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2013 World Junior Championships


Guest Podein25

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What better way to start a general purpose WJC thread than this hilarious "scouting report" from Down Goes Brown: http://www.downgoesb...review-wjc.html

Scouting the 2013 World Junior Championships

Craig Leipold saw the word "ufa"

and immediately offered the

tournament a 14-year contract

he had no intention of honoring.

It's almost World Juniors time again, with the eagerly anticipated annual tournament kicking off next week in Russia. Here's an advanced scouting report on the ten teams competing to take home the gold.

United States

The good: Top prospect Seth Jones is the son of former NBA star Popeye Jones, but chose to pursue a career in hockey instead in an attempt to maximize the percentage of his career he can lose to lockouts.

The bad: Have had to waste valuable training camp time repeatedly ejecting undercover Russian spy Alex Galchenyuk and his ridiculous cover story about being born in Wisconsin.

Sweden

The good: Are apparently the defending champion, according to North American hockey fans who just Wikipedia'd last year's tournament because they stop paying attention once their team is out.

The bad: Goaltender Oscar Dansk was a high pick in the 2012 NHL draft, but it was by Columbus so it's possible he's never actually been on skates before.

Switzerland

The good: Are said to have their most athletically gifted team ever.

The bad: That means that this year when somebody yells "Oh no, Team Canada is taking a slapshot, everybody run!", some of the players will be physically capable of running.

Slovakia

The good: The national program continues to produce excellent players.

The bad: Many of them are unavailable for this tournament because, following long-established Slovakian law, the country's five best players each year are merged Voltron-style to create a new version of Zdeno Chara.

Russia

The good: The team has been described as being so focused and determined that they're only planning to execute a spinning double-backflip into the end glass after their 14th goal against Switzerland instead of the usual triple-backflip.

The bad: Are hosting the tournament, meaning they'll play each game in front of thousands of local fans who spend the entire game muttering "Wait, isn't this that tournament that only people in Canada actually care about?"

Finland

The good: The team is led by a baby-faced star who hass invigorated everyone with his youthful enthusiasm.

The bad: At some point tournament officials will realize it's a locked out Teemu Selanne and tell him to go home.

Latvia

The good: Forward Toms Andersons is extremely difficult to contain, mainly because he's actually several guys named Tom Anderson.

The bad: Basically start the tournament one win behind everyone else in their group, since they're the only team that doesn't get a chance to play Latvia.

Germany

The good: Their opening game against Canada takes place at 4:30 a.m. ET, so their 19-0 loss will probably only be seen by maybe seven or eight million people.

The bad: For some reason, have gone with a roster made up almost entirely of Germans.

Czech Republic

The good: Scouts are once again describing them as "the fastest team in the entire tournament".

The bad: Scouts are once again immediately adding "… at getting through airport security, since they haven't set off a metal detector since 2005".

Canada

The good: Will feature six returning players from last year's bronze medal squad, since that's how many managed to swim back to shore after being placed on an ice floe by the Canadian government for failing to finish first.

The bad: Will have to beat Russia on their home ice to win gold, which will probably take some of the novelty off of doing it again at the 2014 Olympics.

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I dunno. Hard to pick a goaie so early when they are 6-7 years from being in the NHL, if they make it at all.

You are correct.....it is just hard not to want a goalie when the Flyers' system is bare.

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it is just hard not to want a goalie when the Flyers' system is bare.

I remember chatting with someone in the shoutbox around draft time that arguably a good strategy for the Flyers was to draft nothing but goalies. You'd increase your odds of finding a stud that way, lol.

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I remember chatting with someone in the shoutbox around draft time that arguably a good strategy for the Flyers was to draft nothing but goalies. You'd increase your odds of finding a stud that way, lol.

Surely that would be a good way to 'launch' Breezy into the next stratosphere!

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@Vanflyer

@hf101

Just speculating here, but you have to think that us never having 2nd round picks (thanks Homer!) means lost opportunities to snag top-tier goalies. Many elite goalie prospects drop to the 2nd round precisely because teams choose not to "waste" a first rounder on a goalie when more obvious "surefire" skaters are stil available.

Edited by Podein25
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@Podein25

I agree Pods. I remember a quote back from Clarkie's days "What's the value of a second round pick?"

......hmmm...a decent goalie prospect ?? :angry:

Which makes me think of the lost pick from when the Flyers traded Upshall to Phoenix .... Haven't the Flyers's been screwed enough for their mistakes? Do we really need the CBA to punish them more? errrrrr

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Just speculating here, but you have to think that us never having 2nd round picks (thanks Homer!) means lost opportunities to snag top-tier goalies. Many elite goalie prospects drop to the 2nd round precisely because teams choose not to "waste" a first rounder on a goalie when more obvious "surefire" skaters are stil available.

I actually had to go look. Of the starting goalies in the NHL (top 30 in wins) here is what I found:

1) 9 were taken in the first round\

2) 6 were taken in the 2nd round (including Bryz)

3) 5 were taken in the 9th round

4) 3 were undrafted

Thank god we don't throw away our 9th round picks!!!

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I actually had to go look. Of the starting goalies in the NHL (top 30 in wins) here is what I found:

1) 9 were taken in the first round\

2) 6 were taken in the 2nd round (including Bryz)

3) 5 were taken in the 9th round

4) 3 were undrafted

Lol. I rest my case!

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@Podein25 Tomorrow morning is Canada's first exhibition game...aganist Finland, only game I have to work for....so I'm recording her. Also have to work Jan 5th, so may have to take my first vacation day of the year, should...a know, we are lucky enough to be in the final.

Just re-watched the Russian vs Canada game from 1995. Canada had a pretty crappy team, Harvey, Storr in net, and Daze (wow was I wrong about him, thought for sure he would be a super star, had it all, size moves and shot...just did not translate to the NHL).

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USA 3 - Sweden 2 in OT in the first preliminary game.

Shayne Gostisbehere had a strong game on the pp and pk, had two penalties and the Game Winner in a slapshot from the point.

game summary sheet. http://bigdata.lahtis-enterprises.com/mem/?cha=f7b6acd939531c466b6316baae359b0b

pre game notes and analysis http://unitedstatesofhockey.com/2012/12/20/team-usa-lineup-vs-sweden-notes-and-analysis/

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Canada lost 3-2 to the Finns. They played very undisciplined taking 9 penalties. The officiating isn't going to get easier in Russia (not knocking the officiating, just saying the players have to get used to Euro- refs) Subban looked very average in net on 2 of the goals. Maata looked great for the Finns.

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@flyercanuck I've got a lot of requests for multiple WJC parties...even though it's 4:30 in the morning, everybody wants to make a night of it and crash after the game, at least 7 people have called me now, guess the lack of NHL has made the tourny even more anticapted than ever. Pretty cool, thought I was gonna be watching this stuff alone, but will have a housefull for every game it looks like.

Didn't get to see the whole game yet, have it on DVR, but what I did see Hamilton really stuck out. He was a bit over-zealous, but a definate physical presence and was looking to put his shot point on net a lot, and had a nice mix with slap passes, slap shots and fake passes.

Saw the last couple minutes of Team USA, then got to see Ghost rip home the winner in OT (even though it had been announced that there was no OT to be played). I'll be cheering for USA if Canada should happen to not make the finals. Let's keep the Gold on this side of the pond is my theory. Plus, Ghost is on USA, the only real thing Flyers fans have to cheer for as far as prospects in the WJC. Hoping to catch a re-play of Team USA, but according to 101, Ghost was on the top pp and saw a lot of ice time....nice to see.

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Canada lost 3-2 to the Finns. They played very undisciplined taking 9 penalties. The officiating isn't going to get easier in Russia (not knocking the officiating, just saying the players have to get used to Euro- refs) Subban looked very average in net on 2 of the goals. Maata looked great for the Finns.

What is up with TSN.ca? Not a single article on USA's OT win over Sweden!!

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@Vanflyer That's odd....you would think they would have lot's of coverage.

You would think- since they are telecasting the USA games too. Here is the link: http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/

They have a whole section for World Juniors and an article on Canada's loss, but nothing on the USA - Sweden game. Very odd- since that game was a good game that went to OT.

Here is a nice write up by USA hockey (including box score): http://worldjuniors.usahockey.com/news_article/show/204048?referrer_id=707994

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They have a whole section for World Juniors and an article on Canada's loss, but nothing on the USA - Sweden game. Very odd...

I wouldn't worry too much about it @Vanflyer. It was an exhibition game and Seth Jones was not playing so...

The actual TV coverage on Sportscentre was fine. Showed the highights and interview with Jones saying USA is the team to beat. Standard fare, nothing to see here.

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I wouldn't worry too much about it @Vanflyer. It was an exhibition game and Seth Jones was not playing so...

The actual TV coverage on Sportscentre was fine. Showed the highights and interview with Jones saying USA is the team to beat. Standard fare, nothing to see here.

Not really worried about it- just seems odd to me. Why have a "World Juniors" section on the menu bar when they actually mean: "Team Canada at World Juniors"?

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Thanks. I went to USAHockey. My point was really why doesn't TSN online provide more global tournament info and not so centric just to team Canada? For example, it would be great to see and article summarizing all the top ranked prospects from each team participating.

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Why have a "World Juniors" section on the menu bar when they actually mean: "Team Canada at World Juniors"?

It might improve. Like I said, exhibition. You watch, the TSN guys will be slobbering all over Seth Jones in the coming weeks, especially if he plays like he is expected to.

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