Teenage Riots: U20 Season Hits

The selection camp roster for the Canadian U20 team will be amongst the big news on Monday, as word is leaking throughout the junior hockey world about players getting invites, meaning they will be missing action for their major junior teams for a week or more.  December is almost here, and it can only mean one thing for a hockey fan:  teenage hockey.

The big show is coming up in Buffalo, starting on Boxing Day and running to Jan. 5, as per tradition.  The host Americans are the defending champions, and they'll compete with fellow contenders Canada, Russia, and Sweden for the title, while nations like Finland and Switzerland will try and pull of an upset or two to get into a medal game.  Hockey fans will get used to seeing games where teams post double digits in goals, and then potentially see a playoff game decided via shootout.  It's quite a different display of hockey from most, including other IIHF competition, as there can be a vast disparity in the talent level when dealing almost exclusively with 18 and 19 year olds. 

I'll be spending a lot of time on the elite nations over the next 40 days or so, but that's not the only thing happening on the international scene in that time, and not the only U20 tournament, either.  Four different championship tournaments (encompassing two Division 1 and two Division 2 level tournaments) will be held from Dec. 12-19, as the IIHF tries to determine the standing for each nation's players born in 1991 or later.  The whole tournament series will wrap up in mid-January in the booming hockey market of Mexico City, where the Division 3 championships will be held (featuring as far flung programs as New Zealand, North Korea, and Turkey). 

Join me after the jump for the schedule and a brief (p)review.

Back in June, I did a piece leading up to the NHL Entry Draft on the top junior hockey nations in the world.  I'll use that as a bit of a basis for the analysis here, but I'll also post each team's U20 standing separately, as not every nation values the U18 and U20 tournaments equally (Canada is a definite example of this, as many of their top major junior players are not available to play at the U18s, but are always available for the U20s).  The "Seed" Category is where they finished overall in the 2010 U20 Championships, while the 'NHL' refers to players drafted in 2009 & 2010 that are eligible to play for their country for these championships.  I won't list them for the Division 2 & 3 levels, as none of those countries have had a player drafted in that time frame.

Division 1 - Group B (December 12-18 in Slovenia), Group A (December 13-19 in Belarus)

IIHF U20 Div. 1B - Bled, Slovenia

Seed	Country	U20 Rank	U20 + U18	NHL
10	Austria	11	15	0
13	Denmark	12	12	0
16	Slovenia	16	19	0
17	Kazakhstan	13	14	0
20	Croatia	23	25	0
23	Lithuania	24	23	0

 

The championship season will kick off in the tiny Alps resort city of Bled in northwestern Slovenia, on Dec. 12th.  All of the tournaments below the top level are strict round robin tournaments, and while this one doesn't feature a single current NHL prospect, there will likely be a couple of potential 2011 draft eligible players at this tournament.  We'll have to wait for the rosters to come out, and I'll look at some of these programs in a little bit more detail in coming weeks, but Denmark, Austria, Slovenia and Kazakhstan have produced NHL talent in the past, and Denmark has had two draft picks the past two years, they just no longer hold U20 eligibility. 

IIHF U20 Div. 1A - Bobrusik, Belarus

Seed	Country	U20 Rank	U20 + U18	NHL
9	Latvia	9	10	1
14	Belarus	14	11	1
15	Italy	17	18	0
18	Ukraine	18	22	0
19	Japan	22	21	0
24	Great Britain	25	24	0

 

The Group A tournament will be in the city of Babruysk, Belarus, which appears to be a city with a rather depressing history.  This tournament is a bit more top heavy than the B group, as Latvia is becoming a bit of a constant at the championship level, being there three of the previous four years.  However, they'll be in tough with their main competition, neighbouring Belarus, hosting the event.  Two NHL prospects, both seventh round draft picks, will likely play in this tournament.  Kirill Gotovets, a freshman defenseman at Cornell University, is eligible to play for Belarus, while WHL winger Kristians Pelss (currently playing for the Edmonton Oil Kings) will line up for Latvia.  In the meantime, the preliminary Japanese roster has already been announced, featuring almost exclusively University players and a half-German coaching staff led by former professional player Mark Mahon.

Like in Group B, the winner of this tournament will participate in the top level of the 2012 U20 World Junior Championships in Edmonton and Calgary, Canada.  And, like Group B, the team in last place in each tournament will end up spending next year at the Group II level.  

Division 2 - Group A (Dec 13-19 in Estonia), Group B (Dec 13-19 in Romania)

IIHF U20 Div. 2A - Tallinn, Estonia

Seed	Country	U20 Rank	U20 + U18
21	France	19	17
26	The Netherlands	27	27
27	Spain	29	30
30	Belgium	31	31
31	Estonia	26	28
36	Iceland	35	36

 

Tallinn is a city on my wish list, so hopefully these teenagers get a chance to see the place a bit outside their hotels and the rink.  France is in a bit of uncharted territory in the second division, and realistically this should be a quick and easy return to Division 1 for them.  We've been seeing a few Dutch players in some junior and collegiate leagues in North America in recent years, so they'll definitely be the toughest challenge here.  Estonian hockey hasn't been getting anywhere in recent years, so hopefully this tournament sparks some renewed interest at least amongst the hockey community there...  and in that vein, hopefully the hosts get a couple of wins out of this. 

IIHF U20 Div. 2B - Miercurea Ciuc, Romania

Seed	Country	U20 Rank	U20 + U18
22	Poland	20	16
25	Hungary	21	20
28	Romania	30	29
29	South Korea	28	26
32	China	33	33
35	Australia	36	35

 

Yep, they're heading to Transylvania for this tournament.  Miercurea-Ciuc is the hockey capital of Romania, and is home to a new arena.  Here's a recent IIHF article on the state of the city's hockey teams.  Poland is definitely the country to beat here as well, but they've performed better at the U18 level than the U20 level for some reason.  The locals will hope that home ice can help them medal at the tournament...  winning it is probably too much to ask.  Australia and China will probably just be looking forward to their game against each other to try and stay in the second division. 

IIHF U20 World Junior Championship Exhibtion Series

Prior to the actual series, which runs from Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Buffalo and Niagara, New York, both Team Canada and Team USA will host a series of exhibition games with some of the other teams.  Here's a brief schedule, as each of the 10 countries will be playing at least one exhibition, be it in upstate New York or southern Ontario (all times EST):

U20 WJC Exhibition Series Schedule

Date	Time	Teams	City	Arena
Dec. 19	4:00 PM	USA (1) vs. RPI (university)	Troy, NY, USA	Houston Field House
Dec. 20	7:00 PM	Canada (2) vs. Switzerland (4)	Oshawa, ON, CAN	General Motors Centre
Dec. 21	7:00 PM	USA (1) vs. Czech Republic (7)	Rochester, NY, USA	The Sports Centre at MCC
Dec. 21	7:30 PM	Slovakia (8) vs. Norway (12)	Jamestown, NY, USA	Savings Bank Arena
Dec. 21	7:30 PM	Canada (2) vs. Sweden (3)	Toronto, ON, CAN	Air Canada Centre
Dec. 22	7:00 PM	Czech Republic (7) vs. Germany (11)	Rochester, NY, USA	The Sports Centre at MCC
Dec. 23	4:00 PM	Slovakia (8) vs. Russia (6)	Jamestown, NY, USA	Savings Bank Arena
Dec. 23	7:00 PM	Sweden (3) vs. Switzerland (4)	St. Catherines, ON, CAN	Gatorade Garden City Complex
Dec. 23	7:30 PM	USA (1) vs. Norway (12)	Jamestown, NY, USA	Savings Bank Arena
Dec. 23	7:30 PM	Canada (2) vs. Finland (5)	Kitchener, ON, CAN	Kitchener Memorial Auditorium

 

Teams can make last minute changes to their roster, so these exhibition series will probably carry a couple of extra players either as part of an extended audition or a "just in case" scenario.  At least some of the Canadian games are going to be televised, likely the Canada-Sweden game from the ACC will be on TSN in prime time, so you'll be able catch a glimpse of the teams before the real action begins.  It's almost too bad that with this tournament being so close to the Canadian-USA border, that Canada and the USA are staying in their respective countries and one of them isn't crossing over for an exhibition against each other, as there is no guarantee this year of any Canada-USA matchup at all.

Last year, the exhibition series was held in some pretty small arenas across Saskatchewan, including SJHL markets like Humboldt and even the small town of Unity hosted a Latvia-Austria game, where the players were treated like celebrities and signed autographs at the local elementary school.  Hopefully these games can create a similar buzz in these markets, particularly in the Junior A market of Jamestown, NY.  They even have a full listing of the practice schedules for the teams when they're in town, and are offering tickets for the 3 games plus all the practices for $54 ($30-$45 for just the games). 

I'll have more on the actual championship, and all of the nations competing as we approach Christmas.  This month will be dedicated mostly to the junior tournaments here, but we'll also cover the Spengler Cup and look at a few other smaller tournaments happening as well.  The U18 Women's Worlds takes place in Stockholm starting Jan. 2, and Div. III U20 WJCs runs Jan. 9-18, while the Continental Cup Super Final is Jan 14-16.  There's a reason I'm trying to get a head start on all of this!