2005 WJC Div I Group B Thread

[mole]

Tournament takes place between December 13th and 19th in Narva, Estonia.

6 teams (hosts Estonia, Denmark, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Ukraine) compete in a round robin, and the top team qualifies for the 2006 main WJC's.

Group B:
Estonia will play host to the Division I, Group B U20 Championship, but as a team it will have its hands full with the likes of Denmark, Ukraine, Slovenia and Latvia.

Denmark's national junior teams have been on a roll lately at both the U18 and U20 level, but whether they are ready to make the leap into the top division at the U20s remains to be seen. The Danes will be challenged greatly by the Ukraine, which will be eager to make a quick turnaround after getting relegated last year.

The dark horse that could spoil the party for Denmark and Ukraine is Slovenia, which boasts perhaps the strongest prospect among both Division I groups. Forward Anze Kopitar was his team's leading scorer at last year's U18 championship and is the getting the biggest buzz among scouts. But he will need strong shoulders to carry the Slovenians hopes at the upcoming Division I.

The long shots of the group include host Estonia, Latvia and Poland. While all three have strong hockey traditions, they are just a notch below the other three teams in the group. Latvia has the best chance to score an upset, but to win the entire tournament would take a string of unbelievable fortune.

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[mole]

The Danish roster was announced yesterday, and looks like this:

Goalies:
Sebastian Dahm, Malmö J20, 1987/28/2
Simon Nielsen, Herning, 1986/10/27

Defensemen:
Mads Bødker, Rødovre, 1987/8/31
Michael Eskesen, Odense, 1986/6/5
Frederik Hentze, Rungsted, 1987/4/6
Mads Kjems, Esbjerg, 1986/4/24
Stefan Lassen, Frederikshavn, 1985/11/1
Carsten Nielsen, Esbjerg, 1985/3/16
David Petterson, Rødovre, 1985/6/15

Forwards:
Mads Christensen, Herning, 1987/4/2
Jannik Hansen, Rødovre,1986/3/15
Kim Karsberg, Esbjerg, 1985/4/26
Jannik Karvinen, Malmö J20, 1986/5/17
Tobias Kisum, Leksand J20, 1986/3/12
Thomas Lilholt, Rødovre, 1985/1/20
Morten Madsen, Frölunda J20, 1987/1/16
Bjarke Møller, AaB, 1985/9/23
Nikolaj Nedermark, Frederikshavn, 1985/3/17
Martin Nielsen, Rødovre, 1985/5/22
Peter Regin, Herning, 1986/4/16
Robin Stilling, Rødovre, 1986/6/19
Jacob Vorup, Herning, 1985/17/10

Last year the team was in a narrow battle with then-hosts Germany for promotion but lost out by a point. The two teams tied their individual game but while Germany tied Latvia 4-4, Denmark ran into an 8-3 loss.
Gone from last year's team is Frans Nielsen (NYI 2002, #87), who was appearing in his 4th WJC and was 2nd in scoring (behind Latvia's Martins Karsums) with 8 goals and 3 assists. Also graduated are Thomas Mose and Mads Bech Christensen, two strong presences, the latter of which is now a full international along with Nielsen.
New and highly anticipated is 2005-draft-eligible Morten Madsen who's having a good year with Frölunda's J20 team and was very impressive at last season's U18 WC.
Denmark hopes to gun for promotion but with a relatively young team where the entire (projected) first unit will be returning next year, a top 3 finish will still be deemed somewhat satisfactory.

 

[mole]

The other rosters have been released via IIHF. They're a bit dodgy though, the numbers are odd and I think some of the D/F's are mixed up. Plus a few teams and birthdates are clearly wrong. Ah well.

Schedule & Rosters

Games start monday with all 6 teams in action.
1pm local time (6am EST) - Latvia vs Denmark
4.30pm local time (9.30am EST) - Poland vs Ukraine
8pm local time (1pm EST) - Estonia vs Slovenia

 

[Seachd]

Well, this group in certainly a lot more interesting than Group A. I'll be paying close attention to this one (what else is there to pay attention to?)

 

[ZombieMatt]

I really expect Latvia to play well. The two Moncton Wildcats (Bartulis - 2005, D) and Karsums (BOS, W) are reportedly very, very excited - according to the Wildcats staff - about going over. Both have played extremely well. Obviously two players don't make a team, but at this level, having a few guys who are very strong players is an enormous edge.

 

[montreal]

Go Denmark! I wish I could see the game on Monday, sounds like it's going to be a good one. I look forward to hearing how Madsen, Christensen, Hansen, and Regin do, since they are the ones I've read about the most.

 

[mole]

I really expect Latvia to play well. The two Moncton Wildcats (Bartulis - 2005, D) and Karsums (BOS, W) are reportedly very, very excited - according to the Wildcats staff - about going over. Both have played extremely well. Obviously two players don't make a team, but at this level, having a few guys who are very strong players is an enormous edge.

Karsums was awesome last year, I think he'll definitely be one of the stars of the tournament, again. Don't know much about Bartulis, but he's obviously cutting it in the CHL, so he will probably make a difference, too.

 

[Habi]

National Team Poland U-20

Goalies:
Bartosz Stepokura (HC Previdza)
Tomasz Rajski (Wojas Podhale Nowy Targ)

Defensmen:
Bartosz Dabkowski (TKH Torun)
Kamil Duszak (UKS Zaglebie Sosnowiec),
Piotr Koseda (Sereza Ostrava)
Mateusz Rompkowski (Stoczniowiec Gdansk)
Paweł Skrzypkowski (Stoczniowiec)
Tobiasz Bigos (JKH Jastrzebie)
Artur Zielinski (KTH Krynica)
Daniel Galant (KTH Krynica)

Fowards:
Mikołaj Lopuski (Itong Brno)
Arkadiusz Marmurowicz (HC Previdza)
Maciej Urbanowicz (Stoczniowiec)
Marcin Kwiatek (Unia Oswecim)
Sebastian Kowalowka (Unia)
Marcin Kolusz (Wojas Podhale)
Jaroslaw Rzeszutko (Stoczniowiec)
Milosz Labudda (Stoczniowiec)
Tomasz Malasinski (MMKS Nowy Targ)
Michał Zubek (Wojas Podhale)
Mateusz Danielak (JKH Jastrzebie)
Grzegorz Pasiut (KTH Krynica)

Last year, we have played in Divison II, group A in Sosnowiec, Poland with such teams as Romonia, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Iceland. Our team completely crashed the opponents and had finished the tournament with 5 wins, 59 goals scored and lost only 4.
We are propably the worst team in Div I group B. I don't know so well this year Polish opponents, but I really belive that we can finish this torunament in a 3-4 place. IMO our best link is Bartosz Dabkowski(1985), who plays quite well in every game of TKH Torun . Also Kowalowka(1986) and Kolusz(who was drafted by Minnesota Wild at 157th overall in 2003) are very good and do them best in Unia Oswiecim and Wojas Podhale Nowy Targ.
Polish National Team U-20 has already played four friendly games in 3 XII - 10 XII. First, they have won two times with Slovakian MHC Martin 5-3 and 4-3. They have also played in St. Poelten with Austria U-20 two times. They have won first game 4-3 and finally had lost the second game 1-4.

Here are the opinions about our chances by Polish players:

Bartosz Dabkowski : “We have got a chance to make a good result in this tournament. Our opponents plays very good, but I think that we can beat them. We are training very hard, the atmosphere in our team is good."

Bartosz Stepokura : "Our group is very strong. We can win with all, but we can even lose too. It will be vert hard, but we wants to fight for the highest place. Condition and physic preparation will be propably a main key in this tournament, so we are training these parts. As always, in our team there is a good atmospehere, altought we have got bad moments in our team play."

Piotr Koseda : "I think that our team is strong and we can win with all teams. We have got some great players as Marmurowicz, Lopuski, Kolusz and Dabkowski. Our coach Rutkowski is a very good specialist and we will be prepared very good for this torunament. The atmosphere is really great, because almost all the players was born in 85' or 86'. They knows each other very good, so we have got a very good chance to make a suprise."

Arkadiusz Marmurowicz : "It will be a very hard tournament. We want play as good as we can in all games. We are playing in a very strong group."

Pawel Skrzypowski: "Well, atmosphere is great, we are training very hard. I think, that we will be prepared very good and there is a big chance. I think, that it will be fine"


Well, as I said i don't know our opponents well, so shall you give some advice from Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia and especially Ukraine (I know only Voroshnov as a goalie of KH Sanok ) ??

greetins to all hockey fans ,
Habi


btw sorry for my english

 

[Seachd]

Ugh. Denmark went down in the first game to Latvia, although I guess that's not a huge surprise. They'll get their revenge.

 

[Seachd]

Slovenia thumped Estonia 9-0. For those interested, Anze Kopitar got 4 goals and an assist.

 

[Habi]

Poland - Ukraine 2-2

7.33 0-1 Romanenko (Proskurin) 5/5
30.41 1-1 Marmurowicz (Lopuski) 5/5
37.41 1-2 Onyshchenko (Denysenko) 5/4
40.30 2-2 Marmurowicz (Lopuski) 5/5

shots: 33-42

Well, IMO Poland have made very good final result. I thought that Ukraine will outshot Poland and win this one with 3-4 goal margin, cause they were relegated from group A. I see that the goalies Voroshnov and Rajski have done quite well.

Is there someone from Estonia, who has seen this game?

1 SLO 1 1 0 0 9 : 0 9 2
2 LAT 1 1 0 0 4 : 2 2 2
3 POL 1 0 1 0 2 : 2 0 1
4 UKR 1 0 1 0 2 : 2 0 1
5 DEN 1 0 0 1 2 : 4 -2 0
6 EST 1 0 0 1 0 : 9 -9 0

Tommorow matches:
13:00 Poland - Slovenia
16:30 Ukraine - Latvia
20:00 Estonia - Slovenia

btw, any photos from Narva?

 

[nyr34]

Poland - Ukraine 2-2

7.33 0-1 Romanenko (Proskurin) 5/5
30.41 1-1 Marmurowicz (Lopuski) 5/5
37.41 1-2 Onyshchenko (Denysenko) 5/4
40.30 2-2 Marmurowicz (Lopuski) 5/5

shots: 33-42

Well, IMO Poland have made very good final result. I thought that Ukraine will outshot Poland and win this one with 3-4 goal margin, cause they were relegated from group A. I see that the goalies Voroshnov and Rajski have done quite well.

Hey Habi, I'm just starting to follow Poland closely lately, do you know any good Polish sites out there? And as for today, I don't know how good the Ukrainian's are in the U-20, but the country as a whole is way better than Poland in hockey. I'd definately call the tie an upset. I'm very pleased with the result of this game.

 

[zecke26]

slovenia defeated poland 4-1, 3 goals and 1 assist by anze kopitar who stand now at 6 goals and 3 assists in 2 games. very nice.