Subject: USA U-18 Team

Prospect line:

Since I manually remove and replace any players that are in camp or injured as of the next exhibition game, the scratched players consist of the best prospects at each position (who are not already starters).

LW) Jonas Cliff (Razorback Thugs): the depth at LW is looking a bit weak at the moment, but Cliff will be a quality LW next season. He already has 800 OR as of tomorrow.

C) Dwight Kreger (Razorback Thugs): despite being a bit overenthusiastic about passing, Kreger is still the second best center prospect at the moment (after Dupuis). He already has over 900 OR.

RW) Johnny Reif (Invincible KLH Vajgar - Czech Republic/Detroit Red Wings): Reif will be one of the stars of the team and a great replacement for Austin. He has nearly perfect qualities. He comes from one of the very few division III teams that inexplicably seems to produce a lot of quality players. He was very close to making the team this year if not for the great depth at RW>

LD) Richard Jacob (The Norwegian AssKickers - Norway I.1/Carolina Cobras): I took notice of Jacob since he was playing for one of my rivals in II.2 and managed to save him last season s when the Cobras went defunct. He has nearly perfect qualities. Jacob beat out two other great LD prospects in Woody Pierre and Major Baron. Defense definitely will become a stregnth next year with defensemen like this.

RD) Dwayne Parks (Razorback Thugs): though slightly less promising than the Jacob, Pierre, and Baron, the universal defenseman will be a great at RD next season.

G) Ralph Lenhart (Wookies): it seems that Wookies have one of the best goaltending program in the country at their sports academy. He is extremely similar to Carlson. He has nearly perfect qualities and started out the season in bad shape, but is now in great shape. Also like Carlson, he was expected to start until an unexpected competitor form the Westchester Red Wings arose, though Lenhart should remain the favorite to start next season. He should approach 900 OR by the start of next season.

The United States lost to a substantially stronger top division Finnish team last weak. Finland's 4th line was stronger than all but the top offensive line. Even so, the United States kept it close until Finland took the lead on a power play with less than 5 minutes remaining and followed up with an empty net goal.

Next week the United States will play a more evently matched Danish team. There are only 4 exhibition games left until the World Championships. It would help a lot if anyone with a starter is able to run their camps before then.

An edit: Kreger is among the most promising at his position in all areas, and I'm hoping his exceptional passing will translate into better offensive production by his wingers. It will be important to place him on a line with wingers with particularly great shooting to capitalize off of his skillset.

Awesome Report Cap's Really enjoyed reading that.

Another edit: Parks (and Touve) are actually close to Jacob, Pierre, and Baron, though Jacob could become the best in the long run.

Thanks! I thought it would be good to try something different. I also wanted other managers to get a chance to get to know the players on the team better, like in soccer and handball.

The United States beat Denmark in a 4 series shootout last weak, 5-4. Wes Austin scored the game winning and only shootout goal. A bunch of players were out due to injuries or camp, including Lance. The United States gave up a lot of shots, but Butler kept the team in the game. Butler should have perfect chemistry by the time the World Championships approach.

Next week, the United States play a comparable team from the United Kingdom with weaker goaltending. Only 4 more Saturdays until the World Championships start.

My players are in camp. please leave them out this weekend.

Thanks - I won't call anyone up.

Austin and Lance will be out for camp for tomorrow's game. They already have perfect chemistry. I am leaving Tripp in to improve his chemistry. Dorey will be back again to fill in for Lance and the 17 year old Reif will fill in for Austin.

The United States, playing without its two star players, beat the United Kingdom 2-1 in overtime today. The United Kingdom dominated the game, outshooting the United States 39-28 and winning 57.4% of the faceooffs, but Butler singlehandedly won the game for the United States, saving 38 or 39 shots, as the United States' goaltending team strength improved to 152. Butler ended the game with a 97.44% save percentage. Butler has nearly perfect chemistry now, sow Carlson will get a chance to start next week. The United States killed 2 penalties and scored on 1 of 4 power plays (Strawberry filling in for Austin on the first line). The 17 year old Knapp, who has caught to Witherspoon, scored the game winner in overtime.

Next week, the United States will play Austria. It will be another tought but winnable game.

There are 2 weeks left to run a camp before the start of the World Championships!

Horrible third period. Can't believe they blew a 5-1 lead and gave up 2 third period SH goals.

Dang, not much you can do against that. We had them on tactics, our teams were pretty evenly matched... Dang.

I like to think we're just getting the losses out of our system before the tournaments.

That was pretty bad. I don't know had they suddenly became a better team in the third without changing tactics.

For the power play goal, they actually had a 5-3. Denny is on the second penalty killing unit due to his insane defense and otherwise good stats. Lance is on the first unit because he is the best player on the team. Basically, both units were playing with a random player, and I can't really say how the system goes about choosing players for the 5-3.

On the power play, the first 2 lines are basically the power play lines since they have the best shooting and are otherwise at least as good as the lower lines. There's not much that could have been done about the improbable 2 short handed goals. They were lucky to score with 3 minutes left and then capitalized on the 6-5. From there, overtime was a coin flip. It also helped that they started the third with a fresh goalie. In addition, though offense was the right countertactic, it tends to be a risky tactic. The offense is one of the strengths of this team, but not so much that it will dominate most of the opponents. The sudden rise in faceoff losses and shots against didn't help.

Going into the World Championships, all the teams in the division are about even, though Slovenia is notably better and Belgium notably weaker. Generally, the United States has slightly below average defense, slightly weaker shooting than some of the better teams, slightly better than average offense, and one of the best goaltenders, tied with Lithuania and Slovenia. Between the goaltending and the potent top line, I like the chances for the United States, though it will still be hard to translate the slight advantage into actual wins.

Looking at the matchups, Belgium seems to have weak goaltending, weaker second line shooting, average players (but a strong first line defense); Lithuania, back from last season, has a better first line defense and weaker first line offense and slightly better 3rd and 4th lines (bit with low shooting); Switzerland, a rival from 3 seasons ago, has significantly better defense on all but the first line, better third line shooting, weaker goaltending, and weaker first line offense; Italy, also back from last season and the first opponent, has weaker goaltending, much weaker first line offense, slightly stronger first line defense, much better second line defense, slightly stronger 2nd/3rd/4th lines, and much better shooting; Slovenia is a beast but at least has a weaker first line offense.

Looking at the schedule, the second game will be the hardest against Slovenia, and the last game will be a game that the United States should have a very good chance to win (especially if Belgium uses up its energy in its other games or gives up do to clinching a spot in the relegation round); the other games are coin flips. Except for the "5th line" and one small change on the power play, last weeks lineup will be the one that competes for the World Championships. There are currently no injuries - hopefully there will be none.

This is your last chances to run camps to have any players called up to the team in the best condition possible for the World Championships.

Good luck to the U20 and Senior team. Go United States!