2018 IIHF World U18 Championship-Chelyabinsk and Magnitogorsk, Russia

[alberto]

Surprised no one has started a thread for this championship.

I saw the complete Canada-Switzerland game yesterday. Canada dominated(winning 5-0) and would have dominated more but for the great play of the Swiss goalie. Canada is now 3-0 after wins over the USA (6-4) and Belarus (8-3) and now Switzerland.

the other interesting story line is the dreadful play of newly promoted France. They lost 7-1 to Russia, 7-0 to Finland, 7-1 to Slovakia and finally 9-2 to the Czech Republic. Next stop: the relegation round against the Swiss, who are also 0-4.

[Heatleysucks]

Surprised no one has started a thread for this championship.

I saw the complete Canada-Switzerland game yesterday. Canada dominated(winning 5-0) and would have dominated more but for the great play of the Swiss goalie. Canada is now 3-0 after wins over the USA (6-4) and Belarus (8-3) and now Switzerland.

the other interesting story line is the dreadful play of newly promoted France. They lost 7-1 to Russia, 7-0 to Finland, 7-1 to Slovakia and finally 9-2 to the Czech Republic. Next stop: the relegation round against the Swiss, who are also 0-4.

Yes, I was wondering why there was no thread for this event, which is a rather important youth tournament.

So far, the perennial champion of this event, Team USA, is struggling.
Two losses in three games and a sloppy win over the winless Swiss, in which they allowed five goals.
But the Americans looked more their usual form yesterday, dispatching Belarus 8-0.

Canada has historically not done particularly well in the spring U18, with many top age group players unavailable due to CHL playoffs.
But for some reason Canada has done well when the event is held in Russia.
All three of Canada's gold medals have come when it was held in that country.
So far Canada is on track for gold medal contention again at 3-0 with a crucial win over their nemesis the US.

[alberto]

Canada beats Sweden 3-2 in overtime to claim top spot in Group A. Quarterfinals are set:

Canada-Czech Republic
Finland-Belarus
Sweden-Slovakia
Russia-USA

Relegation round has France play Switzerland in a best of 3.

[jaaa]

Very surprising tournament for Team Slovakia so far. 2000 is considered to be a weak class and based on the results they had in the season relegation seemed like a possibility. Instead they got two good wins against Czech and French and were pretty close to getting one over Russia.

And 2001 born Maxim Cajkovic leads the tournament in scoring after the preliminary round.

[Bennison]

If Russia defeats USA tonight, it will be the first time since 2001 that USA finishes outside the top four.

[Heatleysucks]

If Russia defeats USA tonight, it will be the first time since 2001 that USA finishes outside the top four.

Won't happen. The Americans disappointed the home crowd by soundly beating Russia 5-1.
Meanwhile, Canada's tournament has come to a shocking and disappointing end falling 2-1 to the Czechs.
After going 3-0-1 in group play and leading the field with 19 goals scored, the Canadians simply could not find the net.
Canada look like a good bet for gold after beating Sweden and the US prior to today.
Instead, Canada goes home without a medal for the third year in a row.

[Bennison]

After tonights win, Finland tops the unofficial world U18 ranking. It is the first time since 2004 that USA does not top the list...

Congratulations to Finland for that feat and for winning the tournament of course.

[Laho]

Curiously, this is also the first time a Finnish National Team has managed to win a gold medal game where their opponent is not either Sweden or Russia. And this is not just for the U18s, but for all age groups, including U20 and Men.