Here we go Sabres, et al. participating in the 2008 IIHF World Championships, here we go!

by Anne

I really need to work on scaling down my cheers and chants. They're a little lengthy.

I wrote this as I checked the scores throughout the day and wrote each team's paragraphs before the others had been played, except Russia and USA which overlapped.

There were 4 games yesterday.


Kicking things off was:

Denmark v. The Czech Republic featuring Kotalik

Czech Republic wins 5-2

Radim Vrbata, whose name is crazy fun to say, had like 87 points in this game. Ok so it was 3 (2+1) including the game winning goal. Woop!

Kotalik scored a powerplay goal, what a SHOCK! Gasp! He does that a lot. Well done, Al.

It's really amazing how players I don't spend much time thinking about during the Sabres regular season are suddenly the most important player in a game to me, lol. Although, now that I know the Czech Republic boasts a player named Zbynek Irgl, my life is that much closer to being complete. WHERE ARE ALL THE VOWELS? Huh, apparently he was drafted by Nashville but opted to stay in the Czech Republic

And he's kinda cute:

If it weren't for Sissy Spacek, I'd have a new Czech Boyfriend

Denmark's goaltender does not appear to be very good, he let in 5 goals on only 17 shots. That's a .705 SV%. Yyyyyyeah, and we always rag on T-Bone for being .869. That's like astronomical compared to this dude.

Next game for the Czech Republic is Sunday against Russia.



Next up:

Derek Roy v. Anze Kopitar (Slovenia)

Canada wins 5-1

There's so much lovin' to be found on Team Canada, Mike Green, Getzy (former Pacific Division boyfriend), Jonathan Toews, Louie. But also so much yick: Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley. Do you think Roysie is totally cool with Spezza and Heatley or does he like not talk to them because they're Senators? Does Getzy pick on them because the Ducks Mightily pwned the Sens last year? Does Roysie yell mean things at Spezza and then hide behind RickNash? Nasher will totes protect you, Roysie....he looks out for his wee teammates.

Roysie was on a line with Rick Nash and Patrick Sharp. Woooo!

Anyhoot, Heatley got a hat trick and Team Canada had 65 shots on goal. Wowzas. I've been saying it since the roster was announced, I bet Canada will take Gold with Russia giving a good run. Maybe Finland, and probably not the US. They'll probably finish in the 3rd-5th.

Next game for Canada is Sunday v. Latvia.



Next up we have:

Kalinin and Afinogenov v. The Team that Sabres' goaltending coach, Jim Corsi, is working with

Russia wins 7-1

There are apparently no Italian citizen hockey players in the NHL.

Kalinin and Afinogenov were not in a unit together. So, Afinogenov was wearing 61 but Kalinin was wearing 7. Random. No one else was wearing 45, but then again, maybe he's always wanted to wear 7, but it's retired so he couldn't wear it in Buffalo.

Ovie scored a goal and Semin scored 2. Caps reprezentin' woop woop!

Italy also boasts a goalie whose last name is "Gunther Hell". I don't know if Italians realize what that means in English. They might. Regardless of how bad their team might be, Italy can say they can "Give 'em Hell in net" and they're totally right.

Max tries to score, doesn't succeed, but still looks good doin' it

Next game for Russia is v. The Czech Republic.

Finally, rounding out Friday's action is:

Team from Camp Morningwood v. Latvia

USA wins 4-0!

We all know who's tearin' it up on Team Morningwood. However, Molly from Boston College has informed me in her comment a few posts ago that Gerbe-Derby was cut from the team: (I'm not surprised, Pommer was cut from Team Canada when he was 20 and there he is today! Woo!)

Staffy and Pommer are on a line together. Staffy's rockin' Timmy's # and Pommer has stuck with good ol' 29. I like it when players use the same number. Kaner is wearing 83. Peter Mueller got 88. I'm guessing an epic battle of rock paper scissors decided this one, that, or Mueller is a few months older.

Kaner had 3 pts in the game (1+2), Pommer and Staffy were point-less, but, um Staffy got a penalty!.....? Pommer had about 14 minutes of ice time and 1 shot on goal. Stampy didn't score on his penalty shot he was awarded when he was yanked down on a breakaway.

The live blogger at the game said that Kaner would've been the star of the game with Tim Tom comin' in 2nd. Yay!!! Wooo! Although, on the IIHF website the "best player" was Paulie Martin. Whatevs! It was the only shutout on a very lopsided day of hockey. Yay!

Kaner scored a goal! And had an assist! Yay!

Next game for the USA is Sunday v. Slovenia, Woooo!