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23-04-2007, 11:44
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#1 |
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
Posts: 11,639
Country:
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2007 IHWC Roster Presentations
Okay, time to start the IHWC roster presentations. I made the request for this thread here: http://forums.internationalhockey.ne...ead.php?t=4954
Please follow the format made for Norway below 1) World Ranking, #IHWC (A-Pool), Best result: Leave empty if you don't have this info 2) Exhibition games: Look here for details 3) Roster. Insert player links to either Eurohockey.net or hockeydb.com 4) Make a list of notable unavailable players (not requiered for the big hockey nations) 5) Analysis Please spend some time making your presentation. Btw, I will also do Denmark. Last edited by Karsten; 23-04-2007 at 14:58. |
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23-04-2007, 14:34
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#2 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
Posts: 11,639
Country:
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Norway
NORWAY
World Ranking 2006: #15 (2,935) # IHWC (A-Pool): 32 Best result: #4 (1951) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 5, Megeve, France - Norway 3-0 (0-0, 3-0, 0-0) April 6, Albertville, France - Norway 2-1 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0) April 11, Miskolc, Hungary - Norway 1-6 (0-5, 1-0, 0-1) April 20, Minsk, Belarus - Norway 3-1 (0-0, 1-0, 2-1) April 21, Zhlobnin, Belarus -Norway 5-4 (1-0, 1-1, 3-3) IHWC Schedule (Group C - Mytyshi) (local times) April 28, 16:15, Slovakia - Norway April 30, 16:15, Canada - Norway May 2, 12:15, Norway - Germany ROSTER (Preliminary - will be edited with notes) 1. Halvor Hårstad-Evjen, Frisk Asker 33. Pål Grotnes, Comet IK 39. Mathias Gundersen, Stavanger Oilers 3. Cato Ørbæk, Storhamar Dragons 4. Mathias Livf, Storhamar Dragons 6. Jonas Holøs, Sparta Sarpsborg 7. Tommy Jakobsen, EC Graz (AUT) 16. Erik Ryman, Alleghe (ITA) 23. Mats Trygg, Kölner Haie (GER) 26. Per Tengvert, Sparta Sarpsborg 36. Lars Erik Lund, Vålerenga 8. Mads Hansen, Brynäs IF (SWE) 9. Marius Holtet, Iowa Stars, AHL (* conditioned on availability) 10.Lars Erik Spets, Brynäs IF (SWE) 12. Knut Henrik Spets, Arboga/Nyköping, SWE-1 14. Marius Trygg, Stavanger Oilers 17. Mathias Trygg, Vålerenga 19. Per-Åge Skrøder, MODO (SWE) (* see note) 20. Anders Bastiansen, Mora IK (SWE) 21. Morten Ask, Djurgården IF (SWE) 24. Jonas Solberg Andersen, Sparta Sarpsborg 25. Steffen Thoresen, Storhamar Dragons 28. Kristian Forsberg 28. Kjell Richard Nygård, Vålerenga IF 35. Aleksander Nervik, Vålerenga IF 41. Patrick Thoresen, Edmonton Oilers (NHL) 48. Mathis Olimb, Vålerenga IF Head Coach: Roy Johansen, Ass. Coaches: Sjur Robert Nilsen and Thorbjørn Orskaug Team Manager: Tore Jobs Notable unavailable Players: • Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (Columbus Blue Jackets) needs surgery and is not expected to participate. • Marius Holtet (Iowa Stars) - conditioned on AHL Playoffs. Iowa faces Nebraska in the playoffs. Series is 1:1 at this point. • Anders Myrvold: Mugged after a Christmas lunch, and nearly died. Two weeks ago, Myrvold (31) started practising again, but his doctors strongly advice him to stop playing hockey ever again. Tore Vikingstad: injured (shoulder) • Per Åge Skrøder: Has not yet confirmed his participation. Became a father last week and there is a slight risk (or chance, if you want to look at it this way) that he will not particpate. Analysis: Unlike many other teams, Norway has not suffered from player defections. A few notable players like Tollefsen, Myrvold, Vikingstad and perhaps Holtet and Skrøder may be missed, but all due to more natural causes. The absence of Tollefsen and Myrvold may look a bit serious to Norway's back end, but its defence still look quite solid with Tommy Jakobsen, Ryman and Mats Trygg. Norway has plenty of fire power up front. This season, several of the players have developed further in some of the best leagues in the world. Patrick Thoresen had a respectable rookie season for Edmonton Oilers (68 games, 16 points) while Per-Åge Skrøder had a breakout season for MODO in the Swedish Elitserien. He may however be missed. The scoring leader of the Norwegian eliteleague in 2005-06, Mads Hansen, also had a good season in Elitserien, as did Lars Erik Spets, Anders Bastiansen and Morten Ask. The primary objective for Norway is of course to avoid relegation. Patrick Thoresen regards the preliminary round to be slightly tougher than last year, but like the rest of the team, he does not fear Germany. The chances of beating Germany and proceeding to the qualifying round are nearly 50-50, he says. If Norway can accomplish this, like they did last year, the team will be able to enjoy the rest of the ride. As a bonus, Norway may take a crucial climb further up the rankings. Norway is ranked 13th in the IHWC pre-ranking report. Since Kazakhstan is ranked 11th and Germany 12th, Norway will be assured a place in the 3rd layer when the draw is made for the 2008 IHWC. But only if Norway beats Germany. I consider it perfectly possible that Norway makes it to the qualifying round on the expense of Germany. The preparations for the IHWC has been tremendously focused and professional. Right now, the team is nearly there where the coach Roy Johansen wants it to be. The games last weekend in Minsk and Zhlobnin, proved that Norway was equal to Belarus. Both games were played at high speed (something that Norway still needs to work with), and physically Norway also matched the Belarussian team, according to Johansen. Norway's best players in those games were goaltender Mathias Gundersen and Tommy Jakobsen. Gundersen may be Norway's first choice as a goaltender. Note: Team Norway has become a bit of a family affairs: This year the twins Mats and Marius Trygg are joined by their younger brother Mats. Steffen and Patrick Thoresen are also brothers, as are Lars Erik and Knut Henrik Spets. These family ties may strengthen the unity of the team further. Prediction: Norway's chances of making it to the qualifying stage are, given the relative weakness of Germany, about 55%. Bearing a collapse in the relegation round - something that can never be excluded - I do not expect Norway to be relegated. Last edited by Karsten; 24-04-2007 at 09:29. |
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23-04-2007, 18:30
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#3 |
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Hagestad, Sweden
Posts: 1,588
Country:
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SWEDEN
World Ranking 2006: #1 (4,095) # IHWC (A-Pool): 65 Best result: Gold (1953, 1957, 1962, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2006) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) March 29, Budapest, Hungary - Sweden 2-1 OT (0-1, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0) March 30, Debrecen, Hungary - Sweden 1-7 (0-3, 1-1, 0-3) April 19, Gävle, Sweden - Russia 3-2 (0-0, 1-1, 2-1) April 21, Moscow, Russia - Sweden 2-4 (0-1, 1-1, 1-2) April 25, Stockholm, Sweden - USA 3-5 (1-0, 0-3, 2-2) IHWC Schedule (Group A - Moscow) (local times) April 28, 20:15, Sweden - Italy April 30, 20:15, Latvia - Sweden May 2, 20:15, Sweden - Switzerland ROSTER 30. Erik Ersberg, HV 71 31. Johan Backlund, Timrå IK 34. Daniel Henriksson, Färjestads BK 2. Tobias Enström, MODO Hockey 4. Anton Strålman, Timrå IK 5. Daniel Fernholm, Djurgårdens IF 7. Jan Sandström, Luleå HF 9. Magnus Johansson, Linköpings HC 18. Per Hållberg, EV Zug (SUI) 28. Dick Tärnström, HC Lugano (SUI) 29. Kenny Jönsson, Rögle BK (SWE-1) 44. Johan Åkerman, HV 71 8. Patric Hörnqvist, Djurgårdens IF 9. Tony Mårtensson, Linköpings HC 10. Alexander Steen, Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) 11. Magnus Kahnberg, Frölunda HC 14. Mathias Månsson, Brynäs IF 15. Rickard Wallin, HC Lugano (SUI) 17. Jonathan Hedström, Timrå IK 19. Nicklas Bäckström, Brynäs IF 20. Martin Thörnberg, HV 71 23. Fredrik Bremberg, Djurgårdens IF 33. Fredrik Emwall, Linköpings HC 72. Jörgen Jönsson, Färjestads BK 76. Johan Davidsson, HV 71 79. Fredrik Warg, Timrå IK Head Coach: Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Ass. Coaches: Tommy Samuelsson and Jan Karlsson Team Manager: Mats Näslund Notable unavailable Players: • Peter Forsberg (Nashville Predators) doesn't know if he'll playing another season or not. • Mats Sundin (Toronto Maple Leafs) - turned down for personal reasons. • Christian Bäckman (St Louis Blues) - turned down due to injury. • Daniel Tjärnkvist (Edmonton Oilers) - turned down due to injury. • Per-Johan Axelsson (Boston Bruins) - turned down due to injury. • Fredrik Modin (Columbus Blue Jackets) - turned down for personal reasons. • Other possibly valuable players not available due to NHL playoffs include: Nicklas Lidström, Henrik Zetterberg, Daniel Alfredsson, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Markus Näslund. Analysis: Sweden has almost no NHL players on the roster this year and expectations has been kept low by comments such as Forget gold, Tre Kronor where Mats Wennerlund from Aftonbladet claims that this might be the weakest team ever. This comment came after the first victory against Russia (on April 19). After the second win against Russia however the Swedish Head Coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson said that he is very happy with the team and that he is confident that he has a good team even though they have turned down several NHL-players that have expressed interest in playing for Tre Kronor. Fredrik Bremberg was the Elitserien scoring leader even though his Djurgården only just managed to avoid playing Kvalserien. Apart from him only Tony Mårtensson managed to get into the top-10 in the regular season. None of the top-5 scorers in the playoffs are present in this roster. Bengt-Åke Gustafsson has really tried to build a team for the future and letting young talanted players getting a solid chance to prove themselves. Realistically it is hard to see how this team will be able to follow up on last years success and in the end Sweden may well be glad to make it to the final four. The group stage matches doesn't look to troublesome for Sweden with the first two games against Italy (the lowest ranking team) and Latvia as opportunities to fine-tune this team that already plays with incredible confidence after the victories against Russia. Comments after the last exhibition game The last exhibition game against USA was anything other than a success. The Swedish forwards was without bite even though they did manage to keep the pressure up in the US defensive zone at times. Two shots to the goal frame also testifies that this game could have been closer scoring wise. The Swedish defence was sluggish and when Kenny Jönsson disappeared after the first period (virus) the holes opened up for the US snipers. None of the five goals can be blamed on the goalkeeper, he was simply too alone. The Swedish players had no physical game, no speed and generally sloppy with the puck handling. Interviewed after the game the Swedish coach admitted that he wasn't happy with anything in the game, there were mistakes made all over the rink. As for NHL reinforcements he held that as very unlikely. There has been speculations in the news papers regarding Kristian Huselius, but the reports this morning indicate that Calgary won't let him play. Also Swedish goalkeeper Johan Holmqvist has been approached but he has personal matters to attend to in Sweden and I don't think that Sweden can rely on his participation. As said above, Johan Backlund can not be blamed for the goals and the loss to USA, but it is still generally considered that Daniel Henriksson will be the starting goalie and that Erik Ersberg won't be entered to the roster to keep a spot open for Johan Holmqvist. The defence looks rather thin, which especially showed in the game against USA where entire autostradas opened when Kenny Jönsson was unable to play. Johan Åkerman may well be the key to this as he can lift the entire team when he is in form. The forwards are of good Elitserien standard but I lack top players that can do that extra bit like the Sedin brothers or Henrik Zetterberg. The Swedish third line in particular, with Hedström, Wallin and Warg needs to show more, skate more and be more physical. All in all I keep my prediction that a top-4 finish for Sweden this year can be considered a success. Last edited by Bennison; 26-04-2007 at 08:23. Reason: Last exhibition game played |
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23-04-2007, 19:09
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#4 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
Posts: 11,639
Country:
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Denmark
DENMARK
World Ranking 2006: #14 (3,005 points) # IHWC (A Pool): 6 Best Result: #11 (2003) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 5, Merano, Japan - Denmark 2-4 (1-2, 0-1, 1-1) April 6, Merano, Italy - Denmark 3-4 (1-3, 1-1, 1-0) April 12, Kassel, Germany - Denmark 4-2 (0-2, 3-0, 1-0) April 14, Krefeld, Germany - Denmark 4-2 (1-1, 0-1, 3-0) April 21, Aalborg, Denmark - Italy 2-2 (0-2, 1-0, 1-0) April 24, Riga, Latvia - Denmark IHWC Schedule (Group D - Khodynka) (local times) April 27, 21:15, Russia - Denmark April 29, 16:15, Finland - Denmark May 1, 16:15, Denmark - Ukraine ROSTER (Preliminary - will be edited with notes) 1. Simon Nielsen, Rødovre Mighty Bulls 30 Michael Madsen, Herlev Hornets Peter Hirsch, Leksands Stars (SWE-1) 2. Rasmus Pander, AAB 4. Mads Bødker, Rögle BK (SWE-1) 5. Daniel Nielsen, Herning Blue Fox 7. Jesper Damgaard (Augsburger Panthers (GER)/Lugano (SUI) 8. Steffen Lassen, Herning Blue Fox 25.Andreas Andreasen, Esbjerg EfB Ishockey 55. Mads Møller, AAB 9. Peter Regin, Timrå IK (SWE) 10. Bo Nordby- Andersen, AAB 11. Michael Smidt, Rødovre Mighty Bulls 13. Morten Green, Leksands IF (SWE-1) 14. Kirill Starkov, Red Deer Rebels (WHL) 15. Frans Nielsen, NY Islanders (NHL)/ Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) 16. Christoffer Kjærgaard, Herning Blue Fox 18. Mads Christensen, Herning Blue Fox 19. Kim Staal, Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) 20. Rasmus Olsen, AAB 21. Thor Dresler, Herlev Hornets 22. Ronnie Thomassen, Rødovre Mighty Bulls 24. Alexander Sundberg, Rødovre Mighty Bulls 27. Jens Nielsen, AAB 29. Morten Madsen, Victoriaville Tigres (QMJHL) Head coach: Mike Sirant As. Coach: Esben Nedermark Notable Unavailable Players Jannik Hansen, Vancouver Canucks, NHL. Philip Larsen, Frölunda (SWE). Has not been invited. What a mistake! Goaltender Sebatian Dahm, Sudbury Wolves (OHL), currently being involved in OHL playoffs Kasper and Lasse Degn, MadsTrue (lack motivation), Morten Dahlman (injured), ANALYSIS 2006-07 has so far been a jubilant season for Denmark. In December, the U20 team was promoted to the top division for the very first time. In April, the U18 team was also promoted as expected. The promotion of the junior teams is the result of the carefully organized Danish hockey program which has been under way for more than 10 years now. Some of the prospects have already made it to the North American leagues, and with success. This season, two Danish grown players - Frans Nielsen (NY Islanders) and Jannik Hansen (Vancouver) for the first time made to the NHL. In the Canadian junior leagues, Morten Madsen (100 points for Victoriaville Tigres), Kirill Starkov (72 points and 34 goals for Red Deer Rebels) and goaltender Sebastian Dahm (Sudbury Wolves) have all been key players for their teams. In Sweden Lars Eller, Mikkel Bødker and Phillip Larsen, were despite their relative young age (16-17) dominant players in the older junior leagues (J20). The longer term objective for the national senior team is to make it to top 10 in the world. This objective looks plausible with all the fine prospects, Denmark is producing these years. As for now, Denmark is in a transition mode, and once again, the main objective this year is to avoid relegation. For several reasons, this may prove to be a tough task. Considering all the success stories of Danish hockey this season, a Danish relegation may come as a shock for the media, in particular since the federation has done nothing to lower expectations. Coaching Denmark's head coach, Mike Sirant was hired last Summer after a scandalous selection process. Sirant, a Canadian junior coach, was initially not among the candidates because he had no experience with international hockey. As a senior coach, he only had a brief stinch with Austrian Feldkirsch the season the club folded. For these reasons, the advisors to the Danish hockey Federation recommended to look for a more experienced coach, in particular Frölunda's head coach Stephan Lundh. The chief advisor was former head coach Mikael Lundström. Prolonged negotiations with Lundh commenced but well into the Summer break, it became clear that Lundh was not available. The Federation then panicked and looked back in the pile of applications. After a federation member paid Sirant a short visit, the Canadian coach was hired despite his lack of credentials, and despite the fact that Denmark so far only has had bad experienced with Canadian coaches. Mike Sirant has been quite anonymous in the public sphere. He is rarely interviewed by the media. But it is my impression that he is symphatic and humble, and arguably better coach than Mikael Lundström. He also seems to learn fast. One of the first mistakes he made was to argue that Denmark should play with much more grit. The result was that Denmark took tons of penalties in the September-November EIHCs. Sirant then quickly retreated to the old dogma that the players should avoid taking many penalties, and seems to have succeeded with this. Another mistake he may have made is to work the players to hard in the runup to the world championships. This is a typical mistake coaches unexperienced with the IHWCs made. Mikael Lundström made this mistake in 2004. During the Sirant period, Denmark has only played against teams of 1 division calibre, and the results are mixed. The former coach, Mikael Lundström emphasised that Denmark should at least play against one top-7 team prior to the world championship. This is in fact the best test a minor hockey nation can get since only such test games give the players a sense of the speed and toughness of the games in the world championship. Belarus and Norway have been very conscious about this, and their coaches and federations have spend considerable time making agreements for an optimal exhibition schedule. The Danish federation and team management has not succeeded with this. I am not aware whether they even tried or they failed because Sirant lacks the connections Lundström had. Last weekend, Denmark played against Italy for the second time this month. Even though Italy was overmatched, Denmark sticked to its defensive playing style which will be implemented at Moscow. For this reason, Italy was never the optimal sparring partner. To sum up, on the coaching front, the odds will be against Denmark at Moscow. The new coach has no experience with tournaments at this level and format. Sirant may be a fast learner, but for a team like Denmark there is no time for experiments and no room for mistakes. To make matters worse, the Danish roster is in a state of misery. Goaltenders Goaltending is arguably Denmark's weakest department. Peter Hirsch is at times outstanding, but he is also an inconsistent goaltender. This year, Hirsch may not even be Denmark's first goaltender. He had a fine season for Leksand in the Swedish Allsvenskan posting 6 SO and recording a SVS% of 91.57%. In mid-March, Hirsch needed urgent surgery for appendicitis and was out for most of the qualification series. He has thus had little ice-time for nearly one and a half month, and, according to a recent interview, is finding it difficult getting into top shape. It is not unlikely that Hirsch will be a backup to Michael Madsen. Madsen's club, Herlev Hornets already went on vacation in mid-February. He then signed with Vaasa Sport in the Finnish mestis where he played a few good games (svs% 93.31, GAA 1.92). But it is no secret that Madsen also lacks icetime. Denmark could certainly used Sebastian Dahm who has been red-hot in the OHL playoffs, but it is very unlikely that he will be available. Defence Defence is the other vital compartment for a team like Denmark. Here, too, the team is suffering from cracks in its lineup. Jesper Damgaard, the captain and key in power plays, has, according to his on view, had his worst season in six years. Andreas Andreasen, the other older and experienced defenceman played with a double pneumonia during February and March, and is only slowly recovering now. Rasmus Pander broke his arm in early March, and last weekend Morten Dahlman suffered a serious injury and is out for the world championship. The first defence pair will probably be Damgaard-Bødker. Mads Bødker, the older brother to Mikkel Bødker, is a solid defensive defenceman, who pairs with famous Kenny Jönsson at Rögle. Daniel Nielsen, who will be part of the second defence pair, was honoured as the player of the year. He will play for Leksand next year. Considering the Danish defence woes, it is incomprehensible that Mike Sirant didn't nominate Phillip Larsen, who recently signed with Frölunda's Elitserien team. Larsen may be young (17), but if he is good enough for Elitserien, then he is certainly good enough for Denmark Forwards Jannik Hansen (Vancouver Canucks) will not be available. Missing top players involved in the North American playoffs is something Denmark will have to get used to in the coming years, but for teams with relatively thin rosters (such as Denmark) individual players' success in North America is costly. Frans Nielsen, however, will be available after NY Islanders were eliminated last week. What is less known, at least in Denmark, is that Nielsen has been out with a concussion since late March. On Friday, he was play his first game for more than a month. The fact that Kirill Starkov finally obtained his Danish citizenship two weeks ago is also welcome news. Only problem is that Starkov has great difficulties adapting to the bigger ice. "Its like playing on a football field", Starkov said last week. Morten Madsen, who notched 100 points for Victoriaville Tigres, may also have problems adapting to the international rink. He has shown absolutely nothing in Denmark's preparation games. Furthermore, two of the most experienced players, Jens Nielsen and Bo Nordby has recently been out for more than a week with a flu. On top of this, Denmark will also be missing the Degn brothers and Mads True, players with valuable IHWC experience. Prediction Denmark is placed in Group D with the host nation, Finland and Ukraine. Denmark could not have hoped for a better group, for Ukraine is definitively the team to beat (even though Ukraine plays nearly at home). No doubt, the game vs Ukraine will be tight and hard fought, and it cannot be ruled out that Denmark wins this crucial game (chances are 40-45%). If not, the relegation group will be rough and arguably too much for Denmark. Alongside Italy, I regard Denmark as the prime candidate for relegation. Last edited by Karsten; 26-04-2007 at 13:50. |
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23-04-2007, 19:46
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#5 |
 Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Vienna, Austria
Posts: 2,817
Country:
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Austria
World Ranking 2006: #16 (2,930) Result 2005: winner Div. I Group B # IHWC (A-Pool): 34 Best result: #3 (1931 and 1947) Preparation games: details April 6, Ljubljana, Slovenia - Austria 2-4 (1-1, 1-3, 0-0) April 18, Vienna, Austria - Slovakia 1-3 (0-1, 0-1, 1-1) April 21, Vienna, Austria - Latvia 0-4 (0-2, 0-0, 0-2) April 24, Moscow, Russia - Austria 4-3 (1-0, 1-1, 2-2) IHWC Schedule (Group B - Mytyshi) (local times) April 27, 16:15, USA - Austria April 29, 16:15, Czech Republic - Austria May 1, 16:15, Austria - Belarus Roster Netminders: 31 Bernd Brueckler (Blues Espoo, FIN) 38 Reinhard Divis (Red Bulls Salzburg) 66 Patrick Machraich (BW Linz) Defenders: 27 Jeremy Rebek (Klagenfurter AC) 25 Jamie Mattie (Graz 99ers) 4 Unterluggauer Gerhard (HC Innsbruck) 32 Andre Lakos (Red Bulls Salzburg) 47 Martin Ulrich (Red Bulls Salzburg) 55 Robert Lukas (Vienna Capitals) 11 Philippe Lakos (Vienna Capitals) 44 Michael Stewart (Villacher SV) 22 Thomas Pfeffer (Villacher SV, scratched) Forwards: 67 Gregor Baumgartner (Black Wings Linz) 54 Raimund Divis (Black Wings Linz) 19 Philipp Lukas (Black Wings Linz) 16 Patrick Harand (Red Bulls Salzburg) 74 Dieter Kalt (Red Bulls Salzburg) 36 Marco Pewal (Red Bulls Salzburg) 21 Matthias Trattnig (Red Bulls Salzburg) 18 Thomas Koch (Red Bulls Salzburg) 45 David Schuller (Vienna Capitals) 91 Oliver Setzinger (Vienna Capitals) 34 Markus Peintner (Villacher SV) 20 Daniel Welser (Skelleftea AIK, SWE) 61 Christoph Harand (Klagenfurter AC, scratched) Coach: Giacinto Boni Assistant coaches: Chris Hamilton, Rick Nasheim Notable absentees: Thomas Vanek (F, Buffalo Sabres) is still involved in the SC play-offs. 43G+40A in NHL, winner of the +/- ranking. I think there is hardly any other player in the world whose potential impact on his national team is likely to be so big as Vanek's on Austria (similar situation with Kopitar/Slovenia) Thomas Poeck (D, NY Rangers) still involved in SC play-offs. Although by far not the caliber of Vanek he would be Austrias strongest asset on the relatively weak D-corps. Christoph Brandner (F, Hamburg Freezers DEL) had to cancel participation due to his maybe even career threatening recurring back problems. A top goal scorer in DEL (lead the ranking for a long time until his back troubled him again) clearly an impact player for AUT. Michael Grabner (F, Manitoba Moose AHL) is still involved in Calder Cup play-offs. Promising young man (first round draft pick) could have been a quality addition due to his tremendous speed. Andreas Noedl (F, St. Cloud State NCAA). No release from his University. NCAA rookie of the year. Analysis: The absence of almost all high profile players from foreign leagues is a severe blow to the team. From the big league players only netminder Bernd Brueckler and Daniel Welser dress up for Austria. So the vast part of the team is from "Erste Bank" league teams and fortunately none of the first choice candidates are unavailable. Sure, there are some players who have retired from national team play and still would be an option but none of those can't be replaced adequately. Some roster decisions of Jim Boni (espescially in defense) were questioned by the interested public but the suggested alternatives are all of a similar caliber so that taking the one or the other is more or less a matter of taste. Let's go through the teams departments: Goaltending: with Bernd Brueckler (top goalie in SM Liiga, carried his team to the semi-final for the first time in years with a save% well above .9) there seems to be a classy number 1 netminder but there is some suspicion that coach Boni will probably rely on Reinhard Divis. Divis who was the first Austrian ever to play in the NHL had a good season in Salzburg and played near perfect in the play-offs. Nevertheless it seems as his best days when he regularily carried the whole national team are already gone and in the test game versus Latvia he looked less solid then Brueckler against Slovakia. Patrick Machraich who played well in the league completes the trio but will not see any ice-time except for the case of an extreme emergency. Overall goaltending must be and as I think will be an asset of team AUT in the struggle for the qualification round resp. against relegation. Few of the teams of the lower elite can boast quality goaltenders like Brueckler and Divis. Defense: the weakest part of the team. On the positive side there's some excellent skaters, some skilled playmakers, some rugged physical players, some ;-) good blueliners but hardly any guys who unite more than one of these abilities. On the negative side there's some slow moving feet, some wooden hands and some very strong penalty box affinity. And too many players unite too many of these features. Looking at specific names we have three players whose overall potential is adequate (Rebek, Andre Lakos and Unterluggauer) but the last of those three seems to be completely out of shape. From the others experienced Martin Ulrich can be credited for his good hockey sense, he still played a strong domestic season but his age is somehow not deniable anymore. Robert Lukas is a tremendously agile skater who can move with even the best opponents but whenever he's on the puck there's alarm as he regularily produces easy give-aways. Stewart and Lakos are classy if it comes up to fighting but both heavyweights are prone to be outskated and have not much to contribute in offensive play. Pfeffer and Mattie will most likely be the victims of the last cut. Forwards: the forwards are a fine selection of what EBEL has to offer and this department is relatively stronger than the defense. There are some players of a standard that would fit any lower to middle elite national team. Oliver Setzinger is skillwise near NHL material but has repeatedly shown severe problems with on ice discipline (two misconduchts in three test games). Matthias Trattnig is a real power forward with enormous physical impact and it is not by chance that only the 2004/05 lock out prevented him from taking on NHL ice. Dieter Kalt (former SEL top goal scorer and champion in AUT, GER and SWE) and the skilled playmaking center Thomas Koch (ex Lulea) are also to mention as high quality players. Same holds for work horse Daniel Welser despite his unimpressive figures in SEL. There is also quite something to be expected from Gregor Baumgartner a former AHL all-star and early round draft pick who has played a very strong season for Linz after several years of lackluster performances. Overall the players and their performances in the past season suggest that relatively to lower end elite teams AUT will have 2 strong offensive lines, a decent third line and 4th line material that might easily get in trouble when being caught on the ice with opponents that skate and pass on average IHWC level. From its potential the selection looks certainly good enough for staying alive on IHWC level but on the other hand the two test games played up to now showed that the Austrian forwards are almost "offensively" inefficient when it finally comes to putting the puck in the net. The team could more or less keep up in shots and also good quality chances with both Slovakia and Latvia but the output was miserable. If the aims are not set right in Moscow team AUT will get into severe trouble. This is especially true for power play which has not worked well at all up to now. It is to hope for Austrian fans that there will be someone on the blue line who takes the shot (both Unterluggauer and also Rebek have hard and accurate shots) and that the forwards move in front of the net to screen goalies and go for rebounds. Both things have been missing up to now. Coaching: compared to the disastrous showing under his successor Herbert Poeck at the home tourney 2005 Jim Boni has managed to bring back good chemistry to the team and achieved promotion from division I to the Elite right away. Despite some of his player choices seem a little bit odd I consider him and his staff the right ones to get Austria to Canada 2008 which Boni also stated to be his big personal goal - to coach a top 16 nation in his home country. Before the two test games in Vienna Boni's "feel good and be confident" treatment had caused team AUT to get a little pretentious in the media but I hope that the two bad games (especially that against Latvia) reminded them of how a team like AUT can only prevail on the top level: hard work and discipline in a defense first game plan. Although Boni stated the contrary (we want to show offense emphasized hockey...) I am confident resp. hope that the poor showings of the last week convinced him of that. Austria does not have the class to overpower and outplay most of the possible opponents in their zone. All skaters will have to work most of the time in the own zone supporting their goaltenders and forcing the opposition to low quality shots. This will give rise to few but supposedly good chances which will have to be used. Prediction: Austria will rival BLR and possibly also the USA (who seem to have a very inexperienced team for a top country) for the berth to the qualification stage. The most likely sceanrio still is that team AUT has to go to the relegation round as Belarus is imho the strongest of the third seeded teams. Success in the preliminary round can be achieved if goaltending keeps what it promises, the achilles heel of the defense gets enough support from the forwards and scoring efficiency rises to match the good skills of our top forwards. Should AUT fall to the relegation round I still consider the team quite safe as some of the other usual suspects seem to be much nearer Div. I level than Austria. If the surprise of qualification round advance should be achieved this is also where the tournament will end for Austria. It is also interestinmg to note that this Austrian team features no less than 4 pairs of brothers (Divis, Lakos, Lukas, Harand) and in it's predicted final version most likely only two naturalized players (a long, long time low). Last edited by RexKramer; 26-04-2007 at 21:46. |
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23-04-2007, 19:54
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Are we the best international hockey forum on the net? I think this thread proves it.
Excellent, thanks Guys! P.S. This thread is of course open for discussion, but it would be nice with more presentations before we open a fully fledged discussion. Last edited by Karsten; 23-04-2007 at 20:09. |
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24-04-2007, 02:33
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24-04-2007, 08:36
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#8 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
World Ranking 2006: #7 (3,580) # IHWC (A-Pool): 69 Best Result: 3 gold medals (1933, 1960, 1980) Best result in the last 10 years: #3 (2004) Exhibition Games April 25, Stockholm, Sweden - USA IHWC Schedule (Group B - Mytischi) (local times) April 27, 16:15, USA - Austria April 29, 20:15, USA - Belarus May 1, 12:15, Czech Republic – USA ROSTER 1. Cory Scheider, Boston College (NCAA) 33. Jason Bacashihua, St. Louis Blues 47. John Grahame, Carolina Hurricanes 2. Brian Pothier, Washington Capitals 3. Jack Johnson, University of Michigan (NCAA)/Los Angeles Kings 5. Matt Greene, Edmonton Oilers 6. Erik Johnson, University of Minnesota (NCAA) 7. Ryan Suter, Nashville Predators 24. Andrew Hutchinson, Carolina Hurricanes 41. Andrew Alberts, Boston Bruins 44. Keith Ballard, Phoenix Coyotes 8. Phil Kessel, Boston Bruins 10. Brandon Bochenski, Boston Bruins 11. Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche 12. Lee Stempniak, St. Louis Blues 16. Nathan Davis, University of Miami-Ohio 17. Chris Clark, Washington Capitals 18. David Backes, St. Louis Blues 20. Toby Petersen, Edmonton Oilers 26. Erik Cole, Carolina Hurricanes 28. Adam Hall, Minnesota Wild 39. Tyler Arnason, Colorado Avalanche 59. Chad LaRose, Carolina Hurricanes Head Coach: Mike Sullivan Assistant Coaches: Barry Smith and David Quinn Director of Hockey Operations: Jim Johannson Analysis: As is usually the case in the Senior World Hockey Championships, the Americans have elected to send a very young team to Russia; with the exception of the projected starting net-minder and member of the Carolina Hurricanes John Grahame who is turning 32 this August. Here is a breakdown of the U.S. squad into the three usual segments: Goaltending: Olympian John Grahame looks to bear the brunt of the goaltending duties in the U.S. nets. The veteran of three NHL teams and ten NHL seasons played a fair number of games this year (28), earning himself a decent 10-13-2 record and a .897 save percentage. Behind him young St. Louis Blues goaltender Jason Bacashihua will look to steal a start or two unless things go badly for Grahame. Bacashihua shared the load in last years' Worlds where he was 1-1-0 with a .925 save percentage. Twenty-one year old Cory Schneider, fresh off of the frozen four in the NCAA with Boston College will be the third-stringer. Schneider was a member of the 2005 and 2006 American World Junior team. This year, unlike other years in recent memory, goaltending seems to at least not be a liability for the United States. Defence: The American defence is both the youngest and probably the most talented unit of this team. It is a unit that includes two outstanding young men that are instantly recognizable to international hockey fans and have the same surname. Erik Johnson, the youngest member of the team at 19 years of age looks ready to be a dominant boy among men as he demonstrated at previous international tournaments as well as with his University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Jack Johnson, who has already been traded in the NHL despite not having played a single game for the team that drafted him spent the majority of the year with the University of Michigan Wolverines where he got a superb 37 points in 35 games from the back. It is difficult to say how the successes of these two youngters will translate in a tournament for men. It is not, however, difficult to say that the Johnsons have the tools to be special not only in the future, but right now. This young group of defenders will look to Washington Capital Brian Pothier for leadership and ability on the power play. The other bright light on the American backline is 22 year old Ryan Suter who played all 82 games this season with his Nashville Predators and will be a tremendous asset for the Americans in all three zones of the ice. The only foreseeable liability of this defence corps is the possibility of cracking in adversity due to their youth. However, the ability is certainly there for the American back liners. Forwards: Kudos go to Brian Burke and company for assembling at least a few guys who can score for the Americans. This group will be led by two of their youngest members; two young men who proved to the world this year that they can light the lamp at the highest levels of hockey. The first is the U.S.’ greatest hope for the future and Boston Bruins young star nineteen year old Phil Kessel who was sixth in points this year for the Massachusetts outfit. The other man is perhaps the main reason why Colorado made such a hard push for the playoffs at the end of this year and is the twenty-one year old son of son of a legendary Slovak sniper; Paul Stastny. Stastny had an unbelievable year posting the longest point-scoring streak of the season and notching no less than 78 points (good for third on the Avalanche). He is joined by his teammate and Oklahoma City-native Tyler Arnason who played all 82 games for the Avalanche and tallied a respectable 49 points. The heart and soul of this young team will have to be the captain of the Washington Capitals Chris Clark. Clark had a career year playing with Alex Ovechkin in the American National Capital scoring 54 points behind Washington’s two young Russian dynamos (Ovechkin and Semin). The last man who will have to be exceptional for the U.S. was a powerful force for the Hurricanes both this and last season who goes by the name of Erik Cole. The Oswego, New York-native got a career high 61 points this year with Carolina. Prediction: The United States’ chances are only as good as their ability to find decent goaltending, a problem that plagues the best of American squads. If Grahame or Bacashihua can stay strong enough, then the U.S. will have absolutely no problem getting out of Group B. Beyond that is too tough to tell for a U.S. team that is so young and perhaps too low on true depth scoring. I predict the U.S. to get no higher than a loss in the quarter-finals. Last edited by Neugs; 24-04-2007 at 22:41. |
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24-04-2007, 08:50
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#9 | |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
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Neugs, thanks for the U.S. analysis. Excelllent! |
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24-04-2007, 23:02
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#10 |
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hämeenlinna/Tampere, Finland
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FINLAND
World Ranking 2006: #4 (3,830) #IHWC (A-Pool): 56 Best result: Gold (1995) Exhibition Games April 13, Espoo, Finland - Latvia 7-3 (1-1, 2-1, 4-1) April 19, Helsinki, Finland - Czech Republic 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0) April 21, Prague, Czech Republic - Finland 2-0 OT (0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0) April 24, Tampere, Finland - Canada 4-2 (2-1, 0-0, 2-1) IHWC Schedule (Group D - Khodynka) (local times) April 27, 17:15 Ukraine - Finland April 29, 16:15 Finland - Denmark May 1, 20:15 Finland - Russia ROSTER 30.Fredrik Norrena, Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) 32.Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Trashers (NHL) 35.Sinuhe Wallinheimo, JYP Jyväskylä 3.Petteri Nummelin, Minnesota Wild (NHL) 4.Ville Koistinen, Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) 5.Lasse Kukkonen, Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) 7.Aki Berg, TPS Turku 18.Tuukka Mäntylä, Tappara Tampere 33.Pekka Saravo, Luleå IF (SWE) 34.Toni Söderholm, HC Bern (SUI) 44.Jukka-Pekka Laamanen, Kärpät Oulu 9.Mikko Koivu, Minnesota Wild (NHL) 10.Sean Bergenheim, HC Frölunda (SWE) 15.Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) 16.Ville Peltonen, Florida Panthers (NHL) 20.Antti Miettinen, Dallas Stars (NHL) 22.Mika Pyörälä, Kärpät Oulu 24.Jari Viuhkola, Kärpät Oulu 25.Jukka Hentunen, HC Lugano (SUI) 26.Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars (NHL) 27.Timo Pärssinen, Timrå IK (SWE) 37.Jarkko Ruutu, Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) 38. Antti Pihlström, HPK Hämeenlinna 39.Niko Kapanen, Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) 41.Petri Kontiola, Tappara Tampere 71.Tomi Kallio, HC Frölunda (SWE) Head Coach: Erkka Westerlund Asst. Coaches: Risto Dufva, Hannu Virta General Manager: Jari Kurri Analysis: There is nothing special about the Finnish hockey team compared to those rosters it has posted a year or two before. They have most NHLers (11) out of the European teams taking part in the tournament with rest of the slots filled with most promising talents and old veterans of various European elite-level leagues. But be these names known by many or not, the spectators can still expect to see a very organized and pedantical hockey team where every player has a set role and will attempt to play by it using all the skills at his disposal. Goaltending: Minding the net is nonarguably the Finns' strongest department and as with so many years before, there is a positive dilemma with who to name as the starter. First, there is the seasoned national team veteran Fredrik Norrena who played an excellent NHL season breaking through to be the unarguable starter for his team Columbus Blue Jackets and has been a solid thing in the exhibition games this far. He will be challenged by Kari Lehtonen of Atlanta Trashers, a youngster who has said to be the biggest talent in the field of goaltending for years. This year's reserve will be Sinuhe Wallinheimo of SM-liiga team JYP Jyväskylä, a relative unknown outside Finland, but well known to Finnish hockey fans thanks to his curious antics in and outside the rink. Back to the starter dilemma. Lehtonen is generally considered as the next best thing in Finnish netminding after the renowned Miikka Kiprusoff, but Norrena has shown more consistency in the national team lately. Also, Norrena is considered something of an expert of shutouts. He started in eight games in Olympics and IHWC last season, and allowed no pucks behind him in five of them, an impressive feat to any goalie. Defense: This department is something of a question mark for Finland this year. Boasting only two NHLers and led by national team veterans Petteri Nummelin (who's been through all the IHWC tournaments since 1995, totaling 13) and Aki Berg, it may turn out to be something of an Achilles' heel for otherwise competitive Team Finland. Although being top dogs in defense with their club teams, many players in the Finnish defense have very little experience on international level. Therefore Nummelin and Philadelphia Flyers' Lasse Kukkonen are expected to collect plenty of ice minutes, especially on games rich with penalties. Forwards: Have to say it; seems like we will never get rid of Ville Peltonen. The Lion King will be leading his men into fight for glory for 12th time in the IHWC history and as usual, he will most likely do it from the 1st line. The name of Finland's key playmaker is very familiar, there's probably no hockey fan on Earth to whom name "Koivu" wouldn't ring a bell. This time though, his first name is Mikko and by some, he is considered even a bigger promise than his well-known big brother. Already flashing his talent in IHWC last year, there's a lot of expectations loaded on the broad shoulders of the Minnesota Wild center now. Accompanied by names like Dallas Stars' Antti Miettinen, Phoenix Coyotes center Niko Kapanen plus European league veterans Jukka Hentunen and Tomi Kallio, it is to be said that Finland's a dangerous team in the offensive end yet again. Another interesting name in the roster is Petri Kontiola, who is a very promising center of Tappara Tampere. Also, what would be the Finnish National team without the infamous Ruutu Brothers? Yes, Tuomo and Jarkko are at it again, ready to bring some speed, color and broken nerves into the hockey rinks of Moscow. In the offensive end, the situation for Team Finland was very interesting for the first time in years as there was even too much candidates for key positions. For example, national team veterans like Jani Rita and Esa Pirnes simply weren't good enough. With Dallas winger Jere Lehtinen's late addition to the roster, it is appropiate to say that Finnish offence appears to be in top form. Coaching: This tournament will be the swansong for Erkka Westerlund and his team who is to pass the torch to Canadian Doug Shedden for next year's IHWC. Known as one of the most analytical minds in hockey, one can again expect Team Finland to have an impressive game plan crafted by Westerlund and his cronies with every skater following it to the point. However, that is also the greatest weakness of the coaching. Westerlund isn't considered to be the most inspiring coach, and if the set plan backfires, the Finnish Lions can find themselves in a world of trouble. Prediction: The Feisty Finns are most certainly in the quarter-finals, and are also strong contenders for the medal round. This all relies on the game plan though. The Finns have usually succeeded through defensive hockey, scoring most of the time from quickly-set comeback maneuvers. This time they can't trust so much on defense, so they must start holding the puck and keep the game in the offensive end if they want to topple the other top hockey nations. It all depends on how the game plan works and the way players adapt to their intended roles. But if everything clinches into place, the Finns will be yet again ready to hunt their only set objective they're intent on accomplishing sooner or later: their second gold medal in the IHWC history. Last edited by Laho; 10-05-2007 at 23:09. |
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25-04-2007, 02:05
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#11 |
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Haifa, Israel
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BELARUS
World Ranking 2006: #10 (4,095) # IHWC (A-Pool): 7 Best result: 6th (2006) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 10, Ljubljana, Slovenia - Belarus 2-5 (0-0, 0-0, 2-5) April 12, Cortina, Italy – Belarus1-4 (0-1, 1-2, 0-1) April 14, Trento, Italy - Belarus1-3 (1-1, 0-0, 0-2) April 20, Minsk, Belarus - Norway 3-1 (0-0, 1-0, 2-1) April 21, Zhlobnin, Belarus - Norway 5-4 (1-0, 1-1, 3-3) April 24, Kosice, Slovakia - Belarus 1-2 (0-1, 0-1, 1-0) IHWC Schedule (Group B - Mytischi) (local times) April 27, 20:15, Belarus - Czech Republic April 29, 20:15, USA - Belarus May 1, 16:15, Austria -Belarus ROSTER 31. Andrei Mezin, Salavat Yulaev (RUS) 2. Sergei Shabanov, Metallurg Novokuznetsk (RUS) 33. Stepan Goryachevskikh, Yunost 3. Oleg Leontiev , Yunost 4. Aleksandr Makritsky, Dynamo 15. Andrei Glebov, Dynamo 27. Aleksandr Zhurik, Dynamo 5. Aleksandr Ryadinsky, Keramin 43. Viktor Kostyuchenok, Lada (RUS) 70. Vladimir Denisov, Lada (RUS) 8. Andrei Mikhalev, Keramin 77. Dmitri Dudik, Dynamo 10. Oleg Antonenko, Dynamo 11. Aleksandr Kulakov, Dynamo 93. Evgeni Kurilin, Keramin 22. Sergei Zadelenov, Neftekhimik (RUS) 26. Sergei Kukushkin, Lada (RUS) 30. Artem Volkov,Yunost 16. Aleksandr Borovkov, Khimvolokno 18. Aleksei Ugarov, Neftekhimik (RUS) 19. Dmitri Meleshko, Salavat Yulaev (RUS) 21. Sergei Demagin, Dynamo 14. Aleksei Strakhov, Keramin Head Coach: Curt Fraser (USA), Ass. Coaches: Eduard Zankovets, Vladimir Tsyplakov and Sean Simpson (GBR), Team Video Coach : Dennehy Matthew (USA) Notable unavailable Players: • Ruslan Salei (Florida Panthers) his wife bears • Aleksei Kalyuzhny (Avangard, RSL) - very tired after a long season • 84. Mikhail Grabovsky (Gamilton Buldogs/Montreal Canadiens) - he's club still has been playing • 23. Andrei Kostutsyn (Gamilton Buldogs/Montreal Canadiens) - he's club still has been playing • 28. Konstantin Koltsov (Salavat Yulaev, RSL) - still recovering after an injury Grabovsky, Kostitsyn and Koltsov are in the entry list. Analysis: It seems to be hard to predict how long this year Belarus can go. There are many reasons to be positive: 6 preparatory games - all wins, including one with strong Slovakia in Kosice againist 8,000+ home crowd. Team plays like a team, everebody is really friendfull. It's maybe the only way for Belarus to compete with the rivals skilly stronger - teammate game. Besides that, in Belarus expecting to get one interesting conclusion following the championship - how good Belarus league is? (that's because of this long strory with joining/not joining Russia). It will be the first time when most of the players plays at home. Goaltending: The best part. On the top - is almost legendary Mezin in a good (maybe even great? ) shape. In the first game with Norway he was good; in the second with Slovakia - he was very good. The second number is expiriented Sergei Shabanov wich is definitely not Mezin but also of a good level, being playing in RSL. The third is just Goryachevskikh - no chance he will pay a minute. Defence: Dfence - this is the best BOL defenders (mostly experiented, with one new naturalised russian - Glebov) plus two players from RSL. Makes mistakes, but not too much. Interesting, that most team goals of this season (something like 14 friendly games) scored defenders,almost all from the blue line on a power or not play. It seems to be strong Fraser's tactics component. Forwards: The main problem. The team feels luck of such bright forwrds like Kostsytsin and Grabovsky. Both want to play very much, but their club still playing in AHL playoff. Two roster spots wil be saved for them however. There is no leader without them, but other forwards have prooved that they can work like a real team. It's very important, of course, for the team that mainly can only hope on a strong discipline and organising. The conclusion - nearly everebody can shot. Another hope - is fast recovery of Koltsov. He was in the camp and now flies with other team to Moscow. Coaching: One of the most interesting aspects. Fraser that came after almost idolic figure of Hanlon. He must be being under a massive psyhologic press as everebody compares him to Hanlon. But Curt looks like a real proffesional and just does his work. I think there is no reason not to belive him cause he brings results as he says. Prediction: Opportunity of playing in relegation round even isn't beeng discussing. 3rd place in the preliminary group is the minimal aim or task for the tournament. Playoff is calling, but it's hard to say if Belarus will be able to repeat their last year success when they finished 6th. First games with Czech and USA and will show a lot. Main hopes are on to steal some points from USA as they have worse team than Czech. I can't predict what will happen on this stage; but must be in the range #7-10 at finish. Last edited by Aldair; 26-04-2007 at 23:48. |
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25-04-2007, 03:42
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#12 |
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IHF Prospect
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: ont.
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Excellent work! Fantastic write-ups, lots of insight!
Thanks everyone. |
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25-04-2007, 10:36
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#13 |
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Domzale, Slovenija
Posts: 583
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Yes you make great work on here.Thanks.
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JE !! SE !! NI !! CE |
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25-04-2007, 10:50
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#14 | |
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Oulu/Raahe, Finland
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Finnish goaltending looks solid. At this point I'd rank it the best in the tourney maybe alongside Canada's. Norrena became a good level NHL goalie in his first year there and Lehtonen played a good season though his playoffs weren't the best possible as the Rangers overwhelmed the Thrashers. To put things in a wider perspective there are several world class Finnish goalies that are not in the team. Miikka Kiprusoff, one of the best goalies around, is out due to personal reasons. Antero Niittymäki, the best goalie in Torino, is injured. Niklas Bäckström with the best Saves% and GAA of the NHL regular season apparently just didn't make the team! Another 5-6 goalies were given serious thought (at least on discussion boards) but they are out too. Another point I'd like to make is that this is the first chance for the likes of Mikko Koivu and Tuomo Ruutu to really step into the BIG boots. Koivu the younger had a breakthrough season this year and Ruutu-also-the-younger has finally got to play healthy. Another similar case is Lasse Kukkonen in defence. I'd rank them as the players to watch from the Finnish team. Slovakia coming up shortly.
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"Lord Baelish, what you suggest is treason." "Only if we lose." A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin |
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25-04-2007, 16:43
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#15 |
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Riga, Latvia
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LATVIA
World Ranking 2006: #9 (3,310) # IHWC (A-Pool): 15 Best result: #7 (1997, 2004) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 7, Riga, Latvia - Germany 3-2 SO (0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 1-0) April 9, Riga, Latvia - Germany 1-3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1) April 13, Espo, Finland – Latvia 7-3 (1-1, 2-1, 4-1) April 19, Skalic, Slovakia - Latvia 3-2 (1-2, 2-0, 0-0) April 21, Wein, Austria - Latvia 0-4 (0-2, 0-0, 0-2) April 24, Riga, Latvia – Denmark 5-2 (3-0, 0-1, 1-1) IHWC Schedule (Group A - Moscow) (local times) April 28, 16:15, Switzerland - Latvia April 30, 20:15, Latvia - Sweden May 2, 16:15, Italy – Latvia ROSTER (Preliminary - will be edited) 1. Martins Raitums, HK Riga 2000 30. Sergejs Naumovs, HC Bolzano (ITA) 31. Edgars Masalskis, HC Minsk Dinamo (BLR) / HC Minsk Junost (BLR) 2 Rodrigo Lavins (C), HK Riga 2000 / Brynas IF (SWE) 3. Arvids Rekis, Augsburger Panthers (GER) 4. Agris Saviels, HK SKP Zilina (SVK) 7. Guntis Galvins, HC Vsetin (CZE) / HK Riga 2000 12. Aleksandrs Jerofejevs, Tampere Ilves (FIN) / HK SKP PS Poprad (SVK) 18. Georgijs Pujacs, Mytischy Khimik (RUS) 22. Olegs Sorokins, EHC Black Wings Linz (AUT) / Sodertalje SK (SWE) 23. Atvars Tribuncovs, Oulu Karpat (FIN) / Farjestads SK (SWE) 10. Lauris Darzins, Tampere Ilves (FIN) / HC Vsetin (CZE) 12. Herberts Vasiljevs, Krefelde Pinguine (GER) 13. Grigorijs Pantelejevs, HC Martigny (SUI) / SG Pontebba AFVG (ITA) 14. Leonids Tambijevs, DHK Latgale / HC Merano (ITA) 16. Aleksejs Sirokovs, Mytischy Khimik (RUS) 17. Aleksandrs Nizivijs, Torpedo Nizhny-Novgorod (RUS) 20. Kaspars Daugavins, Toronto St. Michael's Majors (OHL) / Binghamton Senators (AHL) 21. Armands Berzins, HC Vsetin (CZE) / HK Riga 2000 24. Mikelis Redlihs, HC Minsk Junost (BLR) 26. Aleksandrs Macijevskis, Odense IK (DEN) 27. Aleksandrs Semjonovs, Herning IK (DEN) / Chelyabinsk Traktor (RUS) 29. Martins Cipulis, HK SKP PS Poprad (SVK) Head Coach: Olegs Znaroks Assistant Coaches: Harijs Vitolins and Yuriy Zdanov Goalie Coaches: Vitalijs Samoilovs and Vincent Rindo Notable unavailable Players: • Raitis Ivanans (Los Angeles Kings) – on 30th April will have interview for USA green card. It may be possible that he will still arrive – just before qualifying round. • Karlis Skrastins (Colorado Avalanche) – in March had a knee injury which ended his consecutive game record by a defenseman. After end of season he is going to have (or already had) surgery. • Janis Sprukts (Florida Panthers / Rochester Americans) – had playoff games in AHL, later needed to get his kid USA passport, but some sources has mentioned that he will probably join the team • Sandis Ozolins (New York Rangers) – no news from him after he was sent to Rangers farmclub in December. He had knee injury so he didn’t play there a game, but hasn’t returned in NHL. It’s possible that he has ended his pro carrer. • Oskars Bartulis (Capebreton Screaming Eagles) – has playoff games in AHL. • Peteris Skudra (Novokuzneck Metallurg) – hasn’t played in national team since 1997 (even was invited every year), because had a conflict with coaches of national team, but this year he even was in Riga, only after 1 day of training, he decided to go to USA and have a surgery, because he had „something wrong” with his back. • Krisjanis Redlihs (Khabarovsk Amur Tiger) – was on camp, but in exhibition game against Austria broke his hand. • Viktors Blinovs (Grodno Neman) – in the same game as Redlihs also he got injury. • Girts Ankipans (HK Riga 2000) – also had injury during training process • Viktors Ignatjevs (EHC Black Wings Linz) - old shoulder injury • Martins Karsums (Providence Bruins) - promised to arrive, but hasn't Analysis: Many Latvian fans says that this is the worst national team since 1997 when we entered A pool for the first time. None of our current 3 NHL players will help this year. Goaltending: Before the tournament biggest question was about goalies, because after Irbe has retired and Skudra is never coming to national team, we had only Naumovs, Raitums, Masalskis and Zabotinskis. Naumovs is playing in Italy and when joined his club he was only 2nd goalie. Masalskis officially has played less than 20 games this season (including national team games), but Raitums is said to be playing in just too slow league for WC – in Latvian top club HK Riga 2000. Znaroks decided that Zabotinskis (who also plays in Latvian league - HK Liepajas Metalurgs) will stay home. As soon as exhibition games started this problem was almost solluted. Masalskis is hot right now, because he haven’t played almost all season and currently is really happy about any chance to play, Naumovs also showed good play, but Raitums played only 7 minutes so it looks like he will stay as 3rd goalie. Defence: This year there was a big fight for places in national team among defensemen, especially for the leading role, because Skrastins and Ozolinsh aren't playing. Rekis, Tribuncovs, Lavins and Ignatjevs are little better so they almost had a guaranteed spot already when they just arrived in Riga, but Sorokins, Pujacs, Galvins, Jerofejevs, Saviels, Redlihs, Jass, Andersons they all are playing in almost one level. Andersons, Jass are already out of candidates, while Redlihs broke his arm. In exhibition games Latvian defensemen made many mistakes and earned unnecessary PIMs. Also penalty killing wasn't the best. Forwards: Among forwards there were many problems with center players. All were hoping to see Sprukts in the lineup but he hasn't joined national team yet. Some wingers were tried as centers. In exhibition games Kaspars Daugavins was playing really great, in last game against Denmark he even scored hattrick. Among team leaders also should be Lauris Darzins and Martins Cipulis. There's also Leonids Tambijevs and Aleksandrs Semjonovs which just celebrated their 200th game in Latvian national team. Aleksandrs Nizivijs didn't play in any exhibition game, because he had playoff games in Russia, but now he has joined the team. He has always been one of leading players. Martins Karsums still is in USA, but he is expected to arrive in 26th or 27th of April. Coaches: Latvian national team coaching in 2006 was interesting. After Torino 2006 Leonids Beresnevs was fired and two months before WC 2006, which was held in Latvia, president of our federation - Kirovs Lipmans, found Pjotr Vorobjov from Russia. He coached team until end of WC and Lipmans still had to search for new coach, so he asked Olegs Znaroks, which has been assistant coach for long time, to become a head coach. There were two types of reactions of this. Ones said that he isn’t a real coach and made others to remember his nationality, problems with alcohol (not actual anymore) and also his agressive playing style. Others were neutral or even positive, mentioning that when Curt Lindstrom term with national team ended he said that Znaroks could be a good coach in future. Prediction There’s no thinking about relegation round, because no one plans that we will lose to Italy. If Latvians wants to play in quarterfinals they need to get some points from Switzerland. If not we would end tournament in 9th or 10th place. Betting portal „betandwin.com” predicts 8th place for Latvia, so actually we can be 7th-8th and in same time we can be also 11th or 12th. It would be uppset if Latvians would go into relegation round or qualify for semifinals. Last edited by GX; 28-04-2007 at 17:26. |
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25-04-2007, 17:29
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Oulu/Raahe, Finland
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Slovakia
World Ranking 2006: #6 (3,685) # IHWC (A-Pool): 11 Best result: Gold (2002) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 12, Trencin, Slovakia – Czech R. 2-5 (1-2,1-1, 0-2) April 13, Brno, Czech R. - Slovakia 3-1 (1-0,2-0,0-1) April 18, Vienna, Austria - Slovakia 1-3 (0-1,0-1,1-1) April 19, Skalica, Slovakia - Latvia 3-2 (1-2,2-0,0-0) April 24, Kosice, Slovakia - Belarus 1-2 (0-1, 0-1, 1-0) IHWC Schedule (Group C - Mytischi) (local times) April 28, 20:15, Slovakia - Norway April 30, 16:15, Slovakia - Germany May 2, 20:15, Canada - Slovakia ROSTER 2 Branislav Konrad, MHC Plastika Nitra 41 Jaroslav Halak, Montréal Canadiens (NHL) 60 Karol Krizan, MoDo Örnsköldsvik (SWE) 3 Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins (NHL) 7 Martin Strbak, ZSKA Moscow (RUS) 15 Dominik Granak, Slavia Praha (CZE) 37 Peter Podhradsky, Frankfurt Lions (GER) 55 Tomas Starosta, Nefthekhimik Niznekamsk (RUS) 68 Milan Jurcina, Washington Capitals/Boston Bruins (NHL) 71 Tomas Harant, Lowell Lock Monsters (AHL) 75 Richard Stehlik, Sparta Praha (CZE) 10 Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild (NHL) 16 Roman Kukumberg, Slovan Bratislava 18 Miroslav Satan, New York Islanders (NHL) 19 Branko Radivojevic, Minnesota Wild (NHL) 21 Radovan Somik, Severstal Cerepovets (RUS) 22 Richard Kapus, Metallurg Novokuznetsk (RUS) 26 Tibor Melicharek, Dukla Trencin 28 Ivan Ciernik, Kölner Haie (GER) 38 Pavol Demitra, Minnesota Wild (NHL) 41 Andrej Podkonicky, HC Liberec (CZE) 43 Tomas Surovy, Luleå Hockey (SWE) 47 Miroslav Kovacik, Sibir Novosibirsk (RUS) 79 Marek Uram, Slovan Bratislava 81 Marian Hossa, Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) Head Coach: Julius Supler Notable unavailable Players: Peter Budaj (G), Lubomir Visnovsky (D), Josef Stümpel (F), Marek Svatos (F), Peter Bondra (F), Michal Handzus (F). Analysis: Slovakia's preparation hasn't been the smoothest possible. Three losses in 5 preparation games with only wins coming from tight games against Austria and Latvia is probably not the best sign although the Slovaks were missing practically all of their NHLers in these games. Also the internal affairs in the Slovakian ice hockey community have been flammable lately, especially in regards to the feud between legendary player Peter Stastny and the president of the Slovak Ice Hockey Federation Juraj Siroky. Goaltending: Interesting battle for the #1 spot. At the moment it looks like Jaroslav Halak will be the starter. He got playing time with the Canadiens after Cristobal Huet was injured and otherwise played excellent in AHL. Karol Krizan lead MoDo to Swedish championship and will give Halak a run for his money though it has been reported that a slight injury bug has hit him. Branislav Konrad is unlikely to see any ice time. Overall the goaltending seems to be stronger than the Slovaks usually have, at least if Halak's inexperience won't hurt him. Defence: Slovakia has a very big defensive squad. Lead by Zdeno Chara there is 4 guys of around 2,0 meters height. Chara will be playing as much as he can take backed up by Milan Jurcina who showed his skills last year in Riga. Martin Strbak will be another important piece of the puzzle as will the big Tomas Starosta and Richard Stehlik, especially in front of the net. Despite its size, or perhaps because of it, the defence is the weak part of the Slovakian team. Their skating is slow and with Visnovsky and Meszaros missing, their puck handling and opening passes are not great either. Forwards: First it looked like all the NHL star forwards were going to refuse the honor to wear the national sweater this year but the first round of playoffs changed everything as every Slovakian out of the race promised to come to Moscow. Names like Marian Gaborik, Marian Hossa and Miroslav Satan would fit in any team. Hossa scored 100 points in the NHL regular season, Gaborik was in 50 goal pace after his injury and the captain Satan scored 60 points. The first line center will be Pavold Demitra who will also be crucial in operating the power play. The second center is Richard Kapus who didn't have the best season in Russia but is a regular on the national team. Slovakia's best line in the practice games was Ivan Ciernik-Tomas Surovy-Miroslav Kovacik and it remains to be seen if they'll be kept together in the same line. The lines will have definite roles. The first two lines will take care of the scoring while the third is a defensive line. With the many breaks and plenty of rest time in the games, it could very well be that the 4th line will see little ice time. Coaching: Julius Supler coached Slovakia already in 1993-96 and was the coach when Slovakia promoted to IHWC for the first time. He has had a long career as he started coaching in 1979. Last he coached Riga 2000 and got his team to finish third in BOL and second in Continental Cup. He is a well-liked and respected coach by players. Prediction: With the recent NHLer additions, Slovakia is definitely a strong contender for medals. As usual, their offence is as good as anyone's so it's up to the defence to try to match the guys up front. In many of their recent tournaments though, Slovakia has had a good round robin but busted out in quarterfinals. Supler's skills will be weighed in the quarterfinal. If Slovakia wins that game, they can just as well go for gold. NOTE: Forward Marek Uram was added to the team as it was confirmed that Ladislav Nagy couldn't participate
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"Lord Baelish, what you suggest is treason." "Only if we lose." A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin Last edited by Shardik; 27-04-2007 at 19:12. |
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25-04-2007, 17:40
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#17 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Aalborg, Denmark
Posts: 2,383
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I've always liked Latvia's hockey team. Mostly because they are able give the best teams good competition, but also because all their surnames ends with an s - it's cool :)
So thanks for the review GX. |
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25-04-2007, 18:04
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#18 | |
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Riga, Latvia
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I hope this WC won't be without any surprises from our team :) |
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25-04-2007, 20:05
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#19 |
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Zlate Moravce, Slovakia
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COMMENT ON SLOVAKIA:
Notable unavailable Players: Peter Budaj (G) - groin injury Lubomír Višňovský (D) - ankle injury Jozef Stümpel (F) - arm injury Marek Svatoš (F) - groin injury Peter Bondra (F) - arm injury Michal Handzuš (F) - knee injury Juraj Kolník (F) - his wife is pregnant players from Europe: Ján Lašák (G) - tired and light injured after season Rastislav Staňa (G) - groin injury Richard Lintner (D) - Radoslav Suchý (D) - both reject to play, maybe end of the international carrer Rastislav Pavlikovský (F) - injury Róbert Petrovický (F) - tired Miroslav Hlinka (F) - knee injury in last game before tournament Ľubomír Bartečko (F) - injury Goaltending: Slovakia has 5 top goalkeepers at the moment - Budaj and Halák play in NHL, Križan against Staňa in final of Elitserien, Lašák finalist in Czech extraliga. Three of them reject and Križan is still injured, but he will be fit on Saturday game. Halák has minimum experiences from international ice-hockey in senior level, but he has silver from U18 World Championship 2003. Defence: Yes, Slovakia has not offensive defencemen like Višňovský, Meszároš or Lintner. But maybe Podhradský and Graňák will take their parts in the team. I agree, that the most important man will be Chára with a lot of ice time. And another experienced man is Štrbák. Forwards: Definite main power of Slovakia team. With first line Hossa, Demitra, Gáborík and second line with Šatan or maybe Nagy we are able to beat every team. Another problem of our ice-hockey is called centreforwards. We have only one top center - Demitra. Handzuš and Stumpel are injured. Hlinka also injured, Kapuš not good season in Russia, Podkonický will be only on waiting list, Kukumberg, Kováčik or Surový didnt play during season as centers. Coaching: Slovakia fans have big hopes in Július Šupler and his abilities to manage players. He is "hockey father" of Miroslav Šatan and have good relationship with group from Dukla Trenčín (Chára, Starosta, Graňák, Hossa, Demitra, Gáborík, Šatan, Radivojevič, Melichárek). Prediction: Slovakia "must" be in quaterfinal, everything else will be big disappointment. Slovakia loose three time in quaterfinal (2005, 2006 against Canada and WOG 2006 against Czech r.). This time maybe more happiness and mainly coaching abilities. And more news: Ladislav Nagy (Dallas Stars) maybe join the team. If he doesnt join the team, František Skladaný (Karlovy Vary) will be called. František Hossa became new general manager of Slovakia. Last edited by Dr. Pablo Ramirez; 26-04-2007 at 22:57. |
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25-04-2007, 22:42
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#20 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
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COMMENT ON USA
USA played its first and only exhibition game tonight and beat Sweden 5:3 in Stockholm. USA went with the following lineup: John Grahame 1st: Brian Pothier, Keith Ballard ; Chris Clark - Paul Stastny - Erik Cole 2nd: Matt Green, Ryan Suter; Brandon Bochinsky - Tyler Arneson - Lee Stempiak 3rd: Andrew Hutchinson, Andrew Alberts; David Backes - Phil Kessel - Adam Hall 4th: Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson; Chad Larose - Toby Petersen - Nathan Davis Sweden arguably played its worst game for a very long time, but my first impression of USA is its a team that could go a long way, perhaps all the way to the semis. |
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26-04-2007, 01:22
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#21 |
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Land of my fathers
Posts: 123
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DEUTSCHLAND
P No Name DoB Club Height Weight Shoots L/R T 1 JONAS, Oliver 14.05.1979 Kölner Haie 1,84 78 L T 30 KOTSCHNEW, Dimitrij 15.06.1981 Iserlohn Roosters 1,84 80 L T 35 ZIFFZER, Youri 21.08.1986 Eisbären Berlin 1,87 79 L T 40 PÄTZOLD, Dimitri 03.02.1983 Worcester Sharks 1.84 87 L V 8 OSTERLOH, Sebastian 20.02.1983 Frankfurt Lions 1,86 92 L V 9 DRAXINGER, Tobias 03.01.1985 Eisbären Berlin 1,90 84 L V 20 DIETRICH, Robert 25.07.1986 DEG Metro Stars 1,78 78 R V 22 BAKOS, Michael 02.03.1979 ERC Ingolstadt 1,90 94 R V 25 BREITBACH, Robin 05.03.1982 HC Servette Genf/ SUI 1,95 106 L V 27 ANCICKA, Martin 01.10.1974 Adler Mannheim 1,85 93 L V 48 HÖRDLER, Frank 26.01.1985 Eisbären Berlin 1,81 82 L V 52 SULZER, Alexander 30.05.1984 DEG Metro Stars 1,87 91 L V 43 PETERMANN, Felix 11.04.1984 Adler Mannheim 1,83 90 L S 11 FELSKI, Sven 18.11.1974 Eisbären Berlin 1,80 78 L S 16 WOLF, Michael 27.04.1981 Iserlohn Roosters 1,77 78 R S 21 TRIPP, John 04.05.1977 ERC Ingolstadt 1,91 101 R S 24 RANKEL, André 27.08.1985 Eisbären Berlin 1,86 89 L S 26 KREUTZER, Daniel 23.10.1979 DEG Metro Stars 1,76 88 L S 29 BARTA, Alexander 02.02.1983 Hamburg Freezers 1,80 76 R S 33 HACKERT, Michael 21.06.1981 Frankfurt Lions 1,83 85 L S 46 BUSCH, Florian 02.01.1985 Eisbären Berlin 1,84 85 L S 47 ULLMANN, Christoph 19.05.1983 Adler Mannheim 1,82 83 L S 56 POLACZEK, Alexander 09.08.1980 Sinupret Ice Tigers 1,76 84 R S 72 FICAL, Petr 23.09.1977 Sinupret Ice Tigers 1,78 82 R S 85 SEIDENBERG, Yannic 11.01.1984 ERC Ingolstadt 1,72 80 L S 87 GOGULLA, Philip 31.07.1987 Kölner Haie 1,88 90 L General Manager: REINDL, Franz Headcoach: KRUPP, Uwe As.Coach: MERK, Klaus As.Coach: HÖFNER, Ernst Team Manager: VOGEL, Carlos german games are on ARD and ZDF free TV. some get them via sattelite...
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Gott mit dir, du Land der Bayern, deutsche Erde, Vaterland! Über deinen weiten Gauen ruhe seine Segenshand! Er behüte deine Fluren, schirme deiner Städte Bau, und erhalte dir die Farben seines Himmels, weiß und blau! Gott mit dir, dem Bayernvolke, dass wir, uns'rer Väter wert, fest in Eintracht und in Frieden bauen uns'res Glückes Herd! Dass mit Deutschlands Bruderstämmen einig uns ein jeder schau und den alten Ruhm bewähre unser Banner, weiß und blau! Last edited by Hansi; 03-05-2007 at 13:57. |
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26-04-2007, 06:59
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#22 | |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Thornhill, Ontario
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26-04-2007, 08:50
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#23 | |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Thornhill, Ontario
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26-04-2007, 08:50
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#24 |
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Århus, Denmark
Posts: 426
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DENMARK
Kim Staal will be joining the team after Milwaukee Admirals have now been put out of the AHL playoffs. This is of tremendous importance for Denmark IMHO. Staal is not expected in Moscow until Saturday though, so he will miss Fridays opening game against Russia. Article (in danish) : http://politiken.dk/indland/article292206.ece |
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26-04-2007, 09:27
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#25 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Vienna, Austria
Posts: 2,817
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Nice stickhandling at some occasions by Steen - that guy has good hands! |
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26-04-2007, 11:14
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#26 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
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ATTENTION
I think I need to clarify the purpose of this thread. Some weeks ago, we had a lengthy discussion on how the coverage of the European Leagues can be improved next season. This discussion revealed a desire for more analysis and discussion. I reckoned that if it's more analysis is desired there, it's also desired in our coverage of international tournaments (there's already plenty of discussion in the IHWC forum). So the purpose of this thread is analysis and discussion on the basis of the analyses. We allready have a very active thread called Preparations for 2007 IHWC which you can use to post brief news, roster updates etc. This thread has been a huge success. I have followed it closely since I created it 3 days ago. And I can report that in in terms of views, it is the fastest growing thread, we have ever had (more than 400 views per day). I want to thank the contributers for their outstanding work. It is clearly better than any other analysis you can find (at least in English) on ther internet. We are still only half way, and I hope that some will do the job and present the rest of the teams. And now to the clarification: 1) Hansi's post on Germany does not pass the grade. The info of his post can be found at IHWC.net. I will move it to the "Preparations for..." thread. Rex or Tux, will you do Germany please? 2) El Quapo's info on the availability of Kim Staal is also a clear example of a post that belongs to the "Preparations for..." thread, and not here. 3) Pablo Ramirez's post on Slovakia is a half-attempt to make another presentation of Slovakia. We don't need another presentation. Pablo's post should be remade, so it becomes a comment. 4) Shardik's comment on Finland (#14) is an excellent example of how a comment on an analysis should be made. My own and Rex's comments on USA also pass the grade. 5) Butcher's, GX's and Neugs' (two brief) comments belong in the "Preparations for..." thread. They do not add to the "roster presentations" (please be more disciplined when posting in this thread). As I said, we still need more presentations. Please sign up here: http://forums.internationalhockey.ne...ead.php?t=4954 |
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26-04-2007, 12:18
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#27 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
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Comment on NORWAY
Mathias Trygg suffered a concussion in Minsk, and is out for the World Championship. He will be replaced by Mats Zucarello Aasen (Frisk Asker). Mathias Trygg was one of Vålerenga's best forwards this season, but he will be replaced by an equally capable young forward. Mats Aasen is a tiny but extremely fast and skilled forward which I actually believe will be a positive addition to Norway's roster. It surprises me that he wasn't nominated in the first place. As usual, the world championship does not attract any noteworthy media attention in Norway. There's a cuckoo in the sports media's nest, and the name of the cuckoo is football. Nevertheless, the big boulevard paper VG has made a special IHWC section. Yesterday, it contained a new interview with coach Roy Johansen. For those of you who can read Norwegian (not very many, I guess), you can find the article here. The article expresses concern that Norway will miss quite a few players with international experience (Vikingstad, Myrvold, Skrøder and Holtet). No less than 13 players are from the domestic league which has a relatively low rank in Europe. Roy Johansen says that Norway must compensate for this weakness in other ways: " The players must work as a team 100 percent all the time. Our strength is our cohesion as a team. Unlike many other countries, we don't have top players with outstanding individual skills. I hope that some of the less experienced players will play beyond their normal level". Johansen, however, also recognize that some of the players have become much better this season after having transferred to Elitserien and NHL: "Players like Anders Bastiansen, Mads Hansen and Morten Ask have become one year older and have played very well in Sweden this season. In addition, we have Patrick Thoresen who now have NHL experience". Roy Johansen recognizes that the key game will be against Germany. In the interview, Johansen clearly downplays Norway's expectations. He has the following comment: "Germany beat Switzerland 3:2 and is a great hockey nation. For example, they have 9 NHL players. We are ranked 15th of the 16 teams, and this is a fairly accurate measure of our level. But anything can happen against Germany. Hard work and the will to win are the main ingredients in the recipe to success in the world championship". Roy Johansen's attempt to lower expectations is clearly for domestic consumption. After the games vs Belarus, Johansen was much more optimistic, saying that Norway is par with Belarus (i.e ranking around 10). The interview is a subtle attempt to relieve his players for the burden of high expectations. I will update Norway's roster shortly. |
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26-04-2007, 14:07
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#28 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Northern Zealand (in Denmark)
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Comment on DENMARK
As reported elsewhere, Kim Staal is now available for Denmark, and will join the Danish roster during the weekend. Kim Staal has had mixed success at Milwaukee Admirals this season posting 25 points (13+12) in 64 games. But, when healthy, he is an important player for the national team. Since Denmark entered the top division in 2003, Kim Staal has recorded 11 goals + 4 assists (15 points) in 18 games. In this regard, he is by far Denmark's leading goal scorer in the world championships. Staal was Denmark's scoring leader in 2003, 2005 and 2006. In 2004, he was injured in Denmark's very first game, and Denmark suffered as a result. Frans Nielsen calls Staal "the heart and soul" of the Danish team. Beside being an stingy goalscorer, Staal functions as a team leader. He has an extraordinary sense of humour and an excellent ability to relieve the tension among his teammates. Just what Denmark needs in the forthcoming world championship. Obviously, according to reports from Moscow, the message that Milwaukee Admirals had been eliminated in the AHL playoffs and that Kim Staal would join the Danish team, was received with pleasure in the Danish camp, and the optimism increased several degrees. The same sources also revealed that Kim Staal is very happy to conclude this season with his Danish teammates. Source: TV2 News Last edited by Karsten; 26-04-2007 at 21:21. |
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26-04-2007, 16:09
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#29 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Moscow, Russia
Posts: 1,722
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Russian Federation roster
RUSSIA
World Ranking 2006: #5 (3725) # IHWC (A-Pool): 49 (since 1954) Best result: Gold (1954, 1956, 1963-1971, 1973-1975, 1978-1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993) Siver: (1955, 1957-1959, 1972, 1976, 1987, 2002) Bronze: (1960, 1961, 1977, 1985, 1991, 2005) 34 World Championships in a row with medals!!! Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 13,Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland - Russia 1-4 (1-1, 0-1, 0-2) April 14, Langenthal, Switzerland - Russia 1-4 (0-1, 0-1, 1-2) April 19, Gävle, Sweden - Russia (EHT Final) 3-2 (0-0, 1-1, 2-1) April 21, Moscow, Russia - Sweden (EHT Final) 2-4 (0-1, 1-1, 1-2) April 24, Moscow, Russia - Austria 4-3 (1-0, 1-1, 2-2) IHWC Schedule (Group D - Moscow) (local times) April 27, Game # 4, 21:15 Russia - Denmark April 29, Game # 11, 20:15 Russia - Ukraine May 1, Game# 19, 20:15 Finland - Russia ROSTER Goaltenders: 83. Vasily Koshechkin, Lada Togliatti 30. Alexander Eremenko, Ak Bars Kazan Defenders: 27. Vitaly Atyushov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk 55. Sergey Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL 7. Denis Grebeshkov, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 3. Alexei Emelin, Lada Togliatti 6. Maxim Kondratyev, Lada Togliatti 52. Andrew Markov, Montreal Canadiens, NHL 5. Ilya Nikulin, Ak Bars Kazan 45. Vitaly Proshkin, Ak Bars Kazan Forwarders: 12. Danis Zaripov, Ak Bars Kazan 42. Sergey Zinovyev, Ak Bars Kazan 71. Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers, NHL 15. Nikolay Kulemin, Metallurg Magnitogorsk 11. Evgeny Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL 95. Alexei Morozov, Ak Bars Kazan 13. Ivan Nepryaev, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl 8. Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, NHL 24. Alexander Frolov, Los Angeles Kings, NHL 21. Alexander Kharitonov, Dynamo Moscow 22. Alexander Radulov, Nashville Predators, NHL 25. Petr Schastlivy, Khimik Mytischi Head Coach: Vyacheslav Bykov, Ass. Coaches: Igor Zaharkin, Sergey Nemchinov General Manager: Igor Tuzik Notable unavailable Players: • ... Analysis: 23-times World champion (last time 1993) is 14 years without Gold medals, do I have to add something when this Championship takes place in Moscow?! All comments will come a bit later!!!
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"Keep nothing in your house that you can't use or don't find beautiful" W.Morris :smart: Last edited by DIN; 26-04-2007 at 16:36. |
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26-04-2007, 21:13
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#30 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Vienna, Austria
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Germany
Germany
World Ranking 2006: #12 (3110) Result 2005: winner Div. I Group A # IHWC (A-Pool): Best result: Preparation games: details April 7, Riga, Latvia - Germany 3-2 SO (0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 1-0) April 9, Riga, Latvia - Germany 1-3 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1) April 12, Kassel, Germany - Denmark 4-2 (0-2,3-0,1-0) April 14, Krefeld, Germany - Denmark 4-2 (1-1, 0-1, 3-0) April 19, Herisau, Switzerland - Germany 2-3 (0-2, 1-0, 1-1) April 21, Rapperswil, Switzerland - Germany 5-1 (1-0, 3-0, 1-1) IHWC Schedule (Group C ) (local times) April 28, 16:15, CAN – GER (Khodynka) April 30, 16:15, SVK – GER (Mytyshi) May 2, 16:15, GER – NOR (Mytyshi) Roster Netminders: 1 JONAS, Oliver (Kölner Haie) 30 30 KOTSCHNEW, Dimitrij (Iserlohn Roosters) 35 ZIFFZER, Youri (Eisbären Berlin) Defenders: 8 OSTERLOH, Sebastian (Frankfurt Lions) 9 DRAXINGER, Tobias (Eisbären Berlin) 20 DIETRICH, Robert (DEG Metro Stars) 22 BAKOS, Michael (ERC Ingolstadt) 25 BREITBACH, Robin (HC Servette Genf/ SUI) 27 ANCICKA, Martin (Adler Mannheim) 43 PETERMANN, Felix (Adler Mannheim) 48 HÖRDLER, Frank (Eisbären Berlin) 52 SULZER, Alexander (DEG Metro Stars) Forwards: 11 FELSKI, Sven (Eisbären Berlin) 24 RANKEL, André (Eisbären Berlin) 46 BUSCH, Florian (Eisbären Berlin) 16 WOLF, Michael (Iserlohn Roosters) 21 TRIPP, John (ERC Ingolstadt) 26 KREUTZER, Daniel (DEG Metro Stars) 29 BARTA, Alexander (Hamburg Freezers) 33 HACKERT, Michael (Frankfurt Lions) 47 ULLMANN, Christoph (Adler Mannheim) 56 POLACZEK, Aleksander (Sinupret Ice Tigers) 72 FICAL, Petr (Sinupret Ice Tigers) 85 SEIDENBERG, Yannic (ERC Ingolstadt) 87 GOGULLA, Philip (Kölner Haie) Coach: Uwe Krupp Assistant coaches: Klaus Merk, Ernst Hoefner Notable absentees: Team Germany is arguably the one hardest struck by the absence of its high profile players. Not one of the 7 Germans playing in the NHL is available. Jochen Hecht (F) is still in play-off action with Buffalo as are Christian Ehrhoff (D) and Marcel Goc (F) with San Jose and Christoph Schubert (D) with Ottawa. Dennis Seidenberg (D, Carolina), Olaf Koelzig (G, Washington) and most notably Marco Sturm (F, Boston) have all opted out due to personal reasons. In past IHWC at least some of the German NHLers were suiting up for their country so that this is quite a unique situation. Also from Germany’s DEL some sure starters could not be selected. Among them Andreas Renz (D) a mainstay since years and probably even worse also last year’s Division I A top scorer Sascha Goc who was voted DEL defense player of the year. Among the forwards some well known players like Klaus Kathan (a key player under former coach Hans Zach and the Kazakhstan born Eduard Lewandowski were not nominated by Uwe Krupp. Goaltender Robert Mueller who successfully battled a brain tumor this season has to rest despite he already had started to play again some time ago. Analysis: With all the absences Germany ices a very young and inexperienced squad, that especially in the D-corps could prove quite weak as the bulk of non available high profile players are defenders. The expectations are pretty low in Germany the main goal is to avoid relegation but still Krupp’s squad can offer a decent record in its six preparation games with 4 wins and 2 defeats. Although none of the big 7 was played wins against Latvia and Switzerland are at least a positive sign although the last game ended with a clear defeat against the Swiss. Goaltending: In the last years goaltending was never a problem for Germany, in the era of Hans Zach where the Germans achieved some remarkable results players like Robert Mueller, Marc Seliger and NHLer Olaf Koelzig have provided exceptional goaltending for GER. This year’s #1 is still not determined. The oldest of the triplet, Oliver Jonas, did not play too much games but performed solid whenever he did. Ziffzer was the positive surprise of the year and also Kotschnew had a good season. Most likely the #1 will be one of the latter two. Defense: A majority of the notable absences are defenders so the bulk of the German D-corps is quite young (7 players are younger than 25) and they also do not accumulate too much international games. Leadership should be provided by Martin Ancicka a representant of the long tradition of players with Czech roots in team GER. But overall it can’t be expected that these young guns from whom many yet have to fight their way past the strong DEL import players and German veterans to build up experience in crucial game situations and special teams will be strong enough to get their team an easy going even against Norway or the opponents waiting in the relegation round. Forwards: The German offense seems to be built around the long time national team players Felski and Kreutzer and the experienced dual nationals Tripp and Fical but still scoring in the test games was distributed on a fair number of players. Youngster Philipp Gogulla several times got his name on the score sheet which did not come as a surprise as in last year’s division I tournament he played very well in the strong junior line with Gawlik and Schuetz. But overall among the German forwards there is hardly an outstanding player so success can only come through hard work of all lines that surely have to rely more on physical effort and team spirit than on individual skills and fancy plays. Coaching: Stanley cup winner Uwe Krupp took over after Germany was relegated in 2005 and lead the team back to the top level with an impressive performance at division I in 2006 (but with an arguably stronger squad). Krupp is an adherent of the philosophy that not the best individual players together form the best team - that’s good for him so he might talk himself into seeing something good in missing all the big names mentioned above. Prediction: In group C a clear cut relegation round decider can be expected in the game between Germany and Norway. If the Germans prevails in this one relieve will be big and the team will go without much expectations to the qualifying stage and end the tournament there with 3 more games to learn for the young squad. If the path leads to the relegation round it will be a tough ride for the Germans to stay up. Last edited by RexKramer; 27-04-2007 at 13:40. |
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26-04-2007, 23:38
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#31 |
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Haifa, Israel
Posts: 4,042
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UKRAINE
World Ranking 2006: #13 (3,005) # IHWC (A-Pool): 8 Best result: 9th (2002) Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 13, Brovary, Ukraine – Dynamo Moscow 3-4 (0-1, 2-1, 1-2) April 14, Brovary, Ukraine – Dynamo Moscow 2-1 (1-1, 0-0, 1-0) IHWC Schedule (Group D - Moscow) (local times) April 27, 17:15, Ukraine - Finland April 29, 20:15, Russia - Ukraine May 1, 16:15, Denmark -Ukraine ROSTER 50. Igor Karpenko, Dynamo Minsk (BLR) 1. Aleksandr Fedorov, Khimvolokno (BLR) 31. Vadim Seliverstov, Berkut 3. Sergei Klimentiev , Avangard (RUS) 6. Andrei Sryubko, Dmitrov (RUS, D-1) 44. Vitaly Lyutkevich, Keramin (BLR) 12. Vyacheslav Timchenko, Gomel (BLR) 4. Denis Isaenko, Gomel (BLR) 9. Aleksandr Pobedonostsev, Khimvolokno (BLR) 32. Yuri Navarenko, Vitebsk (BLR) 2. Yuri Gunko, Sokol 99. Oleg Blagoy, Sokol 30. Vyacheslav Zavalnyuk, Metallurg Mg (RUS) 55. Dmitri Tsyrul, Khimik Vs (RUS, D-1) 21. Vitaly Donika, Neftyanik (RUS, D-1) 29. Valentin Oletsky, Gomel (BLR) 23. Roman Salnikov, Keramin (BLR) 28. Aleksandr Materukhin, Khimvolokno (BLR) 77. Oleg Shafarenko, Dynamo (BLR) 26. Artem Gnidenko, Vitebsk (BLR) 17. Aleksandr Matviychuk, Sokol 7. Vasiliy Bobrovnikov, Sokol 11. Sergey Kharchenko, Hull Stingrays (GBR) 7. Aleksandr Bobkin, Sokol 34. Vitaly Semenchenko, Yunost (BLR) Head Coach: Aleksandr Seukand, Ass. Coaches: Aatoly Stepanischev, Valeri Shiryaev, Yuri Shundrov Notable unavailable Players: • Aleksei Ponikarovsky (Toronto Maple Leafs) - declined invintation • Anton Babchuk (Carolina Hurricanes) - will be able to play fro Ukraine strating from the next year only • Sergei Varlamov (Sibir, RSL) - declined invintation • Konstantin Simchuk (CSKA, RSL) - declined invintation • Konstantin Kasyanchuk Traktor, RSL) - declined invintation • Vadim Shakhraichuk (Dynamo Moscow, RSL) - declined invintation • Artem Ostroushko (MVD, RSL) - declined invintation • Gennady Razin (Ak Bars, RSL) - declined invintation • Dmitry Tolkunov (Dynamo Minsk, BLR) - injuried • Andrei Mikhnov (Ak Bars, RSL) - declined invintation Analysis: First thing that you probably see is the huge number of key players declinied to play. The reasons were dicussed many times before but just to remind you - it's result of Tretiak's politics toward foreigners in RSL. There is only two players in the roster from RSL - they already have signed contracts in their hands and can feel save. Other prefered not to take a risk and to step aside. Most players in the roster are from BOL and only four are from Sokol (+ third goalkeeper from Berkut). And this fact became the reason for increased interest to Ukraine team from Belarus side - it can be another indicator how good BOL is, cause most of these players are among the leaders in their belarusian teams. Goaltending: Can be pretty good, can be very problematic. After that ukrainian "Mezin" Simchuk declined to play, this was the coaxcuhes pain. Seems that Karpenko will be choosen as a starter but he didn't play many games in the season (he was doubler of Fatikov - best BOL goalie 2007), and when he played he had both good and bad games. Fedorov can play good sometimes, but he level isn't enough for WC. Seliverstov is just a tourist. Defence: Defence could be better, but it doesn't seem like too bad, and probably, the most ballanced part of the team. All players are experienced and skilled enough, and the most important, among them there is Sergey Klimentiev - very good player, the best Ukraine player 2006. Forwards: The lack of good forwards became the reason to Zavalnyuk's (the second RSL player, nominally defender) moving from defence to attack. He used to be forward in the past, so it probably will not be a problem. But interesting that Seukand put him in the first line - that means that other forwards are worse...Well, the attack is the weakest part of the team. Coaching: Seukand in ukrainian head coach for years, and since Ukraine entered top division in 1999, the hd never been relegated. Can he bring something new to the team play? I'm in doubt and the last tournament was just a disaster for him. Maybe it's a time to reabilitate or, oppositelly, to finish his career with the national team. Prediction: The main goal of Ukraine - is to survive in the top division. A big minus - very bad preparatory programm. Ukraine federation couldn't find any sparring partner from national team and sutisfacted with just two games of respectively weak post-season conditioned Dynamo Moscow. But the plus is the highest motivation of players that decided to play. Can that be enough to stay in the elite? The underline is that the players are not so poor and they can compete with Denmark (or with relegation round teams) at least. The time wil show how much they are ready... Right now they got only the motivation. |
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27-04-2007, 20:08
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#32 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Thornhill, Ontario
Posts: 378
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Canada
CANADA
World Ranking 2006: #3 (3,890) # IHWC (A-Pool): Best result: Gold a record 23 times (44 medals in a total of 59 championships participated in) Exhibition Games April 24, Tampere, Finland – Canada 4-2 (2-1, 0-0, 2-1) IHWC Schedule (Group C - Mytischi) (local times) April 28, 16:15, Germany – Canada April 30, 20:15, Canada - Norway May 2, 20:15, Canada - Slovakia ROSTER 50. Chris Mason, Nashville Predators 30. Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes 35. Dwayne Roloson, Edmonton Oilers 2. Dan Hamhuis, Nashville Predators 3. Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames 4. Eric Brewer, St. Louis Blues 5. Barret Jackman, St. Louis Blues 6. Shea Weber, Nashville Predators 22. Mike Commodore, Carolina Hurricanes 23. Cory Murphy, HIFK Helsinki (Finnish Elite League) 55. Nick Schultz, Minnesota Wild 9. Jay McClement, St. Louis Blues 10. Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins 11. Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes 12. Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes 13. Mike Cammalleri, Los Angeles Kings 16. Jonathan Toews, University of North Dakota 18. Matthew Lombardi, Calgary Flames 19. Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes 20. Colby Armstrong, Pittsburgh Penguins 21. Jamal Mayers, St. Louis Blues 25. Jason Chimera, Columbus Blue Jackets 61. Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets Head Coach: Andy Murray, St. Louis Blues Assistant Coaches: Gerard Gallant, Hockey Canada; and David Quinn, Los Angeles Kings General Manager: Steve Yzerman, Hockey Canada Assistant General Managers: Jacques Martin, Florida Panthers; John Ferguson Jr., Toronto Maple Leafs Analysis: Many nations at the World Championships in 2007 have taken a step that reflects the NHL; they are having teams that are younger and younger. The Canadian team is no exception as 15 of the 22 Canadians going to Russia have a birth-date in the 1980s (plus 3 more 1979 births). Do not, however, mistake this lack of overall experience with a lack of talent, hockey wherewithal, and international experience as a most of the squad has at least some international experience. This is a team that I feel is one of the leading gold medal contenders because, while there are few big names gracing this years roster (with the obvious exception of Eric and Jordan Staal, and Rick Nash), it has a lot of parts that make it a very complete looking team if it can come together and, to use the standard Hockey Canada quip: “can get better every game.” Certainly Canada can do it all on paper, but out on the ice is where they stumbled the last two years. Here is a breakdown of this year’s Canadian team into the three usual segments: Goaltending: The question of who Canada’s number one net-minder is at this point is certainly a redundant one as the Canucks boast three world-class goalies. Perhaps the irony will hit some fans of the NHL that of those three goaltenders, one is from the Edmonton Oilers and one is from the Carolina Hurricanes (although it would be more ironic if Roloson had not gotten injured in the playoffs missing the final series). Former Red Deer Rebel and current Carolina Hurricane stopper Cam Ward got a brilliant 30 wins in 60 starts for the team from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina behind a team that fought hard to make the playoffs, but just didn’t have the same talent and depth as their championship run last year. The former first rounder finished the campaign with a 2.93 goals-against-average and a .897 save percentage. Also potentially back-stopping the Canadians is a man who, despite being the goalie of an Edmonton Oiler team that struggled from start to finish, pulled off a respectable 27 wins with a 2.75 goals-against-average and a .909 save percentage. The third possibility is Nashville Predator Chris Mason who played a considerable amount of hockey for the club from Tennessee due to injury to Predator started Tomas Vokoun. Indeed, Mason had a shining season with a 2.38 goals-against-average as well as a .925 save percentage to go with 24 wins in 40 starts. Clearly, it is impossible at this point to tell who will start for the Canadians (if there is ever a number one). The one certain thing is that goaltending will very likely be Canada’s best asset with three excellent net-minders donning the pads. Defence: The Canadian defence is, before anything else, very very big and very very mobile. Shea Weber, Nashville’s 21-year old is poised to be the focal point of this group of Canadian back-liners as at 6’3 and 220 lbs, he notched 40 points in just his second NHL season. The familiarity factor applies to the solidness of this group as it includes two members of the St. Louis Blues and two members of the Nashville Predators. Additionally, both Hamhuis and Schultz played together on last year’s team. Big Mike Commodore from the Carolina Hurricanes makes his Hockey Canada debut and looks to be a dominant force for the Canadians as he uses 6’5, 228 lb frame very effectively. Cory Murphy, one of the two players who didn’t play in the NHL this past season, had a fantastic year for HIFK Helsinki as a power play specialist and offensive defenceman, tallying 50 points in 45 Sm-Liiga games. The Canadian defence is big, it is mobile, it is familiar and it is offensively gifted – look for hefty point contributions from Canada’s back end. Forwards: The first thing that should stand out to someone who knows anything about Canadian hockey is that this tournament marks the beginning of an era of a family of brothers from Thunder Bay, Ontario playing key roles on Team Canada. This family, of course surnamed “Staal” (no relation to the veteran Dane Kim Staal) is sending two of the brothers to Russia and they both need to be important parts on this Canadian squad for Canada to succeed. Jordan, the younger brother at just 19 years of age, is fantastic on the special teams as is evidenced by his NHL-leading 7 short handed markers on the season. Jordan Staal also finished the season second in rookie goals with 29. However, the most impressive thing about Jordan is his responsibility and maturity level in all three zones – he finished +16 this year. The talent of his 23-year old older brother Eric is no secret. Despite a drop-off from last years outstanding production (100 regular season and 28 playoff points), Eric Staal still managed a 30 goal season on an offensively challenged Carolina Hurricane team. Former first overall NHL draft pick Rick Nash had a horrible Torino Olympics and followed it up with a season that was mediocre by his standards (57 points and a -8). The twenty-three year old power forward can be a key contributor in addition to the Staals as he proved at the 2004 World Cup getting 15 points in 9 games. Richmond Hill, Ontario-native and member of the Los Angeles Kings Mike Cammalleri will also need to contribute, particularly on the power play where he scored 16. After the four above mentioned men, Canada is heavy on role players, but light on explosive scoring ability. Young Jonathan Toews, who only turns 19 during the tournament, has shown tremendous ability to perform in pressure situations on the world stage. This is evidenced by the incredible shootout against the U.S.A. in the World Junior tournament this year where he went 5 for 5 and sent the Canadians to the gold medal game. Look for Canada to need a lot of help from the defence to score as the forwards do not seem explosive enough to get the job done. Prediction: The Canadians will need to find that secondary scoring early and often to go far in this tournament – be it from a role player like Jamal Mayers of the St. Louis Blues up front or from a defenceman like Shea Weber. This team won’t score many goals against equal opponents, but they won’t allow many either with probably the best goaltending on paper in the tournament. I don’t see this team winning the gold (though being Canadian I obviously hope so), but a medal of some sort is definitely within their grasp. I predict Canada wins the bronze medal game. Last edited by Neugs; 01-05-2007 at 00:21. |
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27-04-2007, 21:09
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#33 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Manaus, Brazil
Posts: 12,442
Country:
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Italy
ITALY
World Ranking 2006: #17 (2,915) # IHWC (A-Pool): Best result: #6 (1994) Last 10 finishes: 14,18,19,23,15,12,12,13,10,8 Exhibition Games: April 4, 2007, Merano, Italy - Japan 5-2 (1-0, 1-1, 3-1) April 6, Merano, Italy - Denmark 3-4 (1-3, 1-1, 1-0) April 10, Trento, Italy - Japan 3-2 (1-0, 1-1, 1-1) April 12, Cortina, Italy – Belarus 1-4 (0-1; 1-2; 0-1) April 14, Trento, Italy - Belarus 1-3(1-1, 0-0, 0-2) April 21, Aalborg, Denmark - Italy 2-2 (0-2, 1-0, 1-0) IHWC Schedule (Group A - Moscow- Arena Khodynka) Sat,28.04,20:15 Sweden - Italy Mon,30.04,16:15 Switzerland - Italy Wed,02.05,16:15 Italy - Latvia ROSTER Goalies: 29 Jason Mark Muzzatti - Flint Generals (UHL) 55 Andrea Carpano - Sg Aquile Fvg Pontebba 73 Günther Hell - Hc Bolzano Foxes Defence: 3 Carter Vincent James Trevisani - Ssk Södertälje (SWE) 6 Michele Strazzabosco - Hc Milano Vipers 12 Andrè Signoretti - Hik Herning Blue Fox (DEN) 14 Carlo Lorenzi - Alleghe Hockey 26 Armin Helfer - Hc Milano Vipers 50 Christian Borgatello - Hc Milano Vipers 87 Florian Ramoser - Hc Villani Bolzano Foxes Forwards: 7 Patrice Lefebvre - Lausanne HC (SUI) 8 John Parco - Asiago Hockey As 9 Giorgio De Bettin - Sg Cortina 11 Roland Ramoser - Hc Bolzano Foxes 13 Luca Rigoni - Hc Milano Vipers 18 Paolo Bustreo - Renon/Ritten Sport Hockey 19 Giulio Scandella - Hc Milano Vipers 22 Stefano Margoni - Sg Aquile Fvg Pontebba 24 Mario Brian Chitarroni - Hc Milano Vipers 27 Flavio Faggioni - Hc Bolzano Foxes 28 Manuel De Toni - Alleghe Hockey 34 Jason Cirone - Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees (UHL) 39 Jonathan Pittis - Asiago Hockey As 71 Luca Ansoldi - Sg Cortina Head Coach: Michel Bernard Goulet (CAN) Assistant: Fabio Polloni Team Leader: Gianfranco Talamini Analysis: Mission impossible: this seems the title of Italian expedition at WC. Last year Italy made its own "miracle on ice" avoiding relegation in last period of last game vs Slovenia, but this year work should be more difficult, with a weaker roster and tougher opponents. In A group, apart impossible game vs Sweden, could be a little chance both vs Latvia, thanks to many defections in LAT roster, and Switzerland, traditional rival of Blue Team, but honestly a place in relegation round is quite obvious. Goalies: At 37 years, italo-canadian Jason Muzzatti is already one of main player in roster and in Italy all fans root for elimination of Flint Generals in UHL playoffs, so Muzatti can join team. This luckly happened, but low confidence in other goalies, despite a good season of Andrea Carpano, say a lot about their skill. Defence: Probably the best part: Andrè Signoretti and Carter Trevisani are solid defenders with experience and key role in important teams, Michele Strazzabosco was in Buffalo Sabres camp last summer with good results. Federation until eleventh hour in vain try to naturalize italo-canadian Nicholas Bilotto (Alleghe Hockey), best defender in Serie A this year and a good addition. No doubts that will be the part of squad more busy... Forwards: Who score? This will be the main problem for Italy...Looking for last best scorings standing of Serie A, first italian is in 10th place: Patrick Bona but he isn't in Moscow because injured....so John Parco (36 years) continue to be the best option, coach Mickey Goulet recalls veteran Jason Cirone, (36 years) almost pensioner in UHL and surprisingly 40 years old Patrice Lefebvre from Lausanne. Seems really a desperate move... Last edited by Davide; 27-04-2007 at 21:47. |
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27-04-2007, 21:19
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#34 |
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Thornhill, Ontario
Posts: 378
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What ever happend to Guiseppe Busillo? Did he retire?
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27-04-2007, 21:48
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#35 | |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Manaus, Brazil
Posts: 12,442
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28-04-2007, 04:03
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#36 |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Manaus, Brazil
Posts: 12,442
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Czech Republic
Czech Republic
World Ranking 2006: #2 (3,985) # IHWC (A-Pool): Best result: 5 gold as Czech Republic (6 as Czechoslovakia) Last 10 finishes: 2,1,5,4,5,1,1,1,3,3 Exhibition Games: April 5, Olomouc, Czech Republic - Switzerland 1-3 (0-0, 0-1, 1-2) April 6, Prostejov, Czech Republic - Switzerland 5-3 (0-1, 0-1, 5-1) April 12, Trencin, Slovakia - Czech Republic 2-5 (1:2, 1:1, 0:2) April 13, Brno, Czech Republic - Slovakia 3-1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1) April 19, Helsinki, Finland - Czech Republic (EHT Bronze game) 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0) April 21, Prague, Czech Republic - Finland (EHT Bronze)2-0 OT (0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0) IHWC Schedule (Group B - Mytischi - Mytischi Arena) Fri,27.04,20:15 Belarus - Czech Republic Sun,29.04,16:15 Czech Republic - Austria Tue,01.05,20:15 Czech Republic - USA Roster Goalies: 79 Marek Pinc - HC Vitkovice 32 Roman Cechmánek - Ocelari Trinec Defence: 83 Jan Platil - CSKA Moscow (RUS) 6 Ladislav Smíd - Edmonton Oilers (NHL) 3 Marek Zidlický - Nashville Predators (NHL) 5 Michal Barinka - SC Bern (SUI) 36 Petr Cáslava - HC Pardubice 77 Radek Hamr - Kloten Flyers (SUI) Rostislav Klesla - Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) 4 Zbyněk Michálek - Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) Forwards: 9 David Výborný - Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) 15 Jan Marek - Metallurg Magnitogorsk (RUS) 40 Jaroslav Balastík - HV71 (SWE) 25 Jaroslav Bednár - Slavia Praha 17 Jaroslav Hlinka - Sparta Praha 13 Jirí Novotný - Washington Capitals (NHL) 16 Petr Cajánek - St Louis Blues (NHL) 10 Petr Hubácek - SC Bern (SUI) 37 Petr Sýkora - HC Pardubice 62 Petr Tenkrát - Boston Bruins (NHL) 85 Rostislav Olesz - Florida Panthers (NHL) 14 Tomás Plekanec - Montreal Canadiens (NHL) Tomás Rolinek - HC Pardubice 24 Zbynek Irgl - HC Vitkovice Head Coach : Hadamczik Alois Assistant Coach : Palecek Josef Assistant Coach: Musil Frantisek General Manager : Kusy Zbynek Notable unavailable players Milan Hnilicka (Liberec) - injured Jaromír Jágr (NY Rangers) - end his career in the national team Martin Straka (NY Rangers) - declined Ales Hemský (Edmonton Oilers) - injured Martin Ručinský (NY Rangers) - end his career in the national team Jaroslav Modrý (Los Angeles Kings) - declined Radek Dvorák (St. Louis Blues) - declined Radek Bonk (Montreal Canadiens) - declined For health or personal reasons: Tomás Kaberle (Toronto Maple Leafs) Pavel Kubina (Toronto Maple Leafs) Frantisek Kaberle (CarolinaHurricanes) Jan Hejda (Edmonton Oilers) Petr Sýkora (Edmonton Oilers) Martin Havlát (Chicago Blackhawks) Radim Vrbata (Chicago Blackhawks) Josef Vasicek (Carolina Hurricanes) Milan Hejduk (Colorado Avalanche) Patrik Eliás (New Jersey Devils) Filip Kuba (Tampa Bay) Václav Prospal (Tampa Bay) Lukás Krajícek (Vancouver Canucks) Jan Bulis (Vancouver Canucks) Jirí Hudler (Detroit Red Wings) Roman Hamrlík (Calgary Flames) Playing AHL playoffs during WC: Tomás Pöpperle Marek Schwarz Roman Polák Petr Kalus Kamil Kreps Tomás Fleischmann Jakub Klepis Last edited by Davide; 28-04-2007 at 04:14. |
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29-04-2007, 01:12
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#37 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Czech Rep.
Posts: 74
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COMMENT ON CZECH REPUBLIC
World Ranking 2006: #2 (3,985) # IHWC (A-Pool): 66 (14 Czech Republic, 52 Czechoslovakia) Best result: Gold 11x , 5x Czech Republic (2005, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1996) + 6x Czechoslovakia (1985, 1977, 1976, 1972, 1949, 1947) IHWC 2006: Silver Exhibition Games (Look here for further details) April 5, Olomouc, Czech Republic - Switzerland 1-3 (0-0, 0-1, 1-2) April 6, Prostějov, Czech Republic - Switzerland 5-3 (0-1, 0-1, 5-1) April 12, Trenčín, Slovakia - Czech Republic 2-5 (1-2, 1-1, 0-2) April 13, Brno, Czech Republic - Slovakia 3-1 (1-0, 2-0, 0-1) April 19, Helsinki, Finland - Czech Republic 1-0 (1-0, 0-0, 0-0) April 21, Prague, Czech Republic - Finland 2-0 OT (0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 1-0) IHWC Schedule (Group B - Mytyshi) (local times) April 27, 20:15, Belarus - Czech Republic April 29, 16:15, Czech Republic - Austria May 1, 20:15, Czech Republic - USA ROSTER 32. Roman Čechmánek, Třinec 79. Marek Pinc, Vítkovice **. Adam Svoboda, Slavia Prague **. Rostislav Klesla, Columbus (NHL) 77. Radek Hamr , Kloten (SUI) 83. Jan Platil, CSKA Moscow (RUS) 6. Ladislav Šmíd, Edmonton (NHL) 4. Zbyněk Michálek , Phoenix (NHL) 5. Michal Barinka , Vítkovice 36. Petr Čáslava, Pardubice 3. Marek Židlický, Nashville (NHL) 17. Jaroslav Hlinka, Sparta Prague 37. Petr Sýkora, Pardubice **.Tomáš Rolinek, Pardubice 10. Petr Hubáček, Vítkovice 14. Zbyněk Irgl , Vítkovice 25. Jaroslav Bednář, Slavia Prague 13. Jiří Novotný , Washington (NHL) 40. Jaroslav Balaštík, HV 71 (SWE) 21. Petr Tenkrát , Boston (NHL) 15. Jan Marek, Magnitogorsk (RUS) 9. David Výborný , Columbus (NHL) 85. Rostislav Olesz , Florida (NHL) 14. Tomáš Plekanec , Montreal (NHL) 16. Petr Čajánek , St. Louis (NHL) Head Coach: Alois Hadamczik Assistant Coaches: Josef Paleček and František Musil Team Manager: Zbyněk Kusý Notable unavailable Players: Jaromír Jágr, Martin Straka, Martin Ručinský - decided to end their career in the national team Tomáš Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, Václav Prospal, Martin Havlát, Aleš Hemský, Milan Hejduk, Filip Kuba and others - out due to injuries Dominik Hašek, Patrik Eliáš, Robert Lang, Jaroslav Špaček, Marek Malík, Milan Michálek, Jiří Hudler ... - unavailable because of NHL play-offs Jiří Dopita, Martin Procházka, Pavel Patera - members of Czech golden generation playing in Extraliga, Milan Hnilička, Roman Turek, Tomáš Vokoun - see more in analysis Jiří Fischer - after his collapse in Detroit - Nashville match on 22nd November 2005, it seems that Jiří will not play hockey any more Analysis: Coaching: There were lots of doubts of Hadamczik abilities last year. Hadamczik didn't have an impressive player career, so different in comparison with two previous coaches, Vladimír Růžička, and no need to speak about Ivan Hlinka, Hadamczik didn't have impressive results in his coaching career before. As media presented, atmosphere seemed to very bad around the team during 2006 Olympics, Hadamczik was permanently in bad mood, didn't want to speak with journalists, there were even rumours that he was called names during some matches by some more experienced players who was said to be real "coaches" of the team. Several older players decided to end their career in the national team. However, Czech team got bronze, and world championship was different story, everything went in good way, and underrated team reached the final. Hadamczik is a coach with good feeling for right team chemistry and is also capable some good tactical moves. Goaltending: Czech will play without Nagano hero Dominik Hašek, as well as Tomáš Vokoun, 2005 WC winner. Hadamczik didn't expect he will finish the season in NHL so early, he promised Čechmánek to be #1, neither Milan Hnilička who created constant duo with Čechmánek around year 2000, during Czech golden hat-trick on World Championships, but didn't accept to be the second choice. Roman Turek, #1 in 1996, didn't feel to play after 10 years in the national team again.Čechmánek has experience from more than 200 matches in Philadelphia and Los Angeles and didn't. He didn' have good time in Elitserien this year but finally found his form late in the season, helped Třinec very much to make Extraliga quarterfinals, and compete strongly against Liberec, but team wasn't good enough to overcome this stage and lose in the 7th match. Lot of players don't like to play against Čechmánek, with his husky figure it is not easy to find enough space for Adam Svoboda is very disbalanced goalkeeper, he manages to have an awful match from time to time, Marek Pinc doesn't have enough WC experience, gained his place because of some solid performances in EHT tournaments. If Čechmánek stay healthy and in good form, I don't see big troubles on this position, and if he would become injured, Vokoun is ready to help the team. Defence: It seems to be the weakest part of the team, at least at the first glance. In comparison with last year, team will have to do without Tomáš Kaberle, one of the best world offensive defencemen, fully respected by all the players. Marek Židlický should support and will surely have an important role in powerplays, Petr Čáslava is much more defensively minded player. There are several young defenders who established their positions in NHL, Zbyněk Michálek was the key part of Phoenix team this season, also Ladislav Šmíd had good season in Edmonton, Jan Platil is a rookie in the team. Forwards: As most teams on the tournament, Czech miss their biggest guns in attack but I still see our forwards very competitive David Výborný will play on 12th consecutive IHWC, will lead the team again as in previous two years, his true heart and soul of the team, Jaroslav Hlinka is this year's Extraliga top scorer, lead Sparta to win. Petr Sýkora (is not in close relationship with Petr Sýkora playing in Edmonton) wshould Jan Marek had really good season. He was key part of Magnitogorsk team and is expected to support offensive very much. Petr Čajánek is doing a lot of hard work, he should be one of the team leaders. The youngesters, mainly Plekanec and Olesz can show their true potential on this tournament. That players can surely come from behind as Zbyněk Irgl did with his beautiful goal in last WC quarterfinal against Russia. Prediction: It was big surprise last year when Czech team entered the finals, 12 players of current team remember that event. Rookies created more than half of the team last WC, several new players were involved this year. It is clear sign of generation change in Czech national team. 4 players are from Vítkovice, 11th team in Extraliga, Hadamczik simply trust the players who did good work in national team before. It depends on quarter final as usually, Czech team is surely capable to reach the medal. Of course, it would be huge upset if Czech Republic wouldn't reach quarterfinal stage, 7th place from the 1994 WC in Italy still remains the worst result of Czech & Czechoslovakian national team. |
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29-04-2007, 06:11
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IHF Prospect
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In the last game of the Oilers in 2006-2007 Ales Hemsky was playing. How could he be injured?
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29-04-2007, 14:06
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#39 | |
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29-04-2007, 14:12
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Aqua jacta est |
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30-04-2007, 00:19
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#41 | |
 
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Classic Quote "Apparently his deity will protect him from the laws of physics." - D. Fitzsimmons I'm the  hole formerly known as KazakhEagles 
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30-04-2007, 13:43
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#42 | |
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30-04-2007, 16:46
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Aqua jacta est |
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30-04-2007, 20:52
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#44 | |
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Classic Quote "Apparently his deity will protect him from the laws of physics." - D. Fitzsimmons I'm the hole formerly known as KazakhEagles
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30-04-2007, 22:52
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#45 |
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Hey guys c'mon, is anybody gonna do Switzerland to finish this thread off? Everyone who has contributed rosters to this thread have done such a nice job, but I think it would be best if it were completed in its entirety before the tourny ends.
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30-04-2007, 23:02
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#46 |
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better place this post here:
The Danish media are finally starting to criticize Sirant's coaching. It had a long time coming, but they are now discovering that he has no experience with international hockey and what works/what does not work in the world championship. The Danish camp is a complete mesh right now. The players are publicly critizising the coach who in turn are benching the open-mouthed players. Item #1. Sirant has essentially only played with two lines in the first games while all the other relegation round candidates have played with four lines. Some of the players are already complaining of fatigue. As the Danish head tv commentator said: Sirant has coached his team as though it was supposed to beat Russia and Finland, while all other relegation round candidates have remained 100% focused on the all important ame 3. The most experienced Danish player, Jens Nielsen, with more than 200 national games and nearly 15 IHWC's dared to criticise Sirant who in turn benched Jens Nielsen for tomorrow' game. Item #2. Michael Madsen is clearly Denmark's best goaltender right now. No question about that. Nevertheless, Sirant has decided to go with Hirsch tomorrow. Madsen has the firm support of nearly everybody but Sirant and went public with his criticism. Background on Sirant |
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30-04-2007, 23:09
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#47 | |
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01-05-2007, 00:10
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#48 |
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The three lightning punks (St. Louis, Richards and Lecavalier) are just tired for crying out loud! They have all summer! And they are young! I'm going to stop before I rant...
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01-05-2007, 07:41
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#49 |
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I really, really hope that DIU will fire Mike Sirant after this tournament. But i fear not. Does anybody know what Stephan Lundh is doing nowadays?
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01-05-2007, 09:24
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#50 | |
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