World Championships: U18 and Women’s

[D2D]

My take is that she was a pretty good player before they selected that team and then as we occasionally see happen, over the last couple of years she got a lot better.

I thought up until the last game she was unbelievable. Then against Canada in the Gold Medal game, not so much. The Canadians did a great job in taking away the open ice where Taylor will usually exploit whatever a less skilled opponent gives her. Not to mention the pace of the games against Canada being so much quicker there is simply not nearly as much time and space to free wheel and create offense, as against a less skilled opponent she will do so effectively.

[slapshot willy]

I thought up until the last game she was unbelievable. Then against Canada in the Gold Medal game, not so much. The Canadians did a great job in taking away the open ice where Taylor will usually exploit whatever a less skilled opponent gives her. Not to mention the pace of the games against Canada being so much quicker there is simply not nearly as much time and space to free wheel and create offense, as against a less skilled opponent she will do so effectively.

A lot of the players light it up against the weaker teams. When it comes time to play stronger or similar caliber teams, not so much.
No disrespect to any of these players, just a fact. A lot of sports are like this, not just women’s hockey.

[Timothy A]

The rise of KK Harvey is just crazy. In the Olympics she barely played. At the just concluded tourney she played the most minutes of any player but Keller. Obviously a different coaching staff. She's the #3 rated player 23 and under on the planet according to The Hockey News and she hasn't even played a college game yet.

[Lindsay]

Anyone hear anything about where in Canada the 2023 womens worlds will be? Or when they plan to announce it?

Things seem pretty chaotic (not sure the right word) surrounding Hockey Canada right now so I am once again wondering about the status of this tourney. Might need to put Wisconsin on stand by.

[Lindsay]

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/202223rivalryseriesroster

Tessa Janecke will be on the December rivalry series roster. Senior team debut for her. Looks like a fun roster. Naturally her name is misspelled missing an a from Tessa because why not.

Nicole if you see this….or anyone in the know… do we know where or when Womens Worlds are in 2023 yet?

[ZedLeppelin]

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/202223rivalryseriesroster

Tessa Janecke will be on the December rivalry series roster. Senior team debut for her. Looks like a fun roster. Naturally her name is misspelled missing an a from Tessa because why not.

Nicole if you see this….or anyone in the know… do we know where or when Womens Worlds are in 2023 yet?

Quotes from Tessa Janecke on being named to the U.S. Women's National Team:

"I am extremely grateful and humbled for this opportunity" stated Janecke. "It's something I've been dreaming of my entire life. It truly wouldn't be possible without the time and support of my coaches, past and present, teammates, and my family."

"I cannot wait to soak up this experience and learn all I can from this group of players, who I looked up to and continue to admire to this day" Janecke added. "I could not be more thankful."

https://gopsusports.com/news/2022/12...ry-series.aspx

[tedlasso]

The ECAC doesn't seem to exist to USA Hockey. Players must be super frustrated.

[RightbackatU]

The ECAC doesn't seem to exist to USA Hockey. Players must be super frustrated.

No, USA is based on coaches and who was in their program at age 16, doesn't matter what you do in college its an exclusive club in the usa!
but look at the other side, the majority of Canadian players come from the ECAC, hence won every gold medal but 2!

[PuckLover]

USA Hockey is a gongshow of mismanagement, perpetual employment guarantees for existing national team members, insular and self-congratulatory. Their only audience is kids and families they've selected, who all think they're doing a bang-up job (obviously). They ignore bad things about kids they've anointed, ignore good things about kids they've previously passed over, and at least with current rosters are doomed to second class status in a race of two (in spite of the complete waste-of-time victories in these off-cycle exhibition games). Other than that I think they're great!

[pgb-ohio]

USA Hockey is a gongshow of mismanagement, perpetual employment guarantees for existing national team members, insular and self-congratulatory. Their only audience is kids and families they've selected, who all think they're doing a bang-up job (obviously). They ignore bad things about kids they've anointed, ignore good things about kids they've previously passed over, and at least with current rosters are doomed to second class status in a race of two (in spite of the complete waste-of-time victories in these off-cycle exhibition games). Other than that I think they're great!

I don't know enough about the management of USA Hockey to confirm or rebut this. But I will say: When entire seasons boil down to 1 or 2 games against Canada, doing a fair evaluation is pretty tough.

It wasn't that long ago, after Team USA won a couple of gold medals, that Team Canada fans were in a deep funk. Supposedly the entire Team Canada effort was in complete disarray. Now that the skate is on the other foot, the angst has switched to the American side. Suddenly Team Canada is heralded as a well designed, smoothly functioning machine.

Like a lot of rivalries: When you win, deficiencies are glossed over. When you lose, deficiencies are exaggerated. My suspicion is that the truth is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. On both sides of the border.

[Lindsay]

I think cornholio said it best a year or so ago when they said that both Canada and the US have pools of about 100 players each where they could take almost any of the 100 and still compete for gold or silver.

So roster construction is always going to leave deserving individuals out even if the process were completely free of bias. It will be interesting to see if they get a scouting role into their new contract. I think the players know the current system is flawed.

The next logical way to support these players is proactively being part of a pro league solution. The federations failed to do that for decades - preferring to keep the marquee version of the women’s game to themselves. Now the pro league situation is so toxic and complex I don’t know how long it will take to recover if it ever does. For me that’s where the greater criticism of the federations lies right now. Not to mention Canada is supposed to host worlds in 4 months and I don’t think we know where in Canada it’s happening.

Nonetheless agree with the first point that there are some fantastic players in the ECAC.

[NMH]

Nicole if you see this….or anyone in the know… do we know where or when Womens Worlds are in 2023 yet?

No and I have no idea why! I talked to Wrobo just before the final Rivalry Series game and sort of off-handed said something about maybe they know the dates, but it's not public info and he laughed and said "We don't know either"

I can't find my tweet about it and I can't remember if it was studio or in game, but someone definitely said "upcoming World Championships in April." I don't know if that was habit, since before the past two years, that's when the tournament has been held. But yeah, we have no info as far as I know.

One thing I'll add to the ECAC conversation is that traditionally, those programs have recruited heavily from Canada. The ECAC has big representation on Canadian rosters, both with players and coaches (and there's an obvious correlation there). The newest USA U18 roster has some girls committed to Cornell and with Rory Guilday, I think we may be seeing at list a little bit of change there.

[NMH]

Posting this separately to make sure it gets seen.

I'll be in Ostersund for the entire U18 World Championship in early January. I'm working on some short audio pieces with coach interviews combined with audio I gather on site, but wondered if there's anything you all would like to see/hear/read?

[Blackbeard]

I don't know enough about the management of USA Hockey to confirm or rebut this. But I will say: When entire seasons boil down to 1 or 2 games against Canada, doing a fair evaluation is pretty tough.

It wasn't that long ago, after Team USA won a couple of gold medals, that Team Canada fans were in a deep funk. Supposedly the entire Team Canada effort was in complete disarray. Now that the skate is on the other foot, the angst has switched to the American side. Suddenly Team Canada is heralded as a well designed, smoothly functioning machine.

Like a lot of rivalries: When you win, deficiencies are glossed over. When you lose, deficiencies are exaggerated. My suspicion is that the truth is somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. On both sides of the border.

As usual...logical, objective, cool headed and sensible commentary that we've come to expect and appreciate from you.

[Lindsay]

Brampton Ontario to host Worlds Apr 5 to 16th. Great news.