“Ugh.” That’s about the best way to sum up the World Cup of Hockey for American hockey fans. Team USA (which plays Czech Republic tonight) is already eliminated after two poor showings against Canada and Team Europe. The darlings of the tournament, Team North America, were just eliminated on a tiebreaker with Russia. It’s a pretty night and day comparison between the two teams with American ties.

Team USA is easily the biggest disappointment of the tournament in my opinion. Depending on the outcome of tonight’s game, they will either finish in 3^rd or 4^th in Group A. Regardless this is a team that has made strides in previous international competition and just never got anything going in its first two games. I do believe that part of the problem was the lack of speed on the roster with some of the younger Americans like Johnny Gaudreau and J.T. Miller playing for the North American team. I also still wonder how USA Hockey decided that John Tortorella would coach this team, but that’s another subject entirely. In a game based on speed there were a few too many “grinders” on this roster to have legitimate chance to win.

On the flip side, Team North America stole the spotlight in its brief time in the World Cup of Hockey. I talked about it in my “Weekend Recap” but I was in awe at the speed and relentless effort this entire team showed in the tournament. This collection of future NHL All-Stars was a sight to see and provided some of the most entertaining hockey you will see until March in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It was certainly a sight to see if you were able to watch this team play. I’m just disappointed we won’t get the “D3: Mighty Ducks” storyline from a potential Canada vs. Team North America semi-final game.

I’ll leave you all with the overtime of the Team North America vs. Sweden game. If you want, skip ahead to about halfway through the video, it’s pure adrenaline in the form of overtime hockey.

“Good night, sweet prince.”

I’ll be back Saturday with a “No Huddle” to preview Week 3 of the NFL. Follow me on Twitter @thereal_jmooney and go like the Shooting the Moon page on Facebook.