Claimed:Team USA: Looking Ahead [Reviewed]

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Team USA: Looking Ahead

Team USA is not in a good place right now, but better times might be ahead; or maybe not. AK47 will be playing his last games as a goalie during the S48 World Cup, leaving Team USA's future in net very unclear. This will be the main area of concern for the team in the coming tournaments, because there are some good American players on the rise. It's almost assured that they will be missing out on winning a medal for the second straight World Cup, which has never happened for the team. If they don't get a good goalie prospect soon, that could become three tournaments of futility in the S50 games. Even with the goalie situation having no solution in sight, they look to be competitive by S52.

 

The youth of Team USA is not represented well on their current roster. AK47 at right wing and Titan Kronos on defense offer two potentially stellar players for years to come; these two players were just drafted to the VHL, giving them several years of eligibility ahead. William Covington III could be the star of the team in S52; a S47 draftee, Covington is already arguably the second-best player on the S48 roster. His Davos teammate Vincent Adultman (from the same draft class) will at least be a depth forward hitting the peak of his career just in time for the S52 tournament. These four players could be mainstays for Team USA in the next couple tournaments, barring any change of course in their training. They might even be the only players on the current team to return for the next World Cup.

 

After Freedom McJustice retires, William Covington will be the best American-born player in the VHL.

 

Looking beyond this year's team, things start to look a little better, especially in the forwards. Playing for Team Mercenaries this year is Kai Roberts, the 6th overall pick in the S49 draft. He might be an iffy prospect, but as things stand now, if he continues to progress as we know he is capable, he could be a great player. Getting even younger, Diana Maxwell and Travis Gowecny are two S50 forwards determined to bring Team USA back to glory. Maxwell in particular has star potential. She is one of the top two prospects preparing for the S50 draft, and by the time of the S52 tournament she will be a budding superstar. Gowecny may or may not make the team in S50, but eventually he will be making an impact for the team. These three are all forwards. As far as defensive prospects go, Shayne Gow will be joining Kronos in the next tournament, but beyond him, it's up in the air. Gow was the 9th overall pick in the S49 draft.

 

There are a lot of questions for this team moving forward, but several pieces are coming into place. They have four of the top 11 picks from the S49 draft. In Maxwell, we could see a second consecutive American prospect go first overall after Kronos was the top pick this year. AK47's switch from goalie to right wing was no doubt a blow to USA's outlook, but it won't be impossible to overcome. Prospects come and go; right now, they're just looking for another goalie to come along.

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Review:

Cool article, I do love USA hockey, though my team on the site is team world. Will suck that there's no real goalie for USA, that will be hard to overcome. But the prescense of 4 respectable prospects(or rather 3 respectable prospects and @eaglesfan036), plus SWC3 and Adultman, has a good outlook for USA

 

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( @evrydayimbyfuglien)

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