OffThePost.org

Della Rovere or whoever is an idiot and should've been kicked out of the game last year (lol, I meant night, but I guess I was right) for that blatant hit from behind.

OTTAWA - Slovakia pulled off the first big upset of the world junior hockey championship with three first-period goals and 46 saves from Jaroslav Janus to defeat the United States 5-3 in the quarter-finals on Friday in Ottawa.

Adam Bezak, Tomas Tatar and Jozef Molnar scored in the opening period on only eight shots against porous American goaltender Thomas McCollum of the Guelph Storm.

Richard Panik got one in the third and Tatar clinched the win with an empty-net goal with 2:14 left to play for Slovakia, which had not beaten the U.S. in eight games at the tournament since 1998.

The surprising Slovaks will be underdogs again when they face Sweden in the semifinals on Saturday. Russia faces the Czech Republic in another quarter-final later Friday night.

The United States outshot Slovakia 49-19 overall and Janus, the 19-year-old Erie Otters goalie who wasn't selected in last June's NHL draft, made acrobatic saves to keep hold the lead against a relentless American attack.

The Americans, beaten 7-4 by Canada on Wednesday in their final round robin game, got power-play goals from defencemen Ian Cole and Jonathan Blum and a late goal from James van Riemsdyk with McCallum pulled for an extra attacker.

Bezak went end to end down the right side and beat McCollum with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle 11:05 into the game.

Less than a minute later, a tic-tac-toe play with Colin Wilson and Jordan Schroeder was capped by Cole sliding a puck under Janus on a power play.

But Richard Panik stole a puck in the U.S. zone and sent Tatar in to score on a backhand shot at 13:41 and Molnar scored after Cole's clearing attempt hit one of the referees and stayed in the zone.

The Slovaks were outshot 16-2 in the second frame, but Janus held the lead, making a blocker save on Eric Tangradi on a backhander from the doorstep 12 minutes in and robbing Tyler Johnson with a glove grab at the side of the net at 16:55.

Janus made two more saves before the puck trickled behind him and Blum poked it in 5:31 into the third.

The mostly pro-Slovakia crowd announced at 18,042 cheered as video review upheld Panik's goal at 11:38 after he blew past Cole and put a shot off the post that went in off a body in front.

McCollum was pulled with about 2:30 left in the game, but a turnover at centre ice gave Tatar his second of the game and fourth of the tournament.

The US usually tanks it after the Canada game.

I'm surprised about the Slovaks though, they put Finland in the relegation round as well. Pretty good considering most pundits believed Slovakia was dead in terms of development.

That Russian player doesn't go for the empty net and gets the icing...those showbaoting Canadians are fighting the Slovaks for the Bronze. They got lucky.

He's a guy that just sticks around, he's got a lot of fight in him, he's got a lot of battle in him and he's got an innate sense of - when the game is on the line - that he needs to make a save.

Well, guess what? They won both of those games.

All those D that have stuck at the NHL level as teenagers have killed their depth.

Has any other team this tourney been hit as bad by players sticking with NHL clubs?

Historically, or just this tourney? This tourney, the answer is definitely no, Canada has been hit the worst. Denmark didn't get Boedker and Switzerland didn't get Sbisa which are huge losses for them, but those countries were in the weak Div. 1 tourney this year. Last year, the top 5 picks were all Canadians eligible to play in this year's tourney, but only Pietrangelo is there. #6 Filatov and #7 Wilson are there for their countries. Throw in #9 Josh Bailey not being released to play and that's 5 players from this year's draft, all top 10 picks, not playing (including 3 d-men). Throw in Turris, Sutter, and Gilles from last year's team as 2007 picks that could play and yeah, the team has been hit pretty hard. 9 players that could be there aren't (technically Sam Gagner could play as well).

LA let Oscar Moller play for Sweden, he being the only NHL player that is at the tourney
(plus Filatov who is an AHLer). Jakub Voracek could have played for the Czechs as well, which surely could have helped them finish higher. Of course, the Russians were missing a very skilled player as well for the most unfortunate of reasons.