Subject: USA U-18 Team

With a 3-1 win against Slovakia this time, the United States has now clinched the playoffs at the earliest point possible. The United States has had a perfect record so far in the games that matter despite the strength of the competition. The shots were more even in this game as Slovakia outshot the United States 29-28.

Russia and the Czech Republic, both from group 4 in the preliminary round, both won the other games in group 1 of the qualifying round today. Slovakia is now unable to earn 9 points to catch up in 9 games. For the Czech Republic to catch up, they need to win 2 games, including a game against Sweden, but Sweden also needs to win 2 games to catch up. Only Russia and Serbia can now earn more points than the United States, and they play each other once. The United States should end up with a good seed in the playoffs in addition to clinching it.

The loss of Neely pretty much offset resting the team yesterday. Even so, the United States has the best chance that it may have in a long time to earn a medal in the top division tournament. Of the teams that the United States could play inthe first round, only Slovenia and Hungary look especially challenging, at least for now.

Coker gave up a goal today and rested in the third period, but he remains the most successful goaltender in the tournament so far and the MVP of the United States.

Tomorrow, the United States plays Serbia, another team that looks very likely to make the playoffs.

The United States lost by a large margin today because I was resting the team for the playoffs after clinching the playoffs yesterday.

There's really not any team I would expend energy to face in the first round of the playoffs. If anything, I would want to face Belarus who is currently first in the other group (assuming they aren't doing something similar). Portugal is probably not too likely to take the fourth spot, and expending energy to possibly face them would largely offset the advantage with energy loss.

By resting the team, the United States is gaining significant ground on the other teams, so the United States should be competitive against most other teams in the playoffs. All of the other teams in the tournament played on very high today, often with 3 lines.

Slovakia won in overtime against Russia, forcing the elimination of Slovakia, last season's champion. They don't seem as strong this season as they have in the past, but they are still not a team I would want to face in the playoffs, despite winning against them yesterday.

Sweden shocked the Czech Republic, originally a favorite to win the tournament, today in a very important game for both teams. The Czech Republic had a great plan developing the experience of its players, but the fickleness of the PPM engine could very well have them missing the playoffs.

Tomorrow, the United States plays Sweden. The playoffs start in two days.

I'll scout the last 4 players from your list on page 60.

The United States rested again today and lost. Serbia beat Russia. The United States ended up in third in its group. Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Poland, all good teams, were eliminated in this round. Hungary, Belarus, Slovenia, and Portugal advanced to the next round in the other group.

The United States will play Slovenia tomorrow. It will be a difficult but winnable match. The winner of that match should play the winner of Serbia and Portugal. The United States should be able to be at least competitive against any of those teams. In the worst case scenario, the United States has already matched is best result in the top division from two seasons ago (starting in a better seed this season).

It looks like I made a mistake - the United States plays Poland tomorrow. Slovenia was eliminated in a loss to Poland. Poland has a 5 fewer team strength points than Slovenia.

Serbia still plays Portugal and the winner will play the winner of the United States and Poland. Russia plays Hungary (in a quarterfinals match between two of the strongest remaining countries) and and Sweden plays Belarus.

The United States managed to win against Poland 3-1 today! The U.S. outshot Poland 31-30. The U.S. won 48.3% of the faceoffs. The U.S had 4 penalties to Polands 3, but nobody scored a powerplay goal. The U.S. opened with a lead, gave up the tying goal in the second, scored the game winner in the third, and added an empty net goal.

Norman Coker has now given up only 2 goals in 4 games in this tournament and remains the MVP. Coker even contributed an assist today. Though Maurer has had very bad results, he didn't have the benefit of playing for the full team. Maurer actually has the potential to pass Coker for the U20 team.

The United States is now in the semifinals for first time ever. The United States now has a very good chance to earn its first medal in hockey and second medal overall (the senior soccer team has a silver medal from the intercontinental cup). 3 of the 4 remaining teams will win a medal.

In the playoffs this season, only Poland and Russia had returned from last season. Only Poland, Russia, and Hungary had won in the past. Poland and Hungary were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Portugal somehow managed to upset Serbia and will play the United States in the semifinals. This is one of the best semifinals matchups possible, and it means that the United States is actually the favorite to go into the final. With that said, based on the results by the United States against stronger teams, it's still not going to be an easy match.

In the other matches, Russia beat Hungary (another strong team) and Sweden beat Belarus. The losers of tomorrow's games will play for a bronze medal in two days.

I have both Russia and Sweden scouted for whatever game the United States ends up playing in two days.

The United States lost against a notably weaker Portuguese team and ended up in 4th place in the top division. This is still one of the best results for a U.S. national team in PPM, though it is disappointing to miss a good chance to get first place. After beating teams like a Czech team full of players with 70+ experience, an upset like this was bound to be possible for the United States against a similarly weaker (more tired) team.

Portugal somehow managed to win the tournament.

With that result, the United States is now the 9th highest ranked U18 hockey team and highest ranked U.S. team. Having a higher ranking will help the United States to get better matchups to make it easier to stay in the top division, though 8th place would have helped a lot more towards that end. Considering that the United States is ranked 18th for number of teams, I'm happy with 9th place, at least for now.

I put together a preliminary roster for this season. I am still waiting on a few more players that could be of interest to the U18 team, though they are mostly 17 year olds. I will start scouting the elite 16 year olds and add the best one at each position later in the season. For now, there are 10-11 spare roster spots. There are a few projects on the team that may or may not work out.

I invited PuckNut to return as the assistant if I return. I promised one other newer manager the opportunity to be the assistant for a weak. I'm willing to do something similar for any other American manager that asks, if anyone that might be interested manages to read through the wall(s) of text.

Should I bother adding a 17 year old (Hodges) that could approach 900 OR by next season with 89.3 EQ but 4 CL from the Psychos? There are 3 16 year olds players (Frank, Timm, and Adams) not on the team (one with 6 CL) with EQ in the low 80's but average OR. There are 2 15 year olds (Causey and Eckert) with good OR but bad qualities. I don't plan to add any more of them, but I could if anyone particularly wants me to (I can provide scouting information for anyone that wants it). The deadline to add players from the Psychos is approaching.

Thank you to Headhog for his help with scouting some of these players.

I will post scouting information for the players I added once they go onto the market on their player pages.

Ugh, the 4 CL is a killer. That will likely end his NT career after the under 20 team from my experience if that's the angle you're taking. Captain97G and I grabbed 2 players who may make it down the road, but that's it.

John Hodges

There are honestly at least 4 better 17 year old LW's available. There were 4 with over 730 OR as of day 1 of the season. 2 of them have similar EQ and the other 2 are in the low 80's. After those 4, based on the EOR ranking, Fiorito and Swartz from your team have better EOR and CL but much worse EQ. This is before considering UW's.

He could have had some potential, but I'm not sure I would even want him as a starter for the U18 team next season.

I am not going to add Hodges. As is I only have one spot left and with so many other great players out there who are of the same age and better Ratings and EQs it would seem like a waste. Plus I agree with Cory the 4 CL for a guy who is 17 is bad and he isn't going to get that much better even if he went to the proper place.

He would be added to the U18 team, but I'm not planning to add anymore players from the Psychos.

I have 4 spots left and would like to save them in case another good team looks like it will fold or in case I need an injury replacement for the WCH.

Sorry meant to say you should not add Hodges. My auto correct on my computer is awful somethimes

An update:

So far, the United States has won 4/5 exhibition games, only losing one game against Serbia 1-2.

There are 10 weeks until the World Championships. This will be a difficult year as all teams in the group are relatively strong. The United States will be competing against Russia, Hungary, and Canada to move on to the second round. Help scouting Hungary or Russia would be appreciated. My assistant - Pucknut27 has been covering Canada. I am focusing on scouting prospects.

I haven't introduced the team yet this season, so I'll do it now:

Goaltenders:
1) Percy Cosby (Bombsville Atomics)
2) Bradley Kearney (Bombsville Atomics) (he is the ~second best overall goaltender as well as the likely starter for next season)
3) Danny St. John (HC Stropokov Ice-Dogs(Slovakia)/Boilermakers)
P) Matt Dowell (Momentum)(has nearly perfect qualities but slightly weaker OR than Kearney)

Centers:
1) Val Taylor (Momentum)
2) Larry O'Brien (Bouncing Pucks)
3) Angel Berry (Bulls4ever Club)(has exceptional experience for his age)
4) Marion Cederberg (Smuggling Grapes)
5) Jorge Lapan (Slatington Serpents)
6) Dale Blodgett (Canadians Essen (Germany)/Psychos)
P) Syvester Dowd (GoldFIsh)(has nearly perfect qualities and already 902 OR as a 17 year old!)
P) Andy Ledford (Salt Lake Karma Police)
P) Byron Olivarez (HC Olimp (Russia)/Psychos)(I added him to the team to save him as an option, though he isn't as strong as Ledford or Dowd)

Left Wings:
1) Austin Blankenship (Bombsville Atomics)
2) Alex Baumgarten (Bombsville Atomics)
3) Hyrum Hammond (Montana Miners/Psychos)(he used to be the top wing from this age group; now that he is training again, with his chemistry, he should still be a very useful player; he started the season as a 5th string player until he moved to the Montana Miners)
4) Matt Workman (Momentum)
5) Ricky Fischer (Slatington Serpents)
6) Taylor Urban (HCD Crackers)
P) Joca Burkhart (Bombsville Atomics)(another very good prospect - next season looks really promising)
P) Calvin Chapman (Westchester Red Wings)

Right Wings:
1) Joseph Fuentes (Montana Miners)
2) Charles Calvert (Bombsville Atomics)
3) Mark Gionta (Smart People)
4) Samuel Barbee (Bombsville Atomics)
5) Michael Leggett (HCD Crackers)(He is one of the better players on the team, but some of his attributes are overtrained or undertrained. He might still be useful as an injury replacement)
6) Randall Edmonds (Maine Black Bears (Poland)/Psychos)
7) Taylor Urban (HCD Crackers)(he is better than some players higher on the list in some respects but is undertrained in one area)
P) Dale Arnett (Razorback Thugs)
P) Marcus Echols (Bulls4ever Club)
P) Damion Christianson (HK Murggs (Latvia)/Psychos)(another player that I added from the Pscyhos that may or may not be of interest in the future)

Left Defenseman:
1) Brad Castaneda (Boilermakers)
2) Jim Spear (Salt Lake Karma Police)
3) Lon Chalk (Westchester Red Wings)
4) Gabe Herndon (Kraftwerk Rheinau (Switzerland)/Detroit Red Wings)
5) Ed Butler (Smuggling Grapes)
P) Tavis Christianson (Montana Miners)
P) Orville Ripper (Bulls4ever Club)
P) Denver Reynolds (Boilermakers)

Right Defenseman:
1) Ronnie Brennan (Rzorback Thugs)
2) Harley Shackelford (Dooshnozzles)(first player from the Dooshnozzles)(a bit atypical with the potential to be a major weapon for the United States)
3) Gene Mayfield (Adazu vilki (Latvia)/STL Saints)
4) Curtis Wheatley (Razorback Thugs)(RD depth is exceptional this season - despite being the 4th RD at the moment, Wheatley might be good enough to be the top LD if he were left handed)
5) Carson Hoffman (Smart People)
P) Ramond Sharpe (Smart People)(yet another 17 year old with awesome qualities)
P) Tavis Christianson (Montana Miners)
P) Leroy Bartholomew (Bohemians/Psychos)(another player added from the Psychos to add as a future candidate)
P) Garland Morrow (Matzingen Senators (Switzerland)/Psychos)(another player added from the Psychos to add as a future candidate)

There are 4 slots left to add injury replacements or good players from teams that are about to fold. Due to adding a lot of players from the Psychos, I will not be adding the best 16 year old at each position like I have done in the past (it's usually just a symbolic gesture anyway, unless on of the players' teams happens to fold unexpectedly).

The Bombsville Atomics have re-emerged as a top producer of top prospects this season.