Zetterberg not playing in All-Star Game fine with me

The pool of 36 players and 12 rookies selected for the NHL All-Star Game was named on Tuesday. Normally not a controversy in Red Wing land, but the list included one notable omission: Henrik Zetterberg.

In the grand scheme of things, all-star games are quite meaningless. Maybe even more meaningless, I think, is using the number of all-star appearances as a way to judge or rate a player (I'm looking at you, baseball media). Even though I hold this opinion, I still think it would have been nice to put Zetterberg on the roster as a formality, then take him off for injury reasons and put another player on.

I don't think that would have been too hard nor caused much controversy or any repercussions. Brendan Shanahan already confirmed what most people thought was the case. Ken Holland talked to the NHL, asked that Zetteberg not be included, and that was that. (I'm glad the league honored the request not only for Detroit, but for the other teams who also did the same thing with certain players.)

The truth is, Henrik Zetterberg deserved to be an all-star this year. Sixteen goals, 33 assists, and 49 points from a guy whose been the MVP of a Red Wings team that's second in the Western Conference is certainly all-star calibre numbers. Compare that to "all-star" Ales Hemsky's stats (24 points in 28 games), and it's clear Zetterberg is worthy.

I wasn't too angry about this until I read some words Scott Burnside wrote on ESPN.com. You would think that the media would understand, after two years, what exactly the situation was, but I guess not. Here's Burnside:

The event is fraught with danger, as you know. Two years ago, NHL commissioner essentially suspended Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk for blowing off the event after they cited mysterious injuries.

Still blows my mind. Yes, of course Ken Holland and the Wings wanted to risk further injury to their superstars by playing them in an exhibition game. "Mysterious injuries?" Come on, man. Datsyuk had a strained hip flexor, not serious enough? Lidstrom had tendon issues in his elbow. There is no way the injuries were mysterious. It gets better:

I thought the commissioner was right on.

He actually wrote that. My mind is still blown. Maybe it's because I'm a Red Wings fan, but there is no way I can defend suspending a player for a regular season game because they wanted out of the All-Star Game due to injury. No way.

Eklund then jumps in with this on Twitter:

ok.....I have heard the speculation that detroit asked NHL NOT to pick Z..this is a even bigger problem if true. This is for the fans.

Even bigger problem? Yes, Detroit should jeopardize Zetterberg's already bad back by playing him in a meaningless game that had to have a whole new makeover just to make it interesting again. Sure, makes sense. Of course it's for the fans, but I would have been very disappointed had the Wings NOT asked the NHL to not include Z. There is just no way that the ASG should take precedence over the regular season, nor should the two be intertwined (in the case of the Datsyuk and Lidstrom suspensions).

Back to the headline: yes, I actually really enjoy the fact that only one Red Wing will be playing in Carolina. Yeah, it doesn't make sense that one of the top teams in the league only has one representative, but I, and just about every other Wings fan, agree that every player on the team needs that time off. Zetterberg will get the rest he needs and won't have to worry about making the NHL happy. Seems like a win to me.

Interview with Air Force hockey coach Frank Serratore

The Air Force hockey team is currently fourth in the Atlantic Hockey standings with an 6-4-3 AHA record. Frank Serratore is the coach of the Falcons and he was nice enough to answer some questions regarding their season.

Nick on Sports: Your team's five-game unbeaten streak ended last Saturday against Sacred Heart, giving Air Force an 8-8-3 record on the year. What are your thoughts about how your team played over the weekend?

Mr. Serratore: We played very poor defensively in the first two periods on Friday and had a great third period. However, we cannot play one strong period in a game and expect to win, especially on the road. We played better on Saturday and scored the first goal, however, we allowed Sacred Heart to counter 18 seconds later which hurt our momentum and gave them a much needed boost as we had scored three straight goals counting two in the third period the night before. Overall, we were out special teamed on the weekend, we only won one of six periods, and held a lead for only 18 seconds over the entire weekend. With this, we got what we deserved and Sacred Heart earned their points.

Nick: An 0-4 start to the season surely wasn't what you were looking for to begin the year, but your team rebounded to have a strong first half, including a win over No. 1 Yale. How would you describe your thoughts on how the first half of the season went?

Mr. Serratore: We have a mix of younger and older players having big senior and freshmen classes. We also had to replace the greatest player in Air Force hockey history with the graduation of goaltender Andrew Volkening, so there was a lot of just figuring out our personnel in the first half. In the first half, we played very well in all facets of our game at time but rarely were all the facets of our game played at a high level at the same time. It was rare where we were hitting on all eight cylinders, out goal in the second half is to get our entire game together and display it on a consistent basis. If we can put it all together, we will be a very tough team to play against we we will be a contender in he post season. If we fail, we will probably not win with the consistency which was the problem in the first half.

Nick: You said at the beginning of the season that if Air Force were to finish third in Atlantic Hockey, you'd be doing cartwheels. Sitting at fourth in the conference right now, how would you say the team has done compared to your expectations?

Mr. Serratore: The jury is still out as we have not played as many games as most of the teams in our league. To date, we have shown we can beat the top teams in our league but have also shown we can fall victim to bottom teams. Only time will tell if we will be able to perform consistently enough as a team to become a post season contender.

Nick: After losing Volkening to graduation,

freshman goalie Jason Torf has stepped in

nicely in net, even being named AHA Rookie of the Month for November. How important has his play been to the Falcons this year?

Mr. Serratore: Jason is doing a very good job. The

time he has not had great outings was more of our team not performing well in front of him than him playing poorly. Hopefully we will begin playing better on a more consistent basis in front of Jason which will enable him to more effectively grow as a goaltender.

Nick: What are some of the things your team will be looking to improve on for the second half of the season?

Mr. Serratore: As I mentioned earlier, all the different phases of our game have been good at times but we have not brought it all together enough on a consistent basis. If any part of your game is deficient, your opponent will quickly exploit it. All of the teams in college hockey are pretty close, the top teams are not that much better than the bottom teams. The successful teams are often times the teams with the fewest amount of weaknesses and the teams who make the fewest mistakes. We need to improve in the areas of our game that will lose games for us, if we take care of this, the winning will take care of itself.

Nick: What is it like having a brother (Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore) that also coaches in Division I hockey? Especially when you played his team so much back when both of your teams were in CHA.

Mr. Serratore: It is very cool having a brother in the business. It gives me a person I can talk to on a regular basis about the ups and downs of the business, a person who I know has my best interests at heart. It also helps my brother has been very successful, I haven't had to worry about him professionally. As you know, this is a tough business and coaches need to have a certain amount of success in order to survive. Tom has certainly exceeded this, winning numerous conference championships and coaching a Frozen Four team in 2009. The only part that has been tough is that my little brother has had the upper hand in the history of our series, with that, I guess if I had to have a losing record against anyone in the business, it is probably best it be him!

Interview with RIT hockey coach Wayne Wilson

The RIT Tigers made their first Frozen Four in school history last season. Head coach Wayne Wilson led the way to Detroit for the Tigers, and I had the pleasure of talking to Mr. Wilson about the experience and his team. I'd like to thank Mr. Wilson for letting me ask a few questions. You can listen to the interview below and read the transcript as well.

Nick on Sports: You've probably been asked this about a thousand times since last April, but what was the whole Frozen Four experience like for your team? How well did Detroit do as a host?

Wayne Wilson: Starting with Detroit, I thought they did a great job. I think they probably took a little slack because it was the first indoor game in a football field, they've played a number of games outside and that, and we were just overwhelmed with our host: the reception we got, whether it be checking into the hotel, going to out eat, or the escorts to and from the practices and the game and everything else. Just walking into that building - what an impressive building it is in it's own right as a football stadium, but to put a rink in there and just see how big everything was, it was a little overwhelming for us. We're not too used to playing in places like that but I thought Detroit did a great job. The fact that we had a player, even though we're in New York, from Detroit, Cam Burt, made it special for him. For us, we were so focused on trying to win our league the whole year and trying to advance in the NCAA's, we were very consumed with that and I think once we won our league, it was seeing how, whether it be Holy Cross or Air Force the years before us, how they won a game or two games, gave us the hope, and not feeling like we were going in there just happy to be there. We didn't have pressure on us, but we were very hungry and had a good belief in ourselves and the fact that other teams had gone in and won gave us a lot of hope and made our regionals that much more special. Knowing that it's only two games, it's about having to win numerous games to get there then it's only two games and anything's possible.

Nick: I was there, I saw all three games, and you guys had one section full of RIT fans. They were kind of crazy up there and I was surprised that a lot of them made the trip to Detroit. You guys are doing really well attendance wise, in what ways has the appearance helped the program?

Mr. Wilson: I think it's fueled a lot of fire here. We're actually announced we're going to build a new facility and [the appearance] helped spring board that. I think the regionals is what was really special because we had even that many more fans there than we had in Detroit. We've always had really passionate fans, they buy their jerseys, and travel very well. That was also a very big plus for us. We knew we were going to play someone good, whether it was going to be Boston College, or Denver, or Wisconsin, there's just so many great teams and I think the fact that the regionals were so close to home was a big advantage for us. Not only did we make it but we were able to bring people and they were able to follow us. I think that hopefully if we're in that situation again the NCAA will say, "Jeez, RIT travels very well, let's put them in a site where they can bring their fans and we can generate some income." I think that was a real positive for our school and our community and something we're really proud of.

Nick: You've been with RIT since 1999 I believe, and you've seen the program go from Division III all the way up to Division I, starting as an independent and now Atlantic Hockey champions. What was that adjustment like? What was the difficult part about it and how long did it take to settle in as a Division I program?

Mr. Wilson: There were a lot of adjustment periods for myself. I was at Bowling Green when we won the national championship [in 1984] and we had a lot of very successful teams when I was there as an assistant, and I came here and it's a Division III program and all of the sudden everyone's just telling you to relax, it's a different pace, slow down. We had high expectations well before I got here, the expectations of the program here were always very high. We had some very good moments as a Division III program but we felt like there was kind of a ceiling cap on us and there wasn't really room to grow unless we went Division I. The administration was very supporting and we made the move to Division I. The first year was a real learning experience on how to compete. There's not a big difference between a really strong Division III program and a really good Division I program, but there is a defining line. There seems to be a lot of one goal losses we accumulated that first year. I think we just had to learn that in Division I there is no lost nights, anyone can beat anyone, and when you look around at all the different leagues there's always someone that's in first and someone that's in last but the difference between the programs is not tremendous. If you don't be careful, number one teams can lose those games real quick. In Division III, I think there's a real distinct difference between first place and last place teams and the scores normally reflect that. We had to learn to compete there but by going to Division I we attracted better players, a lot of people just want to play Division I, and we're in a program where we have a lot of stability. We don't lose a lot of guys to the pros early. We've lost two now over the past number of years but if you're coaching programs like Michigan and Boston College and the likes you could be losing as many as three or four every year so we have good continuity in our classes. We have guys for four years so we have to use that to our advantage. We may not get the elite players but the elite players aren't leaving us early either so that is kind of our equalizer. We ran into Wisconsin last year that kept all their draft picks so that was obviously the difference between the programs that keep their elite programs and the programs that don't. We ran into obviously a very talented Wisconsin team.

Nick: You mentioned that you played with Bowling Green in the crazy overtime game back in 1984. How did your experiences as a player help you prepare and get better as a coach and prepare your team for the whole championship experience?

Mr. Wilson: It's a very difference experience. As a player when you're winning, you think you deserve it, you think we're better than them, you're more into yourself a little bit. I didn't know how I would react to it all, but I'll say one thing: at the end of the day, I just enjoyed watching our players go through the whole experience. It was really fun to do that. The coaching staff, myself and Brian Hills, and David Insalaco, who's from Rochester, we just enjoyed being a part of it and watching the players experience it. Once you go through it you wish that for all of your players - we're getting greedy now. It was fun to just see how far you could go as a team. All those cliches coaches use come together, and what you can accomplish is amazing and I think we're a good example. Just because we were such a Cinderella story we brought a lot of attention to the Frozen Four, and a different twist instead of seeing the normal powerhouses go at it.

Nick: Let's talk about this season a little bit. You guys were picked to be AHA champions in the preseason and you're living up to those expectations. You're first in the conference right now. What do you think has been the key to your success this year? Is there any one player? Have there been things you've improved upon?

Mr. Wilson: Well we need to improve in a lot of different areas if we're going to have success this year. I think the biggest thing we need to overcome is letting last year go. As soon as you tinker with your team, whether it be one or two players, never mind losing a very good senior class and bringing in freshmen, you've got a whole new identity and you have to prove yourselves all over again. I think we really struggled with that, particularly at the beginning of the year. You want to compare your incoming freshman defensemen with your All-American senior defensemen and all of the sudden, these guys aren't at the same level and you can't live in the past. We've got to move forward and it's up to the new guys to take charge of the team. It's up to the freshman to get better as the year goes on. We're still really working on getting better at all areas of our game and forming our own identity. I think the more wins, losses, comeback wins, facing adversity situations that you go through during the year, kind of molds your team into the type of team you want and what kind of team you're going to have. I really thought that was probably the most difficult part, adapting to a new year. Everyone else also may be gunning for you too. We're at the top and we've been picked to be at the top and everyone's thinking that they're playing the Detroit Red Wings when they're just playing RIT and for us we have to bring our best game forward otherwise we're going to get beat, and we realize that. We're plugging along and I'm happy with where we're at, but we also know we do have a ways to go and with Robert Morris and Niagara in the league, never mind the standard teams such as Air Force biting at our heels right now, we have to keep moving forward and focusing on ourselves and what we need to do to get better.

Nick: I was going to mention the addition of Niagara and Robert Morris to the conference...that only improves the strength of the conference but how well do you think it is compared to the other conferences in Division I and how do you see the future of the conference?

Mr. Wilson: Well I think it's just getting better and better. You're starting to see more wins from our league as we go to non-conference. The other leagues have established themselves and there's some great teams in there. I think the good teams in our league can compete with the good teams in the other leagues but I think from top to bottom those other leagues are ahead of us. We're making ground as long as they're receptive to playing us and playing us both at home and on the road, those are all important pieces for the growth of our individual teams and the growth of our league. If we want college hockey to be as strong as we all want it to be I think they've got to continue to help us along and show us that in order to improve we need to do certain things. We're very anxious to get better and better and the coaches that we keep adding in our league are tremendous coaches and are getting better and better. It's tough, but we're all pulling for each other within our league when we go outside. We know we've got some work to do. All of those other leagues went to those growing teams way back when and we're just the new kid on the block that has to learn our way around.

Nick: You lost goalie Jared DeMichiel to graduation last year, so how big has the play of Shane Madolora been?

Mr. Wilson: Shane Madolora has been tremendous for us.

Nick: I think he was December AHA Goalie of the Month.

Mr. Wilson: Yup. He hasn't lost a game yet this year. We gave all of our goalies an opportunity, so he's played ten or 12 games now. We've sprinkled our other goalies in there and they've all done well but he's just kind of taken charge. He's been great. Everyone wants to know how well he's doing versus Jared DeMichiel -- Jared DeMichiel did an unbelievable job for us and was one of the key reasons why we went to the Frozen Four and Shane is a key person for us and why we're first in the league right now. I think programs, when you finish first in the league, you realize you're going to be losing good people off your team every year so it's up to the new guys to step forward and Shane has certainly done that. We've had a number of people step forward for us and have played big roles and the reason why we're successful this year. Shane's done a tremendous job for us.

Jimmy Howard amazing stop on Daniel Sedin

I sure hope that FOX Sports Detroit checks their Twitter account @replies, because no one, literally no one, watched to watch a basketball game between a 12-24 team (Pistons) and a 15-22 team (76ers) instead of a matchup between two of the best teams in hockey. And because of that, we had the pleasuring of missing Jimmy Howard go crazy on Daniel Sedin. Save of the year? I think so.

*I've been having problems embedding YouTube videos here, but I think I got it now. Sorry to those who were viewing when I was still editing it around.

Red Wings at the WJHC: Recap

The 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship ended Wednesday night after Russia's comeback victory against the Canadians. That also means that a great 11 days of hockey for four Red Wings prospects came to an end as well. Let's take a look at how the Detroit prospects fared in this great tournament:

Mitch Callahan (USA)

Callahan wasn't much of a factor in terms of point production -- he scored only one goal (although it was a game winner) -- but that's not why he was on the team. The Kelowna Rockets tough guy did his job as a grinder type player and did it pretty well. He was useful on the penalty kill, and it showed as the Americans were first on the PK with a 90.91% success rate. He also only took one penalty in six games for the least penalized team in the tournament, which was surprising considering he leads the Rockets in PIM with 62. Callahan was minus-one but put 13 shots on net. While I'm still not sold on him being a third-line player at the NHL level just yet, it was good to see him put together a solid tournament.

Teemu Pulkkinen (Finland)

The talented winger had a fantastic tournament for Team Finland, leading the team in points with nine (six goals, three assists). His nine points were good enough for tied for fifth in the tournament in scoring with Richard Panik (Slovakia), Ryan Johansen (Canada), Maxim Kitsyn and Dmitri Orlov (Russia). Pulkkinen likes to shoot the puck as his 26 shots on goal were the most for Finland. I think that he proved once again that he was a steal in the draft for the Red Wings and that someone this talented shouldn't have fallen to 111th overall. In the game I saw against Russia, he showed all the qualities that make scouts project him as first or second line talent: a great shot to go along with great hands, as well as good playmaking abilities. He seemed to always find a lane to go to with his stick down looking for a pass, and, of course, a nose for the back of the net. He was probably Finland's best player in the tournament.

Calle Jarnkrok (Sweden)

I also got a chance to see Jarnkrok play in person in the semifinals against Russia, and he delivered, scoring a goal and playing an overall solid game. Jarnkrok registered five points in six games, scoring twice on 20 shots and adding three assists. He also did well in the faceoff circle, with a 55.38 FO%, good enough for fourteenth overall. Jarnkrok is fun to watch and possessed great hands that allow him to control the puck exceptionally (a plus in the Red Wings puck control game). You'll more than likely see him try to be a playmaker instead of a finisher, even though he did put 20 shots on net. His skating is great and he does a good job of finding open ice, like I noted in this post, which, among other things, shows his good hockey sense. I was impressed with his tournament and I hope he can develop his game even further before it's time for him to don the red and white.

Andrej Nestrasil (Czech Republic)

Nestrasil was the only one of the four I didn't see play in the tournament, although I saw him play in person last year at a Victoriaville Tigres playoff game (he now plays for P.E.I.). You might be able to say the 2011 U20 championship was slight disappointment for the forward, as he only had three points (one goal, two assists) and eight shots on net. His minus-five rating seems to indicate that he didn't exactly have the best defensive tournament, but Czech Republic struggled as a whole in Buffalo. Nestrasil's size can be used to his advantage but he hasn't quite developed how to use it yet (something I saw in Victoriaville last year). While he's having a great year for the P.E.I. Rocket -- second on the team in points with 36 -- I'm sure he would have liked to get more than eight shots on net.

WJHC: Russia pulls off incredible comeback

There was no doubt in my mind that Canada had this game won after 20 minutes of play at HSBC Arena. No doubt. They looked far too dominant and if their defense played even a little below the way it played against the United States then I, and many others, didn't think it was possible for Russia to comeback.

But they did.

It was one of the most incredible collapses I can remember, and probably the biggest collapse in IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship history. Even with Russia's momentum and "comeback kids" mentality -- coming back to beat Finland in the quarters then somehow pulling off a win in the semis against Sweden -- it seemed like the gold was locked up for the Canadians.

Wrong. And honestly, I can't even describe how they did it. I think that when starting Russia goalie Dmitri Shikin was pulled after giving up goals to Ryan Ellis (a beautiful play to setup the shot), Carter Ashton, and Brayden Schenn and Igor Bobkov took over in net was the wake up call the Russians needed.

It just seemed like the Canadians had no idea what was about to hit them, which was very surprising after playing possibly the most sound game of hockey I've seen in a while against the U.S. The game was 3-2 just like that after goals 11 seconds apart by Artemi Panarin and Maxim Kitsyn opened the third. That was the end for the Canadians as Russia scored three more to secure the gold.

Canada played too defensively after jumping out to that lead and it ended up hurting them. It might work for a while but against a team with such offensive firepower like Russia it can come back to bite you -- and it did. I also believe that while it wasn't the main reason, the emotional and physical effort the Canadians gave against the Americans on Monday made that game almost like their gold medal game. Russia skated all over them and it was just surprising, really, really, surprising to see a team that seemed to be such well coached (by Dave Cameron, whose Mississauga St. Michael's Majors are one of the top OHL teams) just flat-out out-played in the third period of a championship game.

One of the things I will remember about the tournament -- aside from going to three games in Buffalo -- was the Russian celebration after winning gold. It has nothing to do with my slight dislike for Canadian hockey (which I think I've made well known on Twitter) and everything to do with seeing kids who are simply enjoying the game of hockey out there and not really caring what anyone thinks of them. It was hilarious watching them scream and yell and sing their national anthem, but at the same time awesome to watch as well.

As for the American bronze medal win: I didn't get a chance to watch the whole game but obviously it was a much better effort than what they gave Monday against Canada. They beat a very good Sweden team and I was happy to see them respond nicely to giving up the first goal of the game. Chris Kreider (two goals) and Jack Campbell (34 saves) shined in the 4-2 win and the Americans leave Buffalo winning medals in consecutive tournaments for the first time.

Here are some stats and facts about the tournament:

Final Standings

1. Russia

2. Canada

3. United States

4. Sweden

5. Switzerland

6. Finland

7. Czech Republic

8. Slovakia

9. Germany

10. Norway

Tournament MVP

Brayden Schenn (Canada)

Tournament All-Star Team (selected by media)

Goalie: Jack Campbell (USA)

Defense: Ryan Ellis (Canada), Dmitri Orlov (Russia)

Forwards: Brayden Schenn (Canada), Ryan Johansen (Canada), Evgeny Kuznetsov (Russia)

Tournament Best Player Awards (selected by tournament directorate)

Best Goalie: Jack Campbell (USA)

Best Defenseman: Ryan Ellis (Canada)

Best Forward: Brayden Schenn (Canada)

• Norway and Germany were relegated to Division I, while Latvia and Denmark will play in next year's tournament in Edmonton and Calgary.
• The total attendance for all 31 games was 329,687, the second highest for the tournament (only behind Ottawa in 2009).
• Schenn led the tournament in points with 18, and the next closest players to him were Russia's Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko with 11. Simply a phenomenal tournament for the LA Kings prospect.
• Schenn's 18 points tied him with Dale McCourt (1977) for the most points by a Canadian in one tournament.
• Chris Kreider was the highest scoring American with six points.
• The groups for the 2012 tournament are - Group A (Calgary): Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Latvia; Group B (Edmonton): Canada, United States, Finland, Czech Republic, Denmark

This was a really fun tournament to watch. Even though the U.S. didn't come away with the gold, Russia winning is good for the tournament and hopefully expands it's popularity around the hockey world. I think I heard someone say it on TSN's broadcast tonight, but if you have the chance to go to the U20 Championship: GO. It's incredible hockey and the aura of an international tournament will definitely get to you, especially if you get the chance to see a rivalry game such as Canada-U.S. While there weren't as many American fans as I hoped, being at the semifinal games and being surrounded in the atmosphere of international hockey is something I will never forget. You only live once, so go if you get the chance.

Congrats to the Russians for making hockey history and a comeback no one will forgot for quite some time.

From Buffalo: US suffers embarrassing loss

There really isn't much to say about tonight's game. It was obvious who the better team was and it was embarrassing watching one of the most uninspired performances I've ever seen wearing my USA jersey surrounded by a sea of red. That's all there is to it.

• Things started out great today, as I forgot my camera back at the hotel. Only solidifies the fact that I'm a complete idiot and that was a bad omen for the game, apparently.
• The highlight of my day was shaking hands with TSN analyst Bob McKenzie. He seemed to be in a hurry walking around the 200 level concourse, but he stopped and said "nice to meet you" to me. Thought it was pretty cool.
• The crowd at HSBC Arena was at least 80% Canadian, maybe even 85%. And it definitely had a major effect on the outcome of the game. Getting introduced to mostly boos and a insanely pro-Canadian arena even in an American city hurt the U.S. in my opinion, which led to the horrific start of the game.
• Team USA did the one thing they shouldn't have done: let Canada take it to them from the start. This was a beatdown. If not for Jack Campbell, this game would have been a bajillion to nothing rather than 4-1. That's right, a bajillion. Canada played just about as perfect a game as you could ask for, while the U.S. played pretty much the opposite of that.
• The amount of giveaways, incomplete passes, failed shots, and just stupid plays was astounding for a team that was favored to win the entire tournament. "We were a little lackadaisical and a little big-headed," Emerson Etem said. Yeah, no kidding. It just wasn't very good. At all.
• Didn't really notice Red Wings prospect Mitch Callahan out there. Other than one good penalty kill shift, he didn't seem to do anything of note, like the rest of the team, excluding Campbell.

Sweden-Russia was a really good game that I'm glad I got to be able to watch in person. Russia did it again and somehow found a way to come back and advance to the gold medal game against Canada with a 4-3 win in a shootout. This means I saw three of the four Red Wings prospects who are playing in this tournament, as I got to see Calle Jarnkrok play for Team Sweden this afternoon.

Jarnkrok scored for the Swedes and had a pretty solid game, adding six shots as well. I can't wait to see how he progresses as he gets older and more experienced. He is a very fast skater with quick hands, and can line up at center or wing if needed. In the first period he had a couple of chances but couldn't seem to get a strong shot on net. On the power play he was wide open on the left side of the ice, but his teammates never got him the puck. One thing I noticed was that his shifts were very short, enough to make me jot it down on my phone real quick. I don't know if that's something he's always done or something the Sweden team wanted him to do, but it seemed like he was always off the ice a good ten or 15 seconds before his linemates.

It's disappointing, driving all the way out here to see Team USA lose like that, but there's still nothing like the atmosphere of a USA-Canada game and I'm glad I got to experience it here in Buffalo.

From Buffalo: Russia charges back to beat Finland

Hello from Buffalo, New York. I'm sitting in my hotel room just outside of the city after returning from HSBC Arena, where Finland and Russia played for a spot in the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship semifinals against the Swedes. As you may have heard, Russia won in overtime 4-3. I'll bullet point this in random order, with facts about my trip so far and the game.

• Today was my first time at HSBC Arena. It is a very nice arena and it looks like they were well prepared to host a tournament featuring fans and players from ten different countries. My dad and I sat in section 108 after buying tickets at the box office about an hour before the game, and the view from our seats was great with pretty much no obstructions. I like how the arena and the concourse are set up, and I was able to buy food and pick up a Team USA jersey pretty easily.
• The drive from Michigan wasn't bad at all. GPS said it would take like six and a half hours but we made it here in just over four and a half, and that's with multiple stops (once in Brantford, Ontario, home of Wayne Gretzky). There were no waits at both bridges -- we crossed into Canada by Port Huron and into Buffalo via the Peace Bridge.
• Maybe it's because it's winter and the weather isn't that great, but it doesn't seem like there's much to do in Buffalo, so if anyone has any suggestions for things to do before tomorrow's games, let me know.
• On to Russia-Finland: Finland was the much better team. For 55 minutes. They were outshot 45-37 but just lost it in the final five minutes of the game. As Teemu Pulkkinen said, "I don't know what happened."
• Speaking of Pulkkinen, I thought that the Red Wings prospect had a pretty good game. He scored the first goal for the Finns in the first period, after an attempted wraparound went to his stick and he put it in the back of the net. He also picked up an assist on Joonas Donskoi's goal. The winger is a smooth skater and always has his stick on the ice looking for a pass when Finland breaks out of their zone. He was one of Finland's best players tonight and was noticeable every time he went out.
• One of the things I thought Russia did a really good job with was their poke checks in their defensive zone. Many times Finland broke into the zone with speed and tried to get around the Russian D but the Russians got their sticks in the way and knocked the puck off their sticks enough to make it noticeable.
• Tonight's game reinforced the fact that the Russians, at any age level, can turn it on at any given time in a game. Unfortunately for the Finns, it came at the end of the game and overtime. Russia was down 3-1 with less than four minutes left, then they tied it with two quick goals.
• Those two goals at the end were property of Evgeny Kuznetsov. I'll just say it: I don't really like his style, if you will. Too many times he went to the Russian bench with a down look on his face and he slammed his stick on the ice a couple of times. It's probably not a big deal, but you like to see a positive attitude out of a kid who has a really bright future. On the flip side though, the Capitals pick has a ton of talent and showed it tonight. He's a threat to take it end-to-end every time he has the puck and the play leading up to Maxim Kytsin's goal was absolutely remarkable, dangling through a couple defenders and setting up a shot on goal with a sweet toe drag. His OT winner was nice, too. I can't believe he wasn't named Russia player of the game.
• The guy who sat next to me is staying at the same hotel as the Swedes, Russians, and Czechs. Of the Swedes, he said that they had a really cocky attitude, including their coach Roger Ronnberg, and wouldn't even talk to anyone about anything. Perhaps that only strengthen's Canada coach Dave Cameron's comments about them?
• Tomorrow is going to be awesome, and I hope there are more Americans at the games than there were tonight. I honestly felt like I was in a Canadian city, in a Canadian arena, watching a Canada game. Maybe it's because many of the fans at Canada-Switzerland stuck around for the second game, but I don't know.

I'll be at U.S.-Canada and Sweden-Russia tomorrow. I can't wait for a great day of hockey at the World Juniors.

Red Wings at the WJHC: 12.31 and 1.2

Mitchell Callahan (USA)

In the U.S.' 2-1 win over Switzerland to earn them a bye to the semifinals, Callahan had a real good game, scoring the game winner and was +1 with four shots.

Teemu Pulkkinen (Finland)
Pulkkinen continued his strong tournament over the weekend, picking up two assists and three shots (along with a penalty) in Finland's 6-0 win over Slovakia on Friday. In their 4-3 overtime loss to Russia tonight, he scored and got an assist in addition to four shots, but was minus-one with two penalty minutes.

Calle Järnkrok (Sweden)
Järnkrok was held off the scoresheet in Sweden's exciting 6-5 shootout victory over Canada Friday. He was minus-two and had two shots.

Andrej Nestrasil (Czech Republic)
Czech Republic was blown out by Russia 8-3 on Friday, but Nestrasil recorded an assist and had four shots. He had three shots and was minus-one in today's win over Germany.