Wednesday, May 14, 2008

WC08: Heat continues to be on

Photo from IIHF.com. Used without permission.

Dany Heatley
's torrent pace at the 2008 World Championships has continued through the past three games, and he's now got 13 points in the six games played. Jason Spezza, meanwhile, continues to struggle, and his demotion to the fourth-line was not without warrant. Team Canada clinched first place in their pool with a perfect 6-0 record, good for 18 points (three per regulation-time win), and the playoffs begin with a quarter-final rematch with the Norway. Canada barely beat Norway 2-1 in round-robin play.

Dany Heatley: 6GP, 9G, 4A, 13P, 4 PIM +10, 27 SOG, 15:17 TOI
Jason Spezza: 6GP, 1G, 1A, 2P, 0 PIM, +5, 6 SOG, 10:31 TOI

Christoph Schubert, meanwhile, continues to lead his German squad from the back-end, and he's second on the team in average ice time per game. He's also got more points than Spezza, although he is getting significantly more ice time. The Germans finished with a 2-4 record, not good enough for the playoffs, but good enough to steer clear of the relegation round.

Christoph Schubert: 6GP, 1G, 2A, 3P, 12 PIM, -2, 11 SOG, 19:36 TOI

On the Switzerland team, Martin Gerber hasn't been playing as many games as Jonas Hiller and third-stringer Ronnie Reuger are getting some extra playing time. He's still got the team's best numbers, though, in all categories. When Russia and Switzerland play tomorrow in quarter-final play, count on Gerbs getting the start.

Martin Gerber: 3W, 1L, 0G, 1A, 1P, .912 SP, 2.25 GAA

Kaspars Daugavins and his Latvian squad fared about as well as Schubert's German squad, which was likely surprising to many. They finished with two wins (over Slovenia and Norway) and four losses, and stay in the first division of the IIHF.

Kaspars Daugavins: 6GP, 0G, 0A, 0P, 0 PIM, -1, 6 SOG, 7:50 TOI

EDIT: For some reason I wrote that Daugavins was on Slovenia. He's on Latvia. I changed the article so it was right... that's why mainstream media has fact-checkers and proofreading, I guess.
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