Temat: USA U-20 Team

Sorry I'm late getting it out, but here is my annual recap of the World Championships. Our team played well, finishing third in the Division I tournament, falling one game short of promoting to the Top Division, but safely above the relegation threshhold.

Our first game was a heartbreaker, as we outshot Norway 33-23, but couldn't overcome three first period goals by Norway and fell 4-2. Team captain Clayton "Speedy" Gonzalez was a part of both of our goals, registering a goal and an assist.

We bounced back strong, pulling off a 5-3 upset win over Bulgaria. The second line was instrumental, with center Tayler Douglas scoring a goal and two assists, and winger Cobi Lawrence adding a goal and an assist. Defenseman and powerplay specialist Gordon Farmer added a goal and an assist, both on the powerplay.

After a rocky first couple of games, Jordan Mann came up huge against Denmark, stopping 34 of 36 shots on the way to a 4-2 win in a game where we were severely outshot. Winger Will Payne contributed a goal and an assist.

In our next game, we fell to Portugal 4-3 in a shootout. A shorthanded goal by winger Mick Stinson helped us get to overtime, and the one point we got for that ended up being crucial in our seeding.

We entered the last game of the preliminary round without a playoff spot secured, but beat Slovenia 2-1 behind another stellar performance in goal by Mann, as he stopped 31 of 32 shots. Speedy Gonzalez was involved in both goals, recording another goal and an assist, with Payne adding a powerplay tally.

This secured us the second seed from our group entering the playoffs. We emerged victorious in a quarterfinal matchup against rival Canada. Defenseman Walter Gonzalez, playing in his first game of the tournament after serving as a healthy scratch through the preliminary round, scored in the first period to give us a 1-0 lead, and Payne scored what ended up being the ultimate game winner in a 2-1 game.

This set the stage for a semifinal match, with promotion on the line, against Romania. Unfortunately, Romania scored three first period goals and sailed to a 4-1 victory, keeping us out of the title game and promotion to the Top Division.

Despite the disappointment against Romania, our boys showed up big time for the consolation game against Ukraine. Mann was excellent in net yet again, stopping 32 or 33 shots. Our top line center, Les Perez, scored a goal and an assist, and heled us win 3-1, securing third place.

Despite not getting to promotion, I think this was a successful tournament. I'm looking forward to next year, and getting to the championship game and promoting to the Top Division is our goal. As always, thanks for the opportunity to coach and for giving me such a great group of players to work with.

It's almost tournament time! I know I am always optimistic at this time of year, but I think this is one of the strongest rosters we have had since I started managing the U20 team. We have a deep roster, with some really strong 20 year olds, and some very good 19 year olds to fill out some spots. Also, the top American players in this age group were all reasonably well balanced, so I am not having to choose between players with a significant deficiency in their skill set. I have the roster for the tournament set pending any injuries between now and the start of the tournament, so looking forward to the players joining me as their teams wrap up playoffs.

Our starting goalie is going to be 19 year old Robert Andrade. Andrade is a veteran of international play, having made 12 appearances in U18 world championships posting a 89% save percentage and a 3.26 GAA.

The team captain will be defenseman Eric McClure. McClure was a big part of our team last year, logging a goal and 2 assists from the blueline.

Offensive Defenseman Gordon Farmer will be one of the alternatives. Farmer brings a heavy shot from the blue line, and gave us 2 goals and 4 assists in last year's tournament.

The other alternate captain will be left winger Mickey Schaefer. Schaefer is another returning player who scored a goal in last year's tournament.

As always, thank you for giving me this chance and developing such strong young players. Looking forward to competing and hopefully promoting back to the top division this season.

Hi everyone, here is my recap from last year's world championship. I thought we put forward a good showing. Unfortunately, we once again finished one game away from promotion, but our team gave a strong performance.

We came out strong in our first game against Bulgaria, building 2-0 and 3-1 leads. Things took a turn in the third period, where a pair of Bulgaria goals forced overtime. We lost in the extra frame, but did get a point for the standings. We were led by the third line in this game, with defenseman Dwayne Payne scoring a goal and an assist, and winger and alternate captain Mickey Schaefer adding a pair of assists.

In the next game we fell behind early, but then roared back to a 3-1 lead before eventually winning 3-2. The first line led the way, with winger Thad Felton scoring a goal and two assists, and a powerplay tally by center Joe Davis heldup as the game winner. I thought we played better than the scoreboard showed, as we outshot Austria 39-16.

We dominated Lithuania in the next game, outshooting them 51-19, even thought we only won 2-0. Winger Rock Schafer scored both of our goals and Robert Andrade pitched a 19 save shutout.

We also controlled the game against Denmark, building a 3-0 lead before Denmark scored a late goal to make it 3-1. We outshot them 43-26. The first line led the way, with Felton and center Gerhardt Carlson each recording a goal and an assist.

The Denmark game clinched both a spot in the playoffs and the top seed, so we took our foot off the gas a bit in our last pool game against UK. UK outshot us 40-12, but backup goal Tahj Barnett kept us in the game stopping 38 of 40 shots. He played well enough, I actually decided to roll with him into the playoff games.

In our quarterfinal game against Portugal, we fell behind 2-0 after the first period, but roared by with a three goal second period to win 3-2. The second line game through big for us, with Davis scoring a goal and an assist, and winger Alex Barbee notching the game winner.

Our promotion dreams were crushed in the semifinal against Ireland. This was probably on coaching, as we didn't have an answer for anything they did schematically. Ireland beat us 4-1.

Despite the frustration of losing in the semifinal, our boys finished the tournament with an inspired performance. We dominated Ukraine in the consolation game 5-1, getting scoring from all four lines. Barbee scored a goal and an assist, third line center Chris Applewick and fourth line winger Wilfred Bingham both added goals. So, we finished third in the tournament for the second year in a row.

Our goaltending was probably the highlight of our team this year. Andrade and Barnett both registered save percentages north of 92%. We struggled to score as much as we would have liked. The first line gave us solid but not dominant production, and we did not add a lot of depth scoring overall (though our lower lines did come through big in a few key situations).

I think the program is in strong shape, and I look forward to coaching them again next year. I appreciate you continuing to trust me with the team and continuing to develop great young players for me to use on the team.