Monday, January 02, 2012  Mostly about pride on Saturday night
Saturday night's showdown between the USA and Canada at the
World Juniors wasn't the marquee New Year's Eve bash that
perhaps organizers had hoped for.  Rather, the year end game was
pretty well an extended practice session for the Canadians who
had already clinched a semi final berth, mainly through the
American's lack of success against the Finns and the Czechs.
Yet, despite the lack of importance for the game, the Canadians
were still referencing past games with the Americans to try and
build on the 3-2 victory for the upcoming battles to come in
Calgary in the medal round.  Canada jumped out to a 3-0 lead and
then basically went into a cruise control mode, allowing the
Americans to battle hard through the third period to make a much
closer game of it than really should have been.  The USA,
suddenly found the missing gear that eluded them for a few of
their mis-steps in the tournament, rushing the Canadian end
frequently in the third, clawing