Canada U-18 Champion again

For an 8 times on 9 years, Team Canada U-18 Win Gold Medal...

Score: 4-1... Source : hockeycanada.ca

And this, Without our best player Sidney Crosby...

Great News!

Canada continues to prove their dominance of the sport.

Well, lets just say most top nations were without their best players. But Canada, without Crosby, Latendresse, Durand...and to walk through this tournamanet is quite something.

Well, lets just say most top nations were without their best players. But Canada, without Crosby, Latendresse, Durand...and to walk through this tournamanet is quite something.

Can you list the Top Nations who did not have their best players???

We know of Team USA sending a different squad to this tourney and we know of Canada missing Crosby(U20 camp) and both Durand and Latendresse are hurt, but what players were missing from the other Top Nations and why?

Not really a surprise, though. Canadian teams took the top three spots at the WU17 last December. (A tournament set up to put us at a disadvantage).

All this without Sidney Crosby. Gilbert Brule just cemented his spot as No. 2 in the Crosby draft.

I dont know what was sweeter ..the Gold or the Swedes spanking the usa for the bronze ..good job Sweden.

Can you list the Top Nations who did not have their best players???

We know of Team USA sending a different squad to this tourney and we know of Canada missing Crosby(U20 camp) and both Durand and Latendresse are hurt, but what players were missing from the other Top Nations and why?

I'm going by word of mouth. I heard from other posters the top nations didn't send some of their better players. I don't have a roster list unfortunately.

I don't have a roster list unfortunately.

Not sure about any others, but you can find the Team USA roster here (http://www.usahockey.com/servlets/FileServlet/relatedDocuments/DEFA37687A9E6E02E0340003BA5FE009/2004%20U-18%20Select%20Roster.doc) (right-click and select Save Target As...).

Can you list the Top Nations who did not have their best players???

We know of Team USA sending a different squad to this tourney and we know of Canada missing Crosby(U20 camp) and both Durand and Latendresse are hurt, but what players were missing from the other Top Nations and why?

Finland:Rask, Laakso, Lahti
Sweden:Bergfors, Wandell, Sundstrom
Czech: Kindl, Frolik, Sobotka, Fiala, Kolarz
Slovakia:Dirrer, Hindos
Russia:Churilov

Basically all European teams missed their best players.

Not really a surprise, though. Canadian teams took the top three spots at the WU17 last December. (A tournament set up to put us at a disadvantage).

All this without Sidney Crosby. Gilbert Brule just cemented his spot as No. 2 in the Crosby draft.
Andrew Cogliano, Ryan O'Marra, Brenden Mikkelson were all more impressive than Brule at the tournament. If anything, I think Brule's stock dropped substantially.

For an 8 times on 9 years, Team Canada U-18 Win Gold Medal...

Score: 4-1... Source : hockeycanada.ca

And this, Without our best player Sidney Crosby...


Yeah but in 8 of those 9 years the Americans didnt have their "best" players there :joker:

Andrew Cogliano, Ryan O'Marra, Brenden Mikkelson were all more impressive than Brule at the tournament. If anything, I think Brule's stock dropped substantially.

Cogliano, O'Marra, Mikkelson and many others, played great at this tournament no doubt. The scouts will certainly pay more close attention to these players over the season. Insofar as trying to assess Brule's performance, I think it goes without saying, that Brule is still the best prospect other than Crosby in this age group. Brule may not have had as many points as expected but that's hockey. Sometimes the puck goes in and sometimes it doesn't. Brule still created oodles of scoring chances for his team mates and himself. His stock will not fall unless he has a disappointing upcoming season with the WHL's Vancouver Giants. The U18 World Cup is after all, a summer tournament, and scouts weigh it accordingly and will assess all of these players a little more closely from November onwards to determine player rankings.

The scouts were in Europe to mostly watch the Europeans, as this is a good opportunity to see them in one place. North American players will be more thorougly evaluated in their respected Jr or NCAA leagues this fall. If you take this tournament at face value, it appears that the upcoming draft(if there is one) will be deep in Canadian talent. Many scouts were disappointed in the lack of depth in European prospects for this age group.