Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Showing Some International Love: 2018 Olympic Qualification Round 2 - Group J Preview

Japan host Group L, and are the first to play because of the time zone difference. Ukraine joins them in hopes of advancing to round three. Romania and Croatia round out the group, and will likely use this as a tune up for the World Championships in April.

Note: Most information from the IIHF website.

World Rankings

20. Japan
21. Ukraine
27. Croatia
28. Romania

Rosters

Croatia*

Goalies:
Name
Team
Tihomir Filipec
KHL Zagreb
Vilim Rosandic
HC 05 Banska Bystrica
Ivan Rusic
Medvescak Zagreb
Mate Tomljenovic
GKS Jastrzebie

Defensemen:
Name
Team
Bruno Kegalj
KHL Zagreb
Marko Ljubic
Mladost Zagreb
Martin Plesko
Medvescak Zagreb
Ivan Puzic
HC Sumperk
Nikola Senzel
Medvescak Zagreb
Mario Sertich
Medvescak Zagreb
Borna Silovic
HK Slavija Ljubljana
Jan Smolec
Mladost Zagreb
Mark Tadic
Medvescak Zagreb

Forwards:
Name
Team
Mislav Blagus
KHL Zagreb
Ivan Brencun
Medvescak Zagreb
Fran Gjoni
KHL Zagreb
Ivan Jankovic
KHL Zagreb
Luka Jarcov
KHL Zagreb
Ivo Kaleb
KHL Zagreb
Dominik Kanaet
HC 07 Detva
Luka Mikulic
Medvescak Zagreb
Matija Milicic
Medvescak Zagreb
Tadija Miric
Mladost Zagreb
Mario Novak
Mladost Zagreb
Marko Sakic
HK Slavija Ljubljana
Tibor Stancic
KHL Zagreb

*Roster is preliminary, some players are likely to have been cut.

Japan

Goalies:
Name
Team
Yutaka Fukufuji
Nikko Ice Bucks
Yuto Ito
Tohoku Free Blades
Takuto Onoda
Oji Eagles

Defensemen:
Name
Team
Yosuke Haga
Oji Eagles
Ryo Hashiba
Oji Eagles
Ryo Hashimoto
Oji Eagles
Shun Sakata
Nippon Paper Cranes
Kotaro Yamada
Oji Eagles
Takafumi Yamashita
Oji Eagles
Shinya Yanadori
Esbjerg Energy

Forwards:
Name
Team
Yushiroh Hirano
Youngtown Phantoms
Takuma Kawai
Tohoku Free Blades
Shuhei Kuji
Eisbaren Berlin
Kohei Mitamura
Oji Eagles
Masahito Nishiwaki
Nippon Paper Cranes
Daisuke Obara
Oji Eagles
Yuto Osawa
Oji Eagles
Kenta Takagi
Nippon Paper Cranes
Seiji Takahashi
Oji Eagles
Go Tanaka
Tohoku Free Blades
Hiromichi Terao
Oji Eagles
Hiroki Ueno
Nippon Paper Cranes
Takuro Yamashita
Tohoku Free Blades

Romania

Goalies:
Name
Team
Attila Adorjan
Miskolci Jegesmedvek
Gellert Ruczuj
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Daniel Uruc
Steaua Bucharest

Defensemen:
Name
Team
Huba Bors
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Attila Goga
Dunarea Galati
Nicusor Lusneac
Steaua Bucharest
Istvan Nagy
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Szilard Orban
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Szabolcs Papp
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Alpar Sallo
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Ciprian Tapu
Steaua Bucharest

Forwards:
Name
Team
Mircea Constantin
Steaua Bucharest
Mihail Georgescu
Steaua Bucharest
Levente Lorincz
Dunarea Galati
Ede Mihaly
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Ervin Moldovan Horvath
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Zsolt Molnar
Corona Brasov
Robert Peter
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Norbert Rokaly
SC Miercurea Ciuc
Szabolcs Szocs
Dunarea Galati
Daniel Tranca
Corona Brasov
Levente Zsok
Corona Brasov

Ukraine

Goalies:
Name
Team
Vadym Seliverstov
Generals Kiev
Mykhailo Shevchuk
HK Kremenchuk
Eduard Zakharchenko
Generals Kiev

Defensemen:
Name
Team
Volodymyr Aleksyuk
Donbass Donetsk
Vitali Andreikiv
Zaglebie Sosnowiec
Denys Isayenko
HK Kremenchuk
Denys Petrukhno
Donbass Donetsk
Olexander Pobyedonostsev
Generals Kiev
Volodymyr Romanenko
HK Kremenchuk
Pavlo Taran
Donbass Donetsk
Vsevolod Tolstushko
Donbass Donetsk

Forwards:
Name
Team
Sergi Babynets
Donbass Donetsk
Anton Boikov
HK Kremenchuk
Artem Bondaryev
Steaua Bucharest
Artem Gnidenko
Generals Kiev
Sevastian Karpenko
HK Kremenchuk
Georgi Kicha
Generals Kiev
Sergi Kuzmik
Donbass Donetsk
Vladyslav Luhovy
HK Kremenchuk
Andri Mikhnov
Yunost Minsk
Yuri Petrangovsky
HK Kremenchuk
Viktor Zakharov
Donbass Donetsk


Schedule

February 11
Ukraine - Romania
Croatia - Japan

February 13
Ukraine - Croatia
Japan - Romania

February 14
Romania - Croatia
Japan - Ukraine

Last 5 International Matches

Croatia: 9-4 Loss (South Korea), 5-2 Win (Estonia), 5-2 Loss (Netherlands), 4-1 Win (Lithuania), 3-2 OT Loss (Great Britain)

Japan: 3-0 Loss (Belarus), 3-0 Loss (Italy), 5-4 Loss (Latvia), 3-1 Win (Ukraine), 3-2 Win (Italy)

Romania: 2-1 Loss (Netherlands), 5-4 Win (Romania B), 5-0 Loss (Ukraine), 3-2 OT Win (Iceland), 7-1 Win (Romania)

Ukraine: 7-0 Win (Romania B), 3-1 Win (Netherlands), 5-0 Win (Romania), 3-1 Loss (Japan), 4-2 Loss (Hungary)

Predictions

1 (Qualify for Round 3) - Japan
2 - Ukraine
3 - Romania
4 - Croatia

Talk about disparity in the group, this is it. The top end will see Japan and Ukraine battle it out to move on to round three of qualifying. The home ice advantage might be enough of an edge for Japan to seal the top spot. Ukraine will likely finish second. The bottom of the table will see Croatia and Romania battle it out for third place. Romania has a bit more establish roster, and Croatia hasn't done well when there are no Cro-nucks around. Romania finishes in third place, while Croatia ends up in fourth.

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