Asunto: US National Team

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to continue working with the National Team! I appreciate your confidence that what I'm doing is helping us take the steps needed to make the Top Division. My hope is to make that happen this season as the only team immensely stronger than us is Germany, and we beat them in overtime in group play last season.

I have gone ahead with all of the above-mentioned changes except for the Plummer for Cambridge swap. At this time I think Plummer is going to be more useful in our efforts to try to crack the Top Division.

Lastly, bulls4ever is taking a step down from the position of Assistant Manager of the Senior National Team so he can focus on other things. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for his willingness to take me on as an assistant and giving me the opportunity to grow and learn in the position, which allowed me to take over as the Manager. He was both supportive as a Manager and Assistant Manager, and I wish him well in his endeavors. This means I have an opening at the position. I'm looking for someone who is experienced and can offer input when the tournament starts as far as tactics and the final roster. Being active is a must. If you're interested, please post here or IM me

I love ppm and am looking to be more involved. I'm thinking about taking a run at being the U20/U18 national team manager for basketball went the position becomes available. So I'd have interested in being the assistant manager of either the National team or the U20 hockey team this season to gain some experience and see if I have what it takes to manager a national team.I have experience in hockey, had a team seasons 1-5 and 16-current. Spent the time in between getting through college. My only concern is the time commitment. I'm on PPM daily, although not for long (20-30 minutes). What sort of time commitment is needed to be a good NT assistant manager?

I think kejoh99 is looking for an assistant for the U20 team. You should contact him and ask him for advice. I was the U20 manager back then and it was fun. The end of the season is when you need to put in some time, for sure. Best of luck.

I'm not sure what Kejoh is looking for in an assistant for the U20 team, but throughout the season I'm flexible. I'm looking for someone to be as involved as they're able. Mostly I'm looking for someone familiar with the game engine. If the candidate had the time, I'd be up for letting them make the lines and pick the tactics for the friendly games. The important area is the end of the season, like Jojo said. It's always good to have someone who knows the engine to bounce ideas off of so that we can come up with a good idea on tactics for the WCH games. That's where it would be good if the assistant were able to check the game a few times in case we had a discussion going back and forth, or we could also talk over email or IM if that worked better.

hockey game engine isnt complicated ...

i think the assistant could help collecting statistics and game analysis (like i used to do) and come up with the suggestion for lineups.

The more work the assistant put the more confident the manager is to let the assistant to set lines and tactics and the more the assistant gets to be ready to eventually take over the position.

You were sooo great that i let you set the tactics one season before i thought id be doing it.

IMO, the most time consuming the doing game analysis (and player analysis) and where an assistant can certainly help a lot.

In this case the line setting is pretty easy. The goal is to have as many young guys called up as possible to get the bonus, while getting everyone's chemist dry to 93+. Most are already there. It's different than WCH lines for sure.

The most important piece is the team/game analysis at the end of the season.

true.. but the assistant can get the feeling how it works during the friendlies and you can "coach" during the time.

Let him do analysis, show you the analysis, you "critique" if you find something you would not have done...

you will see when WCH comes, you will feel a lot more confident on your assistant.

I recall when you started i did this with one rule:
I called up the players for you to use and I owned the 3rd line (cause i was introducing the youngsters for the first time and "forcing" then to the lineup)

I also remember telling you my goals, so you worked the lineups and tactics accordingly.

And each game you would give a good review of players you chose and why. I am sure you had fun with it and I certainly gained confidence and "respect" on you.

Fact is: unless the manager is busy and cant make the lineup (or check for last day injuries) there is not really a "need" for assistant.

I had an amazing time playing with you and my suggestion is that you find ways to make it fun to your assistant as well as it will make you enjoy it even more.

It doenst really matter if the assistant knows the engine or not. when i assigned you I was afraid u didnt know anything. Obviously i was wrong.

I can guarantee you one thing: if assistant doenst step up and you dont find ways to be involved in the friendlies, coming WCH you will see you have no confidence at all and will run the show alone.

I'd be interested in taking on the assistant role for the national team this season. I've got some experience at the NT level in soccer from several seasons ago, but I've never tried in hockey. But I've been playing hockey since season 3 and have now promoted to I.1 twice, with a total rebuild in between, so I feel pretty well experienced.

Yes, I've lost many games to your team! I'll get things set up and send you details when I get home from work.

Yeah, that too....I wasn't about to rub those in as part of my qualifications, though!

hey!!! nice to see you are interested on NT

I'm quitting the game after the season. Read my message on the League I.1 thread for more details.

My players are in camp this week and will be next week too. So leave them out of the national team this Saturday. Thanks

This is going to be the last time you're going to give us that message.

He can still change his mind and perhaps keep the team even though he may sell players. Never know if he changes his mind in 20 days. It should not be that hard to log in every 2 weeks just to keep teams alive in case he changes his mind.