Asunto: U21 Handball NT

Going to work over the weekend on polishing my database and making recommendations for the U21 team. Biggest issue is the fact that we have 19 players on the Senior Team who are age eligible to play on U21 or U19 next season. We have a very young Senior Team as there's only 30 guys in total on the roster. Players can only be on one National Team which means we'll have some tough decisions.
Easy to transfer Senior Team back-ups and guys who don't get much play time but it will be a real tough call on what's best for starters. Here's the 19 in question:
Terry Mullin 17 5/6 776
Auston Power 18 5/6 822
Jon Hicks 18 6/6 816
Waylon Andrews 19 5/6 906
Michael Gehring 19 5/6 802
Jonah Dalton 19 4/6 928
Kristopher Dion 19 4/6 846
Ayden Innis 19 5/6 830
Teddy Boudreau 19 5/6 993
Zain Gillett 19 5/6 774
Phil Keen 20 5/6 989
Reuben Good 20 4/6 840
Ty Clipperton 20 4/6 849
James Mathewson 20 5/6 901
Simon Butt 20 5/6 871
Thierry MacMillan 20 4/6 863
Thomas Small 20 5/6 961
Bradyn Lewis 20 5/6 980
Zackary Giddings 20 5/6 961

My suggestion would be to make our younger teams as good as they can be, and then build the senior team from whats left. Then you don't have any younger guys sitting for older players that might just rotate out next season.

Looking at that list, our under 21 team would be really good. This might be a good time to try for a deep run there.

Also, I have a couple good players that will be 22 and could fill spots on the senior team.

Keep in mind players already on the senior team will remain there unless cut. If cut, they lose their chem.

Chem is a big factor in the decision. Some of the guys listed spent two seasons building up their chem to help our Senior Team be competitive. When I finalize my spreadsheet the OR difference between these guys and the runner-up will be a big factor as well.

Starting with Wingers. We've got the following 6 guys on the Senior NT already:

Teddy Boudreau 19 5/6 996 Right D-Wing
James Mathewson 20 5/6 903 Left O-Wing
Simon Butt 873 Right O-Wing
Ty Clipperton 851 Universal D-Wing
Reuben Good 843 Universal D-Wing
Michael Gehring 19 5/6 804 Left O-Wing

We can release the 5 Back-Ups/Future Starters of Mathewson, Butt, Clipperton, Good, and Gehring. Tough to release Boudreau from the NT as he's a starter and his chem will be pretty high by the end of this season.

That means we need another 4 Wings. Ideally 2 Defensive and 2 Offensive and preference goes to 19 year olds who can be starters next season.


Defensive Wings:
Brendon Burns 20 4/6 798 Left D-Wing

Burns seems to be our only choice. I believe Émile Stoddart is a D-Wing but I haven't scouted him yet. Jarred St. Pierre is a 2 way-option as well but I prefer to go with a D-specialist. Any other candidates out there that I've missed?

Offensive Wings:

Need to choose two of the following for back-ups and future starters:
Thomas Maxwell 20 5/6 801 Universal
Fernando Carlson 20 4/6 784 Left
Dandre Forshee 19 4/6 783 Universal
Brenden Bolduc 19 5/6 771 Left
Jeremy Knight 20 5/6 710 Left

I'm leaning towards Bolduc and Forshee as 19 year olds. Maxwell's Universal option is nice as well but if he's on the bench it won't matter.

Backs

Looking for 14 guys total. 6-7 Offensive, 6-7 Defensive, and maybe 1-2-Way guys. Hoping for a minimum half as 19 year olds so we have a good chem start for year 2.

We have 9 Backs on the Senior Team:
Phil Keen 20 5/6 991 Left O-Back
Bradyn Lewis 20 5/6 982 Universal D-Back
Thomas Small 20 5/6 964 Right D-Back
Zackary Giddings 20 5/6 963 Universal D-Back

Jonah Dalton 19 4/6 931 Right O-Back
Waylon Andrews 19 5/6 909 Universal O-Back

Kristopher Dion 19 4/6 848 Left 2-Way
Ayden Innis 19 5/6 831 Left D-Back
Zain Gillett 19 5/6 776 Right D-Back

Keen, Lewis, Small, and Giddings are all starters with solid chem on the Senior Team - not comfortable cutting them for U21.

Dalton and Andrews are key back-ups on the Senior Team - would definitely hurt to lose them but they would be solid parts of U21 for the next two years.

Dion, Innis, and Gillett are back-ups and would benefit from playing time on U21.

That means we need 9 more Backs.


Defensive Back Options (need 4-5):

Kirk Dempsey 20 5/6 828 Right
Bradley Lacasse 19 4/6 801 Left
Anthony Roddick 19 4/6 794 Universal
Clarence Gillen 19 5/6 766 Right

Looks like we'll need all 4 of these guys. Am I missing any other d-backs?


Offensive Back Options (need 4-5):
Gérard Davison 20 4/6 886 Left
Adrien Amy 20 5/6 842 Left
Ronald Wicks 20 5/6 818 Left
Casey Barkshire 19 4/6 809 Right
Jeffrey Paquet 20 5/6 30 806 Universal
Jay Webb 19 4/6 728 Universal

Davision, Barkshire, Amy look like locks. Paquet & Wicks are on the bubble as they likely wouldn't play much and only have 1 year of elegibility. Webb is a weak option but would play the following season.


Still Scouting:
Cody Provost 19 5/6 722
Nathan Freestone 19 5/6 716
Chase Meunier 19 5/6 688

Pivots

Hicks and Power are great future options currently on our Senior Team but both will be 19 and leading our U19 Team next season.

Looking to carry 4 guys, 2 Offensive and 2 defensive and ideally 2 19 year olds.

Defensive Pivots:

Rick Wilson 20 4/6 868 Right
Demario Brassard 19 5/6 796 Universal
Trevor Stimson 19 4/6 767 Left
Zain St. Louis 19 4/6 747 Right

Wilson looks good as our starter. Liking Brassard as our Back-up.

Offensive Pivots:

Denis Ryan 20 4/6 882 Left
Dalton Emery 20 4/6 812 Right
Donovan Cadette 20 4/6 777 Right

Ryan as our starter. Wishing we had a 19 year old back-up option (anyone ?). If not Emery and Stimson (2-way) will be considered.

Goalies:

Looking to carry three G's maximum. Ideally 1 of them will be 19 and our future starter. Thierry MacMillan is currently on the Senior NT

Options:
Thierry MacMillan 20 4/6 865
Colin Gagné 20 5/6 862
Alphonse Drapeau 19 5/6 772
Jarrell Roy 19 5/6 751
Cullen Michaud 20 4/6 728

MacMillan or Gagne should be our starter. MacMillan is a back-up on the Senior Team and can easily be dropped. Drapeau looks like our #2 or #3 and Roy will be considered.

Is U21 going to be 21 and under? Might be my ignorance speaking here, but 20 year old players from this year would be 21 next season and may not qualify for the team. Also, maybe it would be better to feed current 19 year olds into the U21 team so they could get two seasons in (in case they do qualify when 21).

Senior Teams = 21+ (except for youth that were added this year)
U21 = 21 & 20 year olds
U19 = 19, 18, 17, 16, 15 year olds

Definitely better to have a large number of 20 year olds (current 19's) and they will have preference but our better players are likely the 21's.

You can have 21 and under, so 20 now. Just like U18 in hockey is 15-18.

I can never remember. It doesn't make sense, if it's under 21, that doesn't include 21! Should be called the LTOET21 (less than or equal to 21). :p

World Juniors are U20... players are still 20. Basically U20 refers to "under 20 at date X" where date X is like Jan 1 and the tourney might start Dec. 27.

I know, I was just being flippant.