Bearded Ice – May 16

MiHockey writer Stefan Kubus here with you for a Wednesday edition of Bearded Ice.

Quick Hits

Team USA closed out round-robin play in the 2012 IIHF World Championship quite strongly, with a 5-2 win over Switzerland. Michigan connections contributed six of the 13 points recorded by American players, as Cam Fowler (Farmington Hills) tallied a goal and an assist; Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon) recorded an assist; Jeff Petry (Ann Arbor) closed out the scoring with a goal, and former U-of-M Wolverine Max Pacioretty –  who continues to assert his dominance on the world stage – had two assists.

Grand Ledge native Matt Greene is today’s Michi-gamer after his performance last night in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. Check it out!

The teams for the 2012 Memorial Cup are now set, as Edmonton defeated Portland last night in the WHL championship game. The London Knights from the OHL – with Michigan natives Jared Knight (Battle Creek) and Austin Watson (Ann Arbor) leading the way – the Edmonton Oil Kings from the WHL and Saint John Sea Dogs from the QMJHL all won their respective league titles. The fourth team, the host, will be the Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL.

Highlight Reel

In case you missed it, last night’s Kings/Coyotes game got out of hand somewhat after a couple nasty-looking hits.

First, this one by Shane Doan on Trevor Lewis got Doan served with a five-minute boarding major and game-misconduct.

 

Seems like it wasn’t entirely Doan’s fault, since Lewis turned at the last second. Guessing the Coyotes captain will not receive supplementary discipline from Brendan Shanahan.

This second one, which followed Doan’s hit, comes courtesy of husky Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal.

There was really no need for Hanzal, who stands tall at 6-foot-6-inches and 236 pounds, to put Brown in like that. He was staring at the numbers the entire time, and when you see digits, that’s when it’s time to lay off. Guessing he gets one or two games for that one.

Outside the Mitten

The L.A. Kings grabbed a convincing 2-0 lead over the Phoenix Coyotes in the Western Conference Finals last night. The Kings outshot the ‘Yotes 40-24, and Jonathan Quick picked up his second shutout of the postseason.

The New York Rangers host the New Jersey Devils for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight. The puck drops in the Garden at 8pm.

Check it out

The first teaser trailer dropped Monday afternoon for the latest NHL video game, with another one set to be released today. On that note, our very own Pavel Datsyuk knocked T.J. Oshie out of the NHL 13 Cover Vote. Round 2 will run from May 18th-May 23rd so be sure to stuff the ballot box for Pav!

Next up

Team USA takes on Team Finland tomorrow. Expect it to be a much closer game than the first 5-0 blowout. But for tonight, it’s Carl Hagelin and the Rangers up against Andy Greene and the Devils. Enjoy and see ya right back here tomorrow!