There is and will only ever be one top rival for Canada and that's Russia. After a short hiatus, the Russians are back in the gold medal game against Canada. One big reason I think Canada stomped on the Russians so badly in Vancouver was because so many players on both sides were in the 2005 world juniors final where Canada steamrolled the Russians on their way to a gold medal.

The team has pictures of all 15 gold medal winning teams in their locker room. Tonight they can join the pantheon of great teams or they can be consigned to the loser bin along with last year's squad and the 1997 team that lost on home ice.

Go Canada Go!

From Birky:

This one's for all the marbles. The good guys in red went out and shellacked the Yanks on Monday night, proving once again that they have a long way to go before they can be considered perennial contenders for the WJC crown. The Canadians are led offensively by two top ten draft picks, Brayden Schenn and Ryan Johansen, who are first and third in tournament scoring. The Russians counter with two young scorers of their own, Blues prospect Vladimir Tarasenko and Caps property Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Canada won the opening game of the tournament, one against this very same Russian team, by a score of 6-3.  Let's hope for similar results.

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