USA beats Slovakia 4-2; Germany stuns Czech

On Thursday, we had the first significant upset of the IHWC Tournament. Germany, who is ranked 12th in the world, shocked everyone by shutting out the 2nd rankeed Czech Republic 2-0. Germany had just played on Wednesday, needing a win over Norway just to advance to the qualifying round.
Closer to home, team USA defeated Slovakia 4-2. The convincing win is considered to be a "mild upset". Once again, John "Crackers" Grahame was in the pipes for USA and earned the win.

Andrew "Hot Dog with Cheese" Hutchinson scored for the Americans for the second game in a row. With two goals in the tournament, he is equaling the goal output of Pavol Demitra, Maid Marian Hossa and Miro Satan COMBINED. What gives?

The loss by the Czechs probably won't keep them out of the medal round, but it won't be smooth sailing to get there. Ditto for the Slovakians.

In other play on Thursday, Sweden crushed Denmark 5-2 and Finland shut out Switzerland 2-0.

Tomorrow, the big only games are Canada against Belarus and Russia versus Italy.