Thursday Chum Bucket: Team USA blows out Canada, will face Sweden for gold
- Getting two goals each from captain Jake McCabe and Johnny Gaudreau, Team USA walloped Team Canada 5-1 in World Juniors semifinal action this morning. They'll move on to face Sweden, the winner of the other semifinal game against Russia, for the gold medal on Saturday. [IIHF]
- Some fans of Team Canada were, um, less than pleased about the result. [SB Nation]
- The league and union didn't meet at 7AM as previously reported but it remains likely they will continue negotiations at some point today after the PA refrained from disclaiming interest last night and the sides came to an agreement on some issues, including CBA term length and revenue sharing. [Pro Hockey Talk]
- Only the NHL could devise a 48-game schedule that contains more divisional games than their normal 82-game one. But that's apparently what's on the table if we have a shortened season, with Flyers/Penguins opening up festivities on the 19th. [TribLive]
- Surveying the teams, including San Jose, that could be up against a potential $60 million salary cap in 2013-14. [The Globe & Mail]
- Michal Handzus has returned to North America from Slovakia, where he had 19 points in 19 games. [Rotoworld]
- Torrey Mitchell scored the lone goal in a shootout loss for the San Francisco Bulls, who will be without starting goalie Thomas Heemskerk for at least 21 days. [The Gackle Report]
- Who knew photoshopping Gary Bettman's head onto Calvin's body could improve the greatest newspaper comic strip ever? [Puck Daddy]
- Speaking of photoshops, our own Ann Frazier had what was unequivocally the best take on #DregerFace:
