Bearded Ice – May 7

So The Avengers was pretty cool…

Quick hits

Team USA is off to a great start at the IIHF Men’s World Championship across the pond. After a regulation win over France on Friday, the American squad topped our neighbors to the north, 5-4 in OT, which means they officially hold a 1-1-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record.

Former Wolverines star Jack Johnson was the hero for the U.S. in their overtime victory over Canada, scoring an unassisted goal on a blast from the left face-off circle. It was Johnson’s second goal of the game.

Other Michigan connections shined in the win over Canada; Jimmy Howard stopped 30 of 34 shots for the win, while Jim Slater scored the first goal of the game and was named Team USA’s player of the game.

The U.S. takes on Slovakia at 1:15 p.m. today. The game can be seen on the NBC Sports Network.

Highlight reel

Here’s Lapeer native Jim Slater talking about Team USA’s win over Canada.

Outside the Mitten

We’ve named Matt Greene and Alec Martinez our Michi-gamers of the weekend. Check out why right here.

Greene and Martinez’s squad, the Kings, swept the Blues in their second-round series (in case you didn’t want to click on the previous link). They’re the first team to advance to the conference finals, and will play the winner of the Coyotes/Predators series. Phoenix leads 3-1, with Game 5 starting at 10 p.m. tonight.

Out in the East, the Rangers and Capitals are tied at two games apiece, while the Devils have a 3-1 lead on the Flyers.

Tonight, Gary Bettman may be announcing that the Coyotes have a new owner. But that’s just a maybe. Nothing could really surprise anyone with that situation at this point.

Check it out

The hits keep coming this spring, but the worst one happened outside of the NHL. While this check from France’s Sacha Treille is the definition of a “buddy pass” – putting a teammate in danger with a pass that has him looking backwards while flying through the neutral zone – it’s still a hit that will merit a lengthy, lengthy suspension. He’s already been removed from the rest of the World Championship.

Next up

More Team USA talk tomorrow.