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2019 World Juniors Thread


dlbalr

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32 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

I don't think Finland winning qualifies as a big upset.  They're a pretty talented team (and that's even more impressive considering they're missing an entire line in Vesalainen-Kotkaniemi-Ikonen).

 

Well...it's still an upset, especially with Canada on home ice.

 

Part of me thinks Canada deserves this for wearing those stupid black uniforms. 

 

More to the point, I didn't like the signs Hunter showed of old-school coach mentality. Kudos to him for supporting a modern up-tempo style, but benching Lafreniere raised my eyebrow and going for 'character' Comtois rather than a flashier player for the penalty shot suggested a guy whose instincts favour blood n guts rather than skill. Anyway, water under the bridge. At least, between Hunter and the Russian coach, the tourney gave us the all-time War of the Noses.

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13 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

I agree that that penalty shot looked very limp. Disappointing. You get a chance like that, you gotta bag it.

 

It's interesting that both Switzerland and Finland score big upsets. Hard to infer too much from that, but maybe it suggests increasing parity?

 

I said before the tournament that Sweden was the weakest they have been in years.  Great defence, but really didn't have a lot at forward.  Lack of goals did them in.  The Swiss are always strong defensively and occasionally can pull upsets because of that.   They are always well coached and play for 2-1 wins. Not sure they will get into the level of what i call the big 5 until they can start developing scorers.  They are challenging the Czechs for 6th though, although the Czechs seem to be coming on stronger than they have in a long team with guys like Necas, Zadina, and others developing.  However the Czechs aren't developing the number of strong defenders necessary to compete, yet.  That keeps the teams close.  Swiss have better defensive game and coaching.  Czechs have more skill, but weaker system play. It becomes a toss-up for 6th between the two (on an overall basis... with the recognition that in one game elimination tournaments, a country who is generally 6th can upset a team or two and grab a medal).

 

Finland looked like they were going to be weak before the tournament, but then added Jokiharju from Chicago, and Tolvanen from Nashville and all of the sudden I had them neck and neck with USA on paper as a tough team.  I felt they underperformed in the round robin based on the talent they have,  They have a strong team on paper.  It is shocking to me that Tolvanen hasn't scored a goal in the tournament.  Also the last 5 champions in this tournament are Finland (2), Canada (2), USA (1).... so I'm not sure them beating Canada in Overtime, in a game that really could have gone either way is an "upset".  Finland is a legit hockey power, now.  Going into these tourneys you always have to look at Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden and Finland as the five hockey powers right now... and some will be stronger than others based on the year (as I said this was Sweden's weakest team in years).  So in a long view, yes there is more parity than ten years ago when Canada was winning their 5th in a row.

 

Slovakia is next but a clear step behind Czech/Swiss. 

 

Then its a toss up for who is the 9th best hockey country. 

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45 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Well...it's still an upset, especially with Canada on home ice.

 

Part of me thinks Canada deserves this for wearing those stupid black uniforms. 

 

More to the point, I didn't like the signs Hunter showed of old-school coach mentality. Kudos to him for supporting a modern up-tempo style, but benching Lafreniere raised my eyebrow and going for 'character' Comtois rather than a flashier player for the penalty shot suggested a guy whose instincts favour blood n guts rather than skill. Anyway, water under the bridge. At least, between Hunter and the Russian coach, the tourney gave us the all-time War of the Noses.

 

Lafrenniere two years removed from his draft.  Crosby was a 13th forward at the same age (2004).  Tavares was a 13th forward at the same age (2008).  In 2005 and 2009 Crosby and Tavares dominated those tournaments as first liners.  This is the nature of junior hockey.  Its tough to be that good when you are three years younger than the top players in the tournament and makes such a big difference as teenagers.  Look at Poehling this year vs last year.  Thats one year of strength, size, skill development coming to the forefront, and now being amongst the oldest players in the tourney.

 

As for the penalty shot, I would have selected Tippett (4 goals vs Ukkonen in the OHL this season), but hindsight is 20/20, and I'm sure the team has been working on penalty shots for a month, knowing a shootout could be a possibility.  Who knows what is happening in those practices better than the coaches?

 

I think this is just a close game that breaks went against Canada.  Finland's goal with 46 seconds left was a massive fluke.  If that doesn't happen, no one is questioning coaching decisions. 

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9 minutes ago, Commandant said:

 

Lafrenniere two years removed from his draft.  Crosby was a 13th forward at the same age (2004).  Tavares was a 13th forward at the same age (2008).  In 2005 and 2009 Crosby and Tavares dominated those tournaments as first liners.  This is the nature of junior hockey.  Its tough to be that good when you are three years younger than the top players in the tournament and makes such a big difference as teenagers.  Look at Poehling this year vs last year.  Thats one year of strength, size, skill development coming to the forefront, and now being amongst the oldest players in the tourney.

 

As for the penalty shot, I would have selected Tippett (4 goals vs Ukkonen in the OHL this season), but hindsight is 20/20, and I'm sure the team has been working on penalty shots for a month, knowing a shootout could be a possibility.  Who knows what is happening in those practices better than the coaches?

 

I think this is just a close game that breaks went against Canada.  Finland's goal with 46 seconds left was a massive fluke.  If that doesn't happen, no one is questioning coaching decisions. 

 

All fair comment. I'm not very upset about this, actually; in fact the tourney is much more interesting with the relative decline of Canadian dominance. Back when gold was pretty much guaranteed it was pretty boring.

 

That said, Canada lost close matches to both Russia and Finland, and the former led directly to the latter. This should spark at least some reflection on how good that team really was, and why.

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30 minutes ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

All fair comment. I'm not very upset about this, actually; in fact the tourney is much more interesting with the relative decline of Canadian dominance. Back when gold was pretty much guaranteed it was pretty boring.

 

That said, Canada lost close matches to both Russia and Finland, and the former led directly to the latter. This should spark at least some reflection on how good that team really was, and why.

 

If there is a critique of the coaching, its that I felt they didn't use the weapons at their disposal well. 

 

Canada didn't have a true superstar in this tournament. 

 

What they had, was the same thing they had a year ago, superior depth to any other team. 

 

They really should have made the games an absolute track meet.  30-40 second shifts, skate, skate, skate... speed, speed, speed all game long.  They played somewhat uptempo, but not as much as i would have liked.  Forget line matching, roll four lines, play short shifts and never stop skating.  By the second period you would tire out teams that rely too much on one defence pair and two lines.... that's what they did last year, but didn't do enough of this year. 

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1 hour ago, Commandant said:

 

If there is a critique of the coaching, its that I felt they didn't use the weapons at their disposal well. 

 

Canada didn't have a true superstar in this tournament. 

 

What they had, was the same thing they had a year ago, superior depth to any other team. 

 

They really should have made the games an absolute track meet.  30-40 second shifts, skate, skate, skate... speed, speed, speed all game long.  They played somewhat uptempo, but not as much as i would have liked.  Forget line matching, roll four lines, play short shifts and never stop skating.  By the second period you would tire out teams that rely too much on one defence pair and two lines.... that's what they did last year, but didn't do enough of this year. 

100%

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5 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

Well...it's still an upset, especially with Canada on home ice.

 

Part of me thinks Canada deserves this for wearing those stupid black uniforms. 

 

More to the point, I didn't like the signs Hunter showed of old-school coach mentality. Kudos to him for supporting a modern up-tempo style, but benching Lafreniere raised my eyebrow and going for 'character' Comtois rather than a flashier player for the penalty shot suggested a guy whose instincts favour blood n guts rather than skill. Anyway, water under the bridge. At least, between Hunter and the Russian coach, the tourney gave us the all-time War of the Noses.

Maybe it was just me, bit against russia and Finland they seemed nervous in the offensive. A lot of stick clutching and missed cross crease plays. Maybe he put in comtois because he seemed more relaxed. I didn't like the choice either.  He seems more like a shooter than a dangler.  

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5 hours ago, Commandant said:

 

I said before the tournament that Sweden was the weakest they have been in years.  Great defence, but really didn't have a lot at forward.  Lack of goals did them in.  The Swiss are always strong defensively and occasionally can pull upsets because of that.   They are always well coached and play for 2-1 wins. Not sure they will get into the level of what i call the big 5 until they can start developing scorers.  They are challenging the Czechs for 6th though, although the Czechs seem to be coming on stronger than they have in a long team with guys like Necas, Zadina, and others developing.  However the Czechs aren't developing the number of strong defenders necessary to compete, yet.  That keeps the teams close.  Swiss have better defensive game and coaching.  Czechs have more skill, but weaker system play. It becomes a toss-up for 6th between the two (on an overall basis... with the recognition that in one game elimination tournaments, a country who is generally 6th can upset a team or two and grab a medal).

 

Isn't there a thing right now in Czech youth hockey where things are really corrupt and they are getting no help in development from key Czech players until things are fixed? I swear I heard something about that some time last year.

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13 hours ago, Trizzak said:

 

Isn't there a thing right now in Czech youth hockey where things are really corrupt and they are getting no help in development from key Czech players until things are fixed? I swear I heard something about that some time last year.

 

Im more focused on players coming through than the internal politics.

 

Zadina, Necas, Kaut, Pastranak, Zacha, the switch is starting to flip with a number of high end czech prospects.  Something that ws barren for at least a decade prior to that.

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19 hours ago, DON said:

The last 4 drafts only had total of 9 Canadians of those top 40 picked in top 10.:(

 

I did not know that. That's an unsettling number for Canadian hockey - although I suppose the real question would be whether we are doing worse than some other individual country; too often Canadians compare themselves to the entire world when it comes to hockey, expecting ourselves to dominate the whole planet, like the US does when it comes to military  forces.

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2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I did not know that. That's an unsettling number for Canadian hockey - although I suppose the real question would be whether we are doing worse than some other individual country; too often Canadians compare themselves to the entire world when it comes to hockey, expecting ourselves to dominate the whole planet, like the US does when it comes to military  forces.

 

This year's draft also has a strong class of Canadians, especially at forward. 

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2 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

I did not know that. That's an unsettling number for Canadian hockey - although I suppose the real question would be whether we are doing worse than some other individual country; too often Canadians compare themselves to the entire world when it comes to hockey, expecting ourselves to dominate the whole planet, like the US does when it comes to military  forces.

 

If you look at the top-10 draft picks, it's quite even for the last 3-4 years between US, Canada, Sweden and Finland, with a few Russians and Czechs added into the mix. Long gone are the days when a European player being picked in the top 10 would be big news.

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4 hours ago, The Chicoutimi Cucumber said:

 

I did not know that. That's an unsettling number for Canadian hockey - although I suppose the real question would be whether we are doing worse than some other individual country; too often Canadians compare themselves to the entire world when it comes to hockey, expecting ourselves to dominate the whole planet, like the US does when it comes to military  forces.

For having only 5 million people, Finland is surely pumping out some awesome prospects.

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28 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

Slepets would be a very nice addition to the Habs. Was not drafted for some reason ...

 

My guess would be the Russian factor plus the fact he's undersized.  He looks like someone that could be worth a late-round flyer though.

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1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

My guess would be the Russian factor plus the fact he's undersized.  He looks like someone that could be worth a late-round flyer though.

 

Undersized, yes -- 5'10 and only 165 lbs. But he is fast!

 

He'll actually be 20 by next June. He would still be eligible, right?

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