What I am referring to is how much emphasis is put on these teams at a national and club level. I am new to Europe, so please let me use the two examples I know best, the US and Canada, to exemplify.
The USNTDP works extremely hard to create a fantastic program for the development of under-20 ice hockey players in the US. The coaching and training at this level is unreal, and the program strives very hard to find talented players and develop them to reach the next level in their careers. Recent graduates have included James Van Reimsdyk, Erik Johnson, Ryan Kesler, Patrick Kane, Patrick O'Sullivan, Rick DiPietro, and many, many, more.
Their goal is to take junior age players and divide them into two programs for the two major junior tournaments. If they have one criticism, it's that they put too much emphasis on the program when selecting their teams for the under-18 and under-20 tournaments. Many talented American CHL players are disregarded because they elected to play major Canadian junior hockey instead of staying with the NTDP.
This year, Slovakia knocked them out en route to the semi-final, which tells you something about the calibre of players they are producing, despite also having a small pool of players and few rinks.
I know about the USNTDP. This is a very solid concept in my opinion, but not suitable with the way minor sport is organized in Europe, where each club team has its own development program, and league play is stopped at some points during the season to allow for international tournaments to take place. Would it be possible to switch to a US-like system with a full time national team ? I think it is, clubs would let their junior aged player leave to play an entire season for a NTDP if they can be convinced that it would help them to take the next step in their development (as long as said player is not playing for his club's professional team yet, which makes me think that it would be harder to push this concept on the U20 NT than on the U18). But as far as I know, nobody has ever proposed such a concept in Switzerland.
I have already told you what these tournaments mean to Canadians. Who has coached us to victory in both tournaments this past year? The legendary Pat Burns, who also coached our Olympic team in the past two tournaments. He also, incidentally, was a key figure in our own inquiry into the problems with Canadian hockey, which took place after our failures in 1998.
I am interested in anything related to hockey and have a genuine interest for other cultures' point of view, so I'm fully aware of the importance of these tournaments to Canadians. But I'd like to point out that this is in line with the interest for junior sport in North America. I'll address that point when responding to the next paragraph.
I love prospects. I love these tournaments. I also play on two teams in Switzerland (just for fun!) and I am also familiar with the National League B, as I live in Basel.
Even you (a well educated and devoted fan of Swiss hockey, I believe) have stated that these tournaments do not matter that much (I would, however, disagree that all of Europe shares your opion. For proof, take a look around these forums for feedback on the recently announced Swedish under-18 roster. People do appear to care).
First a bit about myself. I have a strong interest for anything related to hockey, which of course helps in getting educated. I have played the game for many years now, albeit always at a low amateur level, and coached during 6 seasons for my (small) hometown club, in age categories ranging from 6 to 12 years old, under the supervision of a professionnal (Canadian btw) coach (I unfortunately had to quit coaching in late 2004 when I found my current job and had to leave my hometown). This allowed me to take part in some coaching clinics and meet some guys involved in high level hockey and get some inside perspectives about player development for the national teams. Those people are fully aware about what Swiss player lacks compare to those from better European hockey programs, and despite the lack of a USNTDP-like program, are trying to make NT player spend as much time together as possible to help them reach the next level.
Despite being educated about hockey (well, at least I hope I am
) and having some coaching experience, I admit I don't have a particularly strong interest for prospects and I am not good at judging player potential. I still follow junior tournaments with a strong interest, but, as I told you, I consider them a mean rather than an end.
Now I'd like to address your assumption that European fans as a whole don't share my opinion. It is obvious to me, and I guess to you as well, that there is nothing in Europe that can be compared to junior hockey in Canada, or college and high school football or little league baseball in the US. Even in soccer, by far the most popular sport in Europe, there is few interest for junior aged competition (final tournament of international competitions may be an exception, but more because of sheer nationalism than genuine interest for future stars of the game). In Europe, junior sport is considered a step on the way to the real thing.
Your observation about the feedbacks regarding the U18 Swedish national team mislead you (no offense) to the conclusion that the situation is different in Sweden. While your observation is true, don't forget we are on HF, and people here are more likely to have interest in prospects. The only conclusion that I would get out of this is that there are more knowledgeable fans in Sweden than in Switzerland, probably both because of the sheer number of hockey fans, and the highest proportion of knowledgeable ones.
Few people I know seem to know anything about the young players in this country. I may be wrong, but I don't think the media, fans, or clubs are doing enough to encourage these players to be international stars. And that's who they will be competing against. Not just in these tournaments, but in the future as well on a senior level.
Tartar, Panik, and Janus must feel like stars of the future after the exposure and success they received in December and January (for Slovakia). How many NHL scouts do you think have made an attempt to see Tartar since that tournament? I know that is not good scouting in your opinion, but it is reality.
Get the media on it. Get your top coaches on it. Encourage the National A teams to do more to develop their young talent for the sake of Switzerland, and not just for club success.
Most fans in Switzerland are in for the show. I find it sad that most people you meet at hockey games usually can't name three players from the visiting team, and have rarely played the game at any level, but it is true. They will also critic the national team coach for not choosing a particular player, failing to understand his concept of "making the best possible team out of 20 Swiss players" rather than "making a team out of the 20 best Swiss players".
As a follower of the NLB, you're probably aware that the U20 national team plays a game against every team from that league during the season. That, in my opinion, is a good thing for the U20 NT as it allows the coaches to take a look at more players, and can only improve team chemistry. But fans of NLB teams simply don't like this, as they consider it a step in the direction of making their league a farm team one, a possibility that would kill interest for the league as no one wants their team to be reduced to the role of feeder for another one. Another example of the difference with the North American point of view.
It shouldn't be necessary to send players to Canada or the USA to develop them. Switzerland has enough money, rinks, support and clubs for world stars to develop right here. Make that a priority and the results will come. Just as they have come at World Championships, in the Olympics, and in the CL already.
We are, after all, talking about the future here. Let those kids know that they are it.
This is probably not obvious to someone who didn't follow Swiss hockey during the last ten years (I don't mean you in particular), as Switzerland still don't produce much more NHL players than ten years ago (though even at this level, an improvement is visible), but player development has greatly improved since current national team coach Ralph Krueger took over in 1998. Last years, the senior national team went to the world championship without many players arguably good enough to make it (Streit, Wichser, Von Arx, Plüss, Ziegler, Camichel, Rüthemann and many others I can't remember right now) for various reasons. Switzerland still ended the tournament with easy wins against France and Denmark, a key win against Belarus (wth the Kostitsyn brothers, Grabovski and Salei), and an upset against Sweden. Going to the 1998 tournament with so many key players out would have meant a fight against relegation with an uncertain outcome. This proves that a big step forward was made regarding player depth.
Now, the next step would be to develop top end talent, and by that I mean NHL caliber players, and, as I pointed out earlier in this thread, a snowball effect improving Swiss hockey as whole could result. To get there, I think it is necessary that a fair amount of Swiss players take the CHL route, as North American scouts usually take this as a proof of the player commitment to eventually play in the NHL. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely do not support sending every Swiss talent to North America and have the development process being "outsourced" (can't think of a better word), but if some have success following this route, it can only speed up the whole process.
