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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2022 11:01:27 GMT -5
It is too early to start a 2023 Draft thread (not for me lol, but I will give you guys a break until the season starts at least), but the first official event of the next draft season is the summer U18 Hlinka-Gretzky. It is back in Canada again after the planned event two summers ago for Edmonton-Red Deer was another of many COVID casualties. This event is 100% in Red Deer due to the “coordinated” timing of also having the 2022 rescheduled WJC right after in Edmonton starting on August 9.
The event started yesterday with three games. A very large Habs contingent was there: Hughes, St-Louis (his son is a defender #24 on the USA team), Lapointe, Bobrov, Boisvert and possibly more. It is an event for 2005 born or later. So a number of guys eligible for 2023 aged out if they have “late birthdays” between September 16-December 31 2004. Still, a very large contingent of the better names for the 2023 draft are there as well as a few top names for 2024. Some of the high end guys miss out as they will be competing at the WJC instead (Bedard, Dvorsky) even though they are eligible for both. Some top end guys miss out due to birthdays and ageing out (Fantilli, Leo Carlsson). Michkov won’t be there as the ban of Russia and Belarus was extended to this event too.
For the record, the 2005 born class is stacked for Canada. This Hlinka team is stacked. And it is very WHL and western Canada strong as 2023 should be a great draft for the WHL. Even without Bedard, Fantilli and Danielson, this team is very strong and is the favourite for gold. The USA do not send NTDP players, so the players come from the USHL, CHL and USHS. It is a good chance to see all the non-NTDP guys in one place.
Here is a primer on some guys to watch. I will add more of my own lists, including a bit of an extended list of Canada’s guys to watch.
Most of the games are on TSN. I will try and flag each day what games are being shown. To start, they show the last two of three games of the day. They will expand to three later this week.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2022 11:02:05 GMT -5
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2022 11:03:16 GMT -5
And we cannot forget the 2024 draft class, including the expected number one overall.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2022 11:13:05 GMT -5
Here is recap of yesterday’s action. CZE edged FIN 4-3 in a shootout after tying the game in the last minute of play. An exciting shootout ensued and 2023 draft stud Šalé popped two goals in the shootout including the winner five hole. Unfortunately this was the one game not televised. The USA dominated Germany 8-1. Musty for Sudbury Wolves was pretty decent, but the USA’s best player was Will Whitelaw. The undersized but super skilled forward tore up Shattucks-St Mary’s last year with 110 points. It was not close to Crosby’s school record, or Parise’s best year, but it is one of the best in school history. Finally, Canada steam rolled poor Switzerland 14-0. RD Cameron Allen lead the way with four assists, and Sherbrooke Phoenix forward Ethan Gauthier has a hat trick. He is Denis’ son, and proud parents were watching. A few kids with famous hockey dads also include defender St Louis for the US, defender Bonk for Canada, and goalie Huet for Switzerland. One of the US goalies is Rogie Vachon’s grandson!!
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2022 11:18:40 GMT -5
Monday August 1 games that are televised.
Finland vs USA at 5:00pm ET TSN5
Czechia vs Germany 9:00pm ET TSN5
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 1, 2022 22:46:14 GMT -5
Eduard Šalé was stunning tonight. 3 goals and 2 assists in a 7-2 Czechia win over Germany. I had him top ten for 2023, and he is a serious threat to move up as the season progresses. He is very fast, and thinks the game and makes plays fast. This backhand goal was filthy mitts.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2022 10:21:19 GMT -5
A wild day yesterday. Sweden made their debut and Otto Stenberg lived up to his first round hype with three points in a 4-1 win over Slovakia. Finland vs USA was a huge must win for Finland, even though it was only a day two game. There are only three round robin games, and the top two in each group of four advance to the semis (only four teams make the playoffs). Finland had lost in a SO and USA had won big in their first game, so Finland needed a regulation win to keep in the hunt with USA and Czechia. After a quick start by the USA and a nice snipe by Musty, the Finns finally got into the game and honestly were the better team for the remainder. Järventie was their best player, but Uronen (2024) had two very good heavy snipes for goals and Vinni (top ranked goalie for 2024 perhaps) was very solid in net. Finland won 4-1. The day wrapped up with the Eduard Šalé show. A 3+2 night as Czechia got their second win 7-2 against Germany. The Czech lead the group and their Wednesday match against the USA is huge, for the Americans who now sit third behind Czechia and Finland.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2022 10:31:08 GMT -5
Tuesday August 2 games that are televised
Finland vs Germany 5:00pm ET TSN4
Slovakia vs Canada 9:00pm ET TSN1
It is a shame that Sweden’s game is the non televised game for the second straight day, as they are a strong team here. Tomorrow’s match against Canada is the prime time game and they will be televised in the semis and on Saturday’s medal games. I expect a 🇨🇦 🇸🇪 final, but it is a short tourney and anything can happen.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 2, 2022 17:04:07 GMT -5
A quick little primer for Team Canada as they face Slovakia tonight, in their toughest test so far after their blowout of the Swiss.
Even without Bedard and Fantilli/Danielson (the latter two aged out), this group has a ton of skill and depth up front. That is the big strength of this team, but it is pretty strong in all three positions. The talent up front is great. It may not rely on one or two go-to guys like some of the other countries, as they can get you throughout the lineup. It is a bevy of projected first round talent, including Richie (Oshawa) and Barlow (Owen Sound) from the OHL. Richie is even in the talk of sneaking into top five on some early lists. Gauthier (Roy’s teammate at Sherbrooke) and Cataford (Halifax) are the top guys from the Q. And the loaded WHL/BCHL skilled forwards include Yager (Moose Jaw), Benson(Winnipeg), Wood (Victoria BCHL), Lind (Red Deer), and Heidt (Prince George). Yager is the current WHL and CHL rookie of the year. I saw both Benson and Lind in the Dub playoffs and they were standouts, especially Benson who stepped up when Savoie went down and he definitely outplayed Geekie. I think I saw four of his playoff games live.
On the blue line, the team is lead by the OHL rookie of the year and the projected top defender in the draft, Cameron Allen (Guelph). Molendyk (Kelowna) and Tourigny (Shawinigan) are on early lists too. Tourigny is the younger brother of Migüel who the Habs drafted in the recent draft.
In net, it is a trio of solid WHL netminders: Ratzlaff (Seattle), Bjarnason (Brandon), and Unger (Moose Jaw).
The 2005 class is very strong for Canada, as is the projected 2006 class, after a pretty ho-hum 2004 class that were the big part of the most recent draft.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 3, 2022 10:12:29 GMT -5
The second last day of round robins featured three games, none of which were close (even the Finnish game despite the closer looking score).
Sweden continues to roll, beating the Swiss 9-3 behind a five point game from Theo Lindstein, one of the two top ranked D for 2023 (along with Cameron Allen from CAN). Otto Stenberg, the other top ranked Swede here, added four points himself.
The Finns booked their semi final spot with a comfortable 4-1 win over Germany. 2024 draft stud Aron Kiviharju led the way with three assists from the blue line. Järventie added a goal. Highly touted Kasper Halttunen had an assist, but has had a very quiet tourney so far.
Canada routed Slovakia 9-1 to finish the day. A late goal spoiled the shutout for Bjarnason. Yager had a very efficient four point night and Canada looked pretty dominating from top to bottom against a team that definitely misses Dvorsky (he is playing WJC instead). Their top ranked player participating, Molnar, was held in check all night although he did get a few decent looks. 7 of 9 Canadian goals came off WHL sticks. Just sayin’. 😉
Canada and Sweden with their wins are also through to the semis. Only one spot left up for grabs and it will be decided on today’s head to head matchup between 🇺🇸 and 🇨🇿
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 3, 2022 10:19:51 GMT -5
Three games televised for the last day of round robin:
Czechia vs USA 1:00pm ET TSN5
Slovakia vs Switzerland 5:00pm ET TSN5
Canada vs Sweden 9:00pm ET TSN5
The first game decides the last semi final spot available. Czechia heads into the game two points up on third place USA, so the Americans need a regulation win to stay alive. Anything else and Czechia advances. Czechia is my pick here.
Canada and Sweden both have six points in their group and are semi bound. This is just for seeding and top spot in the group. Canada’s first big test of the tournament. The game features the two key 2023 draft eligible prospects Allen and Lindstein going head to head, although it is still a very, very forward top heavy draft so far. Canada is my pick here.
Edit: Oh yeah, I will be at the 🇨🇦 🇸🇪 game tonight!
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Post by folatre on Aug 3, 2022 14:37:11 GMT -5
Down 2-1 and on the power play, the Americans pull their goalie on an offensive zone draw with over five minutes to go in the game. They immediately get scored on. I do not know if analytics back up the coach's decision. For me it seems wildly foolish. How can a team with as much talent as the Americans need to pull the goalie to generate quality scoring chances on the power play?
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 4, 2022 16:22:42 GMT -5
Down 2-1 and on the power play, the Americans pull their goalie on an offensive zone draw with over five minutes to go in the game. They immediately get scored on. I do not know if analytics back up the coach's decision. For me it seems wildly foolish. How can a team with as much talent as the Americans need to pull the goalie to generate quality scoring chances on the power play? That coaching decision will go down as one of the biggest gambles that totally bombed. Now Musty also made a bit of a meal of the play eventually coughing up the puck. Some of his decision making (or lack thereof) is starting to get my attention more. I do have a bit of a growing question mark about his hockey IQ. |
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 4, 2022 16:36:12 GMT -5
Well, the final day of round robin is over, and the semis are set. All games yesterday were way closer than the previous days, so it was entertaining hockey.
USA had to beat Czechia in regulation to avoid missing out on the final semi spot. In the end, Hrabal was solid in net and Chechia advanced to the semi 3-1 (last goal was and ENG) behind solid goaltending and timely goals.
In a battle of two teams seeking their first win, Slovakia edged out a very pesky Swiss team 3-2 in OT. Cedzo had the game tying and GWG for Slovakia. Urban had another strong outing for the Slovaks in net.
And the battle for top spot in the group between the two unbeaten clubs went Canada’s way with a very strong 3-0 over Sweden. Canada had some strong performances throughout, but Benson was great on every shift up front ( this is becoming a very positive trend that I am noticing), Price had a quietly solid game on the blue line (his game is growing on me in this tourney), and Ratzlaff was calmly efficient in net for his second shutout in two games played. This is a preview of my expected gold medal matchup on Saturday (and has been since the start of this event). It was my first live viewing of the Canadian kids and other first rounders like Lindstein and Stenberg. How bad is that 😆?
Semi final Friday action:
Canada vs Finland 7:00pm ET TSN3
Sweden vs Czechia 10:30pm ET TSN3
You may wonder why such late starts tomorrow. The day features four games on one rink, so the 7th place game snd 5th place games go earlier to complete the final seeding of the event. All eight participating teams are in action tomorrow.
Bronze and Gold medal games wrap up on Saturday.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 6, 2022 9:22:13 GMT -5
The results from the four games yesterday:
Switzerland 4 Germany 1 - 7th place game
USA 4 Slovakia 2 - 5th place game
Canada 4 Finland 1 - semi final
Sweden 6 Czechia 2 - semi final
Finland likely played Canada as close as any team to date, but the relentless attack and skill from Canada was too much in the end. Finland ruined Ratzlaff’s bid for a third straight shutout with less than 20 seconds to go in the game. Hopefully that pisses off the team and they come out even more motivated today in the gold medal game.
Sweden held the edge on the scoresheet for most of the game, but Czechia kept in it and got a few goals to keep it close until late in the third when Sweden popped a bunch to run the score up. Stenberg with two nice snipes (he is solidifying a very good higher first round ranking for me after looking very strong here) and usually solid 6’6” Czech goalie Hrabal actually let in a number of goals over his shoulder. He goes down a bit early and actually looks a bit small when he does too, as he goes not maintain his tall frame enough in the butterfly. Things he will have to work on for sure.
Tough break for Czechia, from a scheduling perspective. Their game last night finished just after 11:00pm local time, and their bronze medal match is at noon local today. They are young!!
Bronze Medal Game Czechia vs Finland 2:00pm ET TSN3
Gold Medal Game Canada vs Sweden 6:00pm ET TSN3
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Aug 8, 2022 14:26:40 GMT -5
Well, Canada cruised to gold 4-1 over Sweden and ran their perfect record to 5-0 with 34 gf and 3 ga. This dominant and stacked Canadian team was reminiscent of the 2005 WJC Canadian team that ran the table as well, and was dominated by all those studs from the 2003 draft and was helped by an NHL lockout that allowed all top players to participate.
It is possible that ten of this Canadian team go first round next summer. Now, lots can change in a year but this is a great group. And when you add in the three guys who were not on this team (Bedard, Fantilli and Danielson) who are all currently projected first rounders, 2023 draft is looking good for Canada right now. Heck, Bedard and Fantilli are projected top five guys.
The Finns won the rematch of the first game of the tournament against Czechia to claim bronze. They were the better team in the match, so a well deserved medal for Finland.
Gold 🇨🇦
Silver 🇸🇪
Bronze 🇫🇮
Fourth 🇨🇿
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