Zwerger stood out to me as being really good. Not only energetic but strong and physically competent, unlike the rest of the team which got knocked around for 60 minutes.
I was watching Viveiros with great attention, and he did well I thought. 2nd pairing was bad aside from Lebler. 4th line has been surprisingly threatening, they actually may have generated as many chances as the top two in the first two periods.
2017-18 Post-Season Top 5+1 Austrian Player Rankings
https://authockeytxreports.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/201…layer-rankings/
2017-18 Post-Season Top 5+1 Austrian Player Rankings: Why the Youth Movement Matters (Op-Ed)
https://authockeytxreports.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/201…vement-matters/
Belarus looks to be in both short term and long term trouble.
For a while they naturalized a bunch of players, and then kept those players on their teams. Because these players were naturalized, and didn't count against the quota, they were able to bring in other legios. That helped them make the playoffs twice in the last 3 years. However, with all the legios, there was no room in Dinamo Minsk for the young players. Then they kicked out the naturalized legios. That's why they really struggled this past season.
Father time is catching their naturalized athletes, like Linglet and Platt, and their top club scorer Kovyrshin. Sharangovich aside, no one is really stepping up. Perhaps Sushko, but it's hard to gauge while he is still playing juniors. Regardless, it does seem like things are looking down for that program.
Well dropping a point to Austria should be disappointing for the Swiss...if you are completely devoid of the context of the nature of these two programs.
If you are just thinking about ranks and rinks and registered players... etc, then sure
But Austria and Switzerland both play the same style, in no small part due to the fact that Austria's program is being modeled after the Swiss one. That's why I predicted over on another forum that we would steal points. Switzerland has a hard time playing a structured, organized game. They're much better at going up against a bigger nation and being disruptive and scoring on the counterattack.
Austria does the same aggressive fore-check, constant pressure style that Switzerland employs, and Switzerland simply didn't have the personnel to play a system game. The game turned into a track meet. In a track meet, Austria will be just fine 
Thought Heinrich coughed up a good pass from Ulmer on that but only saw it once.
We need new Ds...
The most disconcerting thing for me, prevalent throughout the Austrian hockey system, is a vast and overwhelming preference for energetic players over smart ones. Ray Ferraro, in a WJC game between Canada and Switzerland put it best, "The one thing about the Swiss, they generally skate pretty well, they just don't possess a lot of creativity." This quote is perhaps somewhat true for Switzerland, but it is 100% true for Austrian junior hockey.
I think this year will be fine. I like the chemistry I see on some of the top lines. However, the future must be developed. Some players simply do not factor into the future designs of the team, and as such I see little reason for them to be present. Nor do I think there are any grounds whatsoever to badmouth the EBEL, or teams therein for not playing those players.
I will be rooting heavily for the team, obviously, come this weekend. But if a present victory and the future potential clash, I would go with the future every time.
Did you see Huber in the last few weeks?
I saw him against Russia. He seemed alright, a little sluggish but worked the cycle just fine.
Perhaps he was poor in the playoffs. Let's give that. That still doesn't eradicate or deprive the body of work he has accumulated. Huber has proven himself over the last three seasons. If Austria is going to be successful in the future, he will be involved. Austrian teams often prefer high energy players over system players. That doesn't mean, however, that Spannring, Cijan and Kainz are suddenly going to be adequate to qualify the team for Beijing 2022. If Huber doesn't continue to develop as an athlete, and build chemistry with the other young stars on the team, it will just make it harder and harder to potentially qualify in four years. The player pool simply isn't that big, some players are indispensable. He may not be in the best form for the upcoming tournament, but I think he's necessary for the long term goals of the organization.
There can be no reasonable discussion about the future of Austrian hockey without Mario Huber.
Instead, to have Spannring, Cijan, Kainz, I think is irresponsible. I agree with Bader, 2022 is the ultimate goal. As a result, I'm not quite sure why players who won't be selected in 2022 should factor in currently.
When people are saying the team wasn't "strong" enough, is that meaning muscle strength or strength in the sense of skill? I'm just curious, I don't know how to read it.
I didn't think this was that controversial but evidently it is.
Here's your options for developing the next generation. You can shorten the National Team camp by two weeks on the front end, take the funds you saved from that and put it towards a separate two week "futures" camp. Or, you can just have the 6 week camp, and in the firsts two weeks it will largely be a mix of EBEL regulars and "futures".
So, to those who (if I understand correctly) keep lamenting that camp started too early, would you rather have a separate futures camp with the futures by themselves? I actually talked to some of them. The ones I speak to prefer training with EBEL regulars than just with other futures. It is certainly reasonable argue that certain individual futures are not qualified to be considered futures. However, I can only speak for myself when I say that I would rather the prestige of the concept of being a national team selectee be depressed for a while if it meant that future national team members should receive the best possible training they can access.
The team has to be looking to resign Neubauer right? Seems like a logical move.
Ulmer, Heinrich, Unterweger, Pallestrang, Schumnig, Schlacher, Viveiros, Wolf
2017-18 U18 D1B World Championships: Tournament Preview
https://authockeytxreports.wordpress.com/2018/04/09/201…nament-preview/
I'm missing the grounding behind why some are frustrated that some of the younger talents are in National Team camp. Perhaps it is lost in the language, but is the argument that this is a waste of tax-payer euros? Is it that there are better places to put funds towards?
2017-18 Junior National Team Play of the Year: Round One
https://authockeytxreports.wordpress.com/2018/03/25/201…year-round-one/
2017-18 Junior National Team Play of the Year
https://authockeytxreports.wordpress.com/2018/03/13/201…ay-of-the-year/
Nachwuchsarbeit in Salzburg:
Ich schau mir da ab und zu Spiele an. Meine Meinung dazu mag seltsam sein vielleicht auch blamabel: Die jungen machen sehr viel richtig - sind gut auf den Eisen, verhalten sich taktisch richtig, halten Position, wirken austrainiert und diszipliniert, ich habe aber den Eindruck, daß die besonderen persönlichen Talente des Einzelnen, seine individuellen Stärken abgetötet wurden - es wirkt irgendwie roboterhaft.
(Bischen weit aus dem Fenster gelehnt)
This basically sums it up, and not just pertaining to Salzburg. Salzburg has its own problems. However, in the Austrian junior system players perceived to have greater technical competence are preferred heavily over those who are more creative or are better playmakers. It's paradoxical, sends the kids mixed messages. Coaches at the junior level will basically say all you need to do to stand out is be fast and hard working, a good kid, but then the same coaches when they're coaching/scouting the senior level will expect you to be making plays, and they should because it is required. However, you as an athlete probably come in with the same mentality to the pros that if I just skate fast and play hard I'll get looks. Not the way it works. I can't tell how many players I tell once they get to play up "be creative, try to make that huge move, look to make the big play." Coaches will never be impressed by you skating the puck quickly past the center line and then chucking it down the ice. Neither will scouts or agents. Speaking for myself, when I watch, I'm watching for playmaking abilities. Or forget my opinion. I've never had a conversation with an agent, scout, coach who said "I was really impressed by how few mistakes me made." That doesn't mean be haphazard, I've heard them complain about players who are that way quite a bit. However, especially if you're playing up, or against strong competition, you're expected to make some mistakes. That's fine, it can be corrected with practice. If you don't show that you can find a teammate to set up a shot, or beat a defender one-on-one, you're just not going to get a second look. People talk about how "this legio makes mistakes and doesn't get benched, this youngster makes one mistake and he gets benched", well true, but if you've got no upside then any downside is more downside than a coach is willing to risk. And if you are diminutive in size then it's only worse because you're likely a massive PK liability.
Österreichs U 18 Team wird von Norwegen mit 1:7 aus der Halle geschossen.
Österreichs U 16 Team liegt im Schlußdrittel gegen Lieblingsnachbar Deutschland 1:5 zurück.
Keine guten Aussichten für die Zukunft.
The way austrian hockey tends to work. Each class has no more than 3-5 real talents. But if those 3-5 talents from each class materialize, it will make a good squad.
The other problem is that the junior national teams essentially play dump and chase.
Fässler scored 1 assist in his game against norway. He had a really good game and great chemistry again with fröwis. They looked really good together out there. Fröwis got injured in the first game. Artner, maxa, könig didn‘t really step up. Wallenta was pretty good too. Good for me as a redbull fan to see him taking this progress. Würschl was by far the best D on the Team. On the second game fässler didn‘t look so good like in the first let‘s see how he does tomorrow. He worked himself into good scoring positions espacially in the first game but the luck wasn‘t going for him. kabidjan14
Awesome. I didn't see the game because I can't watch two games at the same time.
I assume Artner, Maxa and Konig are the top line? I haven't been high on them in a long time.
Of course he is. I keep up with him, Schreier and Stucki, but he's certainly moved past them in terms of skill. Compared to some of the 00s though...
Haha, some of these comments are so savage.
Looking to Liepaja: Analyzing the Austrian U18 Roster Release and a look at the U16 Team in Salzburg
https://authockeytxreports.wordpress.com/2018/02/11/loo…am-in-salzburg/
Just posing a question out there. Because I consider it a long-shot at best I don't want to make a thread of it. More and more talent is coming to Linz, being raised in Linz, etc. Is it possible, even in the slightest, that Linz could adopt a farmteam similar to how Vienna and Klagenfurt have adopted farmteams?
From a logistics standpoint I assume the task would be bordering on impossible. However, from a hockey standpoint they could be reasonable competitive, at the very least to no lesser extent than Vienna.
When he solidifies his play in all three zones, I see no reason to believe he won't be a top six winger on the NT of the future. The bigger problem now, a lot of depth at LW and not nearly as much depth on the RW.
kabidjan14 are you going to the under 19 tournament in kaposvar?
Is Kai? I know a handful of forwards are holding out but Fassler was on call in the initial roster. I assume he is, because you'e asking me.
I will not, are you?
