Serbian U20 team to play vs domestic league in preparation for Div II

[baxus]

it appears that U20 team will be playing against domestic teams as a part of their preparation for WC...

on saturday they will play beostar...
that really puts me in a tough position... who to cheer for...

[Jazz]

it appears that U20 team will be playing against domestic teams as a part of their preparation for WC...

on saturday they will play beostar...
that really puts me in a tough position... who to cheer for...Is there some sort of schedule released for these games?

[Brimsek]

Is the U-20 already set for the most part or will this give the staff even more time to look at the players? Please post the results when possible, baxus.

[Steigs]

What do you expect the U20 team's skill level to be, compared to the national league teams? Do you think they'll be competitive, or do you expect then U20s to get slammed?

[baxus]

considering the fact that each team has at least a couple of players in U20 team, and that some foreign players are injured or absent, U20 team should be pretty competitive...
i mean, thay might (and probably will) lose some games, but they shouldn't get slammed...
i mean, majority of U20 team members play in the league already so they should be a worthy opponent...

i don't know if there is a schedule for the games...
i know they play beostar on saturday, at 16.00...
i still have a dilema, who to cheer for... :D

i think that the team is already assembled, that this is a chance for them to get used to play with each other a bit... i'm not sure about that, though...
bear in mind that i'm just a fan and that my info comes from talking to others like me and to some hockey players... therefore, there may be some mistakes in info coming from me...

i will post the results here as soon as i can, don't worry...

EDIT:
i hear that zvezda's australian keeper goes to prepare with australian team so he won't be playing for zvezda... in that case, U20 team can beat them, no problem...

[baxus]

U20 team will be playing against:

- beostar on saturday at 16h
- crvena zvezda on sunday at 18h
- novi sad on tuesday (probably at 18h as well)

you can expect scores as soon as possible...
that's it for now...

[baxus]

beostar won 3:2

1:0 novakovic
1:1 sretovic (i think)
2:1 jaukovic
3:1 ivanov
3:2 #23(i don't know his name)

the match didn't look like a friendly match at all...
both teams gave everything they got...
first win for beostar! shame it had to be in a friendly match against serbia U20...

[Shardik]

I am glad that Beostar played at their hardest but perhaps that was only to get their first win of the season. Hopefully the other two teams play seriously too. They should award points for these games against the U20 team that would count in the national championship. That would ensure that the club teams would take it seriously. Of course then the U20 team should play against every team in the league.

This is done between the 2nd tier leagues and the country's U20 team in Finland and Switzerland this year.

[baxus]

BEOSTAR - SRBIJA U20 3:2 (1:0, 2:1, 0:1)

10' 1-0 novakovic
24' 1-1 sretovic (vucurevic)
32' 2-1 jaukovic
40' 3-1 ivanov (jacque)
47' 3-2 bursac (varga)

i don't think they should award points for matches against U20 team because most of the players in U20 team play important roles in their clubs... for example sretovic is the best scorer for partizan, and several other U20 members are important for partizan... they have the most players in the U20 so they would be significantly weaker than they are in the league...

of course, it can be done in finland because you have 60 000 registered players, but in serbia there are 101 registered players in the senior league, so if 20 of them are playing for U20 team than clubs can't play matches properly...

i'm not saying it's a bad idea... i mean, if finland is doing it, then it is certainly effective, but i am saying that in serbia it can not be done properly...

EDIT:
i don't know the result of U20 match vs crvena zvezda, but i will post it as soon as i find out...
today U20 plays novi sad... i'll probably go see that...

[baxus]

here's the result of match played on sunday:

CRVENA ZVEZDA - SRBIJA U20 2:2 (1:0, 1:1, 0:1)

05' 1-0 Savić
25' 2-0 Banović
36' 2-1 M.Babić (Sretović)
56' 2-2 Đokić (Milovanović)

pim: 12' ; 08'

CRVENA ZVEZDA: Ezzy, Đukić - Brujić, Obuch, Julovski, Kapuscinski, Rus, Jovanović, Nikolić, Ristić, Banović, Raković, Pavlović, Sibinović, Savić, Danon, Đorđević, Osmanović, Zivković.
SRBIJA U20: I.Vidaković, Z.Vidaković - Dunda, Đokić, Milovanović, Sretović, M.Babić, F.Mirković, Drozdik, Adnrić, V.Babić, Brkušanin, Varga, Jovanović, Vučurević, Bursać, Sabadoš, Trojanović, Komazec, Ogrizović, Tumbas, N.Janković.

[baxus]

U20 lost against novi sad 6:7
haven't seen the match, but i've heard that the game winning goal was scored in the last seconds of the game...

[Jazz]

Interesting - all games so far have been competitive. I would not expect to see that within the same country with U20s playing the league competition that includes imports....

Is it
that the league teams are not taking the games seriously, and not trying 100%, or
that the younger generation of Serbian players are at a higher skill level?

[Steigs]

I'm hoping that it's the second. If that's teh case, it's good news for Serbian hockey, and hockey as a whole (one more competitive team in the WCs!)

[baxus]

i've only seen the first match U20 played vs beostar, and beostar took the game really seriously...
they weren't cutting juniors any slack...
it was as if they played in the play-off finals...

there are a lot of U20 players in our league, and they play for senior teams in our league...
some of them are even near the top of goalscorers' list...
so it is not surprising to see that they can play against older players, seeing that they do play against them on a regular basis...
and the clubs are weakened by not having some of their important players in the roster...

[Steigs]

good to see they can compete, and if the U20 players are that strong in normal league play, that speaks well for the future of hockey in Serbia, as long as the players stick with the game.

[baxus]

well, most players give hockey up when finish school and have to start working...
you just can't make a living in serbia by playing hockey, with a few exceptions...

[Jazz]

well, most players give hockey up when finish school and have to start working...
you just can't make a living in serbia by playing hockey, with a few exceptions...
Yes, that is always a concern.

But are there not increased level of imports this year? - Does this mean that there is more money involved in the league (to pay the imports)? If yes, then does this mean anything for the current group of juniors?

[baxus]

well, there is a bit more investment than before, that's true...
but it is uncertain how long it will last...
foreign players are not significantly better this year than the last... only exceptions are ivanov (BEOSTAR) and fedor (PAR)... stefanek and stefik played last year as well, perowne played in vojvodina a couple of years ago, american playing for beostar and gouthier (VOJ) (i think that's how you spell it) are average foreign players, fournier (VOJ) is good, but not as good as ivanov, canadian defensemen mckinven and that other guy (PAR) as well...

this year is vojvodina's 60th anniversary and they invested money, partizan has a pretty strong sponsor, new ice hall was built...
things are starting to look better...
we'll see how far it takes us...

[baxus]

yaaaaay, our team beat korea 5:4!!!
first win of serbian national hockey team!!!

[Brimsek]

yaaaaay, our team beat korea 5:4!!!
first win of serbian national hockey team!!!Great! :023:

Also after the series against the Serbian club teams were there any changes (from injury or other reasons) for the U-20 team? Thanks for any info baxus!

[Jazz]

yaaaaay, our team beat korea 5:4!!!
first win of serbian national hockey team!!!Hey Baxus, join us in here!

http://www.internationalhockeygang.org/forum/showthread.php?t=4258

[baxus]

@ brimsek:
i think that milovanovic (i think that's his last name, i know him by nickname and zlways refer to him as such) was dropped from the team because of an injury... don't know what injury but i know that he is often injured and misses games because of that...