Team USA comes home without a medal, incompetent management fails the nation.

[jRuutu 2,464]

 

 

 

Booberry, Markinson, Detroit, Clue On Skates, Jokinen - all five players with over 1000 TPA. Torq, Mourning, Man, Payne - all above 830 TPA. Carter and Wolanin around 750 TPA. Vandelay - over 590 TPA. Team USA was stacked. The only expectation when heading into the World Cup was a gold medal. 

 

Round-robin games went poorly. The team won only three games out of ten. In the quarter-finals, the USA won Team World 7-3. In the semis, Team Eastern Europe was better, 2-1. The bronze medal games were going to be the "final" for the USA this time around. Unfortunately, Team Western Europe was better 5-2, they took the bronze medals. 

 

What went wrong for Team USA? Incompetent management. The lines were the same all tournament long. Despite winning only three games out of ten games in the round robin, the management thought maybe it will be different in the elimination games. It was not. The 7-3 win from Team World was a lucky break. Detroit scored four goals in the first five minutes of the game. Team World's defense was a mess. The game was over after the first period. 

 

Despite more than enough offensive firepower in the roster, the management used Detroit in both of the powerplay lines, as a winger in one unit and as a center in other another PP unit. As a result, Wolanin did not get any powerplay minutes during the whole tournament. Detroit is the player of a moderator. Who ran the show for Team USA? Another moderator. Can you imagine a moderator double-shifting one of their friend's players over an active player? Just think about that for a moment. How low can you go? You do not make any changes, and you dare to openly double-shift one of your friend's players?

 

So what if Detroit was double-shifted? In the 2-1 semi-final loss a bot played well over 3 minutes on the powerplay. Somehow Team Eastern Europe did not have that problem. 2-1 game and the powerplay utilizes a bot instead of a 700+ TPA Wolanin. The problem was visible early on in the tournament. The bot or bots were on the powerplay for a minute, two minutes, sometimes close to three minutes. The opposite teams did not seem to have that problem. Changes were not made. The management saw that a bot is a better option on the powerplay than Wolanin.

 

 

 

But the faceoffs, someone has to take faceoffs. Detroit as a winger has the second-best faceoff rating with 55. Clue On Skates has 83 in the faceoffs. Wolanin was used as the other center in 5v5, his faceoff rating is 40. Other forwards have 40 in the faceoffs as well. When we think about the basics of building a lineup, you would think the management is able to build a lineup that has two centers with the ability to take faceoffs. During round-robin games, Clue On Skates won 55% of the faceoffs, Detroit 43%, and Wolanin 33%. In the elimination games, Clue On Skates won 49%, Wolanin 31%, and Detroit 16%. Who knew this would happen? Who knew the best faceoff taker would be the center with the highest faceoff rating? Who knew the centers/players with low faceoff ratings would struggle in the faceoffs? 

 

We can only wonder how much of an effect the double shifting of Detroit had on the balance of the lineup on 5v5 and on the powerplay, but we can only wonder how much of an effect the failure to win faceoffs had. It feels so obvious. The more you hold the puck - the better. It all starts from the faceoffs. 

 

Napoleon Dynamite, 584 TPA - 61 faceoffs. Dogwood Maple, 525 TPA, 60 faceoffs. These two players did not make the team. The management looked at the roster pool and thought that it is better to play with a center that has no idea how to take faceoffs instead of picking a player that has some idea on how to take faceoffs.

 

The team that won gold? Team Eastern Europe. Four players with 80 in the faceoffs. Silver winners, Team Canada, two players with 88 in the faceoffs. Player with 60 in the faceoffs is more than likely going to do better than someone with 40 in the faceoffs. Same, of course, with 80 and 60. The faceoffs are not everything or end of the world, but we can safely say that Team USA was not built well. 

 

 

 

The worst part of it all is that the management did not make any changes during the tournament. They announced the lineup, and that was it, job done. What a monumental opportunity for the management to manage some of the best players in VHL. This is how the opportunity was used. Literally, nobody else wanted the job? That can not be true, this is World Cup hockey. Best against the best. Oh wait a minute, the managers are invited or asked to do the job! That is nice. "I have decided to once again send out invitations to members around the league who have either cemented themselves as proven GMs in this league - or are folks we think are going to be the next top GMs" - Direct quote from the World Cup leadership as the GM's were announced.

 

When you are a moderator you get certain benefits. This is one of those. You get offered the job, and nobody thinks anything of it. "The team is in good hands because the moderator is running the show". When they half-ass it, nobody thinks twice. "People are busy, it's only World Cup and international games". Maybe the work with New York was the biggest reason they were offered the job. If that was the case, it just shows how low the bar is for general managers in VHL. Looking at some file to pick the players, making a quick announcement of the roster, and then putting the lines in once is considered good general manager?

 

What a terrible show. You would hope an event like World Cup is taken more seriously, but it is not. The process of hiring general managers should be changed after the display from Team USA management. World Cup should be a huge event that is mentioned among the first things when promoting VHL. The whole league should stop to watch. Instead, the whole thing is buried behind who knows how many clicks. Missed opportunity. Shameful display from Team USA management.

 

 

1033

5.9 - 11.9

12.9 - 18.9

(Posting early since I have the time now)

 

 

[v.2 1,406]

I agree. While I did end up having fun GM’ing this seasons tourny after, I don’t think people should be approached and asked to GM.  I reluctantly said yes / felt almost obligated by being asked.  It should definitely be open to the public to apply like other seasonal jobs.  That way it would keep the passion / eagerness to compete alive.

[Bojovnik 487]

Big L

[jRuutu 2,464]

12.9 - 18.9