Chicago Blackhawks Morning Links: Go Team North America

The World Cup of Hockey is over for the likes of Chicago Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane, among others

Good morning, Chicago Blackhawks fans. The Blackhawks’ Training Camp Festival is three days away, but what most hockey fans are focused on right now is the World Cup of Hockey. And boy, were American fans likely disappointed Tuesday.

Team USA quickly fell out of the running for a spot in the semifinals, dropping a 4-2 decision to Canada in preliminary play Tuesday. This came two days after the Americans were surprisingly shut out by Team Europe in a 3-0 defeat.

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And so, Team USA’s remaining game against Team Czech Republic is just for show (for both teams, actually). Team Canada and Team Europe have advanced from Group A, while Team Sweden is in from Group B. All that remains is to see who will advance out of Group B between Team North America and Team Russia, with Team Finland already eliminated from contention.

Team North America takes on Team Sweden today in what promises to be the most entertaining game of the preliminary round. Sweden’s stout defense, featuring the likes of Blackhawks’ blueliner Niklas Hjalmarsson, will square off against a speedy, talented, young group in Team North America. Should be fun. Team Russia, meanwhile, will face Team Finland on Thursday.

But back to Team USA

Yeah, so Team USA totally imploded in this tournament. At least a favorite to clear the preliminary stage, the group has scored two goals, better than only Finland (1) and similar to Czech Republic. Team USA may have some questionable pieces, but it had enough good/great players to score more goals in two games than the Czech Republic.

Alas, at least a couple guys had fun at Team USA’s expense Tuesday.

Those are some savage tweets right there. The first is from Phil Kessel, a member of the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins who was oddly left off the Team USA roster. Think he’s glad he’s not part of that mess now?

The second tweet is from Josh Paul, a defenseman for the U.S. national sled hockey team. The guy threw some major shade at Team USA by way of his own disability (he was born without legs). That’s pretty awesome, actually.

Anyway, now that Team USA has just one game left, it’s time to root on Team North America. Though there are no current Blackhawks connections on the roster, it’s easily the most exciting team in the field. It’d be fun to see the group take on Canada in the final.

Now, let’s move on to some morning links.

Your Chicago Blackhawks morning links

— Did you notice it? Forbes

— Meet the new guy. Chicago Tribune

— Team USA might not make it to that many goals. CBS Sports

— Something about bad decisions and John Tortorella. ESPN

— Rookies wrap up. Chicago Blackhawks