WC: 2016 Team Norway

[ergi24]

Lars Haugen
Lars Volden
Steffen Soberg

Ole-Kristian Tollefsen - Jonas Holos
Alexander Bonsaksen - Daniel Sorvik
Mattias Norstebo - Stefan Espeland
Nicolai Bryhnisveen - Erlend Lesund/Dennis Sveum

Patrick Thoresen - Mathis Olimb - Ken Andre Olimb
Mats Rosseli Olsen - Michael Haga - Martin Roymark
Niklas Roest - Anders Bastiansen - Robin Dahlstrom
Tommy Kristiansen - Mathias Trettenes - Kristian Forsberg
Andreas Stene, Thomas Valkvae Olsen/Sondre Olden

Click to read more...

 

[Botta]

The goal must be not to be relegated

 

[kabidjan18]

The goal must be not to be relegated

The relegation battle will be intense in this group, not so intense in the other group.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Thoresen - Olimb - Martinsen
Skrøder - Olimb - Rosseli
Røymark - Haga - Olden
Karterud - Stene - Dahlström
Bastiansen, Andersen

Holøs - Nørstebø
Tollefsen - Bonsaksen
Bryhnisveen - Espeland
Lesund - Marthinsen

Haukeland
Haugen
Volden

Probaly best set of goalies and defenders Norway has ever had.

 

[ergi24]

Skroder ended his national careerend of national team....Marthinsen does not have enough experience with men's hockey, Sorvik is much better defender...Olden is player on the edge...

 

[kabidjan18]

Marthinsen does not have enough experience with men's hockey

I give you, he is terrible in the NHL...but...men's hockey happens to be his day job and he works in the highest league in the world...

 

[ergi24]

I'm talking about http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=240255, no Andreas Martinsen. defender Lesund - Marthinsen....

 

[kabidjan18]

I'm talking about http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=240255, no Andreas Martinsen. defender Lesund - Marthinsen....

Oh, I see, my bad.

Lol...best defensemen ever...with a defenseman playing in juniors...

 

[ergi24]

Patrick Thoresen is injury, http://www.sporten.com/nyhet/norsk-stjerne-kan-ga-glipp-av-ishockey-vm

 

[ergi24]

Thoresen finally out

 

[babyshamble]

Warm up games before the tournament:

8/4 Russia - Norway 2-1 Sd
G: Valkvæ Olsen, ass: Heier
10/4 Russia - Norway 4-1
G: Valkvæ Olsen, ass Heier

15/4 Norway - Finland
17/4 Norway - Finland

21/4 Denmark - Norway
23/4 Denmark - Norway

28/4 Norway - France
30/4 Norway - France

 

[babyshamble]

Norways squad for the games against Finland:

Goalies (4) Club:
Lars Haugen Färjestad (SWE)
Henrik Haukeland Leksand (SWE)
Steffen Søberg Vålerenga
Lars Volden Rögle (SWE)

Defense (9)
Nicolai Bryhnisveen Timrå (SWE)
Marius Hagberg Sparta Sarpsborg
Jonas Holøs Färjestad (SWE)
Christian KÃ¥sastul Frisk Asker
Erlend Lesund Mora (SWE)
Mattias Nørstebø Brynäs (SWE)
Aleksander Rindal Lillehammer
Daniel Sørvik GCK Lions (SUI)
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen Färjestad (SWE)

Forwards (13)
Morten Ask VÃ¥lerenga
Anders Bastiansen Frisk Asker
Michael Haga Almtuna (SWE)
Andreas Heier Stjernen Fredrikstad
Sondre Olden Brynäs (SWE)
Ken André Olimb Düsseldorf (GER)
Mathis Olimb Kloten (SUI)
Thomas Valkvæ Olsen Frisk Asker
Niklas Roest Sparta Sarpsborg
Martin Røymark Färjestad (SWE)
Eirik Salsten Manglerud
Andreas Stene Mora (SWE)
Martin Laumann Ylven VÃ¥lerenga


Remaining players that are still playing playoff hockey that I consider as locks for making the WC squad:

Defense:
Alexander Bonsaksen Tappara (FIN)
Mats Trygg Lørenskog

Forwards:
Andreas Martinsen Colorado Avalanche (USA) (will join the squad for the games against France)
Mats Rosseli Olsen Frølunda (SWE)
Kristian Forsberg Stavanger Oilers
Robin Dahlstrøm Lørenskog

Other potential players:

Stefan Espeland Lørenskog
Dennis Sveum Stavanger
Johannes Johannesen Stavanger

Mats Zuccarello New York Rangers (USA) If Rangers get knocked out in rd 1
Tommy Kristiansen Stavanger
Mathias Trettenes Stavanger
Mats Frøshaug Lørenskog

 

[Botta]

I am not too optimistic this year. Both Thoresen and Zucarello are missing, and Denmark has a very strong team. Wonder how good Kazakhstan is? Hopefully we will be in France/Germany next year

 

[QuietContrarian]

I am not too optimistic this year. Both Thoresen and Zucarello are missing, and Denmark has a very strong team. Wonder how good Kazakhstan is? Hopefully we will be in France/Germany next year

That hasnt stopped you guys from whooping us before

 

[babyshamble]

I am not too optimistic this year. Both Thoresen and Zucarello are missing, and Denmark has a very strong team. Wonder how good Kazakhstan is? Hopefully we will be in France/Germany next year

I think a lot of people share that opinion but we have surprised and exceeded expectations when missing top players before. Our offense may be weaker, but our defense has never been better.

The Olimb brothers will be extremely important. Hopefully players like Rosseli and Martinsen can step up and take more responsibility. Michael Haga is kind of a wild card here, will he be able to follow up on his great Allsvenskan season ? Sondre Olden is another wild card, he has not had that great of a season but the potential is clearly there.

 

[Botta]

I think a lot of people share that opinion but we have surprised and exceeded expectations when missing top players before. Our offense may be weaker, but our defense has never been better.

The Olimb brothers will be extremely important. Hopefully players like Rosseli and Martinsen can step up and take more responsibility. Michael Haga is kind of a wild card here, will he be able to follow up on his great Allsvenskan season ? Sondre Olden is another wild card, he has not had that great of a season but the potential is clearly there.

Well, this is what I hope for
I usually don`t have too high expectaions, but the team has proved us wrong many times. Hopefully some new players will step up this year

 

[Sofaw]

and Denmark has a very strong team.

Well not that good. Yeah there will be the NHLers Ehlers, Eller and Hansen, but some of the European based key players are missing due to injuries or they have opted out: P. Regin (injury), P. Larsen (opt out), J. Jacobsen (opt out), N. Hardt (opt out) Jesper Jensen (injury) and Anders Poulsen (injury-qustionable).
On top of that Denmark is having a problem with centers. Regin, Jakobsen and most likely Poulsen are out.

Actually in my opnion it could just as well be Denmark to relegate as Norway, Latvia og Karzakstan.

 

[kabidjan18]

Well not that good. Yeah there will be the NHLers Ehlers, Eller and Hansen, but some of the European based key players are missing due to injuries or they have opted out: P. Regin (injury), P. Larsen (opt out), J. Jacobsen (opt out), N. Hardt (opt out) Jesper Jensen (injury) and Anders Poulsen (injury-qustionable).
On top of that Denmark is having a problem with centers. Regin, Jakobsen and most likely Poulsen are out.

Actually in my opnion it could just as well be Denmark to relegate as Norway, Latvia og Karzakstan.

Well...Denmark has been in the elite division for 14 years, as long as Latvia and longer than Belarus, with some of the least impressive lineups. Now they add a few NHLers and suddenly everyone has them getting relegated?

Norway isn't the favorite either, they've got a decent team, though Thoresen will be missed.

 

[Heia Norge]

It’s going to be a very interesting tournament and this group is very unpredictable.

But I think both Norway and Denmark is going to survive and I think Kazakhstan will be relegated.
Both the Danish and the Norwegian team have more experienced players on their roster to handle a tournament like this.

 

[Namejs]

Well...Denmark has been in the elite division for 14 years, as long as Latvia

20=14, yet 14>12?

That's some interesting arithmetics you've got going there.

 

[kabidjan18]

20=14, yet 14>12?

That's some interesting arithmetics you've got going there.

Fair enough but just semantics. No need to be petty.

 

[Namejs]

Fair enough but just semantics. No need to be petty.

That was your entire argument. And it wouldn't work even if it wasn't based on a false premise, as Denmark is missing some of their key Europe-based players and, more importantly, this is probably the toughest group in recent history of the World Championship. Adding a couple of NHLers still means the probability of them getting relegated is higher than it's been for years.

 

[kabidjan18]

That was your entire argument. And it wouldn't work even if it wasn't based on a false premise, as Denmark is missing some of their key Europe-based players and, more importantly, this is probably the toughest group in recent history of the World Championship. Adding a couple of NHLers still means the probability of them getting relegated is higher than it's been for years.

No, the premise of my argument was that they've avoided relegation while playing with crap lineups featuring juniors and whatnot for 14 years. People feel they have to find a favorite who is not their own country for relegation, but with Denmark you straight found the wrong favorite.

You know what I really am sorry Norway fans. Me and the other brother are a package storm. Staying on topic, I think Pittsburgh wins, perhaps even sweeps, so Zuccarello should be open as well.

 

[Namejs]

No, the premise of my argument was that they've avoided relegation while playing with crap lineups featuring juniors and whatnot for 14 years. People feel they have to find a favorite who is not their own country for relegation, but with Denmark you straight found the wrong favorite.

You know what I really am sorry Norway fans. Me and the other brother are a package storm. Staying on topic, I think Pittsburgh wins, perhaps even sweeps, so Zuccarello should be open as well.

But that argument collapses on itself, because Kazakhstan v2016 is better than Slovenia (sans Kopitar), which has a few dozen pro hockey players in the entire country or Italy, which is even worse than Slovenia. These are the teams that Denmark has had to beat over the years to stay up in the Elite tier.

The drop-off in quality between the teams ranked somewhere around the 15th place in the IIHF rankings and 18th and lower is almost palpable. It's pretty much the dividing line between 2nd tier hockey nations and the 3rd tier of international hockey. Not to mention that recently Slovenia has also slightly improved along with a couple of other countries of the 3rd tier.

Kazakhstan has turned from a 3rd world country to a commodity giant of Central Asia. Their GDP has increased seven-fold over the last 10 years or so. They are investing a lot of resources in hockey and it is starting to pay off, with mercenaries or not. Seriously, I'm not splitting hairs here just to have another argument with you, this is legitimately the first time a preliminary round group (or a relegation round group before 2012 with the old format) doesn't have an obvious pushover among the ranks.

And I've never called Norway or Denmark the worst team in the group, what I'm saying is that all four of them, including Latvia, are at an actual risk of getting relegated this year. Heck, even Switzerland could be caught off guard, stranger things have happened.

 

[kabidjan18]

But that argument collapses on itself, because Kazakhstan v2016 is better than Slovenia (sans Kopitar), which has a few dozen pro hockey players in the entire country or Italy, which is even worse than Slovenia. These are the teams that Denmark has had to beat over the years to stay up in the Elite tier.

The drop-off in quality between the teams ranked somewhere around the 15th place in the IIHF rankings and 18th and lower is almost palpable. It's pretty much the dividing line between 2nd tier hockey nations and the 3rd tier of international hockey. Not to mention that recently Slovenia has also slightly improved along with a couple of other countries of the 3rd tier.

Kazakhstan has turned from a 3rd world country to a commodity giant of Central Asia. Their GDP has increased seven-fold over the last 10 years or so. They are investing a lot of resources in hockey and it is starting to pay off, with mercenaries or not. Seriously, I'm not splitting hairs here just to have another argument with you, this is legitimately the first time a preliminary round group (or a relegation round group before 2012 with the old format) doesn't have an obvious pushover among the ranks.

And I've never called Norway or Denmark the worst team in the group, what I'm saying is that all four of them, including Latvia, are at an actual risk of getting relegated this year. Heck, even Switzerland could be caught off guard, stranger things have happened.

On one hand you're right, on the other hand I feel bad for disturbing so many peaceful forums so, you're right.