WJC: Roster Talk '13 — U.S.A. (Part 2)

[Kvashinator12]

I still don't care for bringing Gotisibhere over Gryz. I also think it says a lot about this team as a whole that they won considering Galchenyuk wasn't at his best to say the least

 

[Xokkeu]

I kept preaching about McCabe a few weeks prior to the tourney as the kid I was watching at Wisconsin was just impressing the hell out of me. there definitely were some posters who didnt share my joy with regards to McCabe and I wondered what the hell I was watching that was different then some of them...

After this tournament, I can clearly state that most everyone is on the same page when it comes to this kid and his future. I think I compared his role with this group to that of Jake Gardiner's in 2010 a bit before the games began and though I think McCabe put up better points, he certainly was that calming influence out there like Gardiner was...now lets hope he has the same pro career as well as Gardiner is looking to have a bright career ahead..

McCabe and John Ramage (gold medal winner himself) have been like Jones and Trouba for the Badgers. I still think McCabe has a ways to go to make the NHL. He's skating is only average and he still sometimes makes some weird decisions, although he's cut those down dramatically the last few years. We will see how far he can progress on that track and if he can improve his skating a bit. If he does, he'll be an impact NHLer.

 

[Xokkeu]

I still don't care for bringing Gotisibhere over Gryz. I also think it says a lot about this team as a whole that they won considering Galchenyuk wasn't at his best to say the least

Balanced scoring.

Galchenyuk was oustanding in games against Germany and Slovakia while the Gaudreau-Miller-Grimaldi line was sputtering. Say what you want about those opponents, but if we lose to Slovakia we are in the relegation round. Against the Czechs and Canadians Gaudreau stepped up and put the puck in the net. In the Gold medal game, Grimaldi was the hero. That's what you need to win.

 

[AmericanDream]

Balanced scoring.

Galchenyuk was oustanding in games against Germany and Slovakia while the Gaudreau-Miller-Grimaldi line was sputtering. Say what you want about those opponents, but if we lose to Slovakia we are in the relegation round. Against the Czechs and Canadians Gaudreau stepped up and put the puck in the net. In the Gold medal game, Grimaldi was the hero. That's what you need to win.

what other people also seem to fail to realize is that Galchenyuk usually drew the opponents top checkers/defenders...so he almost singlehandedly helped to shield our other lines as he was most teams main focus. you can say that he didnt do enough offensively for this tournament which some are saying, but he still had 8 points I believe and really did help our Miller-Gaudreau-Vesey line be able to get the open ice needed as Galy usually was everyones top target.

he did enough overall with limited linemates and top defenders on him...not complaining one ounce with him at all. thanks Alex for being American!!!

 

[Xokkeu]

what other people also seem to fail to realize is that Galchenyuk usually drew the opponents top checkers/defenders...so he almost singlehandedly helped to shield our other lines as he was most teams main focus. you can say that he didnt do enough offensively for this tournament which some are saying, but he still had 8 points I believe and really did help our Miller-Gaudreau-Vesey line be able to get the open ice needed as Galy usually was everyones top target.

he did enough overall with limited linemates and top defenders on him...not complaining one ounce with him at all. thanks Alex for being American!!!

Reminds me a bit of Pittsburgh's stanley Cup team.


Crosby got all of the attention, Malkin was free to generate scoring in that space and Jordan Staal's line would throw in some valuable and necessary goals here and there. Say what you want about finding Crosby a winger, or giving Galchenyuk better linemates, spreading the scoring out can often be more effective.

 

[ps241]

Congradulations to the Americans from North of the border.

As a jets fan I would like to thank you for Trouba

I am rarely right But I think I mentioned after the loss to Canada in the round robin not to panic because your guys were playing great just gripping their sticks a bit tight. Anyways great goaltending, the best D core, and different guys stepping up when you needed them. You guys were the most consistant team in the tournament. Way to bounce back from last year.

Housley was also getting slagged a bit for rolling 4 lines in the round robin and I think he deserves a bit of love as well.

 

[orangeandblack]

what other people also seem to fail to realize is that Galchenyuk usually drew the opponents top checkers/defenders...so he almost singlehandedly helped to shield our other lines as he was most teams main focus. you can say that he didnt do enough offensively for this tournament which some are saying, but he still had 8 points I believe and really did help our Miller-Gaudreau-Vesey line be able to get the open ice needed as Galy usually was everyones top target.

he did enough overall with limited linemates and top defenders on him...not complaining one ounce with him at all. thanks Alex for being American!!!

Agreed, it really looked like the Swedes keyed in on Galchenyuk and Gaudreau. Almost like they were shadowed.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Agreed, it really looked like the Swedes keyed in on Galchenyuk and Gaudreau. Almost like they were shadowed.

And even then, Gaudreau still managed to always be around the puck, despite not finding the back of the net.

 

[magic school bus]

So proud of this group!

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Super tired been up since the win, but so proud of the team. Hope they can keep building on this and this can be our intro in Sweden.

 

[William H Bonney]

What an exciting tournament to watch. Waking up early/staying up late and going to work on little sleep was all worth it. It's no secret I (we) love following USA Hockey and this tournament is always a real treat but this one may have been the most enjoyable due to the lack of NHL hockey and the domination of Canada in the semifinal.

Everyone involved deserves major credit. They picked a great team and they knew the players they had and put them in spots to succeed. I still don't agree with everything - it was obvious some type of change was needed before it happened and I didn't like the use of the 13th forward - but you can't argue with the results Housley and his staff received. They did make the change they needed in time (unlike a Keith Allain previously) and they brought home the gold. They did a fantastic job and all deserve to be given the task for the 2014 WJC right now if they want it. I wonder what this means for Housley? A lot of us have criticized the opportunities USAH has given him due to his lack of experience but he's definitely proved himself. I'd think he would want this opportunity again next year but I could see him passing to focus on a new position if he gets a big promotion from a marginal Minnesota high school team to something bigger. I would think a head coaching gig in the USHL would be a logical next step but I'd imagine he'll hear from NCAA/CHL teams as well. If Housley were not to return, Mark Osiecki has to be the frontrunner for the head coaching gig.

I must echo Cagney's statement regarding Gibson. What a fantastic goalie, tournament, and prospect. He really seems like a great kid, too, so I was happy to see him have such a dominant tournament after the "embarrassment" - his word - last year. Goalies are so hard to project but he seems to have it all - size, strength, flexibility, and most importantly an unflappable demeanor in net. I'm certainly not going to bet against him being the goalie to join Quick and Schneider as our key three for the next 15 years.

I'd also like to give props to Garret Sparks. He basically got relegated to emergency role since it was his last year of eligibility but you wouldn't be able to tell it by following him on Twitter. He was so upbeat and came off as such a great teammate. I'd like to think he epitomizes everything this team was about and Housley agreed:

When informed that all 22 players on his roster had at least one point, including goalie Gibson (two assists), and 15 registered at least one goal, Housley quickly countered.

"We had balance throughout our lineup, but it was 23 players and not 22 that played a big part of this team," Housley said. "[Emergency goalie] Garret Sparks might not have seen any action, but he was a great teammate and I really respect that in a player. He came to the rink every day and was a part of this team. It really showed a lot about our character as a whole."

As good as Gibson was, I think the defense was basically as dominant. In a junior tournament, they're going to make gaffes and give up chances but that was a fantastic group. I can't say enough about Trouba other than I'm surprised so many NHL folks thought he had marginal offensive upside (I didn't agree having watched him the last 3 years) and I think a lot of those teams that picked other d-men ahead of him are going to regret that move for the next 15 years. Jones fought the nerves early but when the games mattered most he was so good as well. I've been one of McCabe's more vocal supporters here and he even surpassed my expectations. What a fantastic captain and an underrated player. He's grown so much as a player from his NTDP days it's unreal. Connor Murphy might have have the quietest big impact on the team. Smart player and a defensive rock. I must agree with Cagney again in that this group will be hard to match but only because it's not likely both Jones and Trouba are back next year because if they are, I could see the 2014 group being just as good. The 2010 d-core was so good but I think this group may have been better.

What a team effort by the forwards. Outside of the two losses, someone different was always stepping up. They weren't always clicking but they were always working hard, supporting each other, and sticking to the game plan. For a group that didn't have a consistently dominant player (outside of Gaudreau in the end), they did a heck of a job.

I'm a huge Grimaldi fan (as a hockey player - the religious stuff bothers me though) and we all knew he was struggling as he even admitted as much. I think you could tell he was trying way too hard. This should have been his 3rd time in this tournament but instead was his only appearance and he was forcing the issue. However, he handled his benching/demotion perfectly and I'm really, really happy he scored the two big goals today. What redemption.

And what about a big congratulations to the '93 birth year for the NTDP and USAH in general? The NTDP '93 group won gold at the World Under 17 Challenge, IIHF U-18 Championship, and now the World Junior Championship. Pretty good for a squad that wasn't well thought of from the moment they joined the NTDP. The '93 birth year in general was seen as pretty weak after guys like McColgan and Jacobs plateaued at 15 and Grimaldi stopped growing. But the development and emergence of guys like Gaudreau, Trocheck, and Noesen were big and guys like Gibson, Murphy, and McCabe probably exceeded anything even the NTDP had imagined when they offered those guys spots. A fantastic run of success for this age group.

Side note: Henrik Samuelsson is the new Mitch Wahl. When Wahl was left off the 2010 roster (as an eligible returnee), the detractors were vocal and predicted Team USA failure. I'd say USAH picked the right team again.

I'm very happy for all involved and hope this recent success (2 golds and a bronze) in the 4 tournaments since they implemented the long overdue changes are here to stay. USAH should expect to medal every year in this tournament. Hopefully that is becoming a consistent reality so that the program can take the next step to eventually having consistent success in this tournament while missing multiple players every year to NHL duty.

It's been tough sledding at times and there is still much progress to be made but I'm very enthused about the future. Now if USAH can just find a way to take the World Championships seriously!

One note: The IIHF should be ashamed of themselves as this is the second tournament in 8 months where they've denied an American a chance to win a gold medal with their team. First, the Matteau situation and now Noesen. I felt awful for Matteau at the U18s and now I feel awful for Noesen. I'm glad the IIHF clarified the rules on Matteau (but I'm not happy they did it 5 months after the U18s to retroactively make him ineligible) and I'm hopeful they'll fix this stupid rule that cost Noesen his tournament but it doesn't make their actions anything but asinine. It's shameful, seeing the marginal suspensions handed out in this tournament for some egregious play, that the IIHF had no problem giving Noesen a 7 game suspension on top of his 10 game OHL suspension. They should personally apologize to both players.

As I did in 2010, I'll eventually put up some individual evaluations of all the players on the team, most likely tomorrow.

 

[Xokkeu]

For as much as Canadian fans whine about the IIHF, sometimes justifiably, our players have gotten the short end of the stick from them worse than anybody this past year.

 

[Xokkeu]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1QcE2VEV_Q&feature=player_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B4i1oTk-bw&feature=player_embedded

 

[Xokkeu]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=57245959

20. One final U.S. player: Rocco Grimaldi. He might have been winning coach Phil Housley's greatest success. A person who knows Grimaldi well said the kid "put a lot of pressure on himself... one of the last cuts two years ago and he missed last year with an injury." When he was not able to produce early on "it affected his overall team game. His ultra-competitive nature got the better of him and it had to be reined in." Housley did that, then built him back up for the gold-medal game, where Grimaldi scored twice in the final.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

For as much as Canadian fans whine about the IIHF, sometimes justifiably, our players have gotten the short end of the stick from them worse than anybody this past year.

we're not all like that...and Gostisbehere's suspension (after he missed almost a full game) made me shake my head.

 

[Xokkeu]

we're not all like that...and Gostisbehere's suspension (after he missed almost a full game) made me shake my head.

I usually try to avoid generalizing like that, but I obviously failed there. My point was not to rag on Canadian fans, many of their complaints are legitimate. It just seems like we've really gotten screwed on a few issues recently.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The funny thing is that the 2011 U-18s and the 2013 U-20s ended up with the exact same finish.

US beats Canada in one semifinal, Sweden beats Russia in the other. USA beats Sweden for Gold, Russia beats Canada for bronze. 10 USA players from that U-18 team were on the World Junior team this year. Canada had 7 players from that team.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

I usually try to avoid generalizing like that, but I obviously failed there. My point was not to rag on Canadian fans, many of their complaints are legitimate. It just seems like we've really gotten screwed on a few issues recently.

no, my bad - i didn't think you were ragging on canadian fans at all - sorry if i came off wrong. just so you know - there are some of us (ha ha ha i.e me) up here who are genuinely interested in usa hockey.

iihf is brutal - esp. when the players are used to n. am. hockey. the us gets a lot of credit to adjusting to it way better than canada did. something that frustrates me about hockey canada (sorry for derailing the thread) is there's no accountability and no sense of adjustment - they just whine endlessly about bad calls, bad reffing, etc. give the us a lot of credit for not liking it, but dealing w/ it and playing on.

 

[Zippy316]

I find it ironic that a player who didn't make a U-20 junior team is now cracking the Devils NHL lineup.

Although he did say that the NHL game is a lot simpler and a lot more structured than the CHL, so I guess Matteau's game lends itself to that, but still, it's weird.

 

[Xokkeu]

I find it ironic that a player who didn't make a U-20 junior team is now cracking the Devils NHL lineup.

Although he did say that the NHL game is a lot simpler and a lot more structured than the CHL, so I guess Matteau's game lends itself to that, but still, it's weird.

I'll be really shocked if he sticks past 5 games, but yeah.

 

[AmericanDream]

I find it ironic that a player who didn't make a U-20 junior team is now cracking the Devils NHL lineup.

Although he did say that the NHL game is a lot simpler and a lot more structured than the CHL, so I guess Matteau's game lends itself to that, but still, it's weird.

agreed.

But With Matteau comes the risk of going "postal" and it was obvious team USA did not think the risk was worth the reward. I think we all pretty much had Matteau making the team prior to camp, but we still had our concerns over his physical play and skating which were both areas of true concern. Team USA obviously picked correctly, but Matteau is much better suited for the NHL sized rinks and style of play than the WJC when on European ice.

but yeah, pretty odd that the kid seemingly cracks the Devils out of camp is good enough for the NHL but not good enough for a u-20 team USA.

I think he only sticks for 5 games as well, but I would love to be proven wrong by him.

 

[Xokkeu]

agreed.

But With Matteau comes the risk of going "postal" and it was obvious team USA did not think the risk was worth the reward. I think we all pretty much had Matteau making the team prior to camp, but we still had our concerns over his physical play and skating which were both areas of true concern. Team USA obviously picked correctly, but Matteau is much better suited for the NHL sized rinks and style of play than the WJC when on European ice.

but yeah, pretty odd that the kid seemingly cracks the Devils out of camp is good enough for the NHL but not good enough for a u-20 team USA.

I think he only sticks for 5 games as well, but I would love to be proven wrong by him.

I think this is true as well.

 

[magic school bus]

Matteau was way too undisciplined for this kind of short tournament. But the game's officiated differently overseas so I could see how he'd fit better under NHL rules.

 

[Xokkeu]

Matteau played 7 minutes on the forth line. Not entirely sure if there is much to conclude from that, but I'll still be surprised if he stays up.

 

[razor ray]

Matteau played 7 minutes on the forth line. Not entirely sure if there is much to conclude from that, but I'll still be surprised if he stays up.

Sorry to be late to the party here but Matteau played so he is locked in to play for the USA Hockey in the future? If so that is great as he just made the New Jersey Devils roster as an 18-year old.