IIHF U20 Championship 1/5/2019

This tournament will have to be remembered as the tournament of upsets. first Russia upset Canada
in group a to take the top spot.

Playoffs

The Knockout playoff rounds number 2 seed Canada was upset by the 3rd seeded Finland in OT.

If that wasn't enough Switzerland the 4th seed upset number 1 seed Sweden in the same bracket.

The other side of the bracket we saw the favorites advance. USA again beat Chech Republic 3-1 and
Russia disposed of Slovakia 8-3.

Seimi Finals

In the semi-finals #2 seed USA beat #1 and undefeated Russia 2-1. Russia is a fast skating, skilled
team that had a lot of possession. They like to curl back with the puck and creats an off balacned
defense and skate into the offensive zone. The USA plays one of the best team defensive games
compared to all the other nations. They are disceplin in their defensive assignments and this leads
to frustrations or turnovers to give the USA offensive opportunities. The USA held on to a gritty 2-1
win over Russia to advance to the finals.

Finland played #4 seed Switzerland and the Finns were just to good. They dominated the Swiss and
won with a convincing 6-1 win.

Finals

Both Finland and USA have 4 Championships apiece at this level. Canada has a whopping 17 while
Mighty Russia has 13. Sweden, surprisingly only has 2 Championships to their name.

This final will be a rematch of their group game in which the USA won the group game. However

there was a apparently a good goal scored by Finland to tie the game 1:1 but an early whiscle was
called. The goal was waved off. This changed the dynamic of the game and the USA went on to win

4-1. Finland will be looking to avenge their group game loss while the USA will look to further frustrate
the Finns and capitalize on opportunistic offense and continue to roll 4 equal lines.

Watch for Jack Hughes to show us why he will be the #1 pick in this years draft.

Upcoming Sporting Events for 2019 -

2019 (Soccer, Hockey, Rugby)		Host
Dec 26- Jan 5th	U-20 “World Juniors” Hockey	Vanc & Victoria
Jan 26-27th	World Rugby Seven Series	Hamilton, New Z
Feb 2nd-3rd	World Rugby Seven Series	Sydney, Australia
Feb - March	American Rugby Championship (Argentina XI, USA, Canada, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile)	Home /Away
March 1-3rd	World Rugby Seven Series	Las Vegas, USA
March 9-10th	World Rugby Seven Series	Vancouver, Can
March 21, 26th	Nations League Qualification-CONCACAF (no –USA)	Home/away
April 5th-7th	World Rugby Seven Series	Hong Kong, China
April 13th 14th	World Rugby Seven Series	Singapore
April 18th-28th	IIHF World U-18 Championship (10 nations)	Sweden
April 21st –May 7th	U-17 CONCACAF Championship	No picked yet
May 10th -26th	IIHF Hockey World Championship	Slovakia
May 25-27th	World Rugby Seven Series	London, England
May 23 – June 15th	U-20 FIFA World Cup	Poland
June 1 and 2nd	World Rugby Seven Series-Final	Paris, France
June	2019 World Rugby U-20 Trophy Qualification V Canada	Home/Away
July 9th -21st	2019 World Rugby U-20 Trophy (8 Tier 2 Nations)	Brazil
July 9th -30th	Gold Cup 2019 –CONCACAF 16 nations	USA
Sept 2 -10th	Nations League A Match 1 & 2	Home/ Away
Sept 20th – Nov 2nd	Rugby World Cup 2019	Japan
Oct 7th – 15th	Nations League A Match 3 & 4	Home Away
Nov 11th – 19th	Nations League Match 5 & 6	Home / Away
	Rugby End – of –year-test	away

The World Juniors or the IIHF U-20 hockey tournament always starts the year off with an exciting bang. This year Canada will host again.  The
USAU-20 is now considered equal to Canada and Russia in this tournament. However Sweden and Finland are both just as good. This
tournament is played in Canada every other year, since it is a huge event and Canada hockey makes the most mula and kicks back revenue to
the IIHF.  

The American Rugby Championship starts 2 weeks after the Super Bowl with 3 games in Feb and 2 in March. This year the Eagles will again
have 3 home games, First Austin TX then 2 in Seattle. They will have to play Argentina XV away this year, so this year it will be much more
difficult to repeat. Hoping we see lots of progress.

We then switch back to Hockey for the IIHF U-18 Championship, which will be held in Sweden this year. The USA has dominated, yes I said
dominated in this Championship. They have reached the final 9 out of the last 10 years and winning 7 of the 9 times. The USA has the best
junior program.

The CONCACAF U-17 Championship will be in April and the host is not picked. It was hosted in Mex (09), Jam(11), Panama (13), Honduras
(15) and in  Panama (17) again. I believe the new president will try to get this tournament to Canada or a Caribbean nation next. I am thinking
a nice island like Curacao, Martinique, Bermuda or Guadeloupe. Since the USA host the Gold Cup, the last 3 Olympic qualifications and the last
U-20 Men’s Championship I believe it has to move to another location.

IIHF Hockey World Championship is in Slovakia, This tournament starts in May right after the completion of the second round of NHL playoffs.
 So when your NHL team is knocked out you get to tune in and cheer for Team USA. Canada has 26 Championships, Russia 27, Czech 12, and
Sweden 11. Finland and USA only have a paltry 2.  The USA just do not take this tournament that serious or they are just out gunned by better
teams …EVERY YEAR!?

FIFA U-20 World Cup is in Poland in May which is a great summer start for soccer.  The USA U-20 performs much better than the senior side
in the World Cup at this level. USA has reached the quarter finals the last 2 years. They enter as CONCACAF Champions.

Then we have the high intensity (Rugby) USA Selects v Canada A for the qualification to the U-20 World Rugby Trophy. This is a yearly
tournament that will be in Brazil this year. Canada has beaten the USA Selects last 2 years. Canada then flopped at last year’s Tournament
. Let’s hope we can finally beat Canada and play in the international U-20 Trophy tournament in Brazil. The tournament is the same time
as the Gold Cup.

CONCACAF Gold Cup is the Granddaddy of all USA tournaments in 2019.  It will be hosted in the USA (also Costa Rica). There will be
15 venues in the USA. Alliance Field will be a brand new SSS due to open in March 2019. Also Banc of California Stadium just opened in
2018. These stadiums will be perfect for the expanded Gold Cup. The tournament finally expanded to 16 nations. I am hoping for more
scoring and we should get that in the group games. There should be some quality Caribbean nations who will bring a plethora of European
players to make for a really good competition.

Then we have the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan to start the Fall.  The USA Eagles will not be favorite in any match. Every nation in their group
out ranks them. I am personally hoping for massive improvement in this tournament.  I am hoping we can keep up with the thoroughbreds here.

Except for the Nations League and the 3 or 4 Rugby test matches that will wrap up 2019. The Nations League comes right after the Gold Cup.
The nations League is a much smaller tournament and will not get the glitz the Gold Cup had.  The test matches comes after the Rugby World Cup.
The Test matches will seem miniscule after the exciting Rugby World Cup 2019.

Order of excitement/importance for me

1. CONCACAF Gold Cup (July)
2. U-20 World Juniors (January)
3. Rugby World Cup (Fall)
4. FIFA U-20 World Cup
5. American Rugby Championship
6. U-20 World Rugby Trophy (if USA qualifies)

World Juniors 2019 Vancouver-Victoria update

The World Juniors is underway in Vancouver and Victoria. Sweden again finished 1st in their group again. Sweden has an astonishing 48 game preliminary round winning streak.  That is about 12 years in a row they have not losing a preliminary round game. That in itself is something that we all should pontificate. The USA placed 2nd after beating 3rd placed finisher Finland 4-1. This was a great win for is the USA since they don’t have to face Canada or Russia in the opening round, which would have been a daunting test. Kazakhstan now has to play Denmark for regulation.

The Vancouver group, which had the host (Canada)and might Russia had a bit of a surprise with their final seeding. Russia Topped Canada to finish 1st. This means Canada will have a tough opening knockout game against Finland. Have no fear, the Canadian players play in the ultra competitive Canadian Junior leagues. These are the closest leagues that emulate the NHL. Canada has won the most World Junior Championships and they will have the home crowd at the Vancouver Rogers center backing them. Czech Rep squeeked an over time win against Switzerland. This game
resulted in Czech getting the 3rd seed and Switz placing 4th.

The knockout rounds

Russia and Sweden have not lost yet. They both get the #1 seeds. Russia opens against 4th seed Slovakia. Slovakia played the tops teams tight and them they separated themselves from Kazakhstan 11-2 in the final game. This former Bohemian territory has a rich hockey history and play will passion against Mighty Russia.

Sweden seems to have a bit of a sickness that is running through their locker room. They had a very short bench against Kazakhstan  but were determined to keep their winning streak alive and place in the fortuitous #1 seed. Unfortunately they still will draw a very difficult opponent in Switzerland. Switzerland plays a very physical game and the swiss skill level improver every year. The last hit infractions rules goes against the Swiss strength. Swiss have tried their best to nullify the skill of other teams with "completing" their checks and takeing their opponent out of the fast skill game. I do not see the international refs putting their whisels away in the knockout rounds. Swiss must be carefull agains the fleet footed Sweden.

Canada has to play one of the big 5 (Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland and USA) in the opening round since they did not win their group. Canada has scored the most goals with 23. They also have the best goal differential with a +18 and have given up the least amount of goals with only letting in 5 goals. Canada will be playing at the Vancouver Canucks rink in the Rogers Center. The Rogers center is already a sell out, so the Canadians will have the home crown behind them. Finland has the talent but played a little sloppy against the USA. They have to eliminate the mistakes when they face Canada. None of this boweds well against Finalnd but the Fins ahve beated Canada in warm up games. This should be a cracker of a game.

The USA are up against the old rival Czech Republic. The USA are starting to play a little better team defense and the USA is always trying to roll 4 lines. The USA matches up well against Czech Rep since the Czech only seems to have 1 top line. So if they can concentrate on stopping their top line and attack with the other 3 lines, they should be in good shape.

The coaching staff along with hockey USA believes in developing the whole team and this has been their MO in these Junior tournaments. As always players start to seperate themselves. Let’s start with the Captain Mickey Anderson. He is playing with passion and is very hard to beat on defense. He is everything a Captain should be, leading by example. He also has chipped in 2 goals and 1 assist. If the USA are to go deep they will have to rely on team defense and no mistakes from their defensemen. Next is tournament leading point getter in Ryan Pholeing. He list at an imposing 6’ 2” centerman is fast and crafty and very difficult to defend in front of the net with his size. Lets not forget about the consensus  #1 NHL prospect in Jack Hughes who has missed 2 games for precautionary injury reasons. BU’s Joel Farabee has chipped in 3 goals and 2 assist to place 3rd in points for teams USA. Robertson has the 2nd most points with 1 goal but has 5 assists. Robertson also stands at 6’ 2” and has the offensive skills. Lets not forget about the fleet footed Tlyer Madden from Northeastern who has scored 3 goals and added and assist. Others could emerge like Michigans Josh Norris but it will be solid goaltending, team defense that keeps shooters on the outside and bottling up the lanes and wave after wave of 4 relentless lines offense.

All four knockout games are tomorrow....buckle up

I quick look back at the USA hockey in 2018

I did not post back in April about the USA U-18 team. The USA came in second and USA Jack Hughs won the MVP for the tournament. Jack Hughes was also the leading scorer. 

USA U-18 National Team.

The U-18 is our national team and this was one of the 3 big hockey tournaments the USA plays in.

The USA has dominated this tournament.

IIHF_World_U18_Championship

• They have the most Championships with 10
• They have reached the finals 9 out of the last 10 times
• They have medaled (1 2nd or 3rd) 16 out of 20 total tournamnets
• They have 10 Championship to Canada's 3

The USA now has the best youth program in a sport and that sport is hockey. Rugby is no where near the program that hockey has. Soccer is still emerging and its been 24 years since we hosted the 1994 World Cup.

USA U-20 National Team

The USA Juniors or the U-20 teams has been seeing the benefit of this youth program. The USA U-20 has medaled in the last 3 World Junior Tournaments. This is the most fun hockey tournament of them all. The IIHF 2018 tournament was hosted in Buffalo USA. The USA can in 3rd after losing to Sweden in the semi-finals. The MVP and leeading scorer was  Casey Mittelstadt. 

The USA Senior side or Team USA

The senior almost mirrored the U-20 team. The USA senior team traveled to Denmark. They came in 2nd in their group and then reached the semi-finals and again Sweden senior side knocked the USA out. The USA did also manage to win the 3rd place game and medal.

The MVP of this tournament was also and American Patrick Kane and he also was the leading scorer.

This was an awesome year to be a USA hockey fan.

The U-18 reached the Finals but lost, they had the MVP and leading scorer in Jack Hughes

The U-20 reached the semi0-finals and got 4rd place, MVP and leading scorer in Casey Mittelstadt.

Team USA came in 3rd place and had the MVP and leading scorer in Partick Kane. 

The good thing is next year 2019 we start all lover and the World Juniors or U20 tournament starts right after Christmas this year.

2018 IIHF World Championship -Denmark

    This tournamnet always starts in early May. Early May is right after the first rounds of the playoffs. All national teams have plently of NHL payers to chose from.

This years tournamnet was in Copenhaggen, Denmark. There are 16 teams in the tournament. The top teams always play hard in the opeing rounds since they all want the easiest game against a #4 seed in the knockout stage.

This year Canada placed 3rd in the group stage round and had to face #2 Russia in the opening knockout round. Canada knocked out mighty Russia early.

Sweden won their second consecutive and eleventh overall title after defeating Switzerland in the final.

This was Switzerlands first time in the final. 

The USA placed 3rd after getting beat bad by Sweden in the Semi-finals. Patrrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks was the MVP and the leading point getter with 20 points.

USA Juniors place 3rd at the World Juniors in Buffalo

I have been neglecting my hockey blog. The USA juniors had high hope of repeating at Champions, however there are quality teams in the top 8 now.

The USA juniors have come a long way, with the youth developement and the NCAA competition.

Buffalo was a good host, since it is drivable from the biggest  and hocky mad city of Toronto.

Attendance was 211, 210 total only slightly behind the 2017 tournamnet in Canada 257,882 and behind 215,229 Finland 2016 tournament.

USA win the World Juniors

USA win the World Juniors

            Well the first big USA event is in the books and it just might be the best of all the sports the USA is involved in all year. The USA U-20 Junior team has won the IIHF Championship beating their northern neighbor in a dramatic shoot out. There were many good players on both sides but the Americans came back twice, down 2 goals both times. The Juniors is an indication of the potential your youth has in your sport going forward. This is like the U-23 soccer team winning the Olympics. We can now look at all the players on the USA junior team and watch them develop on their prospective NHL teams.  As the head of USA Hockey seems to always say “There is a lot to like about USA Hockey”.

            The game was played in the iconic Bell Centre home of the Montreal Canadians. Looking up at all the Championship banners would give any hockey fan goose bumps thinking about how they all were acquired. The Juniors is the biggest national event in Canada weather it is hosted in Canada or hosted elsewhere.

Group Stage

            Well Canada and Russia are always the favorites in this tournament. Canada has won the most championships (16) and were playing at home behind their fanatical fans. Russia has been their main rival since 1977 at both the Junior and senior level. Russia seems to always metal in this event.  However the USA, Sweden and Finland have been gaining ground on the top dogs the last 10 years. This tournaments group A had the power teams of Canada, USA and Russia. Sweden and Finland were in Group B. There were quite a few surprises in the group stages. The USA was a surprise winner of the talented Group A.  Group B had the emergence of Denmark which took second place for the first time. Denmark won 2 games and lost in an overtime game. Czech Republic took 3^rd and Swiss made the knockout rounds. Finland was the reigning champion but did not make the knock out rounds. This was a total disaster for the Fins. “It will be the Finns' worst placement in an IIHF tournament in any category since 1955. “ Finland did manage to book their ticket to the World Juniors in Buffalo in 2018 by beating Latvia in the playoff game.

Knockout rounds

            All the favorites won in the quarterfinals. Sweden beat 4^th seed Slovakia. USA beat 4^th seed Switzerland. #2 Seed Canada handled Czech Republic. Now the only lower seed Russia beat the higher seed Denmark 4-0, however that was expected. The semi-finals again was filled with 4 of the Big 5 hockey nations. Sweden again lost in the knockout rounds after another outstanding group stage play to the host Canada.                                                             
           The USA finally beat Russia in the knockout rounds. The USA has been dumped by Russia in the last 3 World Juniors in the knockout rounds. The USA has not beat Russia in over 10 years, the last being December 2007.  The Americans came back from 0-1, 1-2 deficits to lead 3-2. Russia tied it up with opportunistic play. There was a penalty shot created by the lightning fast Clayton Keller, however Samsonov saved it and Russia hung in there. There was a post hit in the 4 v 4 over time. Then the shootout; which is where the USA finally beat the Russian to end a 10 year jinx.

            The final was a showdown against 2 heavy weights. Canada got the crowd behind them taking 2-0 lead and 4-2 leads. The Americans however had 4 lines and they all could skate. They never gave up and their persistence paid off. Bellows scored the next 2 goals for the USA tying the game in the 3^rd period. The game was an epic game full of drama, excitement and play swings. These 2 teams were equals with talent, speed and skill. This game went to OT and Troy Terry who got the goals for the USA against Russia again was the hero against Canada. All 5 shooters were stoned by Pasrons, while the Canadian goaltender Hart stopped all USA shooters except Terry’s.

The result

            The result was a huge win for USA hockey. This gives them 4 titles total in the World Juniors. They are way behind Canada who has 16 however USA hockey program is arguably as good as Canada’s. The USA have won 3 Championships in the last 8 tournaments. Finland has won 2 and Russia, Canada and Sweden each won the Championship. As the head of USA hockey always seems to say “There is a lot to like about USA hockey”.!

The tournament

            With 5 different nations winning the Championship in the last 8 years the tournament has become much more exciting. Slovakia even metaled in the 2015 tournament. Denmark has emerged the last 3 tournament as a legitimate threat. There is talk about expanding the tournament to a 12 team from its current 10 team format. Since Canada walloped Latvia 10-2, and Russia beat them 9-1 that conversation was muted. Once all games in the group stage get more competitive this tournament will expand.