Subject: USA U-18 Team

A note - while Captain97G is helping out with the senior team, the assistant slot is open to anyone who is interested.

If you need an assistant I am willing to help out with what I can help with. I have been assistant for U 20 a few seasons ago under Zggy and was U 20 manager for Belgium last season.

I've added PuckNut27 as an assistant.

The United States won 3-1 against Ireland today. The United States outshot Ireland 29-18.

Next week, Neely, Langston, and Isaksson will be back in the lineup, which will give the United States much more depth.

The United States plays Italy next week. The first World Championship game against the Czech Republic will take place in three weeks from today.

The United States earned a 6-1 win over Italy today. The full lineup played for the first time since earlier in the season. I'm especially happy with the defensive depth.

The last exhibition game is against Bulgaria next week.

I went through the rosters and transfer lists to find all the potentially interesting 16 year olds and 17 year olds that I haven't scouted yet. I won't post any 15 year olds (as of this season) until after the next draft. At the beginning of next season, I will only be interested in the potentially elite 16 year olds (as of next season).

Here is a list of the players I can't cover by next season. Though I might have asked for some players last season, I would like their updated attributes. You can just highligh the player's page from the scouting icon to the AVQ and post in a message to send the information. I already have a lot of the better players I didn't ask for scouted from these teams.

Leagues are based on the league that teams played in during season 19. (t) indicates that the player is from the team's transfer history.


II) II.2
9) Stick Toads: Jorge Fleming/Harvey Stump/Marcel Hollingsworth
10) War Pigs: Kenton Spaulding/Matt Calloway/Brendon Russell/Douglas Dawkins/Erik Mayfield/Dale Arroyo
11) Doppelgangers: Louie Murphy/Ed Sapp/Donnie Feurstein/Dallas Overstreet/Stanford Marquez/Harry Downey/Curtis Baddour/Denvir Wilde/

III) II.1
12) Bruisers: Peters Akers/Jody Asher/Derrick Leppek/Garrick Petty/Jae Touve/Hugh Brown
13) Dooshnozzles: Tony Nielsen/Ron Deaton
14) Wranglers: Kalvin Pringle
15) Medvescak Zagreb: Carl Kuebler(t)
16) Sierra Stars: Hal Rivers/Seth Cox
17) Dinamo 1983: West Carson/Bubba Wilde/Buford Luke/Ross Brink/Jesse Trejo/Fred Reeves/Matthew Loomis/Tommy Bass/Les McClendon/Forrest Trahan

IV) III.9
18) Day Old Doughnuts: Linwood Bolden/Gordon Corley

V) III.7
19) Grey Wolves: Virgil Gilliam/Joseph Cordova/Fred Bauer(t)
20) Rochester: Josh Cates/Dwight Wheeler/Hilton Cederberg/Ian Seymour

VI) III.6
21) Bulls4ever Club: Orville Ripper/Vito Bradford/Lucius Badgero/Dick Ibarra/Peter Flores/Salvatore Smith/Devon Taylor/Carmine Marshall/Rich Gatlin/Clemente Dempsey

VII) III.5
22) Phu King Iceholes: Pete Benedict/Daniel Douglas/Garrett Linton

VIII) III.3
23) Gamblers: William Allison/Justin Colbert/Alex Collier/Shelton Anthony/Deon Vogel/Jerome Sexton

IX) III.2
24) Red Headed Step Child: Michael Dugan/Ed Elrod

X) III.1
25) Boston Bashers: Randolph Rosario

interesting discussion here

The World Championships start next week against the Czech Republic.

It would be helpful if everyone who hasn't already sent the information about opponent's players that they scouted could send the information at their next opportunity by Friday.

I will be dropping the prospects on the bench for a 5th line and finalizing the lineup tomorrow. I plan to double check some of the players that were on the threshold of making the team but didn't who might be of value on the 5th line.

The key game will be the third one against the Netherlands, but in order to take advantage of that game, the United States will have to match any upsets that the Netherlands might earn. While the United States looks like a strong candidate for the third spot, upsets by and against the United States are very possible. In addition, losing against the Czech Republic and Russia in the first round would significantly handicap the United States in the second round.

Hopefully all three U.S. national hockey teams will have success in their respective tournaments.

I've received the scouting information for players from the Bruisers and War Pigs and have heard from someone with the players from the Sticky Toads. If anyone wants to help with scouting from that list, players from those 3 teams can be excluded.

I will get the rest of II 1

Thanks for covering II.1! I think that might be enough. The remaining division III teams generally didn't have great great facilities (I guess I'll double check and post an updated list with that in mind).

I still need the scouting information for Netherlands and Russia. The Netherlands will be especially important.

I've gone through the scouting information I've received for the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Sweden. With the Czech Republic's strategy, all of the players on the team have as much experience as the players from bulls4ever's team (70-100), complementing the depth that they have to work with. It seems that Sweden and Serbia are sacrificing technique for a stronger defense. The Czech Republic is maintaining the technique for its defensemen (though most of the training is being done by 3 managers on that team).

The United States is not an elite team in the top division, but based on what I've seen so far, it might be able to be competitive with many of the non-elite teams. If the United States can get past the first stage, I think it might have a decent chance to do well in the next round. Based on how some of the players have been trained, it looks like the United States has an advantage in one particular area, though I won't discuss it here.

I added Stimson who took over as the third string goalie due to having a better ratio (the current fourth string goalie has about the same positional OR with a very slightly weaker ratio). I also added Dillon who passed Bunn for a spot on the 5th line. The players called up will probably play in the tournament. Taylor (17) is close enough to the next best 18 year olds that I left him in. Hammond and Brennan are the other 2 17 year olds who will be playing on the 4th line.

I would be interested on hearing opinions about technique for defensemen. The general consensus is to maintain at least 1:1 with agressiveness, but I wonder if anyone has really taken the time to weigh the pros and cons. It does seem that there is an effect on penalties, but the magnitude of this effect and how it would compare to the lost ability is unclear. My official position is still that I prefer defensemen trained at 2:1:1:1 unless a clearly elite defenseman is trained with less technique (a 1,000 OR defenseman generally well trained with slightly low technique is preferable to a perfectly train 800 OR defenseman with more or less similar EQ).

I could cover some extra III players? You need any players that are really good?

How many could you cover in 24 days (taking into account other players that you will need to scout for your team and perhaps a slight loss of scouting ability when sponsors are renewed)?

Screw my team. USA First! I scout at 36% right now. But in 8 days my HR will be upgraded. Hmmmm, Like 10? A lot. What do you mean? You lose scouting ability when sponsors are renewed?

I currently have different managers dedicated to scouting and marketing, so I have to switch to the marketing managers when sponsors are renewed. I might have to reassess the value of training managers this way. I'll post the 10 best remaining players for you in a few minutes.

1) Ian Seymour
2) Virgil Gilliam
3) Hilton Cederberg
4) Josh Cates
5) Dallas Overstreet
6) Fred Bauer
7) Gordon Corley
8) Linwood Bolden
9) Dwight Wheeler
10) Shelton Anthony

Can you cover these players?

Yes I am pretty sure. It depends how much my scouting jumps in 8 days. Is this the order you want scouted?