The World U18 Championships wrapped up yesterday, and the US fell just short of winning the gold.
The Russians knocked off the US 6-5 to capture the gold. It was the second time the US had lost to the Russians in the tournament. In both games, the US had a pretty big advantage in shots on goal, but couldn't capitalize.
The US was coming off a huge shootout win over Canada in the semifinals to avenge their earlier shootout loss to the Canadians in the preliminary round. Of course, Canada's loss brought about cries from north of the border about Canada not sending their best team, which is true, since many top players were playing in CHL playoffs rather than this tournament. The same will probably be said by US fans this August, when Canada's top U18 team beats the US team, which doesn't pick NTDP players. Really, neither side pits their best against each other until the U20 World Junior Championships, and it's tough to deny the success that Canada has had there.
The top players for the US in the tournament looked like the line of James van Riemsdyk(UNH), Colin Wilson(BU), and Jordan Schroeder(MN). Those three could all be top ten picks in the next three NHL drafts, respectively. Along with Schroeder, the other underager on the team, Vinny Saponari also had a nice tournament. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk seemed to play very well, and may have improved his draft stock.
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The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament held in August will indeed feature the best American '90s that are not currently with the USNTDP. Although the team will be selected from participants of the Select 17 camp, look for USA Hockey to choose many of the '90s that played for the U17 team in the Three Nations Tournament last season. Some likely candidates include defensemen Joe Gleason, Austin Handley, Brett Kostolansky, Aaron Ness, Max Nicastro, Drew Olson, Steven Spinell, and Chris Weideman. Forwards may include Brett Beebe, Max Cook, Nate Dewhurst, Ben Hanowski, Kyle Jean, Kellen Michalak, John O'Neill, Troy Power, Shawn Szydlowski, Mitchell Wahl, and Jake Youso. If you're wondering "Who the hell are these guys and can they beat Canada?" ...the answer would be "No".
The U-18 championship is a tournament that the U.S. should always win or at least be in contention to win. The reason is simple, they are the only country to actually send a team that has been playing together for two years. All other countries have to hastily assemble an all star squad that has had very little practice time and where players' roles are often in question.
The fact that Russia won and Canada took the U.S. to a shootout speaks volume to the immense talent these two teams possessed.
It is worth noting that the NTDP u-18 team entered the tournament and dominated play as indicated by outshooting the opposition. Unfortunately, they did not get the results. By not getting good enough goaltending ,it may of cost them the tournament.
The Canadians are predictible as per usual. No matter what happens, it is always poor little Canada, the whole world is against us, excuses excuses. Canada had 14 of the 22 players that were at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. Canada's players are well defined robots. Most players are interchangeable. Most play similar systems in the CHL. If Canada is far superior to anyone else, should they not be winning every game by 12 goals? Canadians like to remind anyone who will listen that they could assemble 10 teams better than anyone else's A team. It is apparent that this year they couldn't even assemble 1 team, not even 1.
Let's not kid ourselves, Canada must still be considered the number 1 hockey nation (remembering that the sport is subsidised by the government). I just think it is quite laughable when the Canadians get their panties up in bunch.
Canada has to have something to hang its hat on. If it wasn't for hockey, Canada would have nothing. They are already riding the USA's coattails in every other facet of life. Hockey is the only thing that keeps Canada's self esteem intact given their neighbor to the south kicks its ass in pretty much everything else.
They are fortunate the USA has so many of its best athletes in other sports. If it wasn't for that, Canada would be an also ran in hockey too.
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