz]

Canada
USA
Sweden

 

[Jumpy]

Gold: Finland
Silver: Sweden
Bronze: USA

I guess I am one of the "consequently too bullish Norwegian predictors", but THIS year, if ever. Joka talked the case a bit. I don't really think Norway was all bad in U18, and had many even games. The pre-tourney was very odd though as I recall, and they didn't really play any friendlies of any quality. It looked the case. Brandsegg Nygaard was out, who was their only supposed stand-out. They had a nice improvement though. Don't see many of those make it this tourney either. Vatne was the best offensive producer, but not sure he will make the cut.
Main arguments for a Norwegain upset is the deepest generation ever, some lines that really know each other (Allsvenskan / EHL (Norway top league). I like the coaching staff as well. Think it comes down to goalies, and put my money on Stensrud. Markus Røhnebæk Stensrud at eliteprospects.com
Finally, they are literally playing at home as all of the players have either played or play in Sweden and it is only hours away from Oslo.
Not shocked if Norway make it to the semis - not shocked if I am too bullish either. Keeps happening. But don't think Sweden would appreciate facing Norway in the QFs either. Losing to Norway at home would be a bit of a bummer.

 

[Eye of Ra]

But don't think Sweden would appreciate facing Norway in the QFs either. Losing to Norway at home would be a bit of a bummer.

Swedes cheer for for norway, after Sweden ofc

 

[newmanager]

I'll predict:
Canada wins Gold
Slovakia wins Silver
USA wins Bronze

 

[David Suzuki]

Feel like Canada is due for a dud.

Gold: USA
Silver: Slovaks
Bronze: Sweden

 

[Maverick41]

A year ago I would have said Germany is definitely finishing last in their group. They still might, but I really like the progress many of the players, who will likely be at the tournament, have made this season so far. The defense still worries me a lot, but the forward group starts to look quite solid and I have something closely resembling trust in our goalies, especially Wolf.
Barring injuries to key players I think they will have a chance against Latvia and whoever they will face if they end up in the relegation round.