Subject: USA U-18 Team

Could you wait until the last few are done? It would be best to get the information closer to the deadline anyway.

The United Kingdom and Croatia are in the finals.

I will help with anything you want.

If you want scouting on my players, PM me.

I went ahead and sent messages asking for the scouting information for the remaining 15 year olds (since that seems to be the preferred approach) that could potentially be of interest from division I (excluding players from transfer lists and the last draft, which I will check when I have a chance next week, along with the other divisions).

Thank you to everyone that has sent me the scouting information for their players!

I am still waiting on a few managers (mostly for 16 year olds and a few 17 year olds), but I have all the other players that I have scouted or that other managers have scouted on a spreadsheet. I will be comparing the players to determine what players I might want to add if I win in the election.

It looks like there are a lot of really good players around 900+ this season, including a few that didn't make the team last season that I would likely add at some point. Overall, there should be enough good 800+ 18 year olds to fill out the roster.

The first line looks really promising, with 3 players that played significant minutes with last season's team. Two of them have 1,000+ OR, and the other has great experience. The first line center, Richardson, has great experience and 1,000+ OR, and Timmons is also close to 1,000 OR. Scruggs is currently the starter, though there were quite a few other good goaltenders that I will consider.

Berry is throwing a party. Free beer to everyone that joins the party. My 1st player to ever make a hockey nt team.
Some other players on my team are very motivated now

For $900,000,000 he better be giving away free beer along with a hotel room for each guest and a Ford Focus for everyone who attends the party. Yeesh man, setting your sights a little high there.

Lol. I know. It means im open to listen offers. Feel this is the best way to advertize im listening to offers.

Well, in handball when i wanted to buy a player id reach to the manager that placed the player for sell...

The United States U18 National Hockey Team is currently ranked 15th in the world out of 36 teams. The ranking is based on the last four seasons. By playing at least one more season in the top division, the United States should likely move up the rankings at least a little more.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with the U18 United States National Hockey Team again this season! The team will once again be competing in the top division.

The United States ended up in group 3 with Poland, Croatia (last season's U18 winner), and Serbia. Serbia and Croatia were both playoff teams, and Poland went to the relegation round but could have done much better with better luck. It is going to be a difficult group, though there at least isn't a Slovakia or Czech Republic in the group, and I suppose there wouldn't be an easy group in the top division anyway. I think that the United States should have a fighting chance to avoid relegation and make the playoffs.

If the United States were to make the qualifying round, division 3 would combine with the 3 best teams from division 2 (Finland/France/Hungary/Slovenia).

I think it is too early to compare teams because there hasn't been enough time for everyone to choose their teams, but the United States looks competitive. Shooting should be a strength for the United States, and defense and offense should be competitive if not necessarily elite. Goaltending should be about the same as it usually has been and should improve a lot from its current level.

The team is pretty much selected, and the current starters (except for one injured defenseman currently not called up) minus the current bench will probably be the team that goes into the World Championships.

A note for next week's exhibition: for the first time ever, I actually have a player from my own team, a 16 year old center, that projects to start in 2 seasons. It has been my policy to call up the best 17 year old at each position and place them on the bench for all of the exhibition so that they could possibly get the training bonus, substituting for any injured players or players in camp manually. I want to test this theory next week by placing my player on the bench and also see some evidence about the extent of the bonus. Fountain will be back for the following exhibitions, or, if it turns out that I was mistaken, the 5th line for the World Championships will take over the bench.

The United States lost 6-5 to Russia today, giving up a goal in the last 40 seconds. Overall, the game was pretty even, though the United States did much better on faceoffs. The top 3 lines all contributed.

Vernon Freed has perfect chemistry, so I plan to rest him for most of the season and give chemistry to Isaksson, who is both one of the best backup defensemen and very likely a first line player on next season's team. Burks and Rhoads are really close to 100 chemistry, so I will end up doing the same with Langston and Marks (who are also among the best backups and future first line players). Neely, another future first line player, is also the fourth best LW this season (he is a UW and will move to the RW next season). As a result of these substitutions, the team will be a bit weaker than it could be for the exhibitons, but the team will be better for the World Championships and to start next season as a result.

I am not going to be taking starters who are in camp off of the roster this season (though I would still encourage starters to attend 2 camps before the World Championships if possible). I would rather not sacrifice the weekly gain in chemistry to spread the training bonus to another player for a week. I will still substitute for injured players, players in camp who already have ~100 chemistry, players substituting for those players (who otherwise won't be starters this season) and in camp, and the players on the bench.

The experiment with my player was a success this week. My player did get the bonus (which seemed to be about +30%) while playing on the bench, so I will continue to reserve the bench for the best 17 year old (not injured or in camp) at each position, which should add up to a 5-10 OR bonus for next season's top players.

At the moment, the United States seems to have a competitive roster (keeping in mind that goaltending should improve a lot and that not all starters are currently starting). In particular, the United States easily has the best shooting in the group at the moment.

The roster is finalized; the last two empty spots are reserved for good players from teams about to go defunct (please post in the thread for this if you notice one with good players) or if necessary, for more depth in case of injuries to key players before the tournament. Next week, the United States will player the U18 Belgian National Hockey Team.

Also, I have made the manager of the Shugar Daddies, who also ran for the U18 team, in league II.2 the assistant manager for this season.

Kasey Woodson is on the market if anyone is interested. He is only a depth player on the U18 team, mainly due to his low technique, but perhaps he can be a good defender for someone.

I'm going to go over the roster now as I have in the past.

Goaltenders:

I usually add the 3 best 18 year olds, the best 17 year old, and the best 16 year old. Usually, the best 18 year old plays all of the games, though the backup might start a few games if the backup is good enough or if it becomes necessary to rest the starter. With the extra space, I like to get an idea of who will start in the future. The best 17 year olds in each position not starting play on the bench for the training bonus (which I have confirmed earlier this season).

1) Sanford Scruggs (ZZ's Crushers - Czech III.16/Detroit Red Wings - II.3): though his OR is only very good at the moment, Scruggs has elite potential. He will be a solid U18 national team caliber starter this season, but he might have the potential to contend for a spot on the senior national team if he maintains his CL and improves his experience. Scruggs is one of two players from the ZZ's Crushers this season, which is rare for a foreign team.

2) Randy Valadez (Veverice drasjo - Slovenia I.1/Bouncing Pucks - I.1): Valadez doesn't have as much potential as Scruggs, but he is only a step behind in current ability and should be able to step in to give Scruggs a chance to rest.

3) Kelley Joseph (Bouncing Pucks - I.1): another product of the Bouncing Pucks youth system. Joseph has much lower OR but is not too far behind Valadez in case of an injury.

4) Norman Coker (Red Titans - Netherlands I.1/Razorback Thugs - I.1): Coker is the best 17 year old goaltender at the moment. He should hit at least 900 OR by next season and provide solid goaltending.

5) Percy Cosby (Bombsville Atmoics - I.1): after rebuilding for a while in division II, the Bombsville Atomics suddenly has a group of elite prospects that will be making an impact on the team in the near future. At the moment, Cosby looks like the most promising 16 year old goaltender. I think Cosby should be able to hit at least 1,100 OR by the time the World Championships start in 2 seasons.