We'll be back

Canada defeated the US 2-1 in front of a friendly hometown crowd in Montreal.

The US started out real slow, and then lost one of their best players, Mike Modano, to injury. But they battled back, and dominated the second half of the game. Unfortunately, they couldn't convert numerous scoring chances.

Next up for the US is Russia on Thursday in St. Paul, Minn.

UPDATE: Let me explain the "we'll be back" line.

The World Cup tournament two pools, the North American (Canada, US, Russia, Slovakia) and the European (Germany, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic). During the first round, each team plays the other teams in its pool once to determine seeding for the playoffs. In each pool, the first place team plays the fourth, and the second plays the third. The winners of the two games go on to play the quarterfinal winners from the other pool in the semifinal round. Then the winners play for the gold medal in the final, the losers play for the bronze.

If Canada and the US are 1-2 in the standings after the preliminary round (which is what I predict will happen), then they won't meet until the final (that is what I am predicting, incidentally). Here are my predictions for the standings after the preliminary round:

North American Pool:
1. Canada
2. USA
3. Slovakia
4. Russia

European Pool:
1. Sweden
2. Finland
3. Czech Republic
4. Germany

Quarterfinals
Canada-Russia
USA-Slovakia
Sweden-Germany
Finland-Czech Republic

Semifinals
Canada-Finland
USA-Sweden

Bronze Medal Game
Sweden-Finland

Gold Medal Game
Canada-USA

Final Standings
USA - Gold Medal
Canada - Silver Medal
Finland - Bronze Medal

We'll have to see what happens. I wonder what El-ahrairah would predict?