Results and Standings as of the 11th June 2012

Preview: Ballhockey Junior World Championships 2012, Czech Republic, 18th to 23rd June

For the first time in ballhockey history the U16, U18 and U20 world championships will take place at the same time in the same location. The Czechs neighbor cities Pisek and Strakonice are the hosts of this event. The idea behind having all three events at the same tie at the same place was, to allow smaller nations to bring two different teams, as then staff could be shared and travel costs lowered for the single player simply because there would be more people on the same bus. And last but not least it should give the organizer some certainty that there would be more participants out from different countries, a fact that should be more attractive for sponsors.

Did it work? Not really. In the U16 category there are 5 teams, as four years ago, in the U18 category there are 4 teams as two years ago and in the U20 there are 7 teams, one more than two years ago, but one less than four year ago. Was it easier for small nations to send in more than one team? Not really: We have four countries that send teams to all three events Canada, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Switzerland. All other countries send but one team: Israel in the U16, actually their first appearance on an official ISBHF event, UK in the U20, their first appearance on junior level, the USA whit the U20 as usually and Germany with the U20, as usually, like Switzerland Germany has missed only one U20 WC so far. I t looks like the actual economic crises has hindered some of those countries to send more teams and other countries to send at least one. So the first part of the reason to put the events together wasn't successful, unfortunately.

Nevertheless for the organizer it was surely a plus to have more games, when looking for sponsors.

But now let's have a look at the three events:

U16

So far the U16 was always dominated by the Canadians. Will it change this year? It might as the Czech Republic sends in a well prepared team, as do the Slovaks. It is very likely that two out of these three teams will make it into the final, while the third one will have a good chance for bronze. What can be said about the two other teams? Israel has only a short roster, and they are for the first time at the worlds. They will be highly motivated and for sure show some good ballhockey in the opening games. But the tournament is long. Everything else the some good games and the fifth place in the end would be a big surprise. How can the Swiss U16 be judged. So far Switzerland has no remarkable results on the U16 level. The game on the big rink and the offside are new for the players. Still this year the U16 might be somewhat stronger than the years before. The team has surely the capability to anger the big three at one occasion or another, but everything else then the fourth place would be a success.

U18

Here we have the same picture like on U16 level. Three nations, Canada, Czech Republic and Slovakia will try to reach gold. Difficult to say, who will be the top contender for the title. Small things and even look may decide on it. For Switzerland, the fourth team, it will be a difficult WC. It is questionable if this team may duplicate the excellent performances of Swiss U18 at the European Championships in the past decades.

U20

Fortunately there is the team USA, else the preview for the U20 would not much differ from the one for the U16 and the U18. Taken the results of the U18 two years ago into consideration, Canada and Slovakia could be a little bit stronger then the Czech Republic. What about the strength of team USA? Difficult to say. It can be expected, that they will play on the same level like the three other teams. The three other teams will most likely not play for the A-Pool medals. Switzerland has theoretically quite a good team, but as exams are still ongoing during the worlds, many players could not come. So the roster is very short. The team is still good for one or the other surprise, but not for more. The same thing can be said for Germany, their roster is not very big as well, but a surprise is always possible. Finally the newcomer, Great Britain: The team is reinforced with some older players (as are Germany and Israel) and is difficult to judge. Would they be able to cause any problems to the big four? Most likely not, but they can be dangerous for Germany and Switzerland.

So three very interesting events await us, there is no clear favorite in neither category. So let's see, what the 2012 JWC will bring us.

Results and Standings as of 4th June 2012