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Team USA 18, NHL 1 - Simmer's 19 from Edmonton

December 28, 2011, 1:54 AM ET [ Comments]
Rob Simpson
Blogger •XM Home Ice correspondent and author • RSSArchiveCONTACT
1) The Sabres were 10-6 before the “smackdown” in Boston which included Milan Lucic running Ryan Miller. Including that game, in which they were embarrassed physically and in all facets, they’ve gone 7-9-3 since.

2) Despite losing to Canada 8-1 on Monday, and the USA beating Denmark 11-3, Team USA fans shouldn’t expect an “easy” match-up Wednesday against the Finns. They played nervous early, had good movement on the power play and failed to finish, and didn’t play to their potential overall. They’ll be desperate to bounce back. Big game, big challenge.

3) Forward Connor Brickley, much younger cousin of NESN’s fine color commentator and former-NHLer Andy Brickley, took a skate blade to the leg Monday and hopes to be back at some point in this tournament. He didn’t skate Tuesday and barring a minor miracle, won’t play Wednesday.

4) Denmark went 3-for-3 on the power play Monday night. No surprise, USA spent quite a bit of time on PK at practice Tuesday. “Smart sticks” and “start and stop” were common refrains during drills. Team USA was passive short-handed and didn’t dig hard to puck coverage in their first game.

5) Team USA assistant coach Scott Sandelin, who handles PK and the D, is halfway to his former mentor’s total of NCAA National Championships as a head coach. Current Team USA head coach Dean Blais won two titles at North Dakota with Sandelin as an assistant. Sandelin is the current defending champ head coach with Minnesota-Duluth after their victory over Michigan this past spring.

6) Finland’s Mikael Granlund, 9th overall pick in the 2010 draft to Minnesota, is playing in the World Junior Championship, seven months after leading Team Finland, as in the men’s national team, to World Championship Gold in Bratislava.

7) Team USA a “veteran” squad: 19 nineteen-year-olds on this 22-man Under-20 roster.

8) Seven players return from the Bronze Medal club of a year ago, while two return from the Gold Medal team of 2010: goalie Jack Campbell and forward/Captain Jason Zucker.

9) 14 members of Team USA play college hockey. The schools most represented with two players each: Boston University (Adam Clendening and Charlie Coyle, who is actually leaving for major juniors in Canada after this tournament is over), Minnesota (Nick Bjugstad, Kyle Rau), and Notre Dame (Stephen Johns, T.J. Tynan)

10) Bjugstad (2010) and Rau (2011) are the last two winners of Minnesota’s “Mr. Hockey”, the award given each year to the best high school hockey player in the state.

11) Team USA has won seven medals in the history of the World Junior Championships since the tournament began in 1977, five of them since 1996, including both Golds, in 2004 and 2010.

12) New York Ranger forward Derek Stepan was the Captain of Team USA for the Gold Medal win in 2010 and defenseman Mark Stuart of the Winnipeg Jets was Captain in 2004.

13) Michigan is the state best represented on the current Team USA roster with six players. Minnesota is next with 4, then Massachusetts and Pennsylvania with three each. No other state has more than one, New York, California, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, and Ohio.

13) Prior to Campbell, Al Montoya was the last USA goalie (2004) to win Gold as the starter at an international championship tournament (WJC); prior to that it was Mike Richter at the 1996 World Cup.

14) Tuesday night, the Czech Republic, who plays Canada Wednesday night, shut-out Denmark 7-0. In the other game, in Calgary, Slovakia beat Latvia 3-1. Denmark and Latvia, already both 0-and-2, are the likely combatants in the relegation round final next week, to avoid being bumped out of this tournament, and replaced by Germany, next year.

15) 18 of 20 Team USA skaters tallied at least one point in the 11-3 victory over Denmark on Monday.

16) The last time Team USA played Finland was last year in this tournament, in the opener. On 12/26/10, the Americans won in overtime 3-2, with current team member Nick Bjugstad scoring the game winner.

17) Every player on the Team USA roster has been drafted by an NHL club except for two: forward Austin Czarnik and defenseman Jake Trouba. That’s because they’re not old enough. They’re eligible as eighteen-year-olds for the 2012 draft. (Same for emergency back-up goalie Andy Iles from Cornell)

18) Tim Taylor coached Yale hockey for 28 years. He’s presently the Director of Player Personnel for Team USA. Tim Taylor grew up in Stratford, Ontario, won Cups in Detroit and Tampa and is Director of Player Development for the St. Louis Blues. Both are here at the tournament.

19) Thanks to Alex Clark, the Manager of Team USA communications, for amassing so much information during this tournament. Check out Team USA vs. Finland, live on NHL Network, starting at 3:30 pm eastern time on Wednesday.

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