Simulation Hockey League

Hello and welcome to the Quick and Dirty Preview for the IIHF Quarterfinals! This is going to be a short comparison of the quarterfinal matchups based on average TPE per line/per team, and we’ll try to go over each team’s strong points and weak points! As I am trying to get it in before the sim actually happens, please excuse any errors or lineup mistakes that might have been committed in the creation of this media piece. I went of the IIHF file as of the last day of Round Robins but changes might have occurred before the quarter finals actually take place!


Starting from the #1 seed, USA, versus the #8 seed, Japan!



As the clear #1 seed of this tournament, the USA is a fearsome team to behold, leading all other IIHF teams in depth and average TPE per line (hereafter shortened to ATPL) save for perhaps other teams’ first line and first pair. This is a team that is a threat to score on all four lines, and boasts the highest TPE goalie of the tournament in Aleister Cain.  They don’t really have any weaknesses to speak of, and are an incredibly well-rounded team. Impressive!

The #8 seed of the tournament by virtue of not having the tiebreakers to edge Switzerland, Japan might not have the depth of Team USA, but it does have an incredibly potent first line of Daniel Smeb, Martijn Westbroek, and Monkey D. Luffy. A sharp fall-off after that, including a fourth line that has less than half the TPE of Team USA’s own fourth line, means that this team must rely on the first line to produce their scoring, and hope that their goalie, Olli Saarinen, Jr. who has less than fifty percent of the TPE of Aleister Cain can stand on his head to give his team a chance at beating the odds.

The #2 seed, Canada, versus the #7 seed, Switzerland!



Team Canada managed to edge Team Great Britain for the second seed by the virtue of 2 points, and hasn’t been quite their dominant self. Still, a team boasting incredibly high ATPL except in one position, and quite a force to be reckoned with. The first line of Dick Clapper, Matt Kholin, and Maxime Bouchard is incredible on the ice, the second line of Commander Shepard, Aaron Wilson and Theo Morgan is basically any other country’s first line, and the three defensive pairings are all quite capable. Their only weakness would be in net, where Frans Eller is the new starting goalie while being below the 1000 TPE mark.

Team Switzerland has had a bit of a rough tournament, but has managed to stay positive in the goal differential category, and can surprise other teams who may have underestimated them. The first line of Lallo Selman, Slap McShotty and Nicolaj Muller is a bit down on other teams’ first lines but they can score goals against tough opposition, and the first defensive pair of Mathias Seger and FR Finn-Rhys is evenly matched against Canada’s first defensive pair as well. With an edge in goal in the form of Tibuk Soonika, perhaps Switzerland could stand a chance against the juggernaut (perhaps wolverine?) of Team Canada.

The #3 seed, Great Britain, versus the #6 seed, Austria!



Great Britain has had a good tournament, just missing out on the second seed by two points, and boasting a better goal differential than any other team save the USA. With great ATPL in the first two lines and the first two defensive pairings, Britannia has a strong 1-2 punch even with some of their players playing out of their normal positions. Rex Kirkby is an excellent left winger even though he usually plays defense, and Guy Zheng is showing that he too can do what Kirkby can do. With an edge over Austria in every position - and especially in the third and fourth lines, and the third pair, Great Britain should try to make the most out of this mismatch.

Doing better than many thought they would, Austria managed to get the sixth seed over Switzerland and Japan with less ATPL in their team. Their first two lines are quite strong, but the drop off after that is severe, with juniors Theo Kondos and Jimmy Wagner pulling double-duty in the WJC and the IIHF tournaments. The defensive pairings are looking lean once you get past the first pair of Brennan Kennedy Jr. and Jordan von Matt, with the third pair being composed of forwards Mega Tron and Theo Golury. Johannes Leitner has had an okay tournament being asked to face a lot of minutes and shots against him. However, Team Great Britain might be a tough nut to crack, and he’s going to have to pull out the stops in order for Austria to have a chance.

The #4 seed, Czechia, against the #5 seed, Sweden!



One of the most even matchups as you would expect, Team Czechia holds a slight but measurable advantage in ATPL in every forward spot except for goal, where Kata Vilde holds a 200 TPE advantage over Knox Booth, and the first defensive pairing, where Leopold Lockhart elevates Joln DuBolk over the Czechia first pairing. The third line and fourth line are threats to overwhelm the Swedish bottom six, and there isn’t really a drop off for the Czechia second and third defensive pairings, which have some big name threats of their own in Andrej Doskocil and Brady McIntyre.

Team Sweden has probably had a tournament that wasn’t quite up to their goals when they started, but they finished stronger and managed to be in the middle of the pack in the end when the dust settled. Although Czechia holds the ATPL over them in the rankings, the individual threats of Ola Wagstrom, Gunnar Soderberg and Hippo Passamus should still be respected. Leopold Lockhart can still dominate a game, and the quite young second and third pairing defensive pairings shows flashes of offensive talent when their opponents don’t pay the appropriate amount of respect to them. If Kata Vilde can provide the edge that this team needs, they can have a fighting chance of moving on to the next round.

That’s all we have today, and good luck to all the teams competing in the quarterfinals tomorrow. We hope you enjoyed this quick and dirty comparison of the teams facing off against each other in the IIHF tournament in search of the gold medal!

Nice article, looking forward to the matches!

And he calls this quick & dirty...

Good job man.

Awesome analysis, roast!

Great article

this is great