Your "Team USA"

[The Sicatoka]

After the Slovenia nightmare, I'm wondering what you think Team USA should've looked like. 

Create your roster, but you MUST follow the same rules USA Hockey had to (no NHLers). 

[cberkas]

5 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

After the Slovenia nightmare, I'm wondering what you think Team USA should've looked like. 

Create your roster, but you MUST follow the same rules USA Hockey had to (no NHLers). 

JPL in net.

Or and all NCAA team 

Or a retired NHL team.

[AJS]

I would have also went with an all NCAA team, then you could play up the 1980 narrative a little (all amateurs). If not that, then go with best U-23 players not in the NHL. Anything where the team would have an identity.

[Yote 53]

All NCAA team.  USA Hockey really missed the target on this one.  Even if the kids don't win it harkens back to the days of the 1980 team.  Sell the nostalgia, underdog angle.  Opportunity to showcase the young up and coming American stars and the growth of the youth game in the U.S.  There would be enough top NHL draft talent on that team that they would be skilled enough to compete.

[geaux_sioux]

3 hours ago, Yote 53 said:

All NCAA team.  USA Hockey really missed the target on this one.  Even if the kids don't win it harkens back to the days of the 1980 team.  Sell the nostalgia, underdog angle.  Opportunity to showcase the young up and coming American stars and the growth of the youth game in the U.S.  There would be enough top NHL draft talent on that team that they would be skilled enough to compete.

Exactly. Spot on.

[The Sicatoka]

5 hours ago, Yote 53 said:

All NCAA team.  

Name it, hombre.

I need 3 goalies, 8 defensemen, and  14 forwards. (You may go 7D/15F if you prefer.) 

[SiouxBoys]

USA hockey had a rule where you couldn't play for both the WJC team and the Olympic team, didn't they? 

[cberkas]

7 hours ago, SiouxBoys said:

USA hockey had a rule where you couldn't play for both the WJC team and the Olympic team, didn't they? 

They said they wouldn’t take any WJC players to the Olympics.

[The Sicatoka]

I wonder if that rule would've applied if Connor McDavid was an 18 year old non-NHL American right now.
(Same notion, but change concept to American Austin Mathews.) 

[MafiaMan]

On 2/14/2018 at 10:55 AM, Yote 53 said:

All NCAA team.  USA Hockey really missed the target on this one.  Even if the kids don't win it harkens back to the days of the 1980 team.  Sell the nostalgia, underdog angle.  Opportunity to showcase the young up and coming American stars and the growth of the youth game in the U.S.  There would be enough top NHL draft talent on that team that they would be skilled enough to compete.

Well, we all know that Casey would have wound up scoring 100 goals during the Olympics, so we're probably lucky he didn't get a chance to embarrass the rest of the hockey world...

[Yote 53]

On ‎2‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 4:52 PM, The Sicatoka said:

Name it, hombre.

I need 3 goalies, 8 defensemen, and  14 forwards. (You may go 7D/15F if you prefer.) 

There were 49 Americans taken in the 2017 NHL Draft with 6 in the first round, I think that would have been a good place to start in forming a young team.

Yeah, Casey Mittlestadt would have been my first pick for the team because he is a darn good player (set aside the Gopher hate).  Donato, Terry, Greenway, and Borgen are already on the team and have been amongst the most impactful players on the team. 

You don't think we have the depth in talent in the NCAA ranks to fill out a team that would have performed equivalent to this one?  Keep in mind, we may have made it to the quarterfinals but the only team we have proven we can beat so far is Slovakia.

[The Sicatoka]

My plan: April 15, 2017 (post NCAA Championship game) 

The six NCAA conferences, in conjunction with USA Hockey, take their teams' active rosters, subtract any seniors, add in any admitted freshmen (for fall 2017). Then they eliminate all non-US players from the list.

Then the conference (by coaches consensus) create the Americans-Only All < conference name here > team. The conference's team is coached by selection of a coach by whatever mechanism the conference chooses (reigning champ, vote of coaches, vote of media, draw straws, this); however, the chosen coach must be American (obviously). 

Additionally, the leagues are ordered 1-6 by league-wide 2016-17 KRACH finish. 

July 2017:

The start of single elimination play.
Yup, no round-robin; one game, save costs.

At site chosen by USA Hockey (assume bid process):

Thursday --
1 and 2 seed get byes
Afternoon session: 3 plays 6 
Night session: 4 plays 5 
(winners advance to ...)  

Friday -- 
Afternoon session: if 6 won, plays 1; if 3 won plays 2
Night session: 4/5 winner against 1 or 2 (based on winner of Thu afternoon game)

Sunday afternoon --
Friday's winners play for a trip to South Korea to be "Team USA". 

 

League adjusts its conference schedules for 2017-18 schedule to account for stars gone to Olympics. 

 

[MafiaMan]

I like it, Sicatoka!

[The Sicatoka]

I have my moments.  

[southpaw]

On 2/20/2018 at 1:21 PM, The Sicatoka said:

My plan: April 15, 2017 (post NCAA Championship game) 

The six NCAA conferences, in conjunction with USA Hockey, take their teams' active rosters, subtract any seniors, add in any admitted freshmen (for fall 2017). Then they eliminate all non-US players from the list.

Then the conference (by coaches consensus) create the Americans-Only All < conference name here > team. The conference's team is coached by selection of a coach by whatever mechanism the conference chooses (reigning champ, vote of coaches, vote of media, draw straws, this); however, the chosen coach must be American (obviously). 

Additionally, the leagues are ordered 1-6 by league-wide 2016-17 KRACH finish. 

July 2017:

The start of single elimination play.
Yup, no round-robin; one game, save costs.

At site chosen by USA Hockey (assume bid process):

Thursday --
1 and 2 seed get byes
Afternoon session: 3 plays 6 
Night session: 4 plays 5 
(winners advance to ...)  

Friday -- 
Afternoon session: if 6 won, plays 1; if 3 won plays 2
Night session: 4/5 winner against 1 or 2 (based on winner of Thu afternoon game)

Sunday afternoon --
Friday's winners play for a trip to South Korea to be "Team USA". 

 

League adjusts its conference schedules for 2017-18 schedule to account for stars gone to Olympics. 

 

You're already making an all-star team that only plays at most, 3 random games 2+ months after they last played meaningful hockey and expecting that to decide a team in February? 

Yote53 included a player who didn't play a minute of Olympic hockey as someone who is "among the most impactful" on team USA but isn't even the best American defenseman on his college team. 

In today's culture, you can't take NCAA players for the whole year, but why not have tryouts in early December with college and non NHL pros included. They play exhibitions vs ncaa and European teams like the WJC team does. 

Keep those guys together for 2+ months, excluding cuts, and they're set for the Olympics having played 20+ games together. 

NCAA teams and leagues can adjust schedules a bit so it doesn't cause a major issue. 

[The Sicatoka]

The best solution involves fixing the Gary Bettman problem. 

After this year's rating debacle you have to think NBC (who has Olympic and NHL rights) will be begging to get the pros to Beijing. And this probably exactly what Bettman and the owners wanted.