Phoenix Coyotes Hockey on AZ Vibe

While most of Arizona still slept or were in the process of waking up, the United States played their second game of the 2010 IIHF World Championships against Denmark this morning losing in overtime 2-1.

For the second game in a row, the United States showed that their team more than deserves a free pass to the relegation round by displaying an inferior game with inferior talent across the board.

With the lack of talent on the roster it’s no wonder that Team USA is on their way to the relegation round and a potential demotion to a lower division.

The US did some great things in the game but with the lack of talented depth on the roster they could never take advantage of the many opportunities that were presented to them.

“I thought we played our game in the second period,” said U.S. Head Coach Scott Gordon. “Establishing a solid forecheck is a big part of playing our game. We turned the puck over way too much in the neutral zone overall. In the end, give Denmark credit. They earned the victory.”

I hope that the eligible NHL caliber USA players that didn’t come to this tournament for whatever reason realize that the image of USA hockey is taking a major hit right now….even after their amazing performance at the Vancouver Olympics.

Team USA, before the tournament began, was not one that was going to win the gold medal. However, I never envisioned that Team USA would be teetering on the edge of being sent to the Relegation Round which would be a huge slap in the face to what USA Hockey has accomplished this year.

If there was one bright point to this game it was Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle scoring the only goal of the game in spectacular fashion.

A Team USA Win and a Germany loss on Wednesday would save Team USA from being sent to the Relegation Round.  Anything less….well let’s not think about that right now.

Here’s the lines Team USA Coach Scott Gordon went with for the second straight game:

FORWARDS Foligno-Dubinsky-Okposo Moss-Galiardi-Oshie Kennedy-Potulny-Nystrom Kreider-Carter-Hanson

DEFENSE Johnson-Yandle Greene-Greene Hillen-Lundin Chorney-Gilroy

GOALTENDERS Clemmensen Bishop

GAME SUMMARY Scoring By Period

First Period – Scoring: None. Penalties: DEN, Madsen (slashing), 10:02; USA, Carter (tripping), 13:20; USA, Carter (roughing), 16:07; DEN, Green (roughing), 16:07.

Second Period – Scoring: 1, DEN, Eller (F. Nielsen, Regin), 8:52 (pp); 2, USA, Yandle (Okposo, Johnson), 12:03 (pp). Penalties: DEN, Green (slashing), 2:21; USA, Galiardi (delaying the game), 7:32; DEN, Regin (tripping), 11:36; DEN, Regin (slashing), 14:43.

Third Period – Scoring: None. Penalties: USA, M. Greene (slashing), 15:47.

Overtime – Scoring: 3, DEN, Lassen (unassisted), 2:04. Penalties: None.

Power Play: USA 1-4; DEN 1-3

Penalties: USA 4-8; DEN 5-10

Officials: Referees-Ole Hansen (NOR), Vladimir Sindler (CZE); Linesmen-Andrii Kicha (UKR), Peter Sabelstrom (SWE)

Attendance: 8,985