The WC: News and Notes

Ashley Gallant | International Competitions

May 8, 01:46 PM | Hype this story!

Teams add depth to rosters
Several WC teams decided to add more players to their rosters this week as Montreal, San Jose, New York, and Colorado were ousted from the playoffs.

As reported the other day, Belarus added 4 NHL players, including the Kostitsyn brothers.

Sweden added super-goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

Russia added Andrei Markov (MON), Evgeni Nabokov (SJS) and Fedor Tyutin (NYR). Curiously, they did not ask Alex Kovalev to join them in Quebec City. Kovalev told the media that he received a text message from the team saying that they didn’t want him because he doesn’t skate fast enough.

Finland added Saku Koivu to their roster, but he did not play in yesterday’s win over Slovakia. He is expected to play this weekend. The team has also added goalie Karri Ramo of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Slovakia improved their goaltending by adding Peter Budaj.

The US has added Brandon Dubinsky (NYR) and Jordan Leopold (COL). Meanwhile, captain Jeff Halpern and number 1 goalie Tim Thomas are out for the remainder of the tournament after sustaining injuries in Tuesday’s loss to Canada.

Super Teams
Only two teams have not lost in regulation so far this tournament. One is Canada and the other is…Switzerland. Yep, that’s right – Switzerland.

The Swiss stunned Sweden last night, just like they stunned Canada at the 2006 Olympics. They may not have an entire roster of top hockey players, but they sure can play.

Wallin suspended
Sweden’s Niclas Wallin has been suspended for 2 games after hitting Switzerland’s Roman Wick in the head/neck area.

Wallin was assessed a match penalty for the hit, which carries an automatic 1-game suspension, but the IIHF decided to add another game to his suspension.

Wick suffered a severe concussion from the hit and experienced amnesia for about 10 minutes afterwards.

Germany’s Holland thrown out of the WC
The IIHF suspended defenceman Jason Holland earlier this week after learning that he is not eligible to play for Germany’s national team.

In order to qualify for the team, Holland (a dual citizen) needed to play in the German leagues for 4 years because he represented Canada at the 1996 World Juniors. He only played in Germany for three years.

There was concern that Germany may lose points for the games that Holland played – which would have put Germany in the relegation round – but the IIHF decided to take no further action.

Comments

  1. DaBich

    May 8, 02:00 PM

    Bummer, I didn’t realize the US has lost till I read this article. Go Canada!

  2. Ashley Gallant

    May 8, 06:01 PM

    Dabich – Tuesday’s Canada-USA game was absolutely insane. It was tied at 4 until Heatley scored the game-winner with 46.8 seconds left in the game. We all just stood and sang the “Olé!” song, waved our flags like crazy people, and cheered until we couldn’t talk. It was awesome!

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