Subject: USA U-18 Team

The United States played an exciting game against Spain today and won 7-6 in overtime. The United States dominated the faceoff circle and won the tactics battle. The United States lead by 5-2 and 6-4 but gave up those leads and gave up 2 power play goals over the course of the game. Reif and Kreger were great, accounting for half of the goals and both shootout goals. The team won against a strong Spanish team despite playing without its two best players, whose absence had a significant impact on the team strength.

I am definitely going to continue playing without Dupuis and Knapp for most of the games (though they will still be called up and scratched so that they should get experience - can someone confirm whether scratched players still get the bonus?). I might switch Pruett for Milton since Milton is comparable with much better experience. Another alternative would be to switch Pruett for Herbster so I could use Herbster as a substitute when Baughman or Carrigan gets tired in the World Championships. Barker is both the clearly best prospect and the best substitute at his position, so he will remain.

I will go over the roster selections for this year soon.

I'm going to go ahead and start to introduce the roster now. There are a total of 45 players at the moment.

I) Goaltending:

1) Ralph Lenhart (Wookies-II.3): Lenhart is currently slated to be the starter. He has a nearly perfect EQ and should be very good by the end of the year, though he may not be as strong as Butler was at the end of last season. The Wookies seem to produce a lot of the top goaltenders in the United States. He should approach 1,100 OR by the end of the season.

2) Curtis Shaw (Westchester Red Wings-I.1): Shaw is almost as promising as Lenahrt and will probably play at least a few games during the World Championships. The Westchester Red Wings are the other team that produces a lot of great goaltenders, including Butler from last season.

3) Desmond Blackwell (Boilermakers-I.1): Blackwell is the third string goaltender and will start in case of injuries to the other starters. He has great EQ but declining CL. He is almost as good as the starter and backup and should be a solid option if forced to start.

4) Jordy Rutherford (Psychos-I.1): Rutherford should be a solid starter next season and appears to be the best option at the moment. Queen, also from the Psychos, has a better EQ and CL, but it looks like Rutherford should remain the better option. Rutherford will sit on the bench for all of the exhibition matches.

5) Sanford Scruggs (Les Canards Perigourdins-France I.1/Detroit Red Wings-III.7): another goaltender with nearly perfect potential. His OR is still average, but with the national team bonus and a few years of training, he should be a very strong starter in 2 seasons.

Hi,
I am looking for the austrian U18 right defenders
GS 800+
thanks

capsaicin, I would love to gain experience as an assistant on the U18 national team! I ran for becoming a national team manager, but learned that I still have a lot to learn and this would be a great opportunity to do so. I would love to be the assistant of the U18 team the last two weeks of this month, if that is fine.

No problem. I'll add you for two weeks after next week's game against Bosnia and Herzegovina. I can't promise that you will necessarily get too much useful experience or that you will be able to do anything interesting, but you will at least be able to see the types of players on the team and see some of the tabs that the national team manager uses.

The United States lost to Poland 5-3 (including one empty net goal) yesterday. This is not too surprising since Poland has one of the better teams in the game. At least it was close.

Dupuis and Knapp also sat on the bench again since they still have nearly perfect chemistry. I decided to give Pruett's spot to Milton since they are very close in potential and Milton is a starter on his team. This team will be much better when Dupuis and Knapp play in the World Championships and in a few of the exhibitions. I might have them play against against Slovakia in two weeks if they are not in camp at the time.

Next week, the United States plays Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Awesome. Thanks for the opportunity.

If anyone is in the market for a rising star, U18 national team starter Johnny Reif is up for sale right now. Starting bid is only $185 million!

only?????

[hockey_team=5442] Purchased him for $158 million as an undeveloped 15 year old. That's not a huge mark up.

I gots some stacks under the mattress.

Tempting, but I think I'll throw away my money on Regen 15 in a week instead.

If you get him, you may want to teach him how to use the stove. Not sure how else he'd sustain a right hand burn.

Hopefully Reif finds a good team. He is easily one of the best players in his age group.

After a very disappointing loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-1 last week, the United States somehow managed to beat Slovakia 6-5 in a shootout. Dupuis and Knapp played again this week. They will go back on the bench for the the next 4 or so weeks. Reif was out with an injury this week, so the best possible team still didn't play.

Slovakia opened up the scoring. Gus Stratton tied the game. Dupuis opened up a 2-1 lead, but Slovakia quickly countered. Turner and Davis gave the United States a 4-2 lead, which it then lost. Baughman gave the United States a 5-4 lead, which the United states once again lost. The United States gave up one goal on 5 penalty kills and didn't score on 3 power plays. Slovakia dominated the faceoff circle but shots were relatively close. Dupuis scored on the first shootout attempt. There were no more shootout goals until Slovakia scored on its last chance out of the firs 3. Kreger won the game for the United States in round 4. Lenhart had a nice game with a .913 SV%.

Next week, the United States will play Brazil, which is about even with the United States.


In other news, it has been discussed that the United States could try to host a tournament this year. I am considering making a bid for the division I U18 tournament. There would be a contest for the logo, mascot, and tournament description. There won't be a website or prize for the winner of the tournament this time around, but the managers who submit the winning entries will get to be added as one of the 4 contributors (who each got a 100 credit prize last time). I believe the senior team is submitting a bid, and I suggested that 1-3 of the teams could make a bid. I will see if an official announcement for the contest could be made in the national news.

Just wanted to say that I'm happy the game generated this player's name: Dick Turner