Hunter Brzustewicz | D

[Boudrias]

13 hours ago, fanfor42 said:

Couple thoughts.  Only 3 American players on the WJC roster are playing junior in Canada.  Every other player is coming from the NCAA.

 

Lane Hutson is a pure offensive talented D.  Is Brusy seen as a Lane light? Do they want size and grit and defensive ability rather than another offensive D?

 

I remember playing in a golf tournament with a guy who was coaching NCAA hockey in Minnesota.  I asked him what he thought of major junior in Canada.  He said it was a joke and his team would mop up the ice with them. That attitude stuck with me.

 

NCAA players are much older and more developed and their programs have a lot of money.  Major junior in Canada has younger players and less money.

 

So in the eyes of the Americans - they want guys coming out of the NCAA.

 

i think that probably weighed into the decision.

When my son was in minor hockey we regularly travelled to Spokane to play. In Peewee our boys absolutely dominated the Americans. What always struck me was how the American coaches maintained a commitment to team play and proper positioning. By the time Bantam rolled around those American teams were not push overs. Our coaching was always based on coaches with player cred. Not always the best development type options. Since then Hockey Canada has done a good job of coaching development. My son now coaches my grandson and the difference is light years apart.  

[Kootenay Gold]

4 hours ago, Boudrias said:

When my son was in minor hockey we regularly travelled to Spokane to play. In Peewee our boys absolutely dominated the Americans. What always struck me was how the American coaches maintained a commitment to team play and proper positioning. By the time Bantam rolled around those American teams were not push overs. Our coaching was always based on coaches with player cred. Not always the best development type options. Since then Hockey Canada has done a good job of coaching development. My son now coaches my grandson and the difference is light years apart.  

Seasons Greetings Bouds'. When my son was in minor hockey I was a bit disappointed in the lack of actual teaching of skating technique and positioning. The team regularly got clobbered by teams in Fernie, Golden and Cranbrook. The best coaching he got was during Christmas break when the wife of one of the local doctors put on a week long power skating class for any of the peewee and younger kids that were interested. He learned more and became a much better skater in just one week of instruction than he did with the coaches on the team.

[Boudrias]

25 minutes ago, Kootenay Gold said:

Seasons Greetings Bouds'. When my son was in minor hockey I was a bit disappointed in the lack of actual teaching of skating technique and positioning. The team regularly got clobbered by teams in Fernie, Golden and Cranbrook. The best coaching he got was during Christmas break when the wife of one of the local doctors put on a week long power skating class for any of the peewee and younger kids that were interested. He learned more and became a much better skater in just one week of instruction than he did with the coaches on the team.

I remember her. There was a strong figure skating club because of her. My son still plays at 43 in a Fernie senior league. Last I was there I went out and watched one of his games. Totally impressed by the speed and skill level. Remember the Laneuveau (?) tender who played games for the NYR? His brother was playing on my son's team, had some AHL I think, very good player. My son said there were a number of WHL and college players in their league. They put a team together and went to a tourny in Nashville last year. They had a great time playing teams from across NA. 

 

Enough of my blather. Good to hear from you Koots, Merry Christmas. 

[JeremyCuddles]

Shame this kid was snubbed by the US. Stupid off ice politics. Rumor has it they snubbed him cause he went to the CHL instead of going the college route. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I hope the US gets bodied in the tourney.

[coolboarder]

The politics has no place in sports and clearly, they tried to tell us that NCAA is better but it is all about development and NCAA coaches will always priority playing juniors/seniors over freshman unless you are Bedard and that will stunt their development for a year or two while being a junior aged player in NCAA which is a fact of life.  That is what selection camp is for, assessment for the best players to try win the gold and sadly that they do not see the best interest for all Americans, no matter what kind of league they are in.    It used to be that whenever you are in NCAA, most often it didn't translate well in the NHL in 90's until the recent years due to one factor, too many teams in the NHL, dilute the talent pool, and it opens up the NCAA players to the NHL.  That is the reason why there are too many NCAA free agents at end of their college career and most often, it's a bust.  Time has changed but its not a good reason to exclude American players playing in Canada due to the politics. 

[Wiggums]

11 hours ago, JeremyCuddles said:

Shame this kid was snubbed by the US. Stupid off ice politics. Rumor has it they snubbed him cause he went to the CHL instead of going the college route. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I hope the US gets bodied in the tourney.

 

That's a rumor made by us who are just jealous that he isn't on the team.  Unless you've watched all 6 of the US defence + Brusty you can not form an opinion saying that it's politics.  

 

Why would the U.S purposely make their team worse just to stick it to a player who chose the CHL?  They want gold, they don't care how they get it.  

[Boudrias]

5 hours ago, coolboarder said:

The politics has no place in sports and clearly, they tried to tell us that NCAA is better but it is all about development and NCAA coaches will always priority playing juniors/seniors over freshman unless you are Bedard and that will stunt their development for a year or two while being a junior aged player in NCAA which is a fact of life.  That is what selection camp is for, assessment for the best players to try win the gold and sadly that they do not see the best interest for all Americans, no matter what kind of league they are in.    It used to be that whenever you are in NCAA, most often it didn't translate well in the NHL in 90's until the recent years due to one factor, too many teams in the NHL, dilute the talent pool, and it opens up the NCAA players to the NHL.  That is the reason why there are too many NCAA free agents at end of their college career and most often, it's a bust.  Time has changed but its not a good reason to exclude American players playing in Canada due to the politics. 

Brzuestewicz not getting a Team USA invite probably has less to do with OHL play than the players available to their team and the history of those players within their program. Americans have a lot of faith in the NCAA at all their sports, not just hockey. They have developed an excellent hockey program that challenges Team Canada for gold almost every year. I think they are favored for gold this year. Canada has leaned on the CHL and Hockey Canada to produce teams. It also has produced many winners. CHL exposes their players to many more games versus the NCAA. I would argue that the NCAA has a deeper commitment to sports science and training. 

[Diamonds]

5 hours ago, Wiggums said:

 

That's a rumor made by us who are just jealous that he isn't on the team.  Unless you've watched all 6 of the US defence + Brusty you can not form an opinion saying that it's politics.  

 

Why would the U.S purposely make their team worse just to stick it to a player who chose the CHL?  They want gold, they don't care how they get it.  

It's not just a rumor, USA Hockey has shown a historical bias to pick players in the NCAA over equivalent players in the CHL. US players playing in the CHL usually need to really stand out to be selected. However, it's also true they probably don't need Brzustewicz. USA Hockey has the luxury of three incredibly high performing offensive defensemen in the NCAA to select in Lane Hutson, Seamus Casey, and Zeev Buium who are all pretty comfortably over 1 PPG.

 

With already having 3 high profile offensive defensemen they really didn't need a 4th and were probably better off going with more defensive and physical defensemen to round out their D corps. So USA Hockey decided to bring in the likes of Ryan Chesley, Sam Rinzel, and Drew Fortescue. Even Minnetian can provide a physical edge. The one player I don't really understand is Eric Pohlkamp, however I've never seen him play.

 

Obviously, as a Canucks fan it's incredibly frustrating that Brzustewicz got left off the team with the season he's having but I can also see why that might have happened. I personally still would have taken Brzustewicz as a spare in case one of Hutson, Casey, or Buium get injured but I guess USA Hockey is happy with their balance.

[JeremyCuddles]

8 hours ago, Wiggums said:

 

That's a rumor made by us who are just jealous that he isn't on the team.  Unless you've watched all 6 of the US defence + Brusty you can not form an opinion saying that it's politics.  

 

Why would the U.S purposely make their team worse just to stick it to a player who chose the CHL?  They want gold, they don't care how they get it.  

For the same reason KHL teams short change young players that might play in the NHL. Podkolzin was getting like 5-7 minutes a game in the KHL before coming here. It's not unreasonable to believe they'd snub Brzustewicz. If you don't want to believe it, by all means. The writing is on the wall though, feel free not to read it.

[Wiggums]

54 minutes ago, JeremyCuddles said:

For the same reason KHL teams short change young players that might play in the NHL. Podkolzin was getting like 5-7 minutes a game in the KHL before coming here. It's not unreasonable to believe they'd snub Brzustewicz. If you don't want to believe it, by all means. The writing is on the wall though, feel free not to read it.

 

The U.S roster has other players on it who currently play in the CHL.  

Edited December 25, 2023 by Wiggums

[CanucksJay]

35 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

 

The U.S roster has other players on it who currently play in the CHL.  

There's no place here for unbiased talk. 

Go join teamusafanforum 

[WeneedLumme]

4 hours ago, JeremyCuddles said:

For the same reason KHL teams short change young players that might play in the NHL. Podkolzin was getting like 5-7 minutes a game in the KHL before coming here. It's not unreasonable to believe they'd snub Brzustewicz. If you don't want to believe it, by all means. The writing is on the wall though, feel free not to read it.

Don't forget that there's a difference between a long regular season where there are many months to cut icetime or otherwise play games to "send a message", and a short tourney where it's do or die right now.

 

Even in the KHL where they definitely do things like that, once the playoffs rolled around, Podz's icetime always bounced up to over 14 minutes per game (and his production increased dramatically) because when a game is crucial you don't send messages, you ice the best players you can.

 

The US team may be biased, but I am sure that if they really believed that their team would be better with Hunter on it, he would be there.

Edited December 25, 2023 by WeneedLumme

[AatuD2]

18 hours ago, Wiggums said:

 

That's a rumor made by us who are just jealous that he isn't on the team.  Unless you've watched all 6 of the US defence + Brusty you can not form an opinion saying that it's politics.  

 

Why would the U.S purposely make their team worse just to stick it to a player who chose the CHL?  They want gold, they don't care how they get it.  

 

Yeah, Hunter had 3-4 amazing offensive d-men ahead of him and while one could argue that he's 6th or 7th best USA damn, they probably couldn't have every one of the guys be the same type of dman: offensively minded. 

 

I agree with you. 

[N4ZZY]

14 hours ago, CanucksJay said:

There's no place here for unbiased talk. 

Go join teamusafanforum 

 

there's actually a forum called that?? 

 

[N4ZZY]

16 hours ago, JeremyCuddles said:

For the same reason KHL teams short change young players that might play in the NHL. Podkolzin was getting like 5-7 minutes a game in the KHL before coming here. It's not unreasonable to believe they'd snub Brzustewicz. If you don't want to believe it, by all means. The writing is on the wall though, feel free not to read it.

 

I don't understand why they would do this to their own players. like how is shortchanging your own players who could very well help your national team one day if they were given the appropriate development path and resources? 

 

[Goal_thecup]

On 12/20/2023 at 3:19 AM, Elias Pettersson said:

 

Hunter is on pace for 110 points.  Only 5 defencemen in OHL history have ever scored more than 110 points in one season.  4 of those 5 players played in the 1980's.

 

For comparison, Pavel Mintyukov had 88 points last year as a 19-year-old.  He is now playing for Anaheim as a 20-year-old and has 17 points in 31 games.

 

Hunter most definitely will be in Abby next season.  He will need work on his defensive game.  It will be interesting to see what kind of numbers he can put up in the AHL...

 

OHL Defensemen - Most Points in a Single Season (quanthockey.com)

[Re: Your avatar:  You don't look much like Elias Pettersson anymore.. neither EP1 or EP2.. it looks more like Kuzee Menkovichnikov, Banana Popper.]

 

Hunter Brzustewicz is another outstanding prospect drafted by PA & Co.

The future is getting brighter yet it is difficult to focus in on it at a time when The Vancouver Canucks Lead The Entire NHL!

 

As much fun as the off-season and the draft and next year's camp are going to be, This Year's Team is Primed, and almost Ready for the Playoffs, and is preparing to have Great Success in the Playoffs!

It even looks like The Abby-Baby Nux are going to the AHL Playoffs and they're probably going to make some noise there too.

 

I have been following the Canucks since before they were (finally!) admitted to the National Hockey League (of old warthogs who wouldn't let us win anything).

I have not witnessed anything like the Success This Organization is Having at Every Imaginable Aspect of Managing an NHL team (and an AHL team, etc, etc.)

 

It creates a bit of an anxiety about their ability to maintain this level, but for now, Everything They Touch Turns to GOLD.

And for now, we get a look at The Three Swedish Amigos - Letterkenny, D-Petey, and Tommy V-Landah!

Heja Sverige!

 

 

 

 

[Goal_thecup]

6 hours ago, N4ZZY said:

 

there's actually a forum called that?? 

 

Yup.  Fill your boots.

[Boudrias]

21 hours ago, Goal_thecup said:

[Re: Your avatar:  You don't look much like Elias Pettersson anymore.. neither EP1 or EP2.. it looks more like Kuzee Menkovichnikov, Banana Popper.]

 

Hunter Brzustewicz is another outstanding prospect drafted by PA & Co.

The future is getting brighter yet it is difficult to focus in on it at a time when The Vancouver Canucks Lead The Entire NHL!

 

As much fun as the off-season and the draft and next year's camp are going to be, This Year's Team is Primed, and almost Ready for the Playoffs, and is preparing to have Great Success in the Playoffs!

It even looks like The Abby-Baby Nux are going to the AHL Playoffs and they're probably going to make some noise there too.

 

I have been following the Canucks since before they were (finally!) admitted to the National Hockey League (of old warthogs who wouldn't let us win anything).

I have not witnessed anything like the Success This Organization is Having at Every Imaginable Aspect of Managing an NHL team (and an AHL team, etc, etc.)

 

It creates a bit of an anxiety about their ability to maintain this level, but for now, Everything They Touch Turns to GOLD.

And for now, we get a look at The Three Swedish Amigos - Letterkenny, D-Petey, and Tommy V-Landah!

Heja Sverige!

 

 

 

 

Some of us are getting old. My son and Grandson are Oilers fans so I enjoyed working them over this X-Mass. In +50 years I don't remember the org depth of prospects being this good. The Moose while in the Peg gave us some great players like Burr and KB3 but the current admin has a much wider net.  

[LillStrimma]

23 hours ago, Goal_thecup said:

[Re: Your avatar:  You don't look much like Elias Pettersson anymore.. neither EP1 or EP2.. it looks more like Kuzee Menkovichnikov, Banana Popper.]

 

Hunter Brzustewicz is another outstanding prospect drafted by PA & Co.

The future is getting brighter yet it is difficult to focus in on it at a time when The Vancouver Canucks Lead The Entire NHL!

 

As much fun as the off-season and the draft and next year's camp are going to be, This Year's Team is Primed, and almost Ready for the Playoffs, and is preparing to have Great Success in the Playoffs!

It even looks like The Abby-Baby Nux are going to the AHL Playoffs and they're probably going to make some noise there too.

 

I have been following the Canucks since before they were (finally!) admitted to the National Hockey League (of old warthogs who wouldn't let us win anything).

I have not witnessed anything like the Success This Organization is Having at Every Imaginable Aspect of Managing an NHL team (and an AHL team, etc, etc.)

 

It creates a bit of an anxiety about their ability to maintain this level, but for now, Everything They Touch Turns to GOLD.

And for now, we get a look at The Three Swedish Amigos - Letterkenny, D-Petey, and Tommy V-Landah!

Heja Sverige!

 

 

 

 

I told you back at old CDC what a modern approach would lead to.

No more neanderthalism…

[Sativika]

Good get. A lucky one. Who knew. Good job PA and staff!

Hence forth I will refer to this kid as Bruzer, Bruzy or Bruz. Easier to spell. No disrespect, Hunter!

[stawns]

On 12/24/2023 at 1:32 PM, JeremyCuddles said:

Shame this kid was snubbed by the US. Stupid off ice politics. Rumor has it they snubbed him cause he went to the CHL instead of going the college route. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I hope the US gets bodied in the tourney.

The American team chooses players from the USDP, almost exclusively.  Obviously there are outliers, but they stick with the same group of kids all the way up, for the most part.  By the time they get to this tourney, they've played together for years

[Goal_thecup]

3 hours ago, LillStrimma said:

I told you back at old CDC what a modern approach would lead to.

No more neanderthalism…

Yes you did @LillStrimma but you were known as Timråfan back then so it doesn't count!

Cheers Bud, Lekkerimäki got a couple goals last game, as I am sure you already know, but it's great news anyway!

 

[spook007]

18 hours ago, LillStrimma said:

I told you back at old CDC what a modern approach would lead to.

No more neanderthalism…

 

Hmmm.... modern and different approach...

JR is 74, so he definitely still has the old school approach. Tocchet is an old school coach, who wants his players to hard hockey...

So I suggest it's a mix. 

Where we definitely can see a difference, is the front office approach under Allvin, which has been nothing short of refreshingly amazing.

But they are also very tough in their way of handling things. The way they shipped out Bo, showed they have old school ruthlessness in them as well.

If somebody doesn't fit their plans or tow the line, they will be gone before they know it....

[Bob Long]

4 hours ago, spook007 said:

 

Hmmm.... modern and different approach...

JR is 74, so he definitely still has the old school approach. Tocchet is an old school coach, who wants his players to hard hockey...

So I suggest it's a mix. 

Where we definitely can see a difference, is the front office approach under Allvin, which has been nothing short of refreshingly amazing.

But they are also very tough in their way of handling things. The way they shipped out Bo, showed they have old school ruthlessness in them as well.

If somebody doesn't fit their plans or tow the line, they will be gone before they know it....

 

Interesting.... I don't see why age is a factor, if someone has a learning and innovation mind set they usually have that for life. 

 

I just think we're lucky to have a competent group. Still feels weird.

[LillStrimma]

4 hours ago, spook007 said:

 

Hmmm.... modern and different approach...

JR is 74, so he definitely still has the old school approach. Tocchet is an old school coach, who wants his players to hard hockey...

So I suggest it's a mix. 

Where we definitely can see a difference, is the front office approach under Allvin, which has been nothing short of refreshingly amazing.

But they are also very tough in their way of handling things. The way they shipped out Bo, showed they have old school ruthlessness in them as well.

If somebody doesn't fit their plans or tow the line, they will be gone before they know it....

Old school/neanderthal has a tendency to bully players into obedience.

The kind of moronic coaching culture at Utica wich Benning and Green supported.

Backcocks psychopathy that people tend to have a blindfold to because of the results he got from bullying players.

That won’t happen with Allvin irrelevant what you call Tocchet of JR.

Tocchet coaching is modern, not neanderthal. You can be modern and tough so toughness and tough decisions has nothing to do with old school/neanderthal to do. 

JR is modern and probably a reason why he has been successful earlier.

The modern approach to leading a company started in the seventies and caught wind in the eighties so that the old school lives in murky places today is due to corruption where you fool people to believe in the corruption.