First Star: Miikka Kiprusoff, Finland – On a night filled with tremendous performances, Kiprusoff stood above the rest with his 31-save shutout against the Czech Republic. "Kipper" saw steady action every period and was the backbone of a strong win for Finland, which will go on to face Team USA in the semifinals. Kiprusoff's strong performance allowed the third-period goal by Niklas Hagman to stand up as the game-winner. Valtteri Filppula potted an insurance goal into an empty net.

Second Star: Ryan Getzlaf, Canada – Did anyone expect this to happen? Team Canada came out with a swagger similar to Tuesday's game against Germany, but forgot they were playing Russia and dominated the game from the drop of the puck. Getzlaf opened the scoring for Canada, then assisted on both of Corey Perry's tallies in the second as the Canadians breezed past Russia to face a surprising Slovakian team in the semifinals.

Third Star: Marian Hossa, Slovakia – Even more surprising (if that is possible) than Team Canada's domination against the Russians was Slovakia's sneaky victory over the defending gold medalists, Sweden. Hossa assisted on three of four Slovakian goals, including what would end up being the game winner, and led a Slovakian team that mustered just 14 shots all game long with three shots on goal. Slovakia's victory over the Swedes marks their second upset of this tournament and will see them play Canada after reaching the semifinals for the first time in team history.

Set as favorite

Bookmark

Email this

Comments (3)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Show/hide comments

4th Star

Not to be a homer and I like to read your blogs, but what about Zach Parise in the 2-0 win of the Swiss yesterday? 2 Goals a +1 and 4 shots....the guy was buzzing around the ice like a bee trying to get pollen before it gets to cold and dies. After ready your top 3 I think he could be in but definitely a 4th star....maybe you should add the 4th star as an honorable mention. Bottom line without Parise the US doesn't win! Again great read.

Gilmour93woo , February 25, 2010

• 
• +0
• 
• 

I agree...

I agree with you, to an extent. Without Parise, the US doesn't win and, without the honorable mention section like Puck Daddy uses, it's hard to not give these players their due. But my thought was this. First, Kipper had an amazing game plain and simple. Second, Getzlaf scored three points in just over ten minutes of ice time against the supposed best team in the tournament. Third, without Hossa, the Slovakians do not win plain and simple. Parise's performance was defintiely good, and if there were a fourth star he would be it...But I just thought that the three mentioned above had a bigger impact overall.

Blake Benzel , February 25, 2010

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Good deal Buddy

I appreciate the well thought out answer and really enjoy the reasoning behind the 3 selected.

Thanks!

Gilmour93woo , February 26, 2010

• 
• +0
• 
• 

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment