Showing Some International Love: Division I Group B Preview

Here is part two of the Division I coverage. I forgot to mention that the games for both groups start Sunday. This time we travel to the mystical land of the Oliwa's.

Division I - Group B (Host: Poland)

World Ranking
23. Poland
24. Lithuania
25. Netherlands
28. Romania
31. South Korea
34. Australia

Prediction
1 (Promoted) - Poland
2 - Netherlands
3 - Lithuania
4 - Romania
5 - Australia
6 (Relegated) - South Korea

Poland's roster isn't released yet but this group looks like a cakewalk. Like I said about Ukraine earlier, Poland is one of those teams I feel bad for since they were alway close to qualifying or qualified for the main tournament.

Netherlands look good on paper. Most of the team look like they are entering (or are) in their prime years, plus they have a few players from the NCAA. This team should be able to do some damage in a couple years...but then again we say the same thing about Edmonton and look what's going on with them.

Lithuania is third from two reasons: 1. No Zubrus and 2. Youth. This team has a few players that seem too young to be playing on the senior team. It looks like they are digging into their U20 team, which might not be a good idea right now. I will give those young players credit though, they do play on some pretty notable teams.

Romania is like Britain, they aren't moving up or down. There isn't much more to say about them.

Australia will be interesting. They do have quite a few players who play outside the AIHL (Australian Ice Hockey League) which should help. Like the Netherlands, this team has potential to do some damage in the years to come.

I don't know what's more amazing about South Korea: There players are all born between 1984-1988 or over half the team has the last name Kim? Only two players don't play for either of the Korean teams in the ALIH (Asian League Ice Hockey) and one of those players is considered a free agent. I don't think it's bad to have a team full of guys from one or two teams, but having a diverse roster is a sign of how well your country has developed players.