This afternoon Ovechkin and the Russians take on Canada in Quebec City in the Gold Medal game of the world hockey championships. I'll be curious to see if the ratings for this game beat the Stanley Cup playoff games this weekend up here. They got their dream match-up Canada and Russia.

Go Canada Go!

The Russians win in overtime on a 4 on three powerplay. At the worlds - the overtime is 4 on 4 like the NHL regular season overtimes - but is not limited to 5 minutes. And unfortunately it was a silly penalty - delay of game against Nash for shooting the puck over the glass in his own end.

If you see highlights watch the Russian players' reactions when they win. This is obviously HUGE for them and of course will add yet another layer of pressure for the Canadian men's team in Vancouver 2010.

TravelPat, I did see their reaction, and it was obvious how happy they were!

I don't see the big deal in the World Hockey Championships. I understand how excited the Russians were and quite frankly, that's the type of reaction that makes hockey such a great sport. With that said, you can ask every single player on both squads and they'll tell you that the'd rather be playing for the Stanley Cup than in that tournament.

There are, in my opinion, only two tournaments that actually mean something...

1. World Junior Hockey Championships

2. Olympics