Subject: USA U-18 Team

The United States lost 3-0 against Russia today. Everything was about even but slightly favoring Russia, and Russia won on tactics. I decided to go with 4 lines to conserve energy for the next round. It would have been really surprising to win all 3 preliminary round games.

Spain unexpectedly beat Slovakia, but it was in overtime, so Spain still goes to the relegation round. In the other divisions, Belgium, Belarus, and surprisingly Poland all went to the relegation round.

The United States is currently third place at 1-0-0-1 in group 2 in the qualifying round. Serbia is in first with 5 points, Russia is in second with 4 points, the United States is third with 3 points, the Netherlands is fourth with 3 points and 1 less GD, Slovakia is 5th with 2 points, and the Czech Republic is 6th with 1 point. Slovakia and the Czech Republic likely won't stay in the basement for long, but the handicap might help.

The United States starts with a match against the Czech Republic. Slovakia plays Serbia and Russia plays the Netherlands. The United States plays Serbia on the second day and the Netherlands on the third. The key will be to beat the Netherlands and earn at least as many points as Slovakia against Serbia and the Czech Republic or the Czech Republic against Slovakia and Russia (which means that beating the Netherlands might be enough if the loser in regulation of the Slovakia-Czech Republic match loses to the second strongest team from the other preliminary group). The chances of catching Serbia or Russia are probably not high, though it is not impossible given the upsets already in this tournament.

Good luck to the other national teams in the final 2 games of the preliminary round. Both are currently playoff teams.

A new article about the World Championships:

ppm.powerplaymanager.com/...

check your mail. I don't think I have anyone special for the 15 year olds.

Root's tech is around 140%

I will sometimes set new pulls to train tech before I scout them. Just in case I want to switch their position after scouting. And sometimes I forget to fix their training after scouting. Okay, I almost always forget to switch their training. That comes from years, and I mean actual real life years, of having a pretty bad sports academy.

Rofl!!! That is exactly what I did and happened to me. Tons of technique. Took me more than a season to fix things

OK... yeah, Root's temporarily ruined lol.

The United States lost to the Czech Republic 6-1 today. The Czech Republic outshot the United States 42-12 and controlled the puck for much of the game. The United States won about 45.2% of the faceoffs. The United States gave up 2 power play goals, but Max Jack scored a shorthanded goal to give the United States a brief 1-0 lead.

Going into today's game, I didn't like the chances of winning. I decided that I would rather the United States lose and conserve energy than lose and spend a ton of energy with maybe a 5%-10% additional chance of winning. I also rested the Rutherford, Shorter, Barker, and Milton. O'Dell, Wahl, and Mead got a chance to start for the first time in the tournament today; Queen started for the second time. The most important game will be against the Netherlands, and I wanted to conserve energy for that game, especially since the Netherlands is fairly close in ability. Energy is consumed extremely fast in these tournaments, so even one game conserving energy should make a significant difference. Given the win against Slovakia and the remaining schedule, the United States has the luxury to rest for a game. With more energy, the United States probably could have gained back 2 or so GD, but I think the energy conserved for more important games will be worth the sacrifice.

In the other games in the qualifying group, Serbia beat Slovakia in a shootout (a very helpful if not perfect result) and Russia beat the Netherlands. Everyone else in the group burned energy at very high today.

As a result of today's game, the United States is in 6th place for now with 3 points and -5 GD. Even so, the Netherlands (3 points and -3 GD) should lose to Slovakia, allowing the winner of United States-Netherlands on the final day of the qualifying round to take the higher seed. Slovakia should win against the Netherlands giving them 6 points. If the Czech Republic loses to Russia, they will go into the final game against Slovakia with 4 points. Then, if the United States beats the Netherlands, the United States would pass the Czech Republic with a Slovak win or Slovakia with a Czech win (and some help with GD, which is fairly close at -3:-5 for now). If the Czech Republic beats Russia in regulation, then it would be necessary for them to beat Slovakia. In any case, due to the remaining Slovakia-Czech Republic match, the United States actually has a fair chance of advancing to the playoffs with a win against the Netherlands.

Hopefully the U18 United States National Hockey Team can pull through in the top division to make an unexpected appearance in the playoffs.

It looks like the senior team will be in the playoffs with a win (or with a non-regulation result and some help if necessary), and the U20 team can pass Lithuania with a win or it can take a playoff position by losing less badly than Romania. Good luck to the U20 and Senior national teams on the last day of their qualifying rounds!

Cap's always love reading your updates.

Keep up the great work Caps. Any help needed.....just let me know......scouting, etc.

The United States lost 6-2 against Serbia today. Shots were 43-33 in favor of Serbia. Faceoffs were about even. The United States got into penalty trouble but only gave up one power play goal. Centers Pruett and Milton tallied for the United States. The United States used normal against active forechecking. I almost used counterattacks but changed to normal at the last minute.

This loss is disappointing if not unexpected. Serbia has been one of the best performing teams in this season's tournament. I had hoped that the result would be a little closer since I decided to expend energy. Yesterday I worried that I might have made a mistake resting against the Czech Republic; today, I think I might have been better off resting the team again. Whatever the case, the United States goes into the final match with the Netherlands as the favorites, though only by enough to have a fairly good chance of winning.

In the other matches, Slovakia beat the Netherlands 5-4 (this match was closer than I would have liked, but it was the result I had expected) and Russia beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in overtime (this was a very important result). Going into tomorrow, Slovakia is third with 6 points and -2 GD, the Czech Republic is fourth with 5 points and +2 GD, the Netherlands is fifth with 3 points and -4 GD, and the United States is sixth with 3 points and -9 GD. Slovakia plays the Czech Republic and the United States plays the Netherlands tomorrow.

If the United States doesn't win in regulation, it is highly unlikely that it will make the playoffs (I doubt the Czech Republic will lose by 12 goals against Slovakia). If the Netherlands doesn't win in regulation, it is highly likely they would make the playoffs, so the winner of this match effectively must win in regulation to advance to the playoffs. If the Czech Republic wins in overtime, both Slovakia and the Czech Republic will advance. If Slovakia wins in overtime, both should advance (unless the Netherlands demolishes the United States). If Slovakia wins, the winner of United States-Netherlands would be guaranteed to advance. If the Czech Republic wins, the Netherlands would need to win and catch up by 2 or 3 GD to Slovakia, or the United States would need to win and catch up by 7 or 8 GD (this will be hard but not impossible).

Basically, what all this means is that the United States needs to win and Slovakia needs to win in regulation to guarantee that the United States will advance. Looking at the teams, Slovakia has better offense and defense while the Czech Republic has slightly better shooting and much better goaltending. The United States has slightly better goaltending/defense/offense/shooting than the Netherlands, though it is probably close enough that the Netherlands still has a fair chance at winning. With the day of rest, the ability of the Netherlands' players fell by slightly less than twice as much as that of the United States. Whatever happens tomorrow, the United States has already far exceeded my expected by coming within at least one game of the final 8 teams in the world.

In any case, go United States, and go Slovakia! Congratulations to the U20 United States National Hockey team on taking first and good luck in the playoffs! The U20 roster is full of players from two of the most successful U18 teams in the history of the United States U18 National Hockey team. Congratulations also to the senior team on fighting to take the win against Argentina (though it seems that just making overtime was enough to clinch the playoffs). The senior team should have a fighting chance against Croatia and the hopefully the winner of Romania-Italy. Ditto for the U20 team against Portugal and then the winner of Romania-Brazil.

There is about a 43.75% chance at this point that the United States will have at least 2 teams in the top division next season.

Great win today to guarantee beating out Spain. I am entirely shocked that Netherlands expended the energy they did. How much would winning really have benefitted them?

The United States is officially in the playoffs! I was happy to get into the second round after three games to avoid relegation, but I never expected to beat out the Czech Republic for the final ticket into the third round.

Spain and Belgium have relegated.

The United States will play Finland, who I picked to win the entire tournament, in the first round of the playoffs. With an upset against Finland, the United States would play the winner of Russia and the United Kingdom. It's really up to the RNG at this point.

I will post a more detailed summary later.

The last three games have actually been part of the qualifying round. There are 2 rounds in the top division to make the playoffs. The Netherlands would have made the playoffs with a win.

Congratulations for achievement so far. Finland won't be easy. What tactics you think will be best against them ?