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What the S55 SMJHL draft holds for the future of the International Teams
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FestinatorSMJHL Awards Committee Posting Freak What the S55 SMJHL draft holds for the future of the International Teams
(2x Draft media)
With 2 days to go until the draft, there are currently 85 bright eyed prospects registered to be picked in the S55 SMJHL draft. While SHL glory may be the ultimate goal for most of these players, international GM’s are sure to be keeping a keen eye out for who may one day end up on their national team rosters to help their home countries achieve glory on the world stage. The S55 SMJHL draft has something for everyone and everywhere, and we’ll check out what each of the major national teams has to look forward to in the draft, and which players may end up cracking their rosters sooner rather than later. Using the S53 IIHF World Hockey Championships as reference to most recent national team history, and going in Alphabetical order, we shall start with: Austria Goalies: 0 | Defenceman: 2 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 0 | Right wingers: 0 | Total: 2 The small and mighty Austria held their own during the S53 world championships, ultimately being bested by Canada in the quarterfinals. While they did take team Canada to overtime, the 3-2 score somewhat flatters the Austrians, seeing as they were outshot 72-18 in the game. The 2 defencemen coming from this draft will hope to help Austria contain offence threats a lot better in the future. Notable Defensive prospect Oliver Setzinger should be watched closely, as he has already shown much promise early on in his career. Canada Goalies: 2 | Defencemen: 7 | Centers: 3 | Left Wingers: 5 | Right Wingers: 2 | Total: 19 Coming off a 4th place finish at the S53 IIHF world championships, Canada will have an abundance of players coming into the draft to help them get back to the top of the hockey world. The hockey crazed country craves and expects the best from their players, and there are a few Notable prospects that look to help them in the future. Canadians should keep an eye out for Defenceman Evangelos Giannopoulos, Center Rocko Strongo, Sachimo Zoidberg III and Right Winger Alexis Vermette. Defencewoman Sarah Burke is also someone who looks to have a bright future on the Canadian blueline. Czech Republic Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 0 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 2 | Right Wingers: 1 | Total: 3 A strong Czech Republic team made it all the way to the finals of the S53 World Championships before then being throttled 5-0 by an even stronger American team. While a silver medal is nothing to be ashamed about, the Czechs are hoping that perhaps 1 or 2 of the 3 wingers that will be coming into the SMJHL draft may be able to give them the offensive push they needed in the future. Keep an eye out for top Winger prospects Cenek Iqbal and Zbynek Dobrovsky. Finland Goalies: 1 | Defencemen: 0 | Centers: 1 | Left Wingers: 2 | Right Wingers: 0 | Total: 4 The Fantastic Finns were not so fantastic in the S53 World Championships, failing to even make the medal rounds. They currently have 4 prospects to look forward to in the upcoming draft, and the ones to pay special attention to would be Center Raivo Helminen and Left Winger Valtterri Kauppinen. Germany Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 1 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 1 | Right Wingers: 0 | Total: 2 Die Mannschaft put on a good showing at the S53 championships, bowing out to eventual finalists Czech Republic in the Quarter-Finals. It may be meager pickings for the Germans at this draft, with only 2 players registered so far, but many will argue the point of quality over quantity, and in my completely objective, non-biased opinion, there is a lot of quality to be found in top defensive prospect Jonas Kahnwald. A player with a mysterious past hopes to help lead the Germans to a bright future. Top Left Wing prospect Colin Fuhr also looks to offer much quality to Germany’s left attacking side. While only bringing in two prospects to the draft, it seems Germany may be bringing in two gems. Great Britain Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 1 | Centers: 2 | Left Wingers: 0 | Right Wingers: 2 | Total: 5 You can always take a bit of pride in bowing out to the eventual champs, and Great Britain did just that in the S53 World Championships, bowing out to the Americans in the Semi-Finals. They can take even more pride in winning bronze in a 6-1 thrashing of the Canadians. The Brits will hope to be the champions sometime in the near future, and they can count on hopefully all 5 of their incoming prospects of helping them get there, as all of Bane, Kynwyl Pearce, Dee Centerman IV, and the Dolphin twins Zach and Josh offer a lot of promise to become stars. Ireland Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 1 | Centers: 1 | Left Wingers: 1 | Right Wingers: 0 | Total: 3 The Irish can also boast to have bowed out to the eventual champs, although it is slightly less impressive when it happens in the Quarter-Finals. They still did very well to make it that far, and hope that top Irish Left Wing prospect Patrik Money will help them cash in on greater prizes. Japan Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 2 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 0 | Right Wingers: 0 | Total: 2 Japan was not able to make it into the medal round in the S53 world championships. In fact, they finished with the lowest win % in the entire tournament, and only have 2 prospects coming out of the S55 SMJHL draft. But they do defenceman Yuuto Kira Cloudera Jr. to look forward to in the future. They’ll have to hope to stock up on future goalie prospects in future drafts, and cross their fingers that young forward stars such as Ryuuji Minamino continue to trend in the right direction to help them become a consistent presence in the medal rounds. Latvia Goalies: 1 | Defencemen: 0 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 0 | Right Wingers: 0 | Total: 1 Well, Latvia finished with the 2nd lowest win % in the S53 World Championships and don’t seem to have much help coming from the upcoming draft. Goaltender King Leaf will be representing the Latvians in the S55 SMJHL draft. Norway Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 0 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 1 | Right Wingers: 0 | Total: 1 Norway was able to finish with 5 wins and 7 losses in the S53 Championships. Joining 1 prospect gang, they bring one Left Winger to the draft, and that Norwegian is actually russian born Slava Petrov. Almost missed him, but he looks to have a bright future for Norway. Russia Goalies: 1 | Defencemen: 3 | Centers: 3 | Left Wingers: 1 | Right Wingers: 5 | Total: 12 Well, since Disneyland was closed because of Covid-19, the entire goddamn Petrov family decided to improvise and register themselves for the S55 SMJHL draft instead. The Russians can look to see 6/7 of the powerhouse Petrovs look to break into the russian squad. With Slava opting out of the family adventure and dipping to Norway, it’ll be up to Teylora, Mikhael, Vladimir, Rikki, Bobov and Boris to carry the family name to greatness. The most intriguing prospect, however, is probably Center Aleksander Kozlov, who looks to have a strong case for going 1st overall in the draft. As well, keep an eye out for Right Winger Vaseline Podcalzone as well. Considering their under-performance at the World championships, they might need all of this incoming help sooner rather than later. Sweden Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 0 | Centers: 1 | Left Wingers: 2 | Right Wingers: 1 | Total: 4 The Swedes lost out to the Brits in the Quarter-Finals of the championships, and look to get back to their top 4 status in the world. In the upcoming draft, they have a couple of top prospects in Left Wingers Yngve Simonsson and Lucas Johansson. Another one to keep an eye on for Sweden will be center Calvin Hobbes. Switzerland Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 1 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 2 | Right Wingers: 2 | Total: 5 Team Switzerland finished 5-6-1 in the S53 World Championships, and have 5 players coming into this upcoming draft. Defenceman Karl Schaufelberger will look to be a mainstay on the Swiss blueline in the future, while Wingers Jonas Caspari and Thomas Rose can also look to make big splashes in the future for Switzerland. USA Goalies: 3 | Defencemen: 7 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 1 | Right Wingers: 4 | Total: 15 Last of the main 14 teams, but the complete opposite of least, the S53 World Champions, the United States of America. With a 5-0 drubbing of the Czechs in the finals, the Americans cemented themselves as the current kings and queens of hockey. With 15 players incoming in the S55 SMJHL draft, they look to have a lot of help in the future to help them remain hockey royalty. The top American prospect looks to be defenceman Jimmy Dekens, with fellow defenceman Zebulon Leavitt and goaltender Edward Teach also deserving of close inspection in the next few seasons. Shockingly, as of this moment, despite having 15 players coming into the draft, the Americans will be seeing no centermen. Other Goalies: 0 | Defencemen: 3 | Centers: 0 | Left Wingers: 3 | Right Wingers: 2 | Total: 8 Out of the 85 players currently coming into this draft, 8 of them hail from countries not currently part of the big 14. They will have the opportunity to represent team World at the World Juniors, but eventually may have to choose whichever of the big 14 countries strikes their fancy the most. Players from outside the main countries to keep an eye on will be Icelandic center Xavier Doom, fellow Icelandic left winger Halldor Ragnarsson, defenceman Vili Afalava from Tongo of all places, defenceman Tanjiro Kamado from Italy, and from Mexico, left winger Tres Sombrero. (1622 words)
FlappyGiraffeRegistered nice guy tries hard loves the game  future is looking very bright for us Russians!This is awesome festinator, great work!
FestinatorSMJHL Awards Committee Posting Freak
WastyRegistered S10, S12, S17 Challenge Cup Champion
Vili Afalava already has an International team he's looking at joining but still keeping his options open. Excited to represent Tonga in the SMJHL, IIHF and SHL!
![[Image: NiclasWastlund26.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/NiclasWastlund26.gif) #40 Niclas Wastlund - W - VANCOUVER WHALERS  / MINNESOTA MONARCHS  ![[Image: vlPUU9v.png]](https://i.imgur.com/vlPUU9v.png) ![[Image: ammBPLt.png]](https://i.imgur.com/ammBPLt.png) ![[Image: rnZeas5.png]](https://i.imgur.com/rnZeas5.png) ![[Image: V9MXpXR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/V9MXpXR.png)
jRuutuRegistered S45 Challenge Cup Champion
Finland with a fair total, no defenders though, but hopefully everybody stays active!
FestinatorSMJHL Awards Committee Posting Freak
WastyRegistered S10, S12, S17 Challenge Cup Champion 07-17-2020, 11:55 AMFestinator Wrote:I haven't announced yet, not a 100% decision just yet but merely leaning towards. Good write up anyways!07-17-2020, 06:40 AMWasty Wrote: Vili Afalava already has an International team he's looking at joining but still keeping his options open. Excited to represent Tonga in the SMJHL, IIHF and SHL!Sorry if I missed it! Excited to see you represent them as well! #40 Niclas Wastlund - W - VANCOUVER WHALERS / MINNESOTA MONARCHS
FestinatorSMJHL Awards Committee Posting Freak
DachtorFeelgoodRegistered Junior Member
USA should have at least one Center in the draft. William Hunt is my first player.
FestinatorSMJHL Awards Committee Posting Freak 07-17-2020, 12:18 PMDachtorFeelgood Wrote: USA should have at least one Center in the draft. William Hunt is my first player.Nice! Yes I'm guessing I missed a decent portion of the people coming in from reddit who hadn't had their created players approved and moved to the prospects thread at the time of writing this |
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S56 1st Overall ![[Image: CsnVET2.png]](https://i.imgur.com/CsnVET2.png)
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Will be fun to see all those Petrov's playing together at the same time one day!
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