Tema: US Under 19 Team

The following defensive pivots were considered:
Ryan Atwood
Stephen Larson
Marcel Richey
Armando Pryor
Everett Benitez
Seth Swift

Ryan Atwood will be the starter. Marcel Richey will be the backup.

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The following offensive pivots were considered:
Lyle Vandyke
Erick Anderson
Preston Branham
Darrell Brecht
Brandon Roosevelt
Billy Spencer
Dave Seal
Hugo Wilhelm

Lyle Vandyke will be the starter.
Brandon Roosevelt will be the backup.

Hmmmmmm. That roster turned out to be a few more players than I meant for it to be. I like to keep 4-5 slots open to start the year in case I need to make additions to save players from dead teams.

I think I'm gonna trim back the roster just a little bit by cutting a couple guys. Please note that these guys are only getting dropped due to the numbers game. If I didn't need to keep some space on the team, I'd carry these guys in a heartbeat.

Cuts include:
1) Derrick Hill - RB
2) Luke Walker - LW


1) Having 6 defensive backs is a little much... Derrick Hill doesn't really have any chemistry from last season anyways, and he'll be gone next year, so i'd rather have some of the younger guys build up some chemistry in the meantime (and they aren't very far behind Hill anyways).

2) Having 3 left-handed wings specializing in offense is kind of crazy. Vern Bull will get most the starts anyways... and I can always call up Luke Walker later on if I need to.

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I apologize to the managers of these players for the false calls. It wasn't my intention to tease you guys.

Let me know if you guys have any comments. For the most part, I'm pretty happy with how the team looks now.

This season I made probably the fewest roster changes to the U19 national team than ever before. The vast majority of the team is returning... so rather than doing a massive writeup this season, I'll just focus on the handful of players that I've added in the last week or two and then give a quick synopsis of what the depth chart is gonna look like.

Players added since we were eliminated from National team competition last season:
Dexter Stapleton - 18 y/o Defensive Pivot
Luke Walker - 19 y/o Offensive LW
Howie Bivens - 18 y/o Offensive UB
Wynn Bodrie - 19 y/o Defensive UB
Phillip Marvin - 17 y/o Defensive LW
Gene Trimble - 17 y/o Defensive RB
Charles Younger - 16 y/o Offensive LB
Scott Serna - 16 y/o Defensive UB

Dexter Stapleton will be the team's starting defensive pivot for the next two seasons. He probably could / should have been added to the team last season, but we were strangely very Pivot heavy in the 18 / 19 age bracket last season, so I held off on calling him until after we were eliminated (just in case I needed the roster space in order to call players due to injuries). He's a very good 18 year old, is currently better than many of the 19 year olds on the roster, and may one day be the starting defensive pivot for the Senior National Team.

Luke Walker will fill the offensive LW vacancy left open by Vern Bull 's departure. That's actually an upgrade, as Luke Walker is better right now than Vern Bull was at the same time last season.

Howie Bivens was added primarily for depth. He won't likely play much this season unless there's an injury to the starting Offensive Backs, but I anticipate that he'll make a significant impact starting next season.

Wynn Bodrie is a Universal Defensive Back who was also added for depth. 2 of our 3 starting Defensive backs are Right handed. Wynn Bodrie gives us a solid substitution option for the top three. This roll is made more important due to my decision to devote two roster slots for future U19 stars: Gene Trimble and Scott Serna .

Phillip Marvin is nearly good enough to start at Defensive LW as a 17 year old. He's the 2nd highest ranked 17 year old behind John Field , and will be a VERY good player for the U19 National team for the next 3 seasons.

Gene Trimble is also one of the highest rated 17 year olds (He's currently the 4th best U.S. born 17 year old), but his focus as a defensive back makes him an extremely important addition for future seasons (when the quality of our Defensive Backs will be somewhat lacking). He has good CL and very good qualities, so he should play a key role in national team play for a very long time.

Charles Younger is one of the best 16 year olds by both OR and quality. Perhaps more importantly though, Mrbrightside098 has proven that he is committed to getting him playing time and experience (2 things that are usually quite rare for younger players). The combination of these things together suggests that Charles Younger will be a very important Offensive Back for the USA for many seasons to come.

Scott Serna is the final addition, and another player who will likely prove to be a crucial part of the future of the National Team(s). Only slightly lower rated than Charles Younger , Scott Serna will be better than even Gene Trimble at the same age. His qualities and Universal handedness make him a valuable player to nurture for the role of Defensive Back.

Depth Chart for the coming season:

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Goalie:
Starting Goalie: Erwin Copeland
Starting Backup: Jordy Duarte
Potential Callup: Arden Corcoran
Player(s) to watch: John Field
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Our two starters return from last season. Erwin Copeland still has 30 chemistry from last season, and should be a very decent starting option this year. He's the highest rated goalie the U19 team has had at season-start since Nathaniel Cunningham .

Jordy Duarte played more of a depth / support role last year, but will start this season as our primary backup goaltender in competitive matches.

Should an injury strike either of the aforementioned goalies, I'll likely call on Arden Corcoran to join the national team and play some games. John Field is still likely a season away from playing competitive games at the international level, so Arden Corcoran will serve as a good short term solution.

John Field will be an absolute superstar for the United States. He was the first US-born player to hit 900 OR as a 16 year old (to my knowledge), and is on pace to become the best US-born goalie we've seen yet. I'm estimating that he'll be nearly 1900 OR by the time he's 22 years old (and old enough to play for the Senior National Team). At that time, he'll likely pair with Nathaniel Cunningham as a very potent one-two punch. As such, as his owner, I'll be looking to ease him in as my starting goalie THIS SEASON in order to get him as much experience as possible (NOTE: keep an eye out... as a consequence of this decision, I'll likely be listing Lloyd Russ for sale after the completion of the National Cup Tournament).

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Offensive Back:
Starting LB: Michael Capps
Starting CB: Steve Dashner
Starting RB: Robert Mercado
Player(s) to watch: Charles Younger

Defensive Back:
Starting LB: Tyrone Cambridge
Starting CB: Benjamin Lewis
Starting RB: Chad Pinson
Player(s) to watch: Scott Serna
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Robert Mercado 's superior experience rating earns him the 3rd starting slot. Nolan McQueen , Howie Bivens , and Charles Younger will likely start in our friendly matches this season as all three will play some role for the team starting next season.

I don't really have much more to say regarding defensive backs, as I already said a lot about the position in my last post.

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Offensive Wing:
Starting LW: Luke Walker
Starting RW: Leslie Carlson
Player(s) to watch: David Allen

Defensive Wing:
Starting LW: Phillip Marvin
Starting RW: Clay Chase
Potential Callup: Demarcus Hanson or Fred Randle
Player(s) to watch: Crispin Beeman
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David Allen is the top-rated US-born 16-year old player. Baring injury, he has a shot at becoming the 2nd US-born player to hit 900 OR as a 16-year old. The same comments I made about John Field above apply to David Allen as well. He'll be an outstanding player in national competition in coming seasons.

Lee Donald will be the backup in the event of injury to either one of the two starting defensive wings. He'll also drop in if / when I decide I want to use a wing with both reasonably good offensive and defensive skills. If that happens, I'll likely call upon Demarcus Hanson or Fred Randle for support at the position (my preference being Demarcus Hanson due to his superior training facilities and CL). One or both of these guys will likely be on the team next season anyways once Clay Chase and Lee Donald depart.

Crispin Beeman hasn't been added to the team yet primarily because he's a year younger than stud defensive left wing Phillip Marvin , and fills largely the same role. He is going to be a very good wing though, and as his manager, I'm currently weighing whether or not I should alter his training to include more balanced attributes so that he can make a contribution to the national team earlier than season 15.

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Starting Offensive Pivot: Brandon Roosevelt
Starting Defensive Pivot: Dexter Stapleton
Player(s) to watch: Hugo Wilhelm and Everett Benitez
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Not that much of a shakeup at pivot this season.

Hugo Wilhelm will make the team next season as an 18 year old. At that point he'll likely serve as the the starting offensive pivot for seasons 13 and 14.

Everett Benitez will likely never make any National team, and it's a shame. He's a very highly rated player with very good training facilities, but unfortunately he's the same age and notably inferior to Dexter Stapleton .

Okay... so one more post...

I just realized that xalthos (manager of [handball_team=16057]) hasn't logged in since Oct. 5th. That's an utterly horrible sign, as that means that he didn't even log in to sign any sponsorship deals at the end of last season. He also didn't elect to run for the U21 National Team managerial role in the coming season.

Combined, as far as I'm concerned, this sadly foreshadows that his team is as good as dead.

That would be pretty catastrophic given that he has one of the best infrastructures of any team in the US. Also, prior to this post, he had 7 players on US national teams.

In an effort to "rescue" a few of his players in the event that he goes dead, I've added an addition 3 of his players to the U19 National team:
Ronald McNamara , Joe Fischer , and Ronnie Lindsey .

I had to do it TODAY, because players added after day 7 of the season are stuck on the national team all year long. At least this way, I can still dismiss them before day 14.

So hopefully Emus either dies or logs in within the next week.
If his team does go by the wayside, once these 3 guys are listed on the market, they'll be "safe."

Anyways... just thought I'd throw in this update.

So... I'm really hoping that this Emus thing sorts itself out soon.

I'm hoping to not exhaust 3 roster slots for the full duration of the season to 3 guys that aren't quite ready to play, but are important (albeit not quite key) players for the future of the team.

After day 14 (the end of this week), I can't make anymore cuts... and right now we're sitting at 29 players. That gives me virtually zero wiggle room going forward... and we still have over 100 days to go in the season.

So at this point in time, I have two options (given that Emus' guys will likely need to stay on the team through the weekend, after which point I can no longer cut them this year):

Option 1)

I can lighten the load by cutting older players that would be called on for "depth." These are guys that aren't starters, aren't guys who will likely play any meaningful long term role in international competition, and are really only on the team to play in the event of an injury.

Included among these are:
Marcel Richey
Wynn Bodrie
Howie Bivens

Marcel Richey and Wynn Bodrie are noteworthy, as they share the same position / playstyle as two of the 3 guys I called from Emus team (Ronnie Lindsey and Ronald McNamara respectively). So in a pinch, I'd at least be able to call Emus' guys for support if need be.

Option 2)

Alternatively, I could cut 1 or 2 of the other "young" guys I've currently added to the roster. Since the guys I added from Emus are on the younger side, we now have FIVE 16 year olds on the roster, and FOUR 17 year olds on the roster. That's absolutely a bit much if we hope to compete in any shape or form this season.

The problem is that all of the young guys that I added before Emus' 3 players are there for a reason. I chose them to fill the developmental roles rather than Emus' players for good reason(s).

I really don't want to cut guys that will be future superstars (and will benefit from the national team training and experience boosts) in favor of Emus' guys. Even if they remained on Emus' team, they'd probably not be more than support players (not stars) for the national teams going forward... but once they go to the market, they could end up anywhere, and become obsolete over night. I'd hate to sacrifice a season's worth of training / experience for some of the younger guys in favor of that.

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Needless to say... this is probably the first major conundrum I've to tackle since becoming the U19 manager a few seasons ago.

Ultimately, I'll probably end up deferring towards sacrificing this year's performance (even though I think we could do very well this season) in favor of protecting the future of USA youth.

This would mean choosing Option 1).

While the competition DOES matter, ultimately, the U19 team is about cultivating players for the U21 and Senior teams. That takes priority when decisions like this must be made.

Do players that aren't called up for a match get the training bonus in handball? In hockey, they don't - only the starters and the players on the bench get the training bonus. Only the starters get the experience bonus.

In hockey, you need to worry about relegation and promotion. In handball, it appears to be a matter of getting as far into the tournament as you can. I suppose a higher ranking might increase the probability of getting an easier group during the next season.

If the answer to my question is yes, I might favor option 1. If it is no, I would favor option 2. I suppose you could play prospects on the bench or as starters (if chemistry concerns allow) during exhibitions.

It is worth saving the players in case players higher on the depth chart somehow end up going to a horrible team, unless there is sufficient comparable depth.

The Emus need to be absent for 21 days as of 6:00 CET - it has only been 14 days. They will probably fold at whatever point after 21 days their pro pack ends.

Depending on the quality of the depth relative to the starters, the depth could be useful to fill in for tired starters at some point.

Take a look at the players that were sold from the Detroit Red Wings when they folded this season. A lot of their players - maybe even most of the ones that I didn't purchase myself, ended up on bad teams. The relatively low prices in handball also increases the risk of this sitution.

*The former Detroit Red Wings hockey team currently in I.1

US players need to set up alarm at midnight and get his players. All of them will go for low prices, so a lot of teams can afford them.

If anyone wants to know their CL history I'll pm me and I'll give it to you. I have a pretty good lock on the CL history of most of his guys (particularly the ones 22 and younger).

So the lineup for a game can consist of 14 players. 18 players can be called. So that's 4 guys each match that can be called and given the training bonus even if they don't play.

The original plan was to have the following four guys fill those 4 slots:
David Allen ,Charles Younger ,John Field , and one of Scott Serna or Gene Trimble . The last two guys are both defensive backs, so they'll split the training bonus since they'll play similar roles in the coming season(s). Scott Serna will likely get a slight preference since he's a Universal guy, has slightly better qualities and very good OR for his age slot.

All of the young guys will be called during friendly matchups.

Honestly, the more I look at it... the more I think I'll just cut some of the older guys (it should be possible since I added them prior to getting officially elected for this season). Wynn Bodrie isn't really remarkably better than Gene Trimble (despite the latter being 2 years younger). In a pinch we should be able to use Gene Trimble where I'd planned on using Wynn Bodrie . Howie Bivens is our 5th offensive back on the depth chart, so we'll still have Nolan McQueen there who can play in the event of injuries. Cutting Marcel Richey is probably my biggest concern, as we'd only have 2 pivots (1 offensive and 1 defensive) ready for action (Ronnie Lindsey is no where near ready for competitive matches at the international level).

BUT (and this is the key for me) I CAN ALWAYS ADD THESE GUYS AGAIN LATER IF NEED BE. I can only CUT players until this weekend.

So I'd really rather not cut the guys who should be getting the training bonus in favor for depth guys who may not end up being needed (or end up playing). I think it makes much more sense to re-add them if/when they are needed.

Finally, the reason I've been "hoping" that Emus' guys hit the market before this weekened is because while the manager of Emus' team did log in on Oct. 5th and several days prior to that... we have no way of knowing when the last time he accessed his handball team was (it could've been several days prior to his last official login). If he last logged into his handball team on Oct. 1st (for example), his players would hit the market this Saturday night.

In looking at it a bit more, Joel McIntyre is another guy I could probably cut. That would allow me to keep Marcel Richey on the squad. We have a lot more depth at offensive wing than we do at pivot.

That's something to think about, but the only trouble is, Joel McIntyre started several games last season and actually has the highest chemistry of ANY wing right now. But if he's not gonna be a starter, that chemistry doesn't matter anyways.

I dunno.

Honestly, I wasn't so much looking for advice or feedback as I was just sort of talking out loud, and keeping you all updated as to what is going on and why. I do appreciate the input though.

Okay... soooo Marcel Richey ,Joel McIntyre ,Wynn Bodrie , and Howie Bivens were all cut to give us some breathing room.

If we need any players to fill in these roles (offensive wing, pivot, offensive / defensive back), these guys will likely be the first called, as they are ready to make an impact NOW if need be.

It was a tough decision, but I decided that ultimately it was more important to have some available slots in order to "save players" than it was to carry someone "just in case" one of the starters gets injured.

I was hoping the stuff with Emus' players would've sorted itself out by now... but looks like the drop deadline was a few days shy of that outcome.

Nice win yesterday. I am hoping that game against Canada does not become very important.

Fear the Canadians