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TheOPSquid · 11-29-2023, 01:10 PM

Unfortunately UCORCAL (United Countries of Russia, Czechia, and Latvia) did not manage to make it out of the group stage for this season's World Junior Championships, in fact we ended up finishing last and were one of the only 2 teams to not make it out of the group stage. As a fairly young team UCORCAL did not end up faring too well in the games, finishing last in quite a few key categories. In this article we will be going in depth into UCORCAL's struggles and what we can expect for this squad going forward.

Overall team stats were down for the United Countries, finishing last in quite a few categories as they struggled to score goals, generate shots, and the offense in general. Finishing last in goals for with 23 averaging only 1.92 goals for per game, with 8 less than the closest team above them. UCORCAL was not last in power play percentage, but finished ninth with a 13.2% rate, scoring only 5 power play goals on their 38 attempts. Scoring on both the power play and at 5 on 5 is probably due to the low amount of shots they generated, with the fewest shots per game at 25.42 throughout the tournament. The United Countries unfortunately got outshot quite a bit as well, with an average of 36.25 hitting their net each game.

One thing that will improve over time is the young core of players that had their first international showing, with quite a few Season 73 SMJHL rookies that just finished their first season and even some Season 74 rookies that have yet to play a SMJHL game making their debuts. Oranj Konhe, Juan Tymer, and Sergey Ivanov were all S74 SHL Draft eligible, and Olivija Agate is eligible for the upcoming S75 SMJHL Draft and made her debut with UCORCAL before getting drafted into the SMJHL. With 4 young defenders, the older defense guard had to show them the ropes for international competitions and what they should expect going forward. Once these younger defenders get some more season experience as well as international experience, they can shape an entirely new look defense core either next season or the season after. Oranj Konhe and Juan Tymer were both tied with 3 assists to lead the young rookie defenders in scoring with 3 points, Konhe led the rookies in defensive game rating with 72, with Sergey Ivanov following with a 69 DGR. The defense weren't shy about blocking shots laying their bodies on the line for the squad consistently, with veteran defenders Arnost Hlemyzd and Bellamy Blake leading by example with 26 and 27 blocks respectively. Blake was second on the team in hits as well with 21 in the tournament trailing only Alexej Kastrba who had 26 hits. Unfortunately we weren't able to push through to the medal round for Blake as they age out of the World Junior Championships this season and move up to be eligible for the International Ice Hockey World Championships for the next tournament.

The forward core was led by Vyacheslav Shevchenko who tied the team lead in goals and assists and led in points with 3 goals, 4 assists, and 7 points. 4 players tied for second in scoring with 5 points, with Winters, Murray, Tkachuky, and Tentacles rounding it out. A lot of the players on the squad were drafted in either Season 73 or Season 74, creating a young team overall. Recently selected in the season 74 draft, Marek Carda was the sole player on the team to have a positive +/- being +1. UCORCAL was unfortunately hit with a lot of low shooting percentages that weren't able to level out in the 12 games they played in the tournament. With 5 forwards shooting under 10% and 2 of them shooting under 5%. The defense were able to generate shots on net but were unable to score a goal with the 6 defenders tallying a total of 101 shots! The puck was definitely not bouncing in favour of UCORCAL throughout the tournament, and the shooting percentage reflects that. With only 2 players on the team putting up a 100.0 or higher PDO and the majority of the team below 97%, the advanced stats also show the lack of luck the squad had.

A bright spot for UCORCAL this tournament was definitely the goaltending. Wayne Holloway kept up his stellar performance that he had in the playoffs with Detroit, as he tallied a 3.28 GAA and .905sv% in 9 games. Unfortunately the team in front of him struggled so he was only able to grab 1 win. Holloway will most likely be the goalie for the squad next season as well, as they only have one more season of World Juniors eligibility left. Launchpad McQuack was the backup for the tournament, and played unreal as they made their debut for UCORCAL before playing a single game in the SMJHL. Putting up a 3.08 goals against average and a .921 save percentage, McQuack was top 5 in save percentage for goaltenders with 4+ games played. Going into their first season in the SMJHL and having these numbers are great and we may have a successor to Wayne Holloway once he ages out next tournament.

Unfortunately for UCORCAL, with the loss this tournament it will see quite a few roster mainstays age out, with Dominik Winters, Bellamy Blake, Alexej Kastrba and the team Captain Shootin Blanks aging out and becoming IIHF eligible. On behalf of UCORCAL I'd like to thank them for their time with the team and for their efforts in trying to bring UCORCAL a medal! I would also like to thank @diacope for GMing the squad this season, giving all of the young players a chance, and picking a great mix of players to represent their countries! And thanks to the UCORCAL squad for voting for me to have an A on the jersey! Unfortunately it didn't end how we all wanted to but hopefully next tournament we can bring a medal back!

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