Great Britain: WC D1B Vilnius, Lithuania

[3 Minute Minor]

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Ben O'Connor ‏@benoconnor1988 9m
@APBuxton Andy got some good news , they have moved the series up so even if it goes to 7 games , i'll be done by the 17th #GB #GB

 

[Lynx54321]

Great news!

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Liam Stewart was eliminated from the playoffs tonight, could have been a senior invite for sure.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Peter Russell ‏@PeteRussel 11h
@LiamStewart11 hay can you contact me please. Many thanks

GET HIM TO THE SENIOR CAMP!

 

[Siamese Dream]

Peter Russell ‏@PeteRussel 11h
@LiamStewart11 hay can you contact me please. Many thanks

GET HIM TO THE SENIOR CAMP!

Would he be good enough to make the team though? He wasn't that impressive at the U20s

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Would he be good enough to make the team though? He wasn't that impressive at the U20s

He was easily the best player on the ice, well above Venus. And he was out of his normal role. GB wanted him to be the go to guy whereas he's a depth center who wins draws, plays responsible defense, and chips in offensively when he can. I'd take him on the 4th line & PK over a lot of Brits who never play defensively.

 

[Siamese Dream]

He was easily the best player on the ice, well above Venus. And he was out of his normal role. GB wanted him to be the go to guy whereas he's a depth center who wins draws, plays responsible defense, and chips in offensively when he can. I'd take him on the 4th line & PK over a lot of Brits who never play defensively.

On the potential forward lineup I posted who would you replace? I see your point, I would probably consider playing him as the 4C instead of Garside or Ben Davies

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Well that sucks... Craig Peacock had to pull out due to injury and the replacements in camp are Boxill & Haywood.

 

[crobro]

Is Gary tongue still playing hockey or baseball

 

[3 Minute Minor]

3-0 win in the first warm up games vs. Netherlands.

Goals by Hill, Dowd, and K. Phillips. Shutout by Bowns.

No O'Connor until the tournament, he just finished up his Kazakh season. He was named the top D-man in the Kazakh league again.

 

[ChaiTiefling]

3-0 win in the first warm up games vs. Netherlands.

Goals by Hill, Dowd, and K. Phillips. Shutout by Bowns.

No O'Connor until the tournament, he just finished up his Kazakh season. He was named the top D-man in the Kazakh league again.

Scoreline flattered the Dutch, even in a friendly they offered little going forward. If Meierdres is going to be their starter they're in trouble, he was entirely responsible for the first goal and looked shaky all game. For GB, the Davies-Davies-Dowd top line was excellent, Ben in particular was outstanding and deserved his MOM, he's going to cause serious trouble for slower defences at this level with his drives down the wing. Phil Hill also stood out - used his size well, made space, parked himself in the slot and waited for the chances to fall around him which they did. Overall very pleased with the performance, the passion, communication and creativity is a million miles from the last couple of years.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Scoreline flattered the Dutch, even in a friendly they offered little going forward. If Meierdres is going to be their starter they're in trouble, he was entirely responsible for the first goal and looked shaky all game. For GB, the Davies-Davies-Dowd top line was excellent, Ben in particular was outstanding and deserved his MOM, he's going to cause serious trouble for slower defences at this level with his drives down the wing. Phil Hill also stood out - used his size well, made space, parked himself in the slot and waited for the chances to fall around him which they did. Overall very pleased with the performance, the passion, communication and creativity is a million miles from the last couple of years.

Any chance you know the lineup Netherlands sent out for these warm up games?

I noticed that of the preliminary rosters that are up, Lithuania & Croatia had 10+ players each that were 20 or younger and Netherlands had 5. Just curious if Netherlands used the roster we'll see in the tournament or if they used this as an opportunity to get their young kids some international experience.

 

[blair3]

I think the Netherlands will have a different roster for the World Championships. The webcast said that a number of their top players are still playing in North America and they will be at the World Championships but only if their teams don't make the playoffs. We might see a very different team and I'm sure they will be stronger.

I was very surprised by Ashley Tait's comment on the commentary stating that he was unsure that if the import limit in the Elite League was cut by just one per team he wasn't sure if there would be 10 Brits good enough to join the league and actually play a regular role? I could name 20 without thinking about it. The only issue is whether the players would want to, certainly not are they good enough!

 

[Siamese Dream]

I think the Netherlands will have a different roster for the World Championships. The webcast said that a number of their top players are still playing in North America and they will be at the World Championships but only if their teams don't make the playoffs. We might see a very different team and I'm sure they will be stronger.

I was very surprised by Ashley Tait's comment on the commentary stating that he was unsure that if the import limit in the Elite League was cut by just one per team he wasn't sure if there would be 10 Brits good enough to join the league and actually play a regular role? I could name 20 without thinking about it. The only issue is whether the players would want to, certainly not are they good enough!

Ashley Tait obviously doesn't watch the EPL if he thinks there aren't any players better than some of the Brits Fife, Hull and Edinburgh are dressing

If imports go down to 10, all that will happen is Edinburgh and Dundee will just show up with 14 skaters all the time (like the sometimes do now) or get some crappy kid from the SNL. I would rather keep it at 11 and expand the league with some southern teams

 

[3 Minute Minor]

it'd be nice if the twitter feed gave a little info... Who's starting in net, who's playing/scratched for GB, etc.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

For a guy with 0 points in his last 10 games with GB, Phil Hill has been all over the scoresheet in these warm up games lol

 

[Lynx54321]

Anyone know the lines we went with for the two games?

Also has anyone seen a Polish roster?

 

[3 Minute Minor]

Anyone know the lines we went with for the two games?

Also has anyone seen a Polish roster?

Nope and nope

Starts in a week though so everything will be known soon!

 

[ChaiTiefling]

Any chance you know the lineup Netherlands sent out for these warm up games?

Looks not far off the final roster. For GB no Murphy, D Phillips, Weaver, O'Connor, Farmer, Shields or Tait.

 

[blair3]

The GB lines were mixed up quite a bit over the two matches. The Dowd line with the two Davies' looked good in the first game and the Nottingham line of Clarke, Myers and Lachowicz was reformed.

I think that Hill, Jon Phillips and Garside will form one of the lines for the World Championship as they worked well together.

Famer and Dave Phillips didn't ice in either game due to "day to day" injuries.

Very surprised, and disappointed at the cuts today:

McCluskey, Griffin, Haywood and Boxill. The latter two would be expected as they were only brought in at the last minute but both played well in the two games and picked up three or four points between them. McCluskey and Griffin really should be going in my mind. They are the future of GB hockey and we are going back to the tried and tested Meyers and Kevin Phillips rather than looking at up an coming players. In a group where GB will need to create more offence its seems we have dropped two offensive blue liners for two defensive ones.

In this weaker group we should be looking at the younger players, next year Weaver and Tait may not be there and throwing in internationally inexperienced players, if we get promoted back to 1A, concerns me.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

The GB lines were mixed up quite a bit over the two matches. The Dowd line with the two Davies' looked good in the first game and the Nottingham line of Clarke, Myers and Lachowicz was reformed.

I think that Hill, Jon Phillips and Garside will form one of the lines for the World Championship as they worked well together.

Famer and Dave Phillips didn't ice in either game due to "day to day" injuries.

Very surprised, and disappointed at the cuts today:

McCluskey, Griffin, Haywood and Boxill. The latter two would be expected as they were only brought in at the last minute but both played well in the two games and picked up three or four points between them. McCluskey and Griffin really should be going in my mind. They are the future of GB hockey and we are going back to the tried and tested Meyers and Kevin Phillips rather than looking at up an coming players. In a group where GB will need to create more offence its seems we have dropped two offensive blue liners for two defensive ones.

In this weaker group we should be looking at the younger players, next year Weaver and Tait may not be there and throwing in internationally inexperienced players, if we get promoted back to 1A, concerns me.

I'm not that surprised Griffin didn't make the cut. I thought for sure McCluskey & Swindlehurst would get more time in camp than a 28 year old fringe guy like K. Phillips. Hopefully they don't waste one of the final D spots on a 28 year old fringe guy > a 21 year old D-man with a respectable future.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

I knew they put him on the prelim roster but I was hoping he wouldn't go like every other year:

IIHF ‏@IIHFHockey 53m
Dainius Zubrus (@NHLDevils) joins Lithuanian national team for World Championship Div. IB on home ice in Vilnius.

Pretty good player considering he only played in D1 countries until age 17

 

[SoundAndFury]

I knew they put him on the prelim roster but I was hoping he wouldn't go like every other year:

It's not like he didn't go, he played every time he was available. It just so happens that he was available only once before.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

It's not like he didn't go, he played every time he was available. It just so happens that he was available only once before.

What about 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013?

 

[SoundAndFury]

What about 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2013?

I can't remember what it was exactly 10 years ago but I know for sure that he got injured in 79th match of the NHL regular season in 2011 and last year, NHL season finished on 28th of April, few weeks after the D1B WC. I'm pretty sure it was one of those (schedule/health issues) in 2006 too.