Team looks terrible so far, poor offensive play, defense with terrible turnovers. Cutting Kostitsyn hurt.
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Team looks terrible so far, poor offensive play, defense with terrible turnovers. Cutting Kostitsyn hurt.
i was in gomel at gomel-shakhter game on 13th february, if someone wants you can read article about gomel and the game and check some photos from the arena (in russian):
http://landeskog.ru/?p=21
gonna visit some more places and will write here some about prospects in near future
Buinitsky signed in the USHL, must be getting some NHL interest. He looked pretty good at the WJC's despite not getting on the score sheet that often, really looked like a man amongst boys.
Hating on NA leagues is absolutely in fashion right now but these kids are making the best call. The domestic production system is a bust machine, some moves have been made to rectify the situation but for now any kid that can go should go. They'll likely return to the domestic mess in a year anyways and either return to the D2 they were already dominating in and can learn nothing from or 5 shifts a game in Minsk.Not necessarily, unfortunately. For some reason Belorussians tend to go to North American minor/junior leagues more often than their Russian counterparts. I guess its the matter of having a more difficult time than Russians in getting into a KHL team (they only have Dinamo as non-foreign players). They seem to often go straight from hockey schools to NA junior leagues, or from BLR Highest League (D2) to NA minors (with a faint hope of ending up in the NHL someday). It's stupid, but I believe that these kids hope to become the next Grabovsky, which is bound to happen if only they make it to North America .
Yeah, lets better ship kids to Russian leagues so they end up playing for team Russia instead of Belarus
Do you not realize how delusional this statement is from a historical perspective? We've seen the bust record of kids in the local development system. We've seen this song and dance before, the "in a couple years, to Dinamo" part doesn't happen. Even if you get oh so lucky like a Danila Karaban you get what, 3 minutes a game? You rot away on the bench or in the weak Extraleague which offers them no improvement value. These kids aren't delusional, better try your luck in NA and maybe get to the AHL or something and develop your game there, Extraleague can wait.That might be the case for you guys, but we have two divisions worth of clubs for these kids to play in. All I'm saying is that they should move on to Extraleague instead of NA juniors, and hopefully, in a couple of years, to Dinamo. Instead of wasting away in some Canadian village until they're 20...
Do you not realize how delusional this statement is from a historical perspective? We've seen the bust record of kids in the local development system. We've seen this song and dance before, the "in a couple years, to Dinamo" part doesn't happen.
No, because in the CHL you get the visibility to potentially get to a league where you can actually develop your game. The Extraleague is weak, it's fine for an 18 year old but when you're 21-22 if you're still in the Extraleague all you're doing is losing time.Doesn't happen? Dinamo currently has Ustinenko, Khenkel, Lisovets, Ambrozheichik, Karaban, and Karnaukhov, as far as Belorussian players in their early 20s are concerned. Yeah, it's hard to get into KHL in your teens, but please explain to me how exactly is playing in the CHL preferable to playing in the Extraleague? Maybe you consider CHL to be stronger?
That might be the case for you guys
Unlikely, if only Azhgirey and Borschev manage to convert their antropometry into something useful. Azhgirey had 4+6 points (with 2+2 in the final game) at last Mac's tournament but does he seem to be a U20 player this year?I am not aware of any prominent names from the 2000 group, is there anyone of significance who may be included in the U20 team next year?
That's a problem. Rumored fixes have been circulating like a second KHL team or combining the Extraleague with another national league and pooling resources to increase the level of play. Either way, any athlete who can find an outlet to escape the current system is probably acting in the best interest of his development.
Sorry, I think I'm not quite getting your point anymore... So the problem you see with the Extraleague is that it's too weak for the players to develop in? I'm sorry, but that's just a bit out there, considering the consistently high results shown by Belorussian teams in continental competitions (with Neman even winning Continental Cup). I thought your issue was with insufficient icetime (which, indeed, might be a problem).
I'm not sure you want to be compared to Ukraine and Poland. Latvia makes its living off of exporting talent out of the country, they don't try to develop players in their local league.Look, the level of the league is not huge. It's not even close to Swiss/German leagues. But as far as other countries close to us in hockey and financial level - we're doing ****ing phenomenal. Latvia has a peanut league, and Ukraine is not even worth mentioning. Poland has a fairly large league, but its strength is way below the Belorussian one. Could the Extraleague be stronger? Sure. Do what a lot of regional hockey fans have been calling for and shut down Dinamo to hell, and split the freed money between all the clubs in the country. Abracadabra, the league is suddenly the strength of VHL. Great.
But see, this hasn't been happening much recently. The players turning in their passports are juniors, not seniors. When we're talking about the gap between the KHL, Extraleague, the gap is significant enough that a player whose growth was stunted by playing in the Extraleague in his early 20s isn't going to make the jump. It's not about playing time, it's about quality playing time.What now? Once the player outgrows this wonder, he obviously goes to the KHL and... makes a Russian passport within a few weeks of arriving at his new club. Great!.. Lost another player who could be useful someday.
Firstly, this wasn't my point, you can go back and read what I wrote. Secondly, of course it's stronger than the CHL because that's a junior league. There isn't much empirical evidence to suggest it's stronger than the ECHL. There have been very few crossovers, only two come to my memory, and the evidence was not in your favor. A claim like this will require evidence.But, back to your point... I am absolutely certain, based on statistics of what players do in each other's leagues, the Extraleague is FAR stronger than CHL, ECHL, and other NA minors (excluding the AHL).
Maxim Sushko, Owen Sound Attack, 1999, is drafted in 4th round 107th overall by Philadelphia Flyers.
I doubt there's a strict strategy. They just gather players in one team in the national championship, but if someone gets a chance to play in higher or perspective level, no matter if it's the CHL or just a belarusian top-six club, they let him go.I thought the strategy was to keep the U20 team together this year to prepare for the WJC, not lose all their guys to the CHL? I remember Ansosv saying something about this, even he was considering returning home.