WJC Season 19 Week 1 Recap WJC Season 19 is off to a hot start, between a manager quitting a two week tournament, and another one rumored to be on the IRL IR with a broken hand, this season is shaping up to be a fun one. Lets get into the results from Week #1. Group A: 1st- Italy – 10-2-0 Not much of a surprise here. The team with the first overall pick in the legendary Edgarnormous, along with a steal at pick #32 in iDoubleOhSeven lead this group by 5 points. After a slow first night going 2-2, a team with a lot of reigning gold medalists returned to form and look to make a deep run in the medal rounds yet again. 2nd- Germany- 7-4-1 This team is doing a lot better than I think most of expected looking at how their managers and their teams fared in s38. Looking forward to seeing how they do in a second week of competition. BigBigBlunt69 putting up a strong 7-0-1 performance in net with a .785 sv% and a 2.72 GAA is respectable. Team is scoring at a decent clip in front of him, if both keep that up I expect another 5-7 wins out of this team in his 8 games. 3rd-USA- 7-5-0 This team started out rough, going 3-5 in its first 8, but finished strong with a 4-0 Tuesday. Not a lot of points for these guys, @JuicyHodge had a great week going 5-1 with an .889 sv%. Gotta ride him for 8 next week to try to crack into top 2 for home ice in first round, Temples .629 sv% in his 6 does not warrant another 50/50 split in my opinion. Gotta ride the hot hand, even if it means the AGM getting 4 games. 4th-Sweden- 6-4-2 This Sweden team reminds me a lot of the s38 Victoriaville Tigres and I am not really sure why. I like the D core they have built here, but it seems to be at the expense of their forwards, who are averaging less than 2ppg. Goaltending has been solid, just need goals. Also 5 of their 12 games have gone to overtime, which is impressive. 5th-Norway-6-5-1 There are a good amount of strong forwards on this team. The D core is also pretty solid as well. Goaltending got off to a rough start to the week, seemed to improve as the week went on. I think this team is more than capable of making the playoffs maybe even grabbing a 2-3 seed if goaltending is half decent going forward. 6th-Denmark- 5-5-2 There are some strong talents on this team, however it is not a good sign when your 5th leading scorer has 5 points and is a defenseman. However there are some positives here. First being OVBryant playing 4 games, second being Belliveau absolutely stealing some games this week. It is an uphill battle for this team, but not an impossible one. 7th-France- 5-6-1 I do not really know what to think of this team. They have 2 solid goaltenders, but nothing else on this roster really catches my eyes at all. Bold move sending down ConnerCares who was their leading scorer with 9 points, lets see how that pans out for them. Nevertheless this team is exceeding my expectations, I had them pegged for maybe 4-5 wins all tournament and they got that in 1 week. I don’t forsee a playoff push in this teams future but I have been wrong before. 8th- Russia – 2-7-3 Russia has the fewest goals scored in the tournament, and that does not surprise me looking at this roster. They lack high end talent plain and simple. I don’t see anyone on this team that should have been drafted in the first 5 rounds, respectfully. Leading scorer has 7 points, both TC League superstars Koskimemes and OffensiveLoon are on this team as well, good for them, not good for Russia. ---------------------------Group B:----------------------------- 1st- Japan- 11-1-0 Japan has been hot from the start, regrettably dropping 1 game to Austria’s CPUs and own goals. However, the Japanese Men’s u18 Team must right the wrongs of last seasons tournament, where they were in first after Week 1 then missed the playoffs. They seem to be a more potent offense this time around while also sporting great defense and goaltending, giving up the fewest goals in the tournament so far. I look for us to continue what we started and not get complacent going into week 2. 2nd- Netherlands- 8-4-0 I like this team, there are some solid names here, except for Top Line Tom, not sure why that guy keeps getting drafted. Chelsnipes is an absolute unit in net, and held off Japan for 59 minutes and 57 seconds in an impressive showing in a 3-2 loss. This team will make playoffs, no doubt in my mind. 3rd- Jamaica-7-3-2 This is a pretty solid team with some very experienced players, along with Davos and Blizz holding down the pipes. This team will stay at the top side of Group B just off of experience alone, an impressive first week for the Jamaicans. 4th- Switzerland-6-6-0 After an 0-3 start, the Swiss saved the week finishing 6-3. A few quality wins vs Jamaica and the Netherlands has this team in 4th, but their other lines will need to step up this week, as well as needing some more saves and better defense. I think this team can hold its spot at 4 if they continue to ride the momentum after starting 0-3. 5th- Finland- 5-7-0 I expected more from this team to be honest. There are a lot of experienced CHLers on this team, but not seeing a lot of points being put up. Seemed to be some availability problems this week, hopefully Dempsey can pull these guys into the playoffs. Only 2 points out with 12 games left, theres plenty of hockey to do it. 6th- Austria-4-7-1 Not much to say here, this team has 1 line that won more than 1 game. They pulled out a big win vs Japan, but unless the other 2 lines can win, start packing your shit Austria. Hopefully some call ups can help turn the tide, but it is an uphill battle if you can only expect about 8 points from this team. 7th- South Korea- 4-8-0 South Korea started hot going 3-1 with that loss coming to Japan. CHL point leader, and 3rd overall pick Jagr did the best he could with the team he was given. Starting 3-1, but then the rest of the team going 1-7 is not a recipe for success. Rumor has it Emery is on the IR with a broken hand, an injury that may prove too much for this South Korea team to overcome. Hopefully this management team learns to listen to who their 3rd overall pick asks them to draft, might yield some better results in the future. 8th- Canada – 3-9-0 Oh Canada, coming off a strong S18 after a pitiful S17, Canada is back to its losing ways, and does not seem primed to climb out of them. There is not much forward talent beyond their first line. After a respectable 2-2 night 1, the team went 1-7 in their next 8. Schedule doesn’t get any easier, not looking great for the Canadians. --------------------------------- My Projected Playoff Teams:----------------------------------------------- Group A Italy USA Sweden Norway First Out(Germany) Group B Japan Netherlands Jamaica Finland First Out(Switzerland)
4th-Sweden- 6-4-2 This Sweden team reminds me a lot of the s38 Victoriaville Tigres and I am not really sure why. I like the D core they have built here @l L3FTY l
