Our journey at the consolation tournament was finished after the game against Turkye
(82574)Even with much higher attitude and good enthusiasm, we were nowhere close of getting that win, which again confirmed the large impact of home court advantage. Turkish team quickly gained a significant advantage and held it mainly by their superior defensive abilities, which were also greatly supported by the HCA. So it was one of those boring and frustrating games, where you are not completely destroyed, but cannot realistically hope of turning the game around.
Nevetheless, it was our best tournament in a long time. A score of 6-2 is nothing to be embarrased about, and while I would very much like to qualify among top 16 or even top 8 teams, such achievement was ultimately proved to be a bit further down our development path. We are nicely progressing quality-wise, and also rating-wise, since we played our first game of the tournament against Venezuela as 55th on the table, and now we are 44th. Currently we are number 25 in Europe, which is seed 5, just one spot below seed 4, but here it doesn matter, since #24 and #25 will be placed in the same group. We will see if any major changes will affect the rankings further, but in any case we are eager for next season's European championhips, where we will be stronger and more experienced than two seasons ago.
There are two more scrimmages in this season, but it is more or less clear, that
Kristian Forsbratt will finnish the season as our best scorer for the 5th season in a row! While for the past seasons, a new name emerged almost continuously, this season saw no significant addition to the NT roster, mainly due to the fact, that all our best players are deeply in their prime years, so it is getting more and more difficult to get in. For the next season, I definitely see 27 year old
Bengt-Åke Olsson as becoming a team regular, while no retirements are expected.
I thank all owners for their help and contribution, and I hope for an even more successfull season 71!
