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hockeyfan · 07-10-2018, 03:31 PM

Hello from Austria!

After an exciting IIHF World Championships in Austria which saw Team UK take home the Gold Medal in a thrilling final, we arrive back at the Olympiahalle and Tyrolean Ice Arenas to determine the country producing the best junior players!

Teams played a 3 game exhibition schedule, which saw some pretty interesting results.

[Image: cut.jpg]

Team World, who some believe have the strongest roster on paper, rolled through the pre-season at 3-0, led by the offensive outburst of one Shooter McGavin and the brick wall that was goaltender Freddie LaFlame. Sure, they won 2 of those games in OT and the shootout, but for the sake of this paragraph, they were the best team in the exhibition.

On the other side of the spectrum, Scandinavia went winless at 0-3. The Swedes, Fins and Norwegians had a hard time keeping the puck out of the net, which is uncharacteristic of 'keeper Sebastien Primeau. If they have any hope of advancing deep in this tournament, they'll need him to play much better.

Some players who had a great pre-season for their teams include Paddy O'Sullivan (British Isles), Deku Izuku (Canada), Cash Savage (Eastern Europe), Anders Christiansen (Scandinavia), Shooter McGavin (World) and Friedrich Schmidt (USA).

If the exhibition is any indication, it is going to be a very tight tournament. The fight for the 1st and 2nd place byes into the medal round will be very exciting and it really is anybody's gold medal to win.

The first three games of the Round Robin were played over the past 3 days, and the results were much different than in the exhibition. Teams are starting to gel and make things a little more interesting in the group.

[Image: team-canada.jpg]

Every team has a win so far, but only one team is perfect. Canada, at 3-0, are at the top of the table, but the win vs. the USA (2-0) has been their biggest victory so far. Two 1-goal wins against Team World and Eastern Europe show Canada as a strong contender, however there are still holes in their defensive system. Goaltender Walter Hobbs has been strong in the net, but the team is allowing too many shots. Will they start to falter as we get deeper in the tournament?

Team USA should be a strong nation here, but they've been shutout 2 out of 3 games, although the game they weren't, they scored 5 times against Scandinavia in a convincing thrashing (Scandinavia's only loss so far). Goal scoring has been an issue that will need to be addressed if they want any chance of winning.

Team World, British Isles, Eastern Europe and the USA are all tied at the bottom of the table at 1-2, but there are still 7 games to play so things could change pretty fast. Momentum is an important part of any IIHF competition, so if one team gets hot, who knows how far it will carry them. Goal differential is a big tie-breaker here, so teams will have to be wary of that as we get deeper in the tournament.

Games 4-7 will be played on Wednesday evening, and the Round Robin will come to an end Thursday. Friday will see the first round of the playoffs, a one game battle between 3rd and 6th place as well as 4th and 5th place. Saturday, it will be the second wave of playoff games followed by the Bronze and Gold Medal games on Sunday.

Thanks for watching!

- 603 words -

DeletedAtUserRequest · 07-10-2018, 05:58 PM

Nice recap!

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JumpierPegasus · 07-10-2018, 06:10 PM

You are an absolute babe ? great article

EDIT Emojis don't work on here?

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