Claimed:Season 43 World Cup Preview: Part One (Team USA) [Final 6/6]

[Tagger 2,722]

What everyone's competing for, the VHL World Cup. Not Pictured: The actual VHL World Cup

 

With the World Cup only a season away, fans are started to get excited in preparation for hockey’s biggest international tournament. Since there’s only a matter of months now before teams are to be selected, players will be making sure to put their all in this upcoming season as they chase for a spot on their national team’s roster. In this six part series, we’ll be looking at the six teams set to feature in the World Cup, whether their potential squad has improved or gotten worse since the Season 40 World Cup and predicting how they will perform in the upcoming tournament. What better way to start off this series than with the reigning champions, Team USA.

 

Season 40 World Cup

 

Americans will be hoping to relive the success of Season 40 in Season 43

 

Heading into the Season 40 World Cup, it looked like Team USA had the perfect balance of veteran leadership and top young talent with players such as Thomas O’Malley, Mason Richardson and Jerrick Poole making the roster after only playing one full season while perennial All-Stars Conner Low and Tom Slaughter provided crucial experience. Nothing showcases the work ethic of this roster more than the draft selections with which their players were taken, as the team had three first overall selections and three second overall selections making the roster and none of their players had been taken after the sixth overall selection in the VHL Draft. While the team did face some scares in the opening phase (having to go to OT to beat Team World along with losing to Team Mercenaries), Team USA ended up securing a first round bye in the playoffs comfortably enough with a tournament best eight wins and two losses. Once they got to the playoff phase, they couldn’t have hoped for a better opponent as they were drawn against a Team World side that had finished last in the opening phase. After dispatching of Team World comfortably in a 6-1 demolition, they faced another surprise opponent in the Final, after Scandinavia had upset Western Europe in the other semi-final. In a disappointingly one-sided encounter that saw Scandinavia only manage to get off one shot in the first period, Team USA were crowned World Champions after a 2-0 victory.

 

Who They’ve Lost

 

The Sterling Labatte Award, which will probably end up renamed after Season 40 Captain Conner Low

 

While the most dominant team’s in these competitions will usually be expected to lose the most players in between tournaments, that’s not the case for Team USA as only three of their Season 40 World Cup winning side will not be able to take part in Season 43. While Season 40 Captain Conner Low was the most talented player on their roster in that tournament, his loss will actually be the less felt one due to the great depth Team USA has at the defenseman position. The other two losses are the brothers Robert Gow III and Robin Gow, the latter being the top point scorer for the Team on their way to victory. With a surprising lack of depth at the forward position for Team USA, it will be interesting to see how the team’s second line will perform in the Season 43 World Cup. There had been some talk that Tom Slaughter might retire prior to the Season 43 World Cup, however a recent media article written by Slaughter himself seemed to indicate he planned on playing for two more seasons.

 

Forwards

 

Tom Slaughter will hope to win his fourth consecutive off-season competition with a win in the Season 43 World Cup

 

While Tom Slaughter’s future with the now rebuilding New York Americans has yet to be decided, there’s no question that Tom Slaughter is the star player for Team USA. Hoping to come into the Season 43 World Cup off a fourth straight one hundred point season, Slaughter has always been a threat with the puck, but he’s also steadily improved defensively over the last few years. Likely lining up to his right on the first line will be Season 41 and 42’s top goal scorer Bruno Wolf, along with strong contender for Most Improved Player for Season 42 James Faraday lining up on his left. If these three do in fact end up sharing a line, it will be a repeat of the same first line that featured for the Season 41 Super Cup winning Brekker Bad team. Let’s just say these guys have a history of winning together. Leading the second line will likely be Season 40 first overall selection Thomas O’Malley. While his regular season performance this season felt a bit lacking for a player of his calibre, O’Malley exploded in the playoffs, helping the Cologne Express to their first Continental Cup victory. Having impressed in the last World Cup despite only playing one season in the VHL prior to his selection, we look forward to seeing how O’Malley can contribute in Season 43 now that he has picked up more experience.

 

 The question marks for Team USA start with the two remaining forward slots. With wingers Azmet Ali and Tyrone Williams not turning up to train with their teams for the last few seasons, the team will likely have to resort to playing centers at the winger positions. The next best American center is Tyson Stokes of the Helsinki Titans. Himself recently coming off of a period without training with the team, Stokes is not currently performing to the level that people had expected out of him when he was selected with the third overall pick of the Season 39 Draft. Having played in the VHL for four season and yet to put up more than 53 points in a season, Stokes will be hoping to break out in Season 43 with the retirement of Naomi Young in order to prove to Team USA that he deserves to be in the team. Which leads us to the final forward spot for Team USA, and if we were to go purely on training hours, the next logical selection would be the franchise player for HC Davos Dynamo, Freedom McJustice. However, McJustice seems to have been putting less effort into training recently, which is a cause of concern for both the Dynamo and Team USA. If McJustice doesn’t return to training, he will likely be surpassed in training hours by A.C. Savage, but the chances of Savage getting selected will be even slimmer considering he seems to be spending most of his recent training hours in a boxing gym than in an ice rink. Is there a chance then perhaps of Team USA relying on rookies for depth like they did in Season 40? Unlikely, the best American forward prospects are Josh Merica and Jefferson Jackson. Merica started his training off strongly, however he has tailed off recently and will likely not have nearly enough TPE to make the Team USA roster. Unlike Merica, Jackson has been continuing to turn up to training on a consistent basis, however as he is a Season 44 prospect, this World Cup will end up coming too early for him. The likely scenario is that the team goes with McJustice. There’s a chance that his spotty approach to training recently comes off the back of his team’s recent failure to make the playoffs, so there’s every chance he comes back around once Season 43 starts. Even if he doesn’t, he’s still probably the best option available.

 

Likely Selections:

C - Tom Slaughter

C - Thomas O'Malley

C - Tyson Stokes

C - Freedom McJustice

LW - James Faraday

RW - Bruno Wolf

 

Defensemen

 

Mason Richardson will hope to make people forget about Conner Low's absence with a good World Cup performance

 

When your team is in possession of three of the top four hardest training defensemen in the VHL, you know that teams are going to have a lot of problems even getting off shots against you, let alone scoring. Despite the loss of Conner Low, this Team USA defensive unit looks even stronger thanks to the progression that these players have made since the last World Cup. The team’s top defenseman will be Season 42 Continental Cup winner Mason Richardson, who looks a strong bet to become a Labatte winner in Season 43. Before the Express traded for Robin Gow in order to aid their championship push, Richardson had actually been the best offensive contributor to the team in Season 42, and he continued that fine form into the Season 42 playoffs as he was the leading point scorer at his position. Likely partnering him on the first line will be the former Helsinki Titans franchise player Jake Wylde. Wylde is actually a very talented player with the puck, however he prefers to leave that aspect to his teammate Don Draper, while he focuses on the defensive aspects of the game. A more physical player than Richardson, the two would work very well together in a pairing.

 

Joining Richardson and Wylde on the Team USA roster will likely be Jerrick Poole and Jack Kowalski. Poole, who is currently a Free Agent, has been a key component for the Legion since they drafted him with the fourth overall pick back in the Season 40 VHL Draft, leading the team’s defenseman in point scoring in each of the last three seasons. If Poole were to join a team with an already strong defensive core in Free Agency, it would likely give us a good guide as to how we can expect him to perform in the World Cup. Kowalski will be the lone player on the blue line making his first appearance for Team USA, having appeared for Team Mercenaries in the Season 40 World Cup. Kowalski spent Season 42 sparking up a great pairing with Stockholm Vikings Franchise Player Lord Karnage, and the pair would go on to lead their team in point scoring.  Kowalski is an intimidating foe on the ice and has no qualms with picking up penalties in order to let the opposition know of his presence.

 

As it stands, I can’t see a scenario where these aren’t the four players selected come the Season 43 World Cup. Players such as Jakob Ackerman, Brandon Holmes, Patrick Demko and Supa Hot Fire will likely be stuck competing for a place in the Season 46 squad once Wylde retires. Spare a thought though for defenseman Chris Raymond. While he is not the hardest worker on the Cologne Express roster, he is a consistent presence on the training ground. Had he stayed at the left winger position he was playing at for Team Mercenaries in the Season 40 World Cup, there’s every chance he would have made this roster. As it stands though, it looks like he may have to get to the Season 43 World Cup through Team Mercenaries once again.

 

Likely Selections:

Mason Richardson

Jake Wylde

Jerrick Poole

Jack Kowalski

 

Goalies

 

Mikaelson looks set to become the full-time starter for Team USA in Season 43

 

Prior to the Season 40 World Cup, the one position that they looked most inferior to their North American rivals Canada was in between the sticks. Brock Waldron was a player who competed at a good level for a player of his age, however he wasn’t expected to perform anywhere near as well as Canada’s Brick Wahl. However, Waldron would go on to have a fine tournament as he recorded the second best save percentage in the opening phase, whilst only conceding one goal over the course of the playoffs along with picking up a first star in the final.

 

Looking to Season 43 and one could make the argument that the USA could head into that tournament with the two best goalies in the league. While much of that will depend on what decisions the Canadian goalies make about their retirement (should Brick Wahl and Mike Szatkowski Jr. both retire prior to the competition, both of the Team USA goalies will likely have the two highest training hour counts), it looks like Waldron will probably be spending the majority of the World Cup on the bench behind Season 41 first overall selection Niklaus Mikaelson. Waldron is set to experience regression for the first time in Season 43 and he is simply not putting up enough training hours to keep ahead of Mikaelson. With impending retirements, Mikaelson (who actually made a couple of appearances for Team USA in Season 41 despite having only played in the VHLM to that point) is primed to become the best goalie in the league for the foreseeable future, and the Season 43 World Cup will likely be the first demonstration of that dominance.

 

What’s probably most concerning is that the depth that Team USA has at the goalie position is so strong, you could make an argument that Callum Sinclair and Blake Campbell would be the second best starting and backup goalies in the tournament, despite likely playing on Team Mercenaries, a team built for players not good enough to make their own national roster! It’s somewhat unfortunate for both of these men that they will likely never get an opportunity to start for their country (the only real opportunities would be if either Mikaelson retires early or either Sinclair or Campbell does not recreate until after the Season 49 World Cup).

 

Likely Selections:

Starter - Niklaus Mikaelson

Backup - Brock Waldron

 

Final Verdict

 

As a whole, this team is an improvement over their Season 40 winning team. Where they have lost players, the disparity has been offset by the improvement that the younger players of the Season 40 side have made since that tournament. While there are a few question marks about their depth up front, they will likely possess the best first line of forwards in the tournament, along with the best defensemen and the best goalies. I see no reason to believe that Team USA will not repeat their Season 40 success in Season 43.

 

Prediction:

WINNERS

Edited April 19, 2015 by YEAH!

[Victor 10,943]

I officially nominate you to the vacant for 25ish seasons position of Patrick Palmer.

http://z11.invisionfree.com/vhl/index.php?act=Search&CODE=getalluser&mid=489

[Kesler 1,514]

Easy work in the tourney with this team.

[Tagger 2,722]

I officially nominate you to the vacant for 25ish seasons position of Patrick Palmer.

http://z11.invisionfree.com/vhl/index.php?act=Search&CODE=getalluser&mid=489

And there's my new member title sorted.

[Victor 10,943]

And there's my new member title sorted.

I'm already quite excited because I just checked and found out he last checked the old site on 20 March.

[Laflamme 376]

Content: 3/3- Looking like a very sharp team for the Olympics. You guys look like a real stacked top of the line team. Hopefully Canada will pick me up so I can play against you all. 

 

Grammar:2/2- Real good on the Grammar part of this article.

 

Appearance: 1/1- Kept me entertained from start to finish great job. It looks great. 

 

Final 6/6

[Kendrick 4,741]

Claimed