USA Out at the World Championships

In what could be called "Deja Vu all over again", the young USA hockey squad lost in the quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championships for the fourth straight year last night in a 3-2 overtime loss to Finland.

The team's average age was around 23 or 24, but they played fairly well during the qualifying rounds - they never got beat by more than one. Last night, they were down 2-0 with six minutes to play in the third but cracked two past Nick Backstrom within a minute. I normally like it when he keeps goals out. USA had a chance to finish it in overtime when Bloomington, MN native Zach Parise got the puck on his tape at point blank but his wrister went inches wide. Finland scored about a minute later and it's tee time for our boys.

The final four teams will play on Friday in Quebec City - Canada vs. Sweden & Russia vs. Finland. More info can be found at iihf.com or usahockey.com.