January 8, 2025 • 30 mins
FloHockey content manager and veteran prospects and NHL analyst Chris Peters joins hosts Jim Connelly (@jimmyconnelly) and Ed Trefzger (@EdTrefzger) to recap USA's gold at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship and to look at international hockey in general.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to USCCHO Spotlight for Wednesday, January eighth, twenty twenty five.
I'm in Treshker alongside Jim Connolly. The USA victory back
to back gold in the World Juniors is not too
far in the rearview mirror and there's still time to
relish in it.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And joining us now on us Echo Spotlight. He is
someone who I feel like has covered the US national
team and its programs for as long as I have
been in hockey, which is probably not mathematically possible because
he's a young, strapping man.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Still.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's Chris Peters from Flow Hockey and he is just
back from Ottawa and the World Junior Championship where, of
course the US captured gold. Chris Heck of return tournament
and obviously the outcome you're on the US side of
this all outcome with another gold medal for Team USA
(01:08):
and coach David carl and his staff. What an accomplishment
this has been for the Americans.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, it has and it's going to be with you
guys again, and certainly it's always a little more fun
when you're you know, you're talking about a great tournament,
and this one was a great tournament, I think from
not just from the US, but you think about Latvia
beaton Canada, you think about Checks upsetting Canada in the quarterfinals,
these amazing results, Finland really overachieving and very pushing USA
(01:36):
to the brink and.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Finally get an exciting end.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I think when you look at this tournament and you
think about USA and the fact that the USA Hockey
has never celebrated back to back gold medals at the
World Junior Championship, done it a few times at the
World Under eighteen's, done it a few times. On the
women's side, to win the World Juniors twice in a row,
has never They've never come close. They never even played
for a gold medal in consecutive years until this year.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
And the fact that David.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Carl was the man leading it is, you know, makes
it no surprise. The guy has made winning a habit
and winning championship a habit, which is really impressive. But
I think you got to give a lot of credit
to the players and the way that they played, the
effort they put forth.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
For Team USA.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
They got contributions from all over the place. Teddy Stega
scores the game winner. He was a healthy scratch at
the beginning of the tournament, every single guy in the
roster except for their third.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
String goalie played.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Lakinski got a couple of games in net, including a
quarterfinal elimination game they threw him in there.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
So really impressive stuff from Team USA.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Overall, it was a fun team to cover and we
certainly always you stay objective, but at the same time,
it's hard not to feel happy for that group because
they were very dedicated to making history and it was
part of kind of their whole identity as a team,
and you could tell that and they delivered.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
You pointed out the fact that this was back to
back golds, but back to back gold medal game appearance
is something that Theas had never done.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
But this was unexperience team.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
They brought a lot of players back from last year's
gold medal winning team.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
There's players that were missing.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Obviously, a guy like Will Smith would have been wonderful
to have in that lineup too, but he's in the
NHL now, but he'll look at this team and the
players that did come back. How much did you feel
like the experience in that locker room really helped them?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I think it helped a ton and it wasn't just
experience at the World Junior level, it's experience in big games.
Think about the number of big games that Ryan Leonard
and Gabe Perrot and Ze Buyam have played in, not
just at the World Juniors, but at the Frozen Four
last year, the absolute willing of that team forward.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Trey Augustine won Big Ten Championship.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
He's the first goalie to win back to back gold
medals for Team USA, has three gold medals to his
name already when you include the Under eighteen World Championship,
and as I mentioned, a Big Ten champion in their
tournament with Michigan State.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And these are guys that have built something in terms
of a winning legacy.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Not just for Team USA but wherever else they've been,
and I think that matters a lot. You think about
two guys that didn't play in any games last year
but were on the roster, Aaron Manettian and Carrie Turantz.
Both play significant roles. Menettian's role fluctuated throughout, but you
think about the minutes that he was able to play
in the biggest games, and he gave that team a.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Little bit of defensive depth when they didn't really have it.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So even the guys that didn't get a chance to
play last year made their contributions, and so they had
ten total returning players, which makes a huge difference, and
they're going to have I think somewhere around six or
seven next year, which is still a good number, but
I think this is the most they've ever brought back.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And if Will Smith's in the mix, it's eleven.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
But yeah, but then you think about that, and then
the young guys that James Hagen's had such tremendous World
Junior championship and he was a first year player.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Cole Eiserman scored some big goals.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Cole Hudson, a first year player, led the tournament in scoring,
and he's the first defenseman to lead a tournament in
scoring outright at the World Juniors. So there have been
some guys that have tied for the tournament lead. He
let it out right with eleven points. That's the thing
that I keep coming back to. You had the experience.
I think that the core of Boulliam, Leonard and Augustine
kind of as your primary guys with your goalie, defense forward,
(05:13):
that was what they built around. And by building around that,
they had success. And again you bring the whole staff back.
And I think that David carl knew what buttons to push,
when to push him, and who he could trust in
those situations, probably because he'd seen him do it before.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I want to ask you, you've been around the inside
of USA hockey for so long now, and you've watched,
obviously Jim Johansson build a lot of what this is
the great, late great Jim Joe Hanson. Now it's John
van Biesbrook and he's now put together a few gold
medal winning teams at different levels. He's taken a lot
of responsibility on what has his role been like and
(05:52):
how important do you feel that he has been to
some of this recent success.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, certainly, I'm glad you brought up JJ because I
think that he laid the foundation. And I just saw
the national team development program is gonna wear some jerseys
that honor Jim Johansson throughout the season, starting soon in
the auction off at the end of the year. And
I think that before JJ passed away, John then Biensbrook
had started moving into more leadership roles in USA hockey
(06:19):
and was able to see that. And I think that
there the philosophies have largely stayed the same, but I
do think that his approach is different and the way
that he's going about it is a little bit different,
and as a result, I think that it's the melding
of different worlds and making it work well. I think
the fact that John did come from the CHL, he
played his amateur hockey in the Sea in the OHL
(06:41):
gives him a perspective to not overlook those players that
may have been overlooked before. And they had a couple
of OHL players and their roster this year and certainly
last year as well. But I think you also empower.
I think one of the things that he does is
he does empower people to make some of these decisions
as well, Like the coaching staff has a significance saying
who's on the roster and so making sure that it's
(07:02):
a collaborative environment where everybody gets their say, and going
out and doing the work yourself, which he does.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
He goes out to the rinks, he watches players.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I remember a couple of years back, I saw him
at a game and he was in a Minnesota Loop
game and they were watching Dominic James because they didn't
really have a book on him. And then he ended
up being on their team later that year. I think
that's the thing that happens. And the fact of the
matter is that a lot of the success that happened
at the world junior level happened under JJ's watch.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
But now John.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Has led three three World Junior Championships in since twenty eighteen,
so three three gold medals in that span, so.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
You do have to give him credit for that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Meanwhile, Hockey Canada and head coach Dave Cameron got a
lot of criticism from Canadian fans, and I got to
hear a bit of it because there are a lot
of Canadian fans of NCAA hockey. What was the problem
with Canada was a player selection? Was it lack of discipline?
Was it a whole bunch of other stuff too, And I.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Think it was all of it, you know, like it
was really the if there was a perfect storm for
USA to repeat, there was a perfect storm for Canada
to get bounced in the quarterfinal for the second year
in a row.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
I think there was. They made mistakes in their roster construction.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
They had an injury, a significant injury to a player,
Matthew Schaeffer, at the very beginning of the tournament, he
played four periods of hockey, not even before he was
injured and unfortunately out for months due to a broken collarbone,
and he is losing That player changed the dynamic of
their blue line. So I think that they their blue
line was poorly constructed and that actually was a significant
(08:40):
reason why they ended up losing, is that they did
not have anybody to replace that puck moving dynamic ability that.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Matthew Schaefer has they had.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
They brought more heavier defensemen that were gonna maybe not
move pucks as effectively, and so I think that was
absolutely a big part of what happened with that team,
and that I think the coaches made some critical errors
throughout the course of that as well. You think about
not putting players in the spots that they're used to being.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I thought their lineup construction.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Was constantly off in terms of how to maximize scoring.
I do think that the players themselves fed it right
into the pressure and allowed it to get to them.
And that's something that has a staff. You have to
try to find a way to manage right. You have
to find a way to do that. Dave Cameron has
coached in the NHL. He's coach junior hockey. He's won
a gold medal at the world I don't think he's
(09:33):
a bad coach, but he did a bad job at
this tournament. And I think with one thing that I
heard repeatedly from and I know that other colleagues in
the media heard this from scouts was that they picked
the wrong players and then they put them in the wrong.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Spots, so it was a comminate. There's that too.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
The thing is that Hockey Canada should next season be
able to put on the best team on the ice
in terms of the number of players that they have.
They're going to have a Gavin mckennay year older and wiser.
You have Portamartoni year older or year wiser. Matthew Schaeffer
will probably be healthy. They have some good goaltending. They
won the gold medal at the Under eighteen Worlds and
didn't have every one of their best players.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
They're going to have a chance to be the favorite again.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
But I do think that they have to look at
their process and they have to make some decisions because
when they put that team on the ice and when
Shaffer got injured, they did have a chance because they
hadn't registered all their players to adequately replace him with
somebody that was a better fit, and they instead just
brought went with the guys that they came with, and
(10:35):
Sawyer Mineo, who I think is a good defenseman and
deserved to spot on that team.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
He wasn't going to replace Matthew Shaeffer.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
The fact that they didn't have Sam Dickinson on the
power play, top goal scorer, among one of the top
point producers among OHL defensemen. Just the all of those decisions.
The decision that they made, I think rereaked of arrogance
in terms of we know better and so we're going
to do it this way because we know it's going
(11:05):
to work, and they didn't adjust when it didn't and
that's the end.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Meanwhile, I've heard David Carl talk about how these decisions
on players, what roles players were going to play, has
been going on since last summer.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Absolutely, And I think you look at their process, you
look at the USA process of picking the roster. They've
improved it immensely over the years, and that was partially
through Jay.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
That was also driven.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Significantly by Tim Taylor, another late great in USA hockey history.
He saw the things that Canada was doing to pick
their rosters when they were winning five gold medals in
a row, and he said, why don't we have somebody
that's watching these players full time? Why don't we have
somebody And that's basically what Tim did, more as a
volunteer than as an actual paid He just wanted to
(11:53):
be in the rinks and USA I was like, yeah,
go ahead and do it. And that process helped. And
then they used to pick their team without having a
winter care. That doesn't happen anymore. So there are layers
and layers to allow players to come in and improve themselves.
And you go back to last summer and Teddy Stek
is a great example. He wasn't very good at the
summer camp. But you don't allow that to write that
(12:14):
player off, right. You don't make that decision in the summer.
You say, all right, he wasn't good there, let's see
how he does in the first half of the season.
He goes to BC, he makes a contribution and they say,
all of a sudden, we can see a role for
this kid. I don't think they thought the role was
going to be He's going to score the game winning
goal in the gold medal game. But they did think
this is a kid that's going to be able to
(12:35):
play for US. And so that process has improved greatly
over time, and that's a credit to all the USA
Hockey because that's that summer showcase that they.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Do at Plymouth.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's not cheap, but you bringing teams from Sweden and Finland.
Over this year, Canada came in as well, and you're
bringing forty nine American players and it is a process
and they invest in it in but it's a great
experience for those players because even if they don't make
the junior team, now they've got a taste of it.
So I think that process has really improved over the years,
and that is more a credit to JJ and Tim Taylor,
(13:06):
and then now they've refined it and refined it under
John Van Bisbrook as well more.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
With Chris Peters.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
In a moment, we're back with Flow Hockey's Chris Peters.
I saw North Dakota head coach Brad Berry quoted on
social media saying that the US college situation is a
(13:35):
way better preparation than major junior for tournaments like this
because our young guys in the US get to play
eighteen to twenty five, twenty six year olds, whereas major
junior it's sixteen to twenty year olds. Do you get
a sense that the US players just really were better
prepped from that angle.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
To I think it's a good point from Brad and
a very fair one.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I think the one thing that is different that I
think that the US college game doesn't pair them for
is the quick succession of games.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
There's no real court like until you get to the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
There's really no corollary to that because you're playing seven
games in eleven days, and actually technically you're playing like
with the pre tournament games, you're playing nine games in
two weeks, so you're basically you're taxing your body in
a way that you wouldn't. That said, the pace of
college hockey, the physicality of college hockey, the structure of
college hockey all make it much much more difficult road
(14:30):
for a young player than major junior, and I do
think that is a factor. You look at some of
the other players that were really good in this tournament.
Tom Vlander for Sweden plays at Boston University. You've got
the guys that played in the AHL, Edward Shala, Dallabor Divorski,
Jacob Devorak, guys that play in the AHL, they're playing
against men too, they're playing in the so they played there,
(14:53):
they get back to the U twenty ranks, they're like,
look at all this space, look at all this time
I have, And I think there's a level of confidence
that comes with that too.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
So I think on it to Brad's point, that's true.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The fact of the matter is that those players are
in a the game is more.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Difficult at that level. I don't think there's any doubt.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I don't think that the major junior coaches can even
really argue that. That's not to say that you think
about all the years that Canada has won this tournament,
primarily with HL players. I just think that the talent
level is starting to even out, and then you throw
in that little extra fact that it's a little tougher
to play, then yeah, I think that there's certainly an
(15:32):
element to be more prepared.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
We look ahead to next year back in the US
and was announced that Canada, Sweden and the US are
going to be in the same pool. Sweden, which gets close.
But no, cigar, What has it been thirteen seasons something
like that?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Yeah, that since twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Well yeah, so it's gonna this is this sounds like
the pool of death in next year's tournament.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, doll finish third is really the general rule. Canada
finished this year and they lost the Chechia. I think
if your team USA, you've got a lot of work
to do. The good news is if you're the tournament
organized as the great people in Minnesota are, and we've
been to enough frozen fours and frozen faceoffs and final
fives and whatever else there has been at that event,
(16:17):
they know how to run an event.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Now they've got Canada and Sweden in the same bracket
as USA. Those are probably two guaranteed sellout games right there,
and then I'm sure that there will be a large
finish contingent as well, with all those Finns that live
up there in Minnesota going over to Maryuchi for the
second side of that. But I think it's to me
it's great and this year was Canada, Finland and the
US on one side, Slovakia, Sweden c Chechia on the
(16:40):
other side. The top six teams five really the five
teams now without Russia, are all very capable of winning
the tournament. That makes it challenging, but Yeah, there used
to be a time when you would get a first
round by and if you didn't finish in the top
three of your group, then you were out.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
You were playing in the relegation round.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So now it's a little bit different, and so the
preliminary round doesn't matter as much. But yeah, if you
all of a sudden you're like, okay, finish third, there's
a good chance I'm playing the Checks or Finland in
that next game. That's a really hard one to play.
We've seen the Checks and Finns both bounce the US
and the quarterfinals in recent memory, so those.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Are the games that you want to try to avoid.
But yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I think I'm anticipating that we'll get another New Year's
Eve USA VERSUS Canada game, and to see it on
American soil at the X I think would be a
great way to really celebrate the tournament in the US.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Well, that would be a lot of fun, There's no
doubt about that. Chris I was talking with somebody from
the hockey industry college Hockey World last night and kind
of mentioned this is a great success. Seven championships now
in twenty one years, but or in the last eight
you've won. US has won half of the last eight championships,
(17:55):
and the conversation was when does this translate back to
the Olympic Games, And that is it's such a crapshoot
because of the personnel that you're going to even have available,
whether it's NHL players or amateur players. And there's some
really convoluted things that go into it.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
But it's you're talking, we're two Olympic.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Cycles away from fifty years between gold medals. That's all
a long time. What are your thoughts on when we
might see this hit the big stage.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Here's my thought and it's the honest to God truth
and what I believe.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
It's the next Olympics.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
If you don't win that one, then we've got to
have another discussion about where it goes, where this goes
from here, because what I think has happened successfully in
this is that I remember working at USA Hockey, there
was a mystique about Canada. You play Canada, everybody tightens up,
everybody's on edge, and there was a lack of belief
(18:53):
back then that you could do it.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Now they do it all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
They do it at from a young age, and they
do it at the World Juniors, and they do it
under seventeens, under eighteens. That is starting to become the
thing where the swagger is in the US now, which
I think matters, I think, and that exists in guys
like Austin Matthews and jackye Goal and Charlie McAvoy and
(19:20):
Adam Fox and the Hughes brothers and whoever else you
want to throw in there. These guys have had success
at some level, and so I think that in much
more consistent, in a much more consistent way than even
their most recent predecessors like Patrick Kane never won a
World Junior championship. The different guys that are there, and
(19:42):
some of these other guys they didn't win at the
World Juniors either. But but you think back to like
the different classes, and it makes me sad knowing that
Johnny Gudreau is one of the players that is no
longer part of that.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
And what a great tribute by the USA players.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
They had a stall for Johnny and honored him and
Matthew with helmet stickers and they brought the thirteen jersey
out with them when they were celebrating their gold medal.
There is an era of players that no longer has
grown up with that mystique that Canada has lorded over
everybody with. But I also wrote this in my story
(20:16):
after this was over. Really the national team development program
is going into it's closing in on thirty years of existence,
and really its purpose isn't served until there is an
Olympic gold medal one. I think that's really They've done
everything else that it was designed to do. More success internationally,
more success at the World Years, more NHL players, more stars.
(20:39):
It has done all of that, But the Olympic gold
medal I think is really the shining example of what
that is to be. Was meant for to grow that,
so it has to be now, and I think in
the upcoming Olympics with NHL players, you've never had a
better group of American players to do it. I don't
think the four Nations. I'm not really concerned about what
(21:00):
that result is going to be. It doesn't matter. It's
the event really doesn't count my eyes. It's all about
preparing for the Olympics, and hopefully the players are approaching
it that way too.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Go to win, but actually not just win it.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Just go ahead and make a statement and then go
win in the Olympics and then when it really matters.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
It's always tough. These tournaments, Jimmy like it.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
They're measuring sticks, but they're also a microcosm, right, because
whatever happens in that timeframe is really there's not much
you can do about it. But I know that everybody
in USA Hockey is burning for that gold medal at
the Olympics on the men's side. They were relieved to
get it at the women's side a couple of years ago,
but there's a lot more left to do. But this
(21:39):
is a great step everything we've seen, you talked about it.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
That's a great step.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
But until it starts having that impact at the at
the Olympic level, I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
It's all prove it when it's best on best.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah, you mentioned four nations and the NHL as part
of that announcement, an now it's that they will participate,
their players will participate in the next two Winter Olympics,
twenty twenty six and twenty thirty.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Chris, before you go, one last question, I'm going to
make you put on the GM hat and make the
next big.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Decision for next year's World Juniors, which is your coaching
staff do you run it back for a third time
with the same staff that has had success? It might
not even be an option, depending you never know who's
going to be always available every year. And I know
there's a lot of talk about somebody needs to offer
David Carlin an NHL contract. Would you do it? Would
(22:28):
you run it back again?
Speaker 4 (22:29):
I would certainly ask. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I think David didn't say one or one way or
the other what he's going to do. I think it's
unlikely he'll be back for a third year. I think
that he accomplished what he wanted to, so I think
it's unlikely. But the thing that I'm interested in there,
I think there's a lot of good options available to
Team USA. You've got Brett Larson at Saint Claude State,
he's been on the staff for the last two years.
(22:52):
Do you give him the big chair? He ran the
power play, he's run the forwards. Do you give them
the chance to be the guy if he wants to
be and it's in Minnesota, he's a Minnesota guy. I
think that is an option in one that they should
definitely look at because I my guess is I know
if JJ was there, there's one hundred percent chance of
that coach was going to be a Minnesota boy, just
(23:13):
like JJ himself. I guess he's more of Wisconsin. He's
both Wisconsin and Minnesota. But but I think that's so
that's a possibility. Bob Moscow has coached the team before,
he's had success at the tournament, so that's also an
option to potentially have.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Bob Beck in that in that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
But on a couple other names to throw out as
potential options. I think Pat Firschweiler at Western Michigan, he's
been part of a World Junior staff before.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
I think that he gets a lot out of his team.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
He's he had Hampton Slakinski, his goaltender was there this year.
He won't be eligible next year, unfortunately. I think that's
an option. Chris Mayot at CC also has been part
of a gold medal winning staff at the World Juniors.
You look at the timeline that he's on and the
things that he's done there. The thing about it is, Jimmy,
is that you've got such a glut of coaches to
(24:00):
pick from if David. Maybe David wants to come back,
but he's got a young family, he's missed the last
couple of Christmases.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
It's a big job. It takes a lot of time.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
But I think when you look at those guys and
it's guys like that that I mentioned and just thinking
about things, and also whoever you're bringing, try to see
if he can get Steve Miller to come back once
again because he's been on the staff. But I think
he's got four or five gold medals that the World
Juniors as an assistant coach. Maybe Killer wants the big
chair at some point.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
I don't know. It's really there's a lot of good
options in this country.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Right now, maybe more than there's ever been, and I
think that's really exciting.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
That was going to be my only comment to close
was that the only coach you have to have on
that staff is Steve Miller because as you said, he
has been a part of so many of these successful
gold medal teams. Chris Peters, we love all your coverage
and you know what you've done for the national team
in the USA Hockey program over the years and the
(24:56):
great publicity you've given them and.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Flow Sports is a lot of good college.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Talky going on around there, and we will, i'm sure
read a lot more of your stuff previewing some of
these great matchups that go on every weekend. So thanks
for your time and certainly enjoy the rest of the season.
When we see you in Saint Louis, it's not too
far from you.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, boy, I hope, so yeah, I know, it's just
a matter of what else. We got so much stuff
going on, like we got AHL and USHL. I never
know where I'm gonna be at any point in time,
so my goal is to get there. This year, I
wasn't able to come to the last couple.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
I want to be there. The Frozen four is absolutely
one of my favorite.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Events of the year, and it's one of the best
parts of it is I get to see people like yourselves,
and yeah, what a great community we have here in
the college.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Hockey and hockey world at large.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And yeah, hopefully I do see you guys, but if
I don't, I will be there in spirit because I've
always I'll be watching for sure, because I always do.
But yeah, it's what a fun year to cover, and
I'm sure it's only gonna get better from here.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Chris Peters, thanks so much for your time. Enjoy the
rest of the season. Thanks, guys, you.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Can read his content at Flow Hockey. That's Chris Peters.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Jim.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Chris talked a little bit about swagger and that's something
that's been missing from the US at the Olympics, along
with NHL players missing. NHL is in for the next
couple of Olympics, and there's a lot of grounds well,
a lot of interest in the USA hockey situation.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Yeah, certainly, and I like what Chris said that it
really does come down to this next Olympics. I would
maybe even give it next to but the US should
feel like they're in a very confident position. Listen, once
you've put a bunch of NHL great NHL players on
the ice together, it's not the World Juniors anymore. It's
not even the World Championship because half of those players
(26:50):
that would be eligible are playing in the Stanley Cup
playoffs and you never get to see best on best.
So we're going to see that a little bit here
at the Four Nations coming up next month. But the
next two Olympics, when I look at them, Italy in
a couple of years and well really just next year,
twenty twenty six and then twenty thirty in France. Those
are these are in middle European time zones. So this
(27:16):
isn't China, this isn't Japan, this isn't you know, someplace
that you're off or you're off by twelve hours, and
people in the United States don't notice when you don't
have success. People in the United States will notice when
there's no If there's no success for the Olympic hockey team,
So that is a little bit of added pressure for
Team USA.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
But every country feels it.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
They're there's a lot of desire for these countries to
put up that one big team medal.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
At the Olympics. The Winter Olympics, you have. We see
it in.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Basketball when there was a lot of pressure on Team
USA this summer, but the Summer Olympics, and it'll be
similar next year, I think for hockey and the next
two cycles. You feel that you have to get one
because as I said, if it's twenty thirty, that's fifty
years after the miracle on ice, that's a long time.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And I know twenty ten was really close.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
The loss in Vancouver still stings for the Americans, but
you got to get over that hump at some point.
All these minor championships, which are still pretty down big
for these players, coaches, staffs, all of that stuff, they
still they still don't add up to what an Olympic
victory would be, and that I think is what the
US needs.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I'm going to wrap us up with this thought and
get your opinion on this. We've been around college hockey,
both of us, quite a long time, and you go
back twenty years and there was never this kind of
interest in the World Juniors that you have now. Now
it seems every hockey fan wants to watch the US
team and root on the Americans.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Certainly, and it's success that's a big part of it.
You're talking.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
This is still one of the largest TV markets in
the world, the United States.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
So you want those eyeballs.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
The NHL Network USA Hockey, They've done a fantastic job
making sure that they don't just broadcast the American games too,
that every game of the tournament is on TV in
the United States thanks to the partnership they have with
TSN that has helped.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
And then the success.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Once you have a little success, people want to start
following that team. Listen, if this team was finishing seventh
or eighth every year at World Juniors, you're not going
to have anybody worried about it. You go down to
the relegation round once, people just forget about it. Oh
what was that that tournament? Oh it happened this year.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
People.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
This is now appointment television for true hockey fans. And
I know I didn't miss many games. I did not
miss a single minute of a US game. It really
is to me. It becomes appointment television and it's such
a fun event to watch every year right after Christmas.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Well, we do thank our friend Chris Peters from Flow
Hockey for joining us and sharing his knowledge of the
game with you two. Jim Connolly, I'm Ederepsker and this
has been usc h O spotlight.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Mm hmm
Usccho dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome to USCCHO Spotlight for Wednesday, January eighth, twenty twenty five.
I'm in Treshker alongside Jim Connolly. The USA victory back
to back gold in the World Juniors is not too
far in the rearview mirror and there's still time to
relish in it.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And joining us now on us Echo Spotlight. He is
someone who I feel like has covered the US national
team and its programs for as long as I have
been in hockey, which is probably not mathematically possible because
he's a young, strapping man.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Still.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
That's Chris Peters from Flow Hockey and he is just
back from Ottawa and the World Junior Championship where, of
course the US captured gold. Chris Heck of return tournament
and obviously the outcome you're on the US side of
this all outcome with another gold medal for Team USA
(01:08):
and coach David carl and his staff. What an accomplishment
this has been for the Americans.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, it has and it's going to be with you
guys again, and certainly it's always a little more fun
when you're you know, you're talking about a great tournament,
and this one was a great tournament, I think from
not just from the US, but you think about Latvia
beaton Canada, you think about Checks upsetting Canada in the quarterfinals,
these amazing results, Finland really overachieving and very pushing USA
(01:36):
to the brink and.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Finally get an exciting end.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I think when you look at this tournament and you
think about USA and the fact that the USA Hockey
has never celebrated back to back gold medals at the
World Junior Championship, done it a few times at the
World Under eighteen's, done it a few times. On the
women's side, to win the World Juniors twice in a row,
has never They've never come close. They never even played
for a gold medal in consecutive years until this year.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
And the fact that David.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Carl was the man leading it is, you know, makes
it no surprise. The guy has made winning a habit
and winning championship a habit, which is really impressive. But
I think you got to give a lot of credit
to the players and the way that they played, the
effort they put forth.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
For Team USA.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
They got contributions from all over the place. Teddy Stega
scores the game winner. He was a healthy scratch at
the beginning of the tournament, every single guy in the
roster except for their third.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
String goalie played.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Lakinski got a couple of games in net, including a
quarterfinal elimination game they threw him in there.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
So really impressive stuff from Team USA.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Overall, it was a fun team to cover and we
certainly always you stay objective, but at the same time,
it's hard not to feel happy for that group because
they were very dedicated to making history and it was
part of kind of their whole identity as a team,
and you could tell that and they delivered.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
You pointed out the fact that this was back to
back golds, but back to back gold medal game appearance
is something that Theas had never done.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
But this was unexperience team.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
They brought a lot of players back from last year's
gold medal winning team.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
There's players that were missing.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Obviously, a guy like Will Smith would have been wonderful
to have in that lineup too, but he's in the
NHL now, but he'll look at this team and the
players that did come back. How much did you feel
like the experience in that locker room really helped them?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I think it helped a ton and it wasn't just
experience at the World Junior level, it's experience in big games.
Think about the number of big games that Ryan Leonard
and Gabe Perrot and Ze Buyam have played in, not
just at the World Juniors, but at the Frozen Four
last year, the absolute willing of that team forward.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
Trey Augustine won Big Ten Championship.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
He's the first goalie to win back to back gold
medals for Team USA, has three gold medals to his
name already when you include the Under eighteen World Championship,
and as I mentioned, a Big Ten champion in their
tournament with Michigan State.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And these are guys that have built something in terms
of a winning legacy.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Not just for Team USA but wherever else they've been,
and I think that matters a lot. You think about
two guys that didn't play in any games last year
but were on the roster, Aaron Manettian and Carrie Turantz.
Both play significant roles. Menettian's role fluctuated throughout, but you
think about the minutes that he was able to play
in the biggest games, and he gave that team a.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Little bit of defensive depth when they didn't really have it.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So even the guys that didn't get a chance to
play last year made their contributions, and so they had
ten total returning players, which makes a huge difference, and
they're going to have I think somewhere around six or
seven next year, which is still a good number, but
I think this is the most they've ever brought back.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
And if Will Smith's in the mix, it's eleven.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
But yeah, but then you think about that, and then
the young guys that James Hagen's had such tremendous World
Junior championship and he was a first year player.
Speaker 4 (04:47):
Cole Eiserman scored some big goals.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Cole Hudson, a first year player, led the tournament in scoring,
and he's the first defenseman to lead a tournament in
scoring outright at the World Juniors. So there have been
some guys that have tied for the tournament lead. He
let it out right with eleven points. That's the thing
that I keep coming back to. You had the experience.
I think that the core of Boulliam, Leonard and Augustine
kind of as your primary guys with your goalie, defense forward,
(05:13):
that was what they built around. And by building around that,
they had success. And again you bring the whole staff back.
And I think that David carl knew what buttons to push,
when to push him, and who he could trust in
those situations, probably because he'd seen him do it before.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
I want to ask you, you've been around the inside
of USA hockey for so long now, and you've watched,
obviously Jim Johansson build a lot of what this is
the great, late great Jim Joe Hanson. Now it's John
van Biesbrook and he's now put together a few gold
medal winning teams at different levels. He's taken a lot
of responsibility on what has his role been like and
(05:52):
how important do you feel that he has been to
some of this recent success.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, certainly, I'm glad you brought up JJ because I
think that he laid the foundation. And I just saw
the national team development program is gonna wear some jerseys
that honor Jim Johansson throughout the season, starting soon in
the auction off at the end of the year. And
I think that before JJ passed away, John then Biensbrook
had started moving into more leadership roles in USA hockey
(06:19):
and was able to see that. And I think that
there the philosophies have largely stayed the same, but I
do think that his approach is different and the way
that he's going about it is a little bit different,
and as a result, I think that it's the melding
of different worlds and making it work well. I think
the fact that John did come from the CHL, he
played his amateur hockey in the Sea in the OHL
(06:41):
gives him a perspective to not overlook those players that
may have been overlooked before. And they had a couple
of OHL players and their roster this year and certainly
last year as well. But I think you also empower.
I think one of the things that he does is
he does empower people to make some of these decisions
as well, Like the coaching staff has a significance saying
who's on the roster and so making sure that it's
(07:02):
a collaborative environment where everybody gets their say, and going
out and doing the work yourself, which he does.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
He goes out to the rinks, he watches players.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
I remember a couple of years back, I saw him
at a game and he was in a Minnesota Loop
game and they were watching Dominic James because they didn't
really have a book on him. And then he ended
up being on their team later that year. I think
that's the thing that happens. And the fact of the
matter is that a lot of the success that happened
at the world junior level happened under JJ's watch.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
But now John.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Has led three three World Junior Championships in since twenty eighteen,
so three three gold medals in that span, so.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
You do have to give him credit for that.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Meanwhile, Hockey Canada and head coach Dave Cameron got a
lot of criticism from Canadian fans, and I got to
hear a bit of it because there are a lot
of Canadian fans of NCAA hockey. What was the problem
with Canada was a player selection? Was it lack of discipline?
Was it a whole bunch of other stuff too, And I.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Think it was all of it, you know, like it
was really the if there was a perfect storm for
USA to repeat, there was a perfect storm for Canada
to get bounced in the quarterfinal for the second year
in a row.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
I think there was. They made mistakes in their roster construction.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
They had an injury, a significant injury to a player,
Matthew Schaeffer, at the very beginning of the tournament, he
played four periods of hockey, not even before he was
injured and unfortunately out for months due to a broken collarbone,
and he is losing That player changed the dynamic of
their blue line. So I think that they their blue
line was poorly constructed and that actually was a significant
(08:40):
reason why they ended up losing, is that they did
not have anybody to replace that puck moving dynamic ability that.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Matthew Schaefer has they had.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
They brought more heavier defensemen that were gonna maybe not
move pucks as effectively, and so I think that was
absolutely a big part of what happened with that team,
and that I think the coaches made some critical errors
throughout the course of that as well. You think about
not putting players in the spots that they're used to being.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
I thought their lineup construction.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Was constantly off in terms of how to maximize scoring.
I do think that the players themselves fed it right
into the pressure and allowed it to get to them.
And that's something that has a staff. You have to
try to find a way to manage right. You have
to find a way to do that. Dave Cameron has
coached in the NHL. He's coach junior hockey. He's won
a gold medal at the world I don't think he's
(09:33):
a bad coach, but he did a bad job at
this tournament. And I think with one thing that I
heard repeatedly from and I know that other colleagues in
the media heard this from scouts was that they picked
the wrong players and then they put them in the wrong.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Spots, so it was a comminate. There's that too.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
The thing is that Hockey Canada should next season be
able to put on the best team on the ice
in terms of the number of players that they have.
They're going to have a Gavin mckennay year older and wiser.
You have Portamartoni year older or year wiser. Matthew Schaeffer
will probably be healthy. They have some good goaltending. They
won the gold medal at the Under eighteen Worlds and
didn't have every one of their best players.
Speaker 4 (10:13):
They're going to have a chance to be the favorite again.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
But I do think that they have to look at
their process and they have to make some decisions because
when they put that team on the ice and when
Shaffer got injured, they did have a chance because they
hadn't registered all their players to adequately replace him with
somebody that was a better fit, and they instead just
brought went with the guys that they came with, and
(10:35):
Sawyer Mineo, who I think is a good defenseman and
deserved to spot on that team.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
He wasn't going to replace Matthew Shaeffer.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
The fact that they didn't have Sam Dickinson on the
power play, top goal scorer, among one of the top
point producers among OHL defensemen. Just the all of those decisions.
The decision that they made, I think rereaked of arrogance
in terms of we know better and so we're going
to do it this way because we know it's going
(11:05):
to work, and they didn't adjust when it didn't and
that's the end.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Meanwhile, I've heard David Carl talk about how these decisions
on players, what roles players were going to play, has
been going on since last summer.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Absolutely, And I think you look at their process, you
look at the USA process of picking the roster. They've
improved it immensely over the years, and that was partially
through Jay.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
That was also driven.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Significantly by Tim Taylor, another late great in USA hockey history.
He saw the things that Canada was doing to pick
their rosters when they were winning five gold medals in
a row, and he said, why don't we have somebody
that's watching these players full time? Why don't we have
somebody And that's basically what Tim did, more as a
volunteer than as an actual paid He just wanted to
(11:53):
be in the rinks and USA I was like, yeah,
go ahead and do it. And that process helped. And
then they used to pick their team without having a
winter care. That doesn't happen anymore. So there are layers
and layers to allow players to come in and improve themselves.
And you go back to last summer and Teddy Stek
is a great example. He wasn't very good at the
summer camp. But you don't allow that to write that
(12:14):
player off, right. You don't make that decision in the summer.
You say, all right, he wasn't good there, let's see
how he does in the first half of the season.
He goes to BC, he makes a contribution and they say,
all of a sudden, we can see a role for
this kid. I don't think they thought the role was
going to be He's going to score the game winning
goal in the gold medal game. But they did think
this is a kid that's going to be able to
(12:35):
play for US. And so that process has improved greatly
over time, and that's a credit to all the USA
Hockey because that's that summer showcase that they.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Do at Plymouth.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
It's not cheap, but you bringing teams from Sweden and Finland.
Over this year, Canada came in as well, and you're
bringing forty nine American players and it is a process
and they invest in it in but it's a great
experience for those players because even if they don't make
the junior team, now they've got a taste of it.
So I think that process has really improved over the years,
and that is more a credit to JJ and Tim Taylor,
(13:06):
and then now they've refined it and refined it under
John Van Bisbrook as well more.
Speaker 4 (13:11):
With Chris Peters.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
In a moment, we're back with Flow Hockey's Chris Peters.
I saw North Dakota head coach Brad Berry quoted on
social media saying that the US college situation is a
(13:35):
way better preparation than major junior for tournaments like this
because our young guys in the US get to play
eighteen to twenty five, twenty six year olds, whereas major
junior it's sixteen to twenty year olds. Do you get
a sense that the US players just really were better
prepped from that angle.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
To I think it's a good point from Brad and
a very fair one.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
I think the one thing that is different that I
think that the US college game doesn't pair them for
is the quick succession of games.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
There's no real court like until you get to the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
There's really no corollary to that because you're playing seven
games in eleven days, and actually technically you're playing like
with the pre tournament games, you're playing nine games in
two weeks, so you're basically you're taxing your body in
a way that you wouldn't. That said, the pace of
college hockey, the physicality of college hockey, the structure of
college hockey all make it much much more difficult road
(14:30):
for a young player than major junior, and I do
think that is a factor. You look at some of
the other players that were really good in this tournament.
Tom Vlander for Sweden plays at Boston University. You've got
the guys that played in the AHL, Edward Shala, Dallabor Divorski,
Jacob Devorak, guys that play in the AHL, they're playing
against men too, they're playing in the so they played there,
(14:53):
they get back to the U twenty ranks, they're like,
look at all this space, look at all this time
I have, And I think there's a level of confidence
that comes with that too.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
So I think on it to Brad's point, that's true.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
The fact of the matter is that those players are
in a the game is more.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
Difficult at that level. I don't think there's any doubt.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I don't think that the major junior coaches can even
really argue that. That's not to say that you think
about all the years that Canada has won this tournament,
primarily with HL players. I just think that the talent
level is starting to even out, and then you throw
in that little extra fact that it's a little tougher
to play, then yeah, I think that there's certainly an
(15:32):
element to be more prepared.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
We look ahead to next year back in the US
and was announced that Canada, Sweden and the US are
going to be in the same pool. Sweden, which gets close.
But no, cigar, What has it been thirteen seasons something
like that?
Speaker 4 (15:48):
Yeah, that since twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Well yeah, so it's gonna this is this sounds like
the pool of death in next year's tournament.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Yeah, doll finish third is really the general rule. Canada
finished this year and they lost the Chechia. I think
if your team USA, you've got a lot of work
to do. The good news is if you're the tournament
organized as the great people in Minnesota are, and we've
been to enough frozen fours and frozen faceoffs and final
fives and whatever else there has been at that event,
(16:17):
they know how to run an event.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Now they've got Canada and Sweden in the same bracket
as USA. Those are probably two guaranteed sellout games right there,
and then I'm sure that there will be a large
finish contingent as well, with all those Finns that live
up there in Minnesota going over to Maryuchi for the
second side of that. But I think it's to me
it's great and this year was Canada, Finland and the
US on one side, Slovakia, Sweden c Chechia on the
(16:40):
other side. The top six teams five really the five
teams now without Russia, are all very capable of winning
the tournament. That makes it challenging, but Yeah, there used
to be a time when you would get a first
round by and if you didn't finish in the top
three of your group, then you were out.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
You were playing in the relegation round.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
So now it's a little bit different, and so the
preliminary round doesn't matter as much. But yeah, if you
all of a sudden you're like, okay, finish third, there's
a good chance I'm playing the Checks or Finland in
that next game. That's a really hard one to play.
We've seen the Checks and Finns both bounce the US
and the quarterfinals in recent memory, so those.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Are the games that you want to try to avoid.
But yeah, I can't wait.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I think I'm anticipating that we'll get another New Year's
Eve USA VERSUS Canada game, and to see it on
American soil at the X I think would be a
great way to really celebrate the tournament in the US.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Well, that would be a lot of fun, There's no
doubt about that. Chris I was talking with somebody from
the hockey industry college Hockey World last night and kind
of mentioned this is a great success. Seven championships now
in twenty one years, but or in the last eight
you've won. US has won half of the last eight championships,
(17:55):
and the conversation was when does this translate back to
the Olympic Games, And that is it's such a crapshoot
because of the personnel that you're going to even have available,
whether it's NHL players or amateur players. And there's some
really convoluted things that go into it.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
But it's you're talking, we're two Olympic.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Cycles away from fifty years between gold medals. That's all
a long time. What are your thoughts on when we
might see this hit the big stage.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Here's my thought and it's the honest to God truth
and what I believe.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
It's the next Olympics.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
If you don't win that one, then we've got to
have another discussion about where it goes, where this goes
from here, because what I think has happened successfully in
this is that I remember working at USA Hockey, there
was a mystique about Canada. You play Canada, everybody tightens up,
everybody's on edge, and there was a lack of belief
(18:53):
back then that you could do it.
Speaker 4 (18:56):
Now they do it all the time.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
They do it at from a young age, and they
do it at the World Juniors, and they do it
under seventeens, under eighteens. That is starting to become the
thing where the swagger is in the US now, which
I think matters, I think, and that exists in guys
like Austin Matthews and jackye Goal and Charlie McAvoy and
(19:20):
Adam Fox and the Hughes brothers and whoever else you
want to throw in there. These guys have had success
at some level, and so I think that in much
more consistent, in a much more consistent way than even
their most recent predecessors like Patrick Kane never won a
World Junior championship. The different guys that are there, and
(19:42):
some of these other guys they didn't win at the
World Juniors either. But but you think back to like
the different classes, and it makes me sad knowing that
Johnny Gudreau is one of the players that is no
longer part of that.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
And what a great tribute by the USA players.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
They had a stall for Johnny and honored him and
Matthew with helmet stickers and they brought the thirteen jersey
out with them when they were celebrating their gold medal.
There is an era of players that no longer has
grown up with that mystique that Canada has lorded over
everybody with. But I also wrote this in my story
(20:16):
after this was over. Really the national team development program
is going into it's closing in on thirty years of existence,
and really its purpose isn't served until there is an
Olympic gold medal one. I think that's really They've done
everything else that it was designed to do. More success internationally,
more success at the World Years, more NHL players, more stars.
(20:39):
It has done all of that, But the Olympic gold
medal I think is really the shining example of what
that is to be. Was meant for to grow that,
so it has to be now, and I think in
the upcoming Olympics with NHL players, you've never had a
better group of American players to do it. I don't
think the four Nations. I'm not really concerned about what
(21:00):
that result is going to be. It doesn't matter. It's
the event really doesn't count my eyes. It's all about
preparing for the Olympics, and hopefully the players are approaching
it that way too.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Go to win, but actually not just win it.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Just go ahead and make a statement and then go
win in the Olympics and then when it really matters.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
It's always tough. These tournaments, Jimmy like it.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
They're measuring sticks, but they're also a microcosm, right, because
whatever happens in that timeframe is really there's not much
you can do about it. But I know that everybody
in USA Hockey is burning for that gold medal at
the Olympics on the men's side. They were relieved to
get it at the women's side a couple of years ago,
but there's a lot more left to do. But this
(21:39):
is a great step everything we've seen, you talked about it.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
That's a great step.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
But until it starts having that impact at the at
the Olympic level, I think you're exactly right.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
It's all prove it when it's best on best.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah, you mentioned four nations and the NHL as part
of that announcement, an now it's that they will participate,
their players will participate in the next two Winter Olympics,
twenty twenty six and twenty thirty.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Chris, before you go, one last question, I'm going to
make you put on the GM hat and make the
next big.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Decision for next year's World Juniors, which is your coaching
staff do you run it back for a third time
with the same staff that has had success? It might
not even be an option, depending you never know who's
going to be always available every year. And I know
there's a lot of talk about somebody needs to offer
David Carlin an NHL contract. Would you do it? Would
(22:28):
you run it back again?
Speaker 4 (22:29):
I would certainly ask. I don't think.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
I think David didn't say one or one way or
the other what he's going to do. I think it's
unlikely he'll be back for a third year. I think
that he accomplished what he wanted to, so I think
it's unlikely. But the thing that I'm interested in there,
I think there's a lot of good options available to
Team USA. You've got Brett Larson at Saint Claude State,
he's been on the staff for the last two years.
(22:52):
Do you give him the big chair? He ran the
power play, he's run the forwards. Do you give them
the chance to be the guy if he wants to
be and it's in Minnesota, he's a Minnesota guy. I
think that is an option in one that they should
definitely look at because I my guess is I know
if JJ was there, there's one hundred percent chance of
that coach was going to be a Minnesota boy, just
(23:13):
like JJ himself. I guess he's more of Wisconsin. He's
both Wisconsin and Minnesota. But but I think that's so
that's a possibility. Bob Moscow has coached the team before,
he's had success at the tournament, so that's also an
option to potentially have.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Bob Beck in that in that opportunity.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
But on a couple other names to throw out as
potential options. I think Pat Firschweiler at Western Michigan, he's
been part of a World Junior staff before.
Speaker 4 (23:37):
I think that he gets a lot out of his team.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
He's he had Hampton Slakinski, his goaltender was there this year.
He won't be eligible next year, unfortunately. I think that's
an option. Chris Mayot at CC also has been part
of a gold medal winning staff at the World Juniors.
You look at the timeline that he's on and the
things that he's done there. The thing about it is, Jimmy,
is that you've got such a glut of coaches to
(24:00):
pick from if David. Maybe David wants to come back,
but he's got a young family, he's missed the last
couple of Christmases.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
It's a big job. It takes a lot of time.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
But I think when you look at those guys and
it's guys like that that I mentioned and just thinking
about things, and also whoever you're bringing, try to see
if he can get Steve Miller to come back once
again because he's been on the staff. But I think
he's got four or five gold medals that the World
Juniors as an assistant coach. Maybe Killer wants the big
chair at some point.
Speaker 4 (24:25):
I don't know. It's really there's a lot of good
options in this country.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Right now, maybe more than there's ever been, and I
think that's really exciting.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
That was going to be my only comment to close
was that the only coach you have to have on
that staff is Steve Miller because as you said, he
has been a part of so many of these successful
gold medal teams. Chris Peters, we love all your coverage
and you know what you've done for the national team
in the USA Hockey program over the years and the
(24:56):
great publicity you've given them and.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Flow Sports is a lot of good college.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Talky going on around there, and we will, i'm sure
read a lot more of your stuff previewing some of
these great matchups that go on every weekend. So thanks
for your time and certainly enjoy the rest of the season.
When we see you in Saint Louis, it's not too
far from you.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Yeah, boy, I hope, so yeah, I know, it's just
a matter of what else. We got so much stuff
going on, like we got AHL and USHL. I never
know where I'm gonna be at any point in time,
so my goal is to get there. This year, I
wasn't able to come to the last couple.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
I want to be there. The Frozen four is absolutely
one of my favorite.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Events of the year, and it's one of the best
parts of it is I get to see people like yourselves,
and yeah, what a great community we have here in
the college.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Hockey and hockey world at large.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
And yeah, hopefully I do see you guys, but if
I don't, I will be there in spirit because I've
always I'll be watching for sure, because I always do.
But yeah, it's what a fun year to cover, and
I'm sure it's only gonna get better from here.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Chris Peters, thanks so much for your time. Enjoy the
rest of the season. Thanks, guys, you.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Can read his content at Flow Hockey. That's Chris Peters.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
Jim.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Chris talked a little bit about swagger and that's something
that's been missing from the US at the Olympics, along
with NHL players missing. NHL is in for the next
couple of Olympics, and there's a lot of grounds well,
a lot of interest in the USA hockey situation.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
Yeah, certainly, and I like what Chris said that it
really does come down to this next Olympics. I would
maybe even give it next to but the US should
feel like they're in a very confident position. Listen, once
you've put a bunch of NHL great NHL players on
the ice together, it's not the World Juniors anymore. It's
not even the World Championship because half of those players
(26:50):
that would be eligible are playing in the Stanley Cup
playoffs and you never get to see best on best.
So we're going to see that a little bit here
at the Four Nations coming up next month. But the
next two Olympics, when I look at them, Italy in
a couple of years and well really just next year,
twenty twenty six and then twenty thirty in France. Those
are these are in middle European time zones. So this
(27:16):
isn't China, this isn't Japan, this isn't you know, someplace
that you're off or you're off by twelve hours, and
people in the United States don't notice when you don't
have success. People in the United States will notice when
there's no If there's no success for the Olympic hockey team,
So that is a little bit of added pressure for
Team USA.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
But every country feels it.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
They're there's a lot of desire for these countries to
put up that one big team medal.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
At the Olympics. The Winter Olympics, you have. We see
it in.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Basketball when there was a lot of pressure on Team
USA this summer, but the Summer Olympics, and it'll be
similar next year, I think for hockey and the next
two cycles. You feel that you have to get one
because as I said, if it's twenty thirty, that's fifty
years after the miracle on ice, that's a long time.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
And I know twenty ten was really close.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
The loss in Vancouver still stings for the Americans, but
you got to get over that hump at some point.
All these minor championships, which are still pretty down big
for these players, coaches, staffs, all of that stuff, they
still they still don't add up to what an Olympic
victory would be, and that I think is what the
US needs.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I'm going to wrap us up with this thought and
get your opinion on this. We've been around college hockey,
both of us, quite a long time, and you go
back twenty years and there was never this kind of
interest in the World Juniors that you have now. Now
it seems every hockey fan wants to watch the US
team and root on the Americans.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Certainly, and it's success that's a big part of it.
You're talking.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
This is still one of the largest TV markets in
the world, the United States.
Speaker 4 (28:58):
So you want those eyeballs.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
The NHL Network USA Hockey, They've done a fantastic job
making sure that they don't just broadcast the American games too,
that every game of the tournament is on TV in
the United States thanks to the partnership they have with
TSN that has helped.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
And then the success.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
Once you have a little success, people want to start
following that team. Listen, if this team was finishing seventh
or eighth every year at World Juniors, you're not going
to have anybody worried about it. You go down to
the relegation round once, people just forget about it. Oh
what was that that tournament? Oh it happened this year.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
People.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
This is now appointment television for true hockey fans. And
I know I didn't miss many games. I did not
miss a single minute of a US game. It really
is to me. It becomes appointment television and it's such
a fun event to watch every year right after Christmas.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Well, we do thank our friend Chris Peters from Flow
Hockey for joining us and sharing his knowledge of the
game with you two. Jim Connolly, I'm Ederepsker and this
has been usc h O spotlight.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Mm hmm
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