Lyszczarczyk is the best player on the planet

What a show Lyszczarczyk put on in Slovenia. In 5 games, Lyszczarczyk put up 8 goals and 7 assists. That is a World Juniors Division 1B record! It was a huge reminder just how dominate Lyszczarczyk is. It was so fun to watch him, I was excited every time he touched the puck. Before Lyszczarczyk left for the World Juniors, he was slumping with just 1 point in his last 11 games for the Owen Sound Attack. He comes to the World Juniors now and gained a ton of confidence. Now the hope is this scoring continues when he returns to Owen Sound.

In David Leger We Trust?

The Polish U20 team had a new head coach this year with David Leger. Leger was a long time University of Ottawa head coach and then moved on to the Asia League and ECHL among other stops. Poland is his first IIHF coaching job and he did great. This is best I have seen any junior team for Poland play. The whole team looked like a well-oiled machine. They were playing with such confidence and were setting up so many great plays instead of mostly scrambling. The play style also changed depending on the game. Leger had a plan and players executed it greatly.

I’m Getting Old

I don’t think there is anything that makes me feel older than hockey players born from 2000 on. This year Poland had Jan Soltys who was born in 2000 on the u20 team. A 17-year-old on the u20 is a rare occurrence for most national teams. Soltys more than earned his spot on Poland. In the 5 games, he put up 2 goals. He never looked out of place on the ice. Soltys is also still eligible for the U18 team, where I can’t wait to see him play again.

Size Matters

Patryk Pelaczyk is a big boy at 6’5 234 pounds. While I’m not at all on the side of size is necessary for hockey nor do I gloss over when it comes to prospects. I do see how it’s useful. When Pelaczyk used his size right at the world juniors it was impossible to stop him and his forechecking was fantastic. He is still learning how to use it, but he could develop into a really good player for Poland.

The Silver Streak 

Poland takes silver for the third year in a row. In 2016 it was the embarrassing 7-2 loss to France. In 2017 it was the shocking loss to 4th place Italy. In 2018 it’s the heartbreaking loss to Norway in the shootout. What is it going to take for Poland to get over the hump?

Small Thoughts

• I always praise Skokan for his offensive abilities, but he had some great defensive plays this tournament. The defensive side is still in progress, but there is a definite improvement.
• Jeziorski is the best young polish forward not named Lyszczarczyk
• What is the future in net for Poland? Lewartowski played okay. I won’t lie he made me nervous every game
• Grzegorz Radzienciak finally made his national team debut in the final season he was eligible for the u20 team. He was also Poland’s best defensemen. When he wasn’t on the team last year there was a small controversy, but this is the Leger era.