S78 World Cup | Power Rankings

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     The rosters have been announced with an assortment of the best VHL talent and the fans are selling out arenas all over the globe waiting to see the players fight for their nations, who will step up and advance to the gold medal game? Because it's impossible to know without taking a deeper look.. I did that for you! There's no time to waste, let's get to it!!

 

6. Team Western Europe 

GM @Seabass

OFF 2.5 DEF 4.5 GOA 3.5 (10.5)

Key Departures: Kaberle, Havlova, Lesieur

Key Arrivals: Strauss, McCloud, Tretiak, Phil The Rock Johnson

Finished: 6th

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     Western Europe is the the true underdog and they ranked that way during the last tournament, although they haven't been able to put together a roster of stars the team has been able to shine in certain areas and it seems they're going with the same approach, smart plays and excellent defending. Players like Chris Hylands who changed positions and the leagues top defender Roque Davis should get the job done behind the scenes but concerns to compete during the full 60 minutes with a new goaltender and lack of offense will only hurt them during the tournament. If they can weather the storm by outplaying the other team during special team attempts and maintaining composure, expect to see a handful of upsets and a possible medal round appearance if they can be consistent or they'll be last again.

 

5. Team USA

GM @a_Ferk

OFF 4 DEF 3 GOA 4 (11)

Key Departures: Green, Graves, King

Key Arrivals: Lose, McLaren, Tristan

Finished: 4th

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     Losing a little bit of offense and defense since we last saw them the Americans were still able to put together a decent team. Shooters like Campbell, Landry II and Winter will be exciting to watch, hard hitting defense from Giant, Marsh will be worth the ticket and solid goaltending from Stone Wolski should do the trick. The lack of star talent is only going to tire everybody out early so they have to strike quick, make zero mistakes and utilized all their skills if they want to have a chance versus some of the more skilled teams.

 

 

4. Team Nordic

GM @Xflexz

OFF 5 DEF 3.5 GOA 3 (11.5)

Key Departures: Jokinen, Manzer, Lahtinen, Tallinder, Jensen, Vikingstad, Shields

Key Arrivals: Zetterstrom, Thightrap, O. Sandstrom, Nousiainen, Dear, Thornton, B. Sandstrom

Finished: 3rd

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     Team Nordic was one of the best teams assembled during the S76 tournament but most of the top talents are now sitting back and watching their team at home waiting for the HoF to call them. Don't expect a slow rebuild for them though as we see a bunch of young studs coming together to fill in gaps left from players they looked up to, league leaders like Aloe Dear, Onde Sandstrom and Linus Zetterstrom to name a few. Nordic has pretty competitive team except on the defensive side of things where they have to use speed and puck handling to execute, stopping any mishaps in their own end and hopefully outscoring the other team.

 

3. Mercenaries

GM @Alex_J32

OFF 3.5 DEF 3.5 GOA 5 (12.0)

Key Departures: Socks, Thightrap, Gumballs, Dear, Rune, Dood, Volchenkov, Sandstrom

Key Arrivals: Su, Brown, Lite, Green, Jungkok, Kaberle, Eagles, Welch

Finished: 1st

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     They won the Gold Medal last time around and shocked the rest of the nations after dominating the better teams but I don't think they're as ready as they were during the S76 campaign. Losing big names like Sandstrom, Dear hurt they're goal production and the defensive unit switching from shooting to stay at home doesn't help shots on net. They proved everybody wrong last time and have magic hands protecting the net with an acrobat like Jean Pierre Camus ready to shut everything down so you can never really count them out in close games, specially with the attempt to changes things up from trading shots against better shooters hoping their goaltender stands on his head to blocking shots and holding the fort until they get a chance.

 

2. Team World

GM @Ledge and DairyOFF 4.5 DEF 4.5 GOA 3.5 (12.5)

Key Departures: Jungkok, Oferson, Block

Key Arrivals: Stamen, Tsujimoto, Kramerev

Finished: 5th

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     The World pretty much stayed the same in roster structure as the newcomers make up for the losses except they have an even better goaltender in Dimmadome who has made a ton of strides since we saw him during his rookie days. Veterans like Jim Bob, Latrell Mitchell are also fan favorites whose playing in their last season so make sure you watch closely as they aim to make a few more highlights. They didn't make the medal games last time but we should see physical shifts and tons of battles because Team World is more than ready this time.

 

1. Team Canada

GM @Ricer13

OFF 5 DEF 4.5 GOA 4 (13.5)

Key Departures: Brown, Su, Rice, Jubis

Key Arrivals: Perry, Gobeil, Socks, Dood, Tonn

Finished: 2nd

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     Being a top team is always a goal for Team Canada and going into the this tournament they definitely build another tough squad to play against. After finishing 2nd a couple of seasons ago the Canadians haven't changed much with activity and they still sit at the top of the food chain in the VHL, exchanging a fair amount of stars all the way down the line up from last time we still see big names like SS Hornet and Erik Killinger ready to lead the way while newcomers Jacob Tonn, Groovy Dood are thirsty to leave their mark. With a complete roster and momentum from a disappointing finish last time, we give Canada the early edge going into the tournament.

Edited July 11, 2021 by 16z