... and speaking of that rumored best-on-best tournament that's supposed to be happening next year, here's a recent article on the NHL website talking about it.

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-making-plans-for-world-cup-of-hockey-and-olympic-participation

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the concept after Day 2 of the League's two-day Board of Governors meetings Tuesday.

"It hasn't been finalized but that's what we're focused on," Bettman said. Without confirming, Bettman indicated the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland would be the four participating countries in the 2025 tournament the League is planning to host.

The tournament would be limited only to NHL players and could take place in multiple locations, but that is also not confirmed.

The NHL hasn't held or participated in an international tournament since the World Cup of Hockey 2016. The last time there was an in-season break for a tournament was the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

For those interested in a sneak peak at some of the players that will eventually make their way to the senior women's national team the IIHF U18 Women's World Championships are currently in the group stage in Switzerland.

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2024/ww18

The US team and Canada are both currently 2-0 in group stage play, with games against Sweden and Finland up next respectively. Even more so than at the senior women's level the junior women's level is totally dominated by the USA and Canada... and anything other than a gold medal match between the two teams would be shocking. Team USA has medaled in all 18 years since this particular tournament existed.

If you want to watch the next Team USA match they play Sweden at 5:00 AM Central time tomorrow morning on the NHL Network (cable tv channel).

Here is a link to TSN's video highlights of Team USA's recent victory against Sweden in the gold medal match in the aforementioned World Juniors that just concluded in Gothenburg, Sweden.

https://www.tsn.ca/world-juniors/video/wjc-gold-medal-game---united-states-vs-sweden-extended-highlight~2840637

I really enjoy TSN's broadcasts of international hockey (play by play, color analysts, in studio commentators), much better than whatever we put on here in the States, and I wish that The NHL Network would just simulcast these broadcasts rather than produce their own for Team USA games.

Just want to say thanks! (and get in on page 1)

That 1st goal (6-on-5 delayed penalty) was really nice. Some nice finishes on a couple other goals too.

Glad to have some company in here!

Quick update on the Women's U18 Championship.

Rather shocking result in the first quarterfinal with Czechia taking down Canada 4-2 while being outshot 47-14.

Team USA and Finland played a competitive game as well, the Americans winning by the same score while outshooting the Finns 44-14.

That sets up a USA-Czechia gold medal final at noon tomorrow. Unfortunately the NHL Network will not be showing it live because they have a live NHL game already scheduled for that time slot. The goods news is - and I just verified this - is that the game will be shown live on ESPN+. In addition, the NHL Network has the replay scheduled for tomorrow evening at 6PM.

While Team USA should be the heavy favorite tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised to see another competitive match, especially if the Czech goalie Aneka Senkova stands on her head again like she did this morning.

I no longer get the NHL Network but do have ESPN+. I'll be watching tomorrow. Thanks for the heads-up.

This is the first of three incoming posts catching us up on USA Hockey news and info.

In April Team USA won the silver medal in the 20024 IIHF Women's World Championships in Utica, New York, losing 6-5 in overtime to Canada in the gold medal game.

https://thehockeynews.com/womens/international/canada-captures-gold-with-overtime-win

As is always the case in international women's hockey, the Americans and Canadians were far superior to the remainder of the competition. In my opinion Team USA was slightly superior to the Canadians for the bulk of the tournament, but these two teams are so evenly matched and so familiar with each other that every game between them is essentially a crapshoot, as evidenced by the gold medal game going to overtime.
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Following the tournament the newly launched PWHL finished up its regular season, which just concluded this past weekend. The break was great for PWHL Boston and USA captain Hillary Knight, who resumed play after the tournament winning 4 out of 5 games and sneaking into a playoff spot. The break was not so great for PWHL Ottawa, who lost most of their remaining games and fell out of the playoffs.

The PWHL playoffs start tomorrow night, with the top four teams facing off in best-of-five semifinals and finals. There is a great degree of parity in the new league talent-wise, and I would expect both series to go at least 4 games.

Here is the schedule for the PWHL Playoffs: Boston vs. Montreal/Minnesota vs. Toronto

https://www.thepwhl.com/en/stats/schedule/all-teams/3/all-months?league=1

Like the regular season games, here in the United States the PWHL playoff games will be broadcast on cable/satellite TV on a combination of NESN, the MSG Networks, and SportsNet Pittsburgh. I can usually watch the games on these channels on my DirecTV since I have the regional sports networks as part of my package. More conveniently for many, however, is that the games are also broadcast (no subscription required) on the PWHL's Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@thepwhlofficial

In addition to broadcasting all the games live on Youtube, within a day or two they post a "condensed" version of each game that usually lasts about 80 minutes with the commercial breaks and puck stoppages removed.
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Lastly, it appears that the PWHL and IIHF are looking to better coordinate their schedules in the future, which hopefully means the PWHL won't have to take an "international break" from its regular season schedule every spring.

https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/pwhl-and-iihf-open-planning-discussions-for-the-future
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Edit: I have adopted Minnesota, with Taylor Heise, Grace Zumwinkle, and Kendall Coyne-Schofield as my rooting interest in the PWHL.

This past weekend the IIHF 2024 U18 Men's World Championships concluded in Espoo, Finland.

Team USA and the Canadians were the class of this tournament as well, and as was the case with the senior women's tournament, I thought the Americans were the slightly superior team for the balance of the tournament. The next best team was Sweden, which was the only club to seriously test either Canada or the USA.

Unfortunately, although Team USA had the better of play for the bulk of the gold medal game, Team Canada prevailed 6-4. Team USA jumped out early and held the lead through most of the third period, until Trevor Connelly took a 5 minute major (illegal check to the neck or head) that resulted in multiple Canadian goals. Minus that penalty I think it's very likely Team USA would have held on for the gold medal. As it was they took home the silver.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/mckenna-canada-gold-medal-u18-hockey-worlds-united-states-1.7194795

For Team USA the stars of the tournament were James Hagens - F (9 goals, 13 assists), Cole Hutson - D (4 goals, 9 assists), Cole Eiserman (pronounced "Yzerman") - F (9 goals, 2 assists), and Teddy Stiga - F (6 goals, 5 assists).

I like Stiga's last name because it reminds me of this:



Except for Hagens, who is underage an not eligible for the NHL Draft until 2025, I expect all of them to go highly in the upcoming NHL Draft. Hagens is my odds-on -favorite to get picked first overall in next year's NHL Draft.

For his efforts James Hagens was named Tournament MVP.

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2024/wm18/news/60645/havens_named_tournament_mvp

And last but not least, here is Trevor Connelly's "Michigan" goal vs. Latvia from the group stage.

As it does every May, just as the Stanley Cup Playoffs are really heating up, the IIHF hosts its senior international men's tournament. The 2024 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships, which begin on May 10, are being held in Prague and Ostrava, Czechia.

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2024/wm

As usual the Europeans tend to take this tournament a bit more seriously than the Americans and Canadians, but this year's Team USA looks to be one of its best in several years.

As of today here is Team USA's roster for the tournament, which includes NHLers from teams that either didn't make the Stanley Cup Playoffs or were already eliminated. Obviously NHL players that were slightly dinged up (or needed surgery) at the end of the regular season weren't invited, but there are still some pretty interesting names on the list. I'm really looking forward to seeing Brady Tkachuk in this tourney.

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/2024mwcroster

The tournament officially beings on Friday May 10 for Team USA vs. Sweden at 2:20PM (Eastern Time), and all Team USA games can be seen on The NHL Network (DirecTV channel 215).

Here is the schedule for Team USA's remaining preliminary round games.

https://teamusa.usahockey.com/news_article/show/1309035

I haven't confirmed this yet, but I assume that the games non involving Team USA will broadcast in the United States on a combination of The NHL Network and streaming on ESPN+.

If I feel like it I'll post a tournament preview before Friday's preliminary round action begins.
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Update!

The U.S. Men's National Team notched a 6-2 victory over Slovakia in #MensWorlds pre-tournament play today 😤

Team USA is set to kick off the tournament against Sweden on Friday, May 10th, at 2:20p ET on @NHLNetwork!

Game Recap ⤵️

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 7, 2024

Not much of a preview here... just a bit of pre-tournament news and a reminder that the 2024 IIHF World Championships begin tomorrow in Czechia.

My expectations are to compete for a medal, but this tournament has a tendency to be very unpredictable.

Brady Tkachuk Named Captain of Team USA

I'll be watching the early game on the NHL Network tomorrow morning at 9:00am, as Nico Hishier leads Switzerland against Norway.

Team USA opens up against Sweden at 1:20pm (1:00pm broadcast time) on the NHL Network as well.

Team USA got one final tune-up in before gameday, in addition to tournament headshots being taken and captains being named!

Catch the U.S.'s #MensWorlds opening matchup against Sweden tomorrow at 2:20 p.m. ET on @NHLNetwork!

Insider ⤵️

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 9, 2024

Instant reaction to game 1: Sweden 5, USA 2

Overall Swedes were slightly better.

They probably have the best defense corps in the tournament (Victor Hedman, Rasmus Dahlin, Marcus Pettersson, and Jonas Brodin).

Swedes played a more cohesive, less tentative game, the result, in my opinion, of having a more familiar, structured system (compared to Team USA) that their national teams at all levels always play with.

While Team USA probably has, therefore, more improvement potential as the tournament goes on, the Swedes were ready to play right from the beginning of game 1.

None of the lines for Team USA stood out, either good or bad.

Had three powerplays, and though they looked good (1st and 3rd PPs better than the 2nd) and moved the puck well, they didn't score on any of them. I have a feeling if this team is going to compete for a medal the powerplay is gonna have to play a big part.

Even though we didn't play particularly well, we should be able to just out talent the lesser teams in the tournament (Sweden may the favorite to win gold).

The first power play (2nd period) seemed to get Team USA playing more assertively, and for about 12 minutes thereafter we had our best stretch of the game where we dominated the chances.

All of that being said, it was still a very tight game, with the Americans in it until the very end. With about three minutes left in the third period we got our last powerplay, with a chance to tie the game (the score was 3-2 Sweden at the time).

Unfortunately weren't able to convert, despite some good puck movement, and the Swedes iced it with two empty netters in the last minute to inflate the scoreline.

Back on the ice tomorrow at 1:20pm (NHL Network) to take on Germany.

On Saturday Team USA played Germany, who beat the United States in overtime in the semifinals of last year's tournament.

This time Team USA got the better or the Germans 6-1, in a game the United States controlled pretty much from start to finish. It was a much better effort than against the Swedes to open the tournament, the team playing much more cohesively, especially on the defensive end and in the neutral zone.

If there was a decisive point in the game it was with 3 second left in the second period with the United States up 3-1 and the game still somewhat competitive.

Pickin' corners 🎯 #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/vCEgCLOBCG

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 11, 2024

Luke Hughes' goal in the dying seconds of the second period pretty much iced the game, and the Germans never really pushed back much after that.

Thirteen players tallied at least one point in today's #MensWorlds prelim dub 👊

Game Recap → https://t.co/pSxW7d3ZR4 pic.twitter.com/mw5ozNlRB7

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 11, 2024

Of note, starting goalie Alex Lyons left the game midway through with a hand injury and didn't return. Trey Augustine came in and played well afterwards. As of today it looks like Lyons is done for the tournament.

This morning Team USA took on Slovakia in its third game of preliminary round play.

Initially team USA looked sluggish, and was unable to match Slovakia's intensity early the game. As the first period came to and end it was 2-0 Slovakia with Team USA being outplayed.

Even though the Slovaks jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second period, the Americans played much better from there on, outshooting the Slovaks about 2:1. Of note goalie Trey Augustine came in again (this time in relief) and played very well for the second game in a row. I would not be surprised to see him pegged as the main goalie for the tournament moving forward.

Despite playing much better in the second Team USA still entered the third period down by 3.

In the third, however, the Americans continued to push the run of play, and slowly chipped away at the Slovaks' lead. Two goals in particular are worth another look: Brady Tkachuk's sweet stickhandling move through the five hole which made it 4-3, and Luke Hughes' coast-to-coast rush that tied it up at four.

Well that was pretty 🤩 #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/jbDzet3T5z

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 13, 2024

Oh my goodness. Luke Hughes just went coast-to-coast and tied it late in the third.

Almost an exact copy of his goal against Columbus.#NJDevils pic.twitter.com/GjxHrAiHvc

— Daniel Amoia (@daniel_amoia) May 13, 2024

In overtime both sides had opportunities, but it was the Slovaks who earned the second point with a nice deflection in front of the goal that Augustine had no chance of saving.

With four games left in preliminary group play Team USA, currently sitting at four points in the standings, still has come work to do in order to qualify for the quarterfinal knockout stage.

On to the next. #MensWorlds

Game Recap → https://t.co/1qsWxXseDC pic.twitter.com/cTHBSZfOkb

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) May 13, 2024