IIHF ICE HOCKEY U18 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP DIV I GROUP A

Tournament and Prospect Recap: Just my opinion, but Dieter Werfring and Rick Boehm need to be fired. It was no coincidence that the only team Austria could defend was Germany. The kids are taught to pass to spots or locations as opposed to other players. The expectation is that when you pass to a spot your teammate will show up there and win the 1v1 battle for the puck but that was almost never the case because they were either too small (AUT) or slow (GER). Because of this every time either team got the puck they turned it over immediately by passing to no one or to an opposing player. Tactically, neither team had a chance to succeed, and it was very sad to see the boys very frustrated by the fact that their passes always ended up in the hands of opposing players. The boys deserve better, the fans deserve better, this is simply a case where Dieter Werfring must go, in my opinion, even though I would be surprised if he was actually let go.

Prospects: Thomas Winkler (3G, 6 SOG) had a strong showing early on with his shot. He is the only player on the team with a good hard shot, however, doesn't have much else. Martin Goritschnig (2A, 5 SOG) handles the puck too much, not an intelligent passer, often is not where he needs to be, physically the most solid defender. He shows upside but still has a long way. Kele Steffler (1A, 7 SOG) third most shots on goal for the team. Good at positioning himself for good shots but unfortunately has a weak shot that is also at times inaccurate. Best defender at dispossessing opponents of the puck and stopping the break but did get called for a few bad hooking penalties. Solid skater but an uncreative passer, needs to handle the puck more instead of settling for backwards passes. Samuel Witting (4A, 10 SOG) lead points and shots on goal. Needs to get bigger, but effective on the powerplay. Takes some stupid penalties and doesn't have an effective shot. Still a work in progress but by far the most consistently effective forward for Austria. Daniel Obersteiner (2A, 6 SOG) was awful, completely invisible in a few games, lost nearly all of his faceoffs. Was completely outmuscled, forced off the puck almost every time he got it. Did not posses a hard or accurate shot. Was slow to get to the puck at times, occasionally did demonstrate some puck control skills. Before the tournament I thought based on his work at KAC he could perhaps go overseas next year, while it is still possible, he definitely is not skilled enough to do so. Julian Pusnik (1G, 4 SOG) was far more promising, also Alexander Maxa (1G, 1A, 6 SOG) showed the promise his brother showed prior but perhaps a little more explosive and Marcel Zitz (1G, 1A, 3 SOG) made his case very effectively at times as well and showed good hockey IQ. Jakob Holzer (4.48 GAA, 87.70%) and Daniel Polzl (2.59 GAA, 90.48%) were very forgettable, I am still baffled why Maximilian Haselbacher was not even considered for camp. Fabio Artner deserves some consideration, if only for his game against Belarus, size is still a problem.

Overall a rough tournament but ascent is quite likely next year.

Time for some encouraging news after a rough day. I feel the structure of our program allows kids to succeed more that kids from other programs. In reality most kids who play in the U18 WC below the elite tier never become professional hockey players. Belarus fans are excited because they think their program is rising after being promoted a single time. But the Belarus league is not strong like the EBEL. By having a strong local league our players have a chance to succeed, improve, gain visibility while receiving reasonable salary and become professional hockey players. In 2010 Belarus played in the elite tier U18 and were hoping that the exposure would give their brightest young stars a chance to play in the next level. Fast forward 6 years, only one of the players on that 23 man roster plays in a well-paying professional hockey league, and he is the only player from that team to be on their national team. The same year Austria's U18, like this year's team, struggled heavily and were relegated to the 3rd tier. At the time the outlook perhaps seemed bleak. Fast forward 6 years however, and the roster consisted of current professional hockey players like Patrick Platzer, Marius Gohringer, Markus Pock, Berhnard Fechtig, Johannes Bischofberger, Clemens Unterweger, Emilio Romig, Alexander Cijan, Patrick Obrist and most notably, Konstantin Komarek. Thus, even though the U18 team struggled this year, and was relegated, I have hope that in the future we will see many of these young men turn into strong professional hockey players because the system and the environment to allow them to succeed exists.