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Wow. Just freakin' wow.

In the World Under 20 Ice Hockey Championships, Division III being held in Lithuania, there was a nailbiter of a game between Armenia and Iceland. The Icelanders prevailed by the narrow margin of 50—0. Iceland's Emil Alengard led all scorers with nine goals and six assists, and was a plus 15. Icelandic blueliner Elmar Magnusson was a stunning plus-nineteen for the match. Shots on goal were 133 to 10. The only Icelander not to register a point was defenceman Kari Valsson, who only recorded three shots, but was a plus-thirteen.

Here's the boxscore, for anyone interested. Next up for Armenia, host Lithuania, fresh off handing out 16-0 and 13-0 drubbings to Turkey and Bulgaria. Gotta feel bad for Armenian netminder Harutyun Baluyan, who played the entire game in net. To his credit, though, he did register 83 saves.

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Gratulerer med dagen, kafuela. Kan den kommende år fører De hva De trenger den mest, og selv noe av hva De vil ha.

Seattle Junior Black Knights 5, Seattle Junior Blizzard 2

SEATTLE— In front of a crowd of 4,219, the Seattle Junior Black Knights took advantage of having a full bench with which to work to soundly defeat the Junior Blizzard in the opening game of the SJHA Beginners season.

The Black Knights were paced by centre/right wing Alexander "Deuce" Ronsse-Tucherov, who scored the game winning goal and chipped in an assist on another Knights tally.

"It was fun and exciting. We came out with a lot of intensity and some butterflies because it was the first game [of the season], but once we took the opening draw, the team settled in to play.

We wanted to be able to drive to the net with the puck, and were able to stick with our game plan. If we keep playing that way, we should have a really successful season" Ronsse-Tucherov noted in post-game commentary.

The Blizzard seemed hampered by a bench significantly shortened by absent players, and fielded far fewer than the Black Knights, who had their full complement.

Scouts from at least three National Hockey League teams were in attendance, as representatives of the Detroit Red Wings, Atlanta Thrashers and Washington Capitals were in attendance. "We're here to take a look at some up and coming talent, and we saw some things tonight that really impressed us. We'll have to keep a careful eye on these kids as they continue to develop" commented a scout with the Capitals organization.

In the undercard of the night, the Seattle Thunderbirds took a hard fought 2-0 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors in Western Hockey League action. Seattle netminder Bryan Bridges returned to action after sustaining a high ankle sprain on the 20th of November, and set a WHL career record with his twentieth shutout.

Bridges was backed with strong play throughout the game, making 22 saves to record the shutout. Seattle forward Chris Durand scored the gamewinner with fifty-six seconds remaining in the second period, and assisted on Clayton Barthel's insurance marker at 1:05 of the third period.