Subject: USA U-18 Team

Thank you!

Great job keep it going

Good job buddy

Thank you!

Thank you! Good luck today!

The U.S. U18 NT has been eliminated in a close 1-2 loss against Slovakia. The biggest reason for the loss was the ineptness of the power play. This may be due to the fact that the United States only has 3-4 great forwards, most of whom are exhausted at this point. In addition, the other team got way too many shorthanded shots. The U.S. U18 NT made too few shots on 5 power plays. I wonder if using 4 forwards on the power play contributes to the shorthanded breakaways to an extent that it negates any bonus from the bonus to shooting. Slovakia was the favorite to win, so a 1 goal deficit while remaining competitive in shots is a solid performance (despite the power play woes), but it is disappointing to be finished once again.

If the U.S. U18 NT had advanced, it would have had a solid chance after 2 more of the top teams were eliminated today. France beat the Czech Republic and Canada beat Russia. Latvia won the other game against an exhausted Austrian squad. Going forward, France and Slovakia are now the favorites to win it all.

Next season will likely be the season I go forward with the chemistry experiment, unless I particularly like the depth of next season's team to be competitive when I get around to going through the scouting data. In that case, the chemistry experiment would be moved back until the U.S. does not have an especially strong team. I expect it to begin next season.

I am thinking that to avoid relegation next season, as part of the plan, I might throw the first 3 games and wait until the relegation round to try to win to compensate for a weaker team and probably a tired team (assuming that this won't interfere with reaching 100 chemistry).

For this plan to work, it will be important that the 17 year olds chosen start training at optimal ratios earlier, and key players should ideally not be sold to teams with weak facilities (so I don't end up choosing someone that I can't use a season later). Please feel free to advertise U17 players in this thread next season if you need to sell a player to try to get that player to another U.S. team with elite facilities.

It looks like Croatia and Spain promoted to the top division, so Poland could possible remain as a challenging opponent (they frequently tend to be strong) in 2 seasons.

With regard to statistics as of this point:

Buster Cusik ended the tournament with the 5th best SV% (.9397). None of the top 4 played more than 4 games (Cusik played in 7). He also had a GAA of 1.91 and 1 shutout. He lead the tournament in SA and was a close second in TOI.

Terrance Rosen currently leads the tournament after 7 games with 6 goals. He is tied for 2nd with 8 total points. He also leads the tournament with 4 3SS awards. Only 6 other players have earned 3 3SS awards.

Floyd Bryant is tied for 1st with 6 assists. He is tied for 7th with 7 points. Bryant leads the tournament with 37 shots. 2nd place has 29 shots.

Looking at this season's roster (based on the players who were added as the best 17 year old prospects as of last season), the first line is fairly strong, and the second line could be decent. Unfortunately, most teams can say this much, and many have a full roster of this sort of depth.

The goaltender depth (which has frequently been a strength of the U18 team) is very weak this season. I had 5 goaltenders scouted last season that were 17 and under. 2 of them aren't any better than the best 17 year old (this season). 2 of them are slightly better than the best 17 year old but are not at a 2:1:1 ratio at this time. I might have scouted someone else good since last season, but I doubt it (as far as the current 18 year olds at least).

With all this in mind, I'm leaning further towards the chemistry experiment this season (those top line players would still get the training bonus on the bench all season). Even if I were putting together a normal roster, I'd probably seriously consider that 17 year old goaltender (Linwood Fink from Smart People) as the starter.

I'm going through my scouting history to choose season 33's roster today. I believe I should be able to finish by tonight.

The roster is set.

I ended up going forward with the chemistry experiment. I also added the players that would be the best to compete for the WCH because I believe, based on last week, that everyone will reach 100 chemistry with just the exhibitions. I took into account the chemistry (and loss of about 9 energy) for the 17 year olds, so some 17 year olds will be better than 18 year olds with slightly better OR for the tournament. The best 18 year olds will sit on the bench and collect the training bonus through the exhibitions. I also added the best 16 year old at each position to substitute in when a 17 year old has an injury.

The United States drew a relatively convenient group in the tournament, avoiding the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Russia. Germany and France are generally solid though. Croatia might be beatable. I am undecided whether I will conserve energy through the first 3 games and try to win 2 in the relegation round or if I will go all out against Croatia. Luckily, Croatia is the third opponent that the United States will face. I think the United States could probably manage to beat Austria and Belarus in the relegation round.

A handful of players will need to improve a bit - I'll be contacting the managers of those players.

Please try to keep 17 year olds who are called up around for 1.5 seasons so they don't end up on a bad team if at all possible - I am dedicating 2 seasons towards developing those players. I took a risk on adding 2 players that are currently on the market - I plan to try to bid for them against teams with bad facilities. While both have some potential, I don't think they will go for too much. One of them will be a bit of a project.

The plan has gone well so far. The roster is now finalized for the World Championships. The team will be at least a little stronger than it currently seems for the tournament. My goal for the World Championships is just to avoid relegation. Luckily, the United States plays the team it is competing with to avoid relegation in the preliminary round third.

Nice! I look forward to seeing these games and results.

The lineup and tactics are set for tomorrow. I'd like to emphasize that the tactics are as I intend them to be for reasons I will go into more detail about after tomorrow's game.

good luck!