Subject: USA U-18 Team

This is going to be a long list. These are most (but not all) of the players I looked at for the national team last season. I am interested in who went to camp and how much extra OR those players gained (in excess of their habitual growth). Some of these players may have transferred to a new team, especially the players listed for lower division teams; I just use the original team as a reference. I am excluding first names for convenience, but can provide them upon request.

1) American School (Smith, Brinkley, and Pruett).
2) Salt Lake Karma Police (Bourcier, Workman, Dorey, Pierre, Quick, Fuentes, Brewer, Jackson, Prado, Wicker, and Berrios)
3) Boilermakers (Isaksson, Koski, Chisholm)
4) Bombsville Atomics (Vera, Hobson, Hill, Scales)
5) Bruisers (Lamb)
6) Carolina Cobras (Jacob)
7) Check Republic (Callahan)
8) Detroit Red Wings (Reif)
9) DHC Corsairs (Gregg)
10) Dinamo1983 (Thurman)
11) Fargo Iceholes (Ulintz)
12) Goldfish (Turner, Hoag, Tran)
13) HCD Crackers (Parker)
14) High Hitterz (Begley, Laird, Castillo, Nozeate, Phillips, Fiorito, Brown, Beaulieu, and Gale)
15) Huntington Hitman (Benavidez)
16) Irresistable Force (Bigbee, Arnold, Gillis, Lance, Reimus, Denny, Napier, Turner, Maher, Corley, Frost, Carpenter, Willman, Snyder, and Witherspoon)
17) London Silly Nannies (Bert Kinney)
18) Louisiana Cyclones (Stanley)
19) Montana Miners (Van Buren, Kilborn, Tripp, Riddle, Reyna, and Blunt)
20) North Stars (Jameson)
21) Psychos (Giacoletti, Blevins, Russell, Dupuis, Knapp, Averill, Edwards)
22) Razorback Thugs (Kreger, Kane, and Butcher)
23) Red Headed Step Child (Means)
24) Sugar Daddies (Hickey)
25) Slatington Serpents (Strawberry and Dankert)
26) Smart People (Vega)
27) Smuggling Grapes (Hoffman and MAson)
28) Sparhawks (Jackson)
29) Spirit Crushers (Cornett, Forman, and Grant)
30) STL Saints (Stubblefield, Harrington, Fisher, Greenfield, Yarbough, and Myrick)
31) The Faketown Mascots (Gauthier, Black, Royal, R. Davis, N. Davis, and Calvert)
32) the pirates (Butcher)
33) The Rainbow Unicorns (Rambeau)
34) The Updog Brewers (Stovall)
35) TRIBAL HYDRA (Renner and Westmoreland)
36) West Chester Red Wings (Bonner, Butler, Makki, and Ferrara)
37) WhaleForever (Schwab)
38) Wiggly Pigs (Compton, Morgan, Seymour, and Lavoie)
39) Wookies (Austin, Lenhart, Hollingsworth, and Carlson)
40) Wranglers (Foster and Roberts)
41) Yellowknife Goldminers (Hutchinson)

Unfortunately, the United States lost again today against Lithuania, 2-1. In the other games, Argentina beat Brazil 4-3, and Bulgaria beat Italy 4-2. This leaves Lithuania with 2 wins, the United States with 0, and everyone else with 1. Brazil has +2 GD, Italy has 0 GD, Bulgaria has -1 GD, Argentina has -2 GD, and the United States has -3 GD. It would be very easy for the United States to catch up in GD and wins at this point. Tomorrow's game against Bulgaria will be the most important of the tournament.

In today's game, the United States outshot Lithuania 35-24 and dominated offensive zone time but somehow only managed to score 1 goal against a goaltender that wasn't really that much better. Faceoffs were even and both teams were 0/4 on the power play. The United States actually won the tactics battle in this game but failed to take advantage. The killer was once again the penalty kill, this time in the form of giving up an SH.

The United States plays Bulgaria tomorrow at the same time. Argentina plays Italy and Brazil plays Lithuania. With a win (and enough goals), the United States would be guaranteed to move back into the safe zone.

Tell me what teams or division you want me to scout and I will get you one a day.

My scouts are also bored looking for some work. Cant do one a day like ziggy but can help

Ditto. My scouts are always free to help the NTs.

I added the Pigg's players to my list.

and I already had bombsville in my queue so I will get them too

The United States played Bulgaria today in what might be one of the most important games of the tournament so far. After giving up the lead in the last minutes of the game against Italy and then losing a game that they dominated against Lithuania, the United States finally came out of the game with a win, an impressive 5-1 win at that.

The United States outshot Lithuania 28-20 and generally controlled the ice. Unfortunately, the power play has continued to struggle since gonig 2/4 in the first game, once again going 0/4 today in addition to giving up another SH. The penalty kill was perfect once again (I mistakenly blamed the penalty kill for the SH yesterday when it was the fault of the power play unit).

The United States went all out today against Bulgaria and was rewarded with a significant win. While trying to conserve energy over the last few games, the United States tended to fall behind early, only to come back but just fail to hold a lead after dropping the fourth line. The United States dominated the whole game with three lines today. Even so, due to the overwhelming lead, Willman was able to rest in the 3rd period.

Quick, who has filled in for the concussed Phillips, has been the sole bright spot through the first 2 games, scoring 3 out of the 5 goals scored by the United States. Today, the rest of the first line finally gelled. Quick added another goal to take sole control of first place for goals and points in the tournament while LW1 Gillis contributed a hat trick. Austin, who along with Lance (2A) will be one of the stars of next year's team, also contributed a goal.

In the other games, Lithuania managed to blank Brazil 4-0 and Italy defeated Argentina 3-1. Lithuania, the tournament host is undefeated through 3 games and has been a great surprise in the tournament. Italy is in second with +2 GD and 2 wins. The United States jumped from 6th to 3rd today with one win and +1 GD. Brazil is in fourth with one win and -2 GD. Argentina is in 5th with 1 win and -4 GD. Bulgaria drops to last with 1 win and -5 GD.

Tomorrow, the United States plays Argentina, Italy plays Brazil, and Lithuania plays Bulgaria. On the last day, the United States will play Brazil, Lithuania will play Italy, and Argentina will play Bulgaria. With a win, the United could pretty much solidify a spot ahead of Argentina on GD (since Argentina would need to catch up by 5+2*goals in loss). If Bulgaria or Brazil loses as well, then the United States should most likely be able to hold on to a playoff position based on GD as well. With 2 wins, the United States would be guaranteed a playoff berth, but it needs at least 2 more points to avoid the relegation zone.

Lithuania has already clinched a playoff berth - I wouldn't be surprised to see them conserve energy and throw the last 2 games. This might mean that Italy will advance and that Argentina or Bulgaria will also advance if the United States loses to Argentina, though the United States could still snag the 4th position based on GD and a win against Brazil in that case. The United States is well situated to advance, however, Argentina is by far the most talented team, and Brazil has a better offense. In any case, these last 2 days should prove interesting.

Actually, that is the list of players about whom I want to know about their growth during camp for the spreadsheet I mentioned in an earlier post - I already have them all scouted. I am putting together a list of the players I want to scout this afternoon.

Get your filthy paws off of my players, you damn dirty ape!

Relax, Heston. It's not like he blew up the Statue of Liberty or anything. Yet.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with scouting. I think I covered all the potentially interesting players from every age group under 18 and it seems that it should be possible to cover all of them between the five of us. I'll check the thread for youth players from time to time in case anyone pulls an interesting player worth mention.

The United States lost to Argentina today, 3-1. It's not too surprising considering that Argentina has significantly better goaltending and offense despite its record. Argentina outshot the United States 36-25, won over 60% of the faceoffs, and enjoyed 6 power players. The United States power play failed to convert for the third game in a row. The penalty kill gave up a goal, though it did well to kill the other 5 chances. The United States actually won the tactics battle, but it wasn't enough. 17 year old Wes Austin scored again to provide the lone goal for the United States.

In the other games, Brazil beat Italy 2-1 and last place Bulgaria somehow beat first place Lithuania 6-2. This was the worst possible result, though the United States still has a very good chance with one game left due to keeping the score down. Lithuania remains in first with 3 wins, the United States is in last with 1 win and -1 GD, Italy is in second with 2 wins and +1 GD, Bulgaria jumps to 3rd with 2 wins and -1 GD, Brazil remains in 4th with 2 wins and -1 GD, and Argentina remains in 5th with 2 wins and -2 GD.

Tomorrow, at the same time, the United States plays Brazil, Bulgaria plays Argentina, and Lithuania plays Italy. The United States needs to win to avoid the relegation round, but a win will guarantee that the United States passes Brazil due to GD. As long as Bulgaria-Argentina doesn't go into overtime, the United States would also be guaranteed to pass the loser due to GD and therefore advance. If Lithuania somehow manages to beat Italy (though Lithuania could likely conserve energy), then the United States would pass Italy unless both games were one goal games, in which case, the United States would need to have scored 2 more goals than Italy tomorrow. In other words, with a win, the United States has a very good chance at advancing. Brazil will be a challenge, but the United States should still have at least about a 50-50 chance. Hopefully the team can overcome the adversity tomorrow.

The game between the United States and Brazil with advancement to the playoffs on the line has started.

Power play for the United States. One shot on goal and zero goals.

Willman has made a few difficult saves to keep the game at 0-0.