Subject: USA U-18 Team

I'll do Hungary

Thank you!

USA vs Russia vs Canada vs Hungary. It sounds like the group of champions of group D of the FIFA world cup in 2014. Which means clearly Hungary is going to win the group.

The United States beat the Czech Republic 10-5 today in an exhibition for some reason. Austin Blankenship from the Bombsville Atomics scored 6 goals.

Stud

Joseph Fuentes on the U18 team is up for sell

This is a list of the players I would like to have scouted by the 13th day of season 22 that I can't cover with my own scouts. It would be helpful if the managers of these teams could send me the information for these players or if one or two managers can cover these players. It would be helpful to receive any scouting information starting as of day 1 of season 22, but I can project any players I receive earlier.

Leagues are based on season 20.

(t) indicates that a player can be found in its team's transfer list.

I have players from I.1, II.1, II.2, and some of II.3 covered, as well as some of the older (and still eligible) and better players I covered last year from the teams listed.

I) II.3
1) Miami Revenants: Curtis Wackerle/Luther Park/Davey Pointdexter/Nicola Tobin/Bobby Hopkins
2) Detroit Red Wings: Primo Christenson/Will Beyer/Val Bremer/Tobe Talley/Ignacio Ferman
4) Grey Wolves: Virgil Gilliam/Drew Caron
5) Brad’s Icebreakers: Frederick Cannon

II) II.4
6) Bombsville Atomics: Chad Arnaud/Leo Sykes/Tate Skutt/Joshua Pena/Lamont Wagoner
7) Kentucky ManBearPigs: Stephen Peoples
8) San Crispino: Murphy Felton/Lee Donnelly/Carlton Silverman/Earl Bishop/Robert Bird(t)
9) Buffalo Lasers: Ed Ryder/Charles Taylor/King Colon/Ernest Haskins/Bart Budd/Jerome West
10) Detroit Slackers: Lee Bush/
11) Rochester Americans: Jerome Tyson/Lionel Pumford/

III) III.4
12) Gamblers: Shelton Anthony/Deon Vogel/Jamie Murry/Leonardo Tolliver/

IV) III.5
13) Phu King Iceholes: Pete Benedict/Booker Diamond/Shane Blankenship

V) III.6
14) Doppelgangers: Dallas Overstreet/Stanford Marquez/Ryan McKee/Archie Seward/Jim Wagner

VI) III.7
15) Rochester: Ian Seymour/Izzy Kraft/Vito Britton/Deuce Asman

These players are 16-17 years old. I will make a list of players that are now 15 years at the start of season 22, once no more players from this season can have been pulled.

I would probably just add any especially elite 16 year olds (as of next season) as I find them (going after the day 13 deadline), if I would add any next season.

The final roster for the season 21 World Champions:

G1: Percy Cosby (Bombsville Atomics)
G2: Bradley Kearney (Bombsville Atomics)

L1:
LW: Hyrum Hammond (Montana Miners/Psychos)
C: Val Taylor (Momentum)
RW: Joseph Fuents (HC Donezk - Ukraine III.2/Montana Miners)
LD: Brad Castaneda (Boilermakers)
RD: Ronnie Brennan (Razorback Thugs)

L2:
LW: Austin Blankenship (Bombsville Atomics)
C: Larry O'Brien (Bouncing Pucks)
RW: Alex Baumgarten (Bombsville Atomics)
LD: Jim Spear (Salt Lake Karma Police)
RD: Harley Shackelford (Momentum/Dooshnozzles)

L3:
LW: Charles Calvert (Bombsville Atomics)
C: Angel Berry (Bulls4ever Club)
RW: Mark Gionta (Smart People/Warehouse Warriors)
LD: Lon Chalk (Westchester Red Wings)
RD: Curtis Wheatley (Razorback Thugs)

L4:
LW: Matt Workman (Momentum)
C: Marion Cedarberg (Smuggling Grapes/STL Saints)
RW: Samuel Barbee (Bombsville Atomics)
LD: Gabe Herndon (Kraftwerk Rheinau - Switzerland II.2/Detroit Red Wings)
RD: Gene Mayfield (Dragons de Beauport - Canada III.2/STL Saints)

Bench:
LW: Joca Burkhart (Bombsville Atomics)
C: Sylvester Dowd (GoldFish)
RW/LW: Taylor Urban (HCD Crackers)
LD/RD: Tavis Christianson (Montana Miners)
RD: Ramond Sharpe (Smart People)
G: Matt Dowell (Momentum)

I decided to stick with mostly 17 years for the bench, except for RW because the 17 year olds are excellent and about as good as any other 18 year old I could have added. Since the bench is unlikely to play, especially in important games, they will benefit from the experience bonus.

I am undecided about whether Kearney or Dowell should start in goal next season. Kearney was pulled with much better OR, but Dowell has much better qualities (though Kearney is still very good). Dowell has nearly caught up (unless Kearney has yet to go to camp this season). Most likely, it would be effective to have 2 elite goalies (I think they are together the #1 and #2 goalies that have passed through the U18 team; it will be great to finally have the elite NT goalies that the U18 U.S. team has never seemed to have had) to split time. Kearney will go into next season with a head start in chemistry to apply towards this end.

The United States has done excellent in exhibitions, winning most of its games. It won games against some strong opponents including Canada, Serbia, Finland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. The United States only lost against an elite Croatian team, an elite Serbian team (after beating them the previous week), and in the last 5 minutes against the United Kingdom (after beating them the previous week).

The United States will be competing in a very strong division including very strong Russian (the United States always seems to end up playing in the same group as Russia) and Hungarian teams in addition to an equally talented Canadian team. It will be tough, but the U.S. team is pretty good this season. Anything can happen after Slovakia and the Czech Republic missed the playoffs and Portugal won the highest level tournament last season.

Thank you again to the managers that have helped me scout the opposition.

Good luck to the U20 and senior team as well. Hopefully the U20 team will finally break through with a strong performance in the top division. Hopefully the senior team will finally promote to the top division, especially since it will be playing at home.

I will be shortly filling out the roster with the best of the 17 year olds I scouted for this season.

I have filled the last 4 open sports with 4 17 year olds that I believe should be important starters next season:
1) Douglas Hawks (Momentum): has great OR for a 17 year old and great qualities, though his OR is a bit inflated because he was converted to defense from offense (I believe the high offense will still be a minor asset)
2) Jamie Richards (Detroit Red Wings): another strong defenseman. In his case, his effectiveness might be a bit underrated by looking at OR alone. He also has great qualities. Like Hawks he plays the left side, but he is better than any RD I could have added, and one of the top choices on RD would have been another player from my team.
3) Juan Vance (Spirit Crushers): He is a RW with great qualities. He isn't trained quite how I would like and has weak CL, but he will be important as a generally strong RW due to the weak RW depth for what otherwise looks like a very deep team.
4) Chap Staples (Slatington Serpents): a center with great qualities.

I would retain most of the 17 year olds currently on the team, though one RW would need to fix its training. I might drop some of the players that were saved from the Psychos. They were good enough that I thought they might be of interest next season, but they weren't necessary locks - especially in the case of the 16 year olds.

Good luck to you to and sadly I don't think the senior team is going to win with the current players we have. We very much are a middle of the pack team and those Serbian team players are so strong it's crazy. Still we will try to look our best on home ice.

You only need to make it to the finals to promote. The team that loses in the finals still promotes. Just hope that you don't face Serbia or possibly Slovenia in the playoffs. You would have only a small chance of facing Slovenia in the first round given that you both advance to the playoffs. To face Serbia in the second round, you would have to be specifically ranked 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 in your group.

Last season in the top division for the U18 teams, a very average Portugese team won the entire tournament while a very strong Czech team missed the playoffs.

Right anything can happen. The thing is in our group we are not even th second best team. The UK is better then us and the Portuguese very much is our equals. It's going to be tough be we will try for the home fans.

hockey.powerplaymanager.c...

The United States upset a stronger Hungarian team 4-2 today in the first game of the season 21 U18 World Championships. The United States already has sole possession of first in group 1 since Canada survived until overtime in its loss to Russia. Overall, the United States is tied with 2 other teams on the goal differential, taking first overall at this point due to the second goals scored tiebreaker.

Russia beat Canada 4-3 in overtime in a game Russia probably should have been able to win in regulation.

The United States, if it advances, would play teams from group 4 in the next round. In group 4, last season's surprise champion, Portugal, beat Poland 2-1. The Czech Republic beat Slovenia (probably the second strongest in their group) 2-0. It look like the Czech Republic has continued its strategy of buying all of its U18 players to make sure they all get as much experience as possible.

Although Hungary had a stronger team, the United States won on tactics. It was pretty clear that Hungary would use offense or at least that offense would be one of the main tactics that Hungary would use, so I used defense. The United States had the advantage for all three periods and dominated in terms of shots taken as a result through all three periods. Hungary also clearly attempted to rest for this game by playing on high and giving extra time to its weaker fourth line. The United States rested a little by playing with 4 lines through the second.

Hungary scored a powerplay goal in the first and lead 1-0 until the third. Baumgarten scored to take the lead. Hungary scored a second powerplay goal, but Baumgarten answered almost immediately with another goal off of O'Brien and Spear. A while later, Berry scored the game winner with assists from Calvert and Wheatley. Fuentes padded the score with an ENG with assists by Brennan and Castaneda.

I'm happy with keeping the number of penalties down to 2, but the production of the special teams was disappointing, as it very often seems to be.

The next game will be against Russia, one of the favorites to win the entire tournament after the Czech Republic. A win of any type would clinch the next round, but more importantly, it would probably carry over to the next round.

While Canada could beat Hungary tomorrow (Hungary will come out hard against Canada to avoid relegation, especially since their last game will be against Russia), I believe Hungary and Russia will likely advance from this group. If the United States advances, it is likely that at least the win against Hungary will carry over.

hockey.powerplaymanager.c...

The United States upset Russia 5-1 today, clinching the second round after the second of three games in the first round. Russia dominated the faceoff circle, but shots were about even. Penalties were even at 3, and neither team converted a powerplay. While nobody won on tactics, I knew that Russia tended to favor normal, active forechecking, and counterattacks and tended to use 2-3 different tactics per game. The United States matched Russia in dropping the fourht line in the third. Due to the lead, the United States could afford to play the fourth line in the third and play on normal game importance.

Yesterday, the first line didn't contribute to the win on the scoresheet. Today, the first line singlehandedly won the game. Val Taylor (Brad Castaneda and Hyrum Hammond) opened the scoring in the first. Ronnie Brennan (Joseph Fuents and Val Taylor) increased the lead to 2-0 in the second. Val Taylor (Brad Castaneda and Ronnie Brennan) added a second goal in the second to bring the lead to 3-0. Russia finally got onto the scoresheet, but the United States quickly responded to make it 4-1 off a goal by Curtis Wheatley (Charles Calvert and Mark Gionta). Brad Castaneda (Val Taylor and Ronnie Brennan) added another insurance goal to make it 5-1.

In the other group 1 game, Canada beat Hungary 4-2. Canada has also clinched the second round. Surprisingly, the two strongest teams in the group, Russia and Hungary, will play each other to avoid the relegation round. The loser will go to the relegation round tomorrow.

In group 4, the Czech Republic has clinched the second round. Poland and Portugal have 3 points. Slovenia has 0 points. Portugal plays Slovenia and the Czech Republic plays Poland tomorrow.

Val Taylor, Ronnie Brennan, and Brad Castaneda are all tied for first with 3 other players with 4 points. Castaneda and Brennan are tied for first with 4 other players with 3 assists. The entire U.S. first line holds first place in +/- with a +5. Brennan and Castaneda are tied for first with 4 points among defensemen.

The United States is tied for first in the entire tournament with the Czech Republic as the only two teams with two regulation wins in the first two games. The United States has a better goal differential.

Anyway, come and see an exciting game between the United States and Canada tomorrow! It looks like the United States will do well again this season. With a few more wins, the United States could move up into the top 8 in the world rankings, ranking among the most elite U18 teams.