Morning World Cup Player Notes (Sep 15)

Roman Cervenka made his World Cup warm-up debut on Wednesday night, drawing into his first game for the Czech Republic and he managed over 13 minutes of ice-time in the 3-2 win for his side.  Defenseman Tomas Kundratek came out of the lineup to make room for the veteran pivot, while the team was still without Vladimir Sobotka, due to injury, and Ondrej Pavelec remained the third goalie.

Vincent Trocheck came out of the lineup and J.T. Miller was re-inserted, while John Gibson was up in the press box, as Matt Murray got the start for Team North America last night.  Defenseman Jacob Trouba spent his second straight game in the press box for the team, which now could be a regular roster move.

In the pool, Cervenka's return was good for Dale, who took a chance on a Czech of his own.  You won't be able to throw a rock at Team North America without hitting one or more of Scott's players, as Gibson, Trocheck and Miller are all of his, while Benson's goalie, Murray, got the start last night.

Where did this European team come from?  Was it the fact that they didn't have to overcome jet lag for last night's game, like their opponents did?  Possibly.  On the ice, the Europeans made a couple of changes, as Mikkel Boedker and Luca Sbisa came out of the lineup, while Tobias Rieder and Christan Ehrhoff made it back in, while the back-up goalies made a swap, Philipp Grubauer in for Thomas Greiss.

As for Sweden, it was the status quo for them, as Marcus Kruger remained out with an upper-body injury and Hampus Lindholm and Jhonas Enroth were both scratches.

Marcie's team was most notable in this part of the post, as she has Boedker, who came out, and Lindholm, who remained out.  Otherwise, the pool was seemingly unscathed by the news from this one.

The Russians might have an idea of what their opening night lineup will look like, as they scratched forward Vladislav Namestnikov, defenseman Nikita Nesterov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy against the Canadians and overall, they really kept the pace and pushed it a little in their 3-2 overtime loss.  Returning to the lineup in their places were Pavel Datsyuk, Andrei Markov and last night's starter, Sergei Bobrovsky.  We'll await final confirmation ahead of their first tournament game, Sunday against Sweden.

Lots of shuffling in the Canadian lineup, with the loss of Tyler Seguin, as Ryan O'Reilly was immediately inserted, but the team opted to rest Matt Duchene, who is reportedly a bit sore.  Sidney Crosby returned from a night off to take his place, while defenseman Jake Muzzin remains as the seventh defenseman and in the press box.  The anticipated starter for Canada, Carey Price, also returned from a night off and he traded spots with Braden Holtby, who was up in the press box for the win.

Benson took the biggest hit in this one, as Namestnikov and Holtby were both out of their respective lineups and it is hard to say whether or not they will be in the opening night lineups on the weekend.  Dale is holding on to Duchene, who has had a good warm-up to the tournament and he is questionable as to where he'll fit or if he'll be ready for Saturday night.