Bad news for USA

On Wednesday, team USA made some adjustments to its IIHF roster. They learned that captain Jeff Halpern (Potomac, MD / Princeton University / Tampa Bay Lightning) will require knee surgery after sustaining an injury in Tuesday's 5-4 loss to Canada. Also, goaltender Tim Thomas (Flint, MI / University of Vermont / Boston Bruins) has been sent home after being hurt in the same game.

USA has added defenseman Jordan Leopold (Golden Valley, MN / University of Minnesota / Colorado Avalanche) and center Brandon Dubinsky (Anchorage, AK / New York Rangers). Leopold has played for Team USA a number of times, and this will be Dubinsky's first time representing his country.

I can't even guess who will replace Halpern as USA's captain. He is one of just a few "older" players. Many of these guys have little or no experience in international play.

Halpern had registered only one assist and was a -1 rating, but he had the experience and the leadership that will be sorely missed.

Tim Thomas was playing very well and will be missed. Craig Anderson will be in the hot seat as his replacement.

All preliminary games are over, and the qualification matchups have been set. Team USA will play Germany on Thursday night, Finland on Sunday, and Norway on Monday.

Good luck, boys!

Canes score at World Championships

On Monday, there were again four games at the IIHF World Championships. Hurricanes players had key roles in two of them.

In the biggest surprise of the tournament (so far), Norway forced overtime against Finland. Just 1:27 into the extra frame, however, Hurricanes RFA-to-be Tuomo Ruutu potted the game winning goal for the Finns.

Sweden, who is playing without their best players (read: the Detroit Red Wings), routed France in what wasn't a surprise, but was the most lopsided game of the tournament (so far). The thing that was surprising is that some no-name backup French goaltender held the Swedes scoreless in the first period. Sweden ended up getting nine goals, and one of them came via Hurricanes defenseman Nic "The Secret Weapon" Wallin.

Germany pulled a minor upset, defeating Slovakia 4-2. Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg didn't figure into the scoring in that one.

The "big game" is Tuesday afternoon. Team USA against Team Canada.

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.

Canada squeaks past Germany

In IIHF play today, Canada just barely got past Germany 3-2 in the opening game of the Group C round robin. Germany, who has zero NHLers on its active roster, wasn't expected to have any chance, but thanks to a big mistake by Dwayne Roloson, they found themselves right in the thick of things against the favored Canadians.

Eric Staal had one of Canada's goals, and it was assisted by Justin Viva Williams. So far, then, four of Carolina's eight participants in the IIHF tournament have tallied points, and John Grahame picked up a win for USA. Only Mike Commodore and Chad LaRose have yet to make a mark. And Cam Ward didn't play. For some reason, Frantisek Kaberle isn't on Czech Republic's team.

Early in the game, there was a call that I wish would happen in the NHL. Shea Weber, who was second among Predators defensemen with 40 (17/23) points in 06-07, delivered a high hit to the head of Germany's Yannic Seidenberg (little brother of Carolina's Dennis) as the German was coming through center ice. The call against Weber was five minutes for checking to the head and neck area and a game misconduct. It's the penalty specifically for hitting to the head and neck that I like. In many leagues at every level, and in international play, it is illegal to hit a player in the head. The NHL stubbornly refuses to ban that type of hit, and its disciplinarian routinely defends players who deliver high hits by blaming the victim for "not skating with his head up", or "failing to anticipate the hit". I don't think we'll see any NHL rule changes any time soon with respect to that, but I'll keep bitching about it.

Apparently, Dwayne Roloson fell asleep for a second, and allowed a goal from a center-ice shot. This made things very tense, and it wasn't until midway through the third that the Canadians got the go-ahead goal.

Also, in early games on Saturday, Switzerland beat Latvia 2-1 in group A play. Two other games are in progress. Sweden is playing Italy in group A, and Slovakia is playing Norway in group C.

For all the info you need on the IIHF World Championship tournament, go here.