Asunto: USA U-18 Team

One thing I haven't really mentioned is that the United States is dominating on faceoffs this season. The three best players on the team are currently the centers for the top 3 lines. The game against Belarus is the first one where the other team won more faceoffs (it would have been a tie with one more faceoff win).

Good work man.

Good luck against Germany today!

It looks like another disappointing season. The United States outshot Austria 47-18 but ended up losing 3-2. The United States won 34/60 faceoffs, had 2 fewer penalties, had a 100% PK, converted 1 powerplay goal, won on tactics in the period where Austria scored more goals, and had line matchups that were about as good as they could be. Austria scored the game winning goal in the second period where they only took 4 shots. The #1 line was the one with a negative +/-. The only things I could have done better would have been to improve the powerplay somehow or else to have done a better job at making sure some of the players were trained better.

It looks like Germany and Serbia will be demoting. Germany tends to be good while Serbia tends to be above average and sometimes better. Of the remaining teams in the Division I playoffs, any of Brazil/Belarus and Austria/Romania could be good or bad in a given season. The same goes for the teams that might promote (2 of Belgium, Italy, and Croatia).

As for the United States, it look like a typical season next season with a top heavy offense, a great defense (though the right side looks like it might be a bit weak), and good goaltenders. The main difference from this season is that center depth was a strength this season while goaltending was a major weakness. Next season this will be reversed. I have only 4 centers scouted with more than 800 OR which is the bare minimum for a decent U18 starter. 900 OR is preferred, especially for the top 2 lines. Ideally there would be one or two 1,000 OR centers. There is one center above 900 (not currently on the roster).

Good luck to the other national teams!

The bonus from playing only 17 year olds for a season is gone at this point. Based on how things went (the United States did best in the season where I was pretty much tanking and demoted in the season where the roster looked especially strong), I think the luck factor is too strong for the additional chemistry to make much of a difference. In any case, the extra chemistry only helps in the first few matches since the other teams catch up by then. With that in mind, the risk from demoting in the first season and the difficulty of promoting again in time to take advantage of the bonus in the third season probably outweighs any potential benefit unless you are starting out in division II. Ultimately, there's no perfect solution to a lack of active players producing depth at the rates of the most active countries.

It could help to have teams playing prospects in league matches at very hard starting at 15 years old like I believe the Czech Republic has done in the past, but there's not really enough active teams with enough money to be able to gather all the top prospects who would also be willing to sacrifice being competitive to do so. The one time I had a manager try that, the person could only do that for his own prospects which didn't have access to sufficiently good facilities to pay off in the end.

Wow man, sorry to hear about the bad luck. Hopefully we'll get em next season!

Thanks! Good luck with U21 Handball! It looks like with a win against a much weaker Chinese team, you should pretty much clinch the playoffs with 3 games remaining in the round. If you win, it would take the precise results to cause a 4 way tie at points points in addition to a bad GD to miss the next round.

Yes, I think we will advance quite nicely! I'm going to try some different things in those other games, just to see what happens. The 4-way tie is not only unlikely on the face of it, but also because of the specific teams involved. So I have a good feeling! Interestingly, we have not lost this season, friendly or otherwise (I know that will change, but it's fun for now!).

Buddy we made it!! Tomorrow Russia team so we will try do something with the game tomorrow.

Congrats and good luck!

The final roster will come out later today. I just need to add ~60 more scouted players to my spreadsheet and sort through it.

While the team should be decent this season, the loss of so many good teams will definitely hurt, especially once their prospects that were sold to other teams become 19+ years old.

The roster has been finalized. Overall, the team is okay. The right side is weak on both offense and defense after the first line. Center is especially weak. The first line center wouldn't have been good enough to make the team in some past seasons. Goaltending is strong.

Razorback Thugs (4), Bouncing Pucks (5), Momentum (5), Sierra Stars(6), and Dinamo 1983 (7) account for about 2/3 of the roster. The other U.S. teams represented are Michalovce Wild Hogs (2), Brad's Icebreakers (1), and War Pigs (1). 10 players are currently on foreign teams (4 from Sticky Toads, 3 from Smart People, 2 more from Sierra Stars, and 1 from Michigan RED WINGS). Dead teams account for roughly 1/6 of the roster.

The United States will face Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Italy, Belarus, and Germany in the first round of the World Championships this season. Based on the rosters, Ukraine and Bosnia and Herzegovina look like the weakest teams; Italy and Belarus look comparable to the United States; and Germany looks like the best team in the group. At the very least, the U.S. should be able to make the playoffs and avoid Germany in the first round of the playoffs. In the other group, Slovenia and Serbia look relatively strong but beatable. The key to promotion will be to avoid a potential matchup with Germany in the second round of the playoffs by finishing adjacent to them in the standings (including 1st and 4th).

Good work with what we have! I'm still a few seasons away from being able to contribute anyone who has any future value. Still, I'm trying!

Thanks! It takes forever, but you'll get there eventually if you don't quit.

The players I plan to use as starters for the rest of the season (and the 17 year olds I plan to put on the bench for the exhibitions) are now called up to the lineup.

There are five 17 year olds that will be regular starters this season. Since there weren't any 17 year olds that were regular starters last season, the 17 year olds on the bench won't see any playing time during exhibitions unless there is an injury.

The five 17 year olds that will be regular starters this season will form the entire first line for next season.