Quote:
Originally Posted by 1qqaaz
Japan kind of destroyed their division, I wonder how well they would have done in 1B this year.
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They probably would have fought for relegation in D1B.
With Ando, Hanzawa, and Sato, Japan matches the top-end talent of the best D1B teams. They don't have nearly as much depth as the D1B teams though.
For example, Estonia and Italy were in the relegation match. Half of Estonia's defense and forwards play in the Finnish junior hockey system, and their goalie is a third-string Finnish Jr. A goalie. Half of Italy's defense and forwards play in the AlpsHL, which is on par with the skill level of the Norwegian league and ECHL, and their goalie is a starter in the highest tier of Swiss junior hockey.
By comparison, Japan's starting goalie plays in their domestic midget/junior league and their backup goalie plays Canadian AAA midget. The only defenseman that plays outside of Japan's domestic league plays Canadian AAA midget, as do the rest of their forwards that aren't the big guns. Their domestic league has no presence outside of Japan, unlike other D1B nations (e.g. France, Ukraine, Italy)
This is also a paper-analysis, since I've never seen any of these teams play