Team USA ready to play

Finally, all of Team USA has arrived in Torino, and they actually managed to work in a one hour practice, but that's all they've seen of each other. Due to the massive snowstorms on the east coast of the United States, everyone's travel plans were pushed back, giving the team little time to prepare. They will open play this afternoon at 3:00 et versus Latvia.

Already today, gold medal favorite Canada undressed host Italy with a 7-2 romp. Iggy scored twice. Dany Heatley, Brad Richards, Shane Doan, Martin St. Louis, and Joe Thornton added a goal apiece. Italy, who has nine Canadian born and two American born players, managed to tie the game at one early. However, they never really posed a serious threat.

Another contender for gold, Sweden, enjoyed the same fate. They defeated Kazakhstan 7-2. They don't have the services of Foppa, and they started their third string netminder, but they still got the job done against the eleventh seeded team. Daniel Tjarnqvist had two goals, while Daniel Alfredsson, Mats Sundin, P.J. Axelsson, Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin each had one goal. Foppa, who is nursing an injured groin, may join the team on Friday.

The Czech-Germany game is in progress, and tied at one in the second period.

Yesterday, in Women's action, the Canadian team finally surrendered a goal, but easily beat Sweden 8-1. The United States also gave up their first goals, and had to rally from down two goals to win. However, they did so commandingly, finishing off Finland 7-3. As expected, Canada and USA head into the medal round seeded 1-2. The Women's medal rounds will begin on Friday, and the finals will be on Monday. It would take an upset of massive proportions for the gold medal game to be anything other than Canada-USA.

Update: Tomas Kaberle has scored his second goal, putting the Czechs up 2-1. However, there is bad news for the Czechs. Dominik Hasek was forced to leave the game in the first period due to a leg/groin injury.