Defenseman Dennis Seidenberg is today’s featured Bruin in the Black and Gold Blog’s series of player previews for the 2010-11 season.

DENNIS SEIDENBERG | #44 | Defense

HEIGHT: 6-1 WEIGHT: 210 SHOOTS: Left

BORN: July 18, 1981 – Schwenningen, West Germany

DRAFT: 2001 – 6th round (172nd overall) by the Philadelphia Flyers

CONTRACT STATUS: Signed through 2013-14 ($3.25 million cap hit)

2009-10 STATISTICS: 4 goals, 28 assists, 32 points in 79 games

LOOKING BACK ON 2009-10

Displeased with the makeup of his defensive corps, GM Peter Chiarelli orchestrated multiple trades on deadline day to shake things up. Derek Morris was jettisoned before even completing his first year in Boston. Chiarelli turned to the Panthers to fill the vacancy, acquiring Seidenberg in hopes of finding a better fit alongside Zdeno Chara.

The two gelled instantly. Seidenberg, renown for being a hard-hitter and shot-blocker extraordinaire, picked up nine points and sported an impressive plus-9 rating in his first 17 tilts with the B’s. The newcomer elevated his partner’s level of play as well, as Chara picked up seven points and was plus-11 during the stretch. Unfortunately the magic was short-lived. An errant skate damaged tendons in the defenseman’s forearm in a game up in Toronto on Apr. 3, sidelining Seidenberg indefinitely. The German olympian had resumed skating during the Bruins’ second round series against the Flyers, and likely would have returned to action had Boston advanced to the conference finals.

FIVE FACTS

1. Seidenberg finished 2009-10 with 215 blocked shots, more than any other player in the NHL.
2. Only Steve Begin (184) was credited with more hits than Seidenberg (166) among players who suited up for the B’s last year.
3. Seidenberg, who debuted with Philly in 2002-03, had only suited up for 70+ games in an NHL season once prior to 2009-10.
4. The German defender set career highs in assists (28) and points (32) in 2009-10. His career high for goals is five (Carolina, 2008-09).
5. Seidenberg is two assists shy of 100 for his NHL career.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2010-11

Despite his brief stint in Black and Gold last year, Chiarelli saw enough in Seidenberg to ink the 29-year-old blueliner to a four-year deal worth $3.25 million annually. Head Coach Claude Julien was undoubtedly thrilled by the success he and Chara enjoyed together, a pairing highly reminiscent of Chara’s days with Aaron Ward, but may be tempted to balance the B’s pairings out after seeing Johnny Boychuk click with the captain as well.

Seidenberg’s lone sore spot throughout his career has been health, as the rugged defender’s fearless style has cost him a number of games throughout his career. Over the course of three NHL season from 2005-06 to 2007-08, Seidenberg was absent for 84 tilts due to injury. When healthy, however, the 6-foot-1 blueliner fits the prototype for a tough-as-nails, shutdown defender to a tee.

If Julien decides Seidenberg would be best utilized away from the top pairing, slotting Johnny Boychuk in alongside Chara, one of Matt Hunwick, Mark Stuart or Andrew Ference will begin the season as his playing partner. With Hunwick, Seidenberg could prove to be a stabilizing presence and allow the offensively-gifted d-man to jump into the play more often. With both Stuart and Ference, the B’s could confidently rely on their middle pairing to shutdown opposing forwards on a consistent basis.

PREDICTION FOR 2010-11

Having appeared in only two NHL postseasons, Seidenberg has clearly played most of his career for subpar squads. With the Bruins expected to vastly improve upon their performance last year, Seidenberg could be in line for the best statistical season of his career. My prediction: 7 goals, 29 assists, 36 points for No. 44 in 2010-11.

NEXT PREVIEW (9/1): Blake Wheeler

Defenseman Matt Hunwick is today’s featured Bruin in the Black and Gold Blog’s series of player-by-player previews for the 2010-11 season.

MATT HUNWICK | #48 | Defense

HEIGHT: 5-11      WEIGHT: 190      SHOOTS: Left
BORN: May 21, 1985 – Warren, Michigan
DRAFT: 2004 – 7th round (224th overall) by the Boston Bruins
CONTRACT STATUS: Signed through 2010-11 ($1.45 million cap hit)
2009-10 STATISTICS: 6 goals, 8 assists, 14 points in 76 games

LOOKING BACK ON 2009-10

After an incredibly impressive rookie campaign that saw him put up 27 points in just 53 games, Hunwick suffered from the dreaded sophomore slump in 2009-10. Shy of remaining healthy, as the offensively-gifted blueliner suited up in 76 of the team’s 82 games, nearly every area of his game faltered. Hunwick registered just 14 points last year, tying his mark of six tallies in 2008-09 while dropping from 21 assists down to just eight (despite playing in 23 more games). The University of Michigan alum was a big help on the power play as a rookie, but 2009-10 saw Hunwick fall from eight PP points to just one in his second NHL season.

While statistics tell the story of the young defenseman’s struggles in the offensive zone, one need only utilize the “eye” test to assess his play down the other end. Paired alongside Dennis Wideman, the two struggled mightily throughout majority of the campaign. Prone to mental mistakes and an alarming surplus of turnovers, the duo’s combined confidence undoubtedly took a crushing blow as their subpar play led to intensifying criticism abound. Despite his small frame, Hunwick held his own defensively during his first extended stay with the big club, finishing with a rating of plus-15 in 2008-09. But, with little offensive contributions to make up for his defensive woes, the 5-foot-11 blueliner ended 2009-10 with a team-worst rating of minus-16.

After being held without a point in Boston’s final ten regular season games, Hunwick experienced a bit of an offensive revival in the playoffs. Picking up six assists over 13 games in the first two rounds, Hunwick nearly equaled his regular season total in that category in a whopping 63 less games.

FIVE FACTS

1. Including the postseason, Hunwick will carry a 47-game goalless drought into 2010-11.
2. Hunwick’s TOI increased from 17:57 in the regular season to 21:56 in the playoffs.
3. Only Dennis Wideman (-20) had a worse +/- rating at the TD Garden than Hunwick (-12).
4. Hunwick’s 10.0 S% (6g, 60 shots) was better than every other Bruins’ defender in 2009-10.
5. Hunwick’s average of 0.85 hits per game was the lowest among all B’s blueliners.

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2010-11

Unlike last summer while forced to recover from a splenectomy, Hunwick will head into 2010-11 presumably healthy after a normal offseason regimen. Hunwick has a huge opportunity to fill the puck-moving void left on the back-end with Dennis Wideman now in Florida. Wideman’s subtraction, regardless of his futility in 2009-10, greatly diminished the collective amount of offensive talent possessed by the Bruins’ defensive corps. Hopefully fueled by a restored sense of confidence after a strong postseason showing, the former Michigan Wolverine’s should be markedly improved in 2010-11. Although he will have to battle it out for playing time with Johnny Boychuk and Dennis Seidenberg, Hunwick’s best chance to increase his offensive production will greatly depend on who Claude Julien elects to use on the PP.

During his rookie year, Hunwick saw 1:33 of TOI per game on the man advantage. Julien strayed from using the young blueliner early on in 2009-10, electing to go with a safer bet defensively in Andrew Ference for a prolonged stretch. By season’s end, Hunwick finished with an average of just 33 ticks of PP time per game. With the B’s bolstering themselves up front with the additions of Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin, and Marc Savard returning to health, Hunwick would undoubtedly see his point total dramatically rise if given a solid chunk of ice time on the power play.

While no one would ever expect the 25-year-old d-man to morph into the second coming of Scott Stevens, an increase in physical play would bode well for both Hunwick and the B’s. The Michigan native has proven himself to be a capable defender with a sound grasp on the element of timing when it comes to laying the occasional open-ice hit. Make-or-break might be a reach, but with restricted free agency on tap next summer, 2010-11 will be a big year for Hunwick. A little added toughness and an increase in offensive productivity would go a long way toward convincing the Bruins to keep him in the fold for 2011-12 and beyond.

PREDICTION FOR 2010-11

Hunwick will be slotted in on either the B’s second or third pairing this upcoming season, but the previously mentioned opportunity to grab the bull by the horns and become a mainstay on either of Julien’s PP units will be pivotal to his success. If partnered up with a reliable, rock-solid defender (Mark Stuart and Seidenberg come to mind), Hunwick will be able to concentrate far more on jumping into the play during 5-on-5 action, enabling him to show off the skills he displayed as a promising rookie. If both inclusion on the power play and being paired with a “stay at home” defenseman are in the cards, I’ll venture a guess of 11-28-39 totals for No. 48 in 2010-11.

NEXT PREVIEW (8/21): Shawn Thornton

Placing Marco Sturm on LTIR will help make the Bruins cap compliant when the 2010-11 regular season begins. (Photo: Getty Images)

As one might expect, Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli fielded a number of questions on the team’s current cap situation and his outlook for the rest of the offseason during his conference call to announce the signing of Tyler Seguin (plenty more on that on the Hockey Journal’s main page). It’s been the hot topic among B’s fans since the regular season concluded and, as piece after piece was added on, the team crept toward and eventually past the league’s spending limit. Chiarelli’s responses during the call, however, may cool the buzz down a bit.

“Right now we can ice a team,” Chiarelli told members of the media this afternoon. “We have 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies as we stand, and we can place Marco Sturm on LTIR.”

With that statement, Chiarelli confirmed that no further tinkering will be necessary prior to opening night. While that won’t entirely rule out the possibility of a swap in either August or September, the Bruins’ GM confirmed that the team can and will be cap compliant by the start of the season. The Sturm situation will likely have to be solved by the middle of November, as the German winger’s knee surgery in May was expected to take six months to recover from.

“We’re over the cap, but we have a player in Marco Sturm we’ll put on LTIR due to injuries,” Chiarelli, entering his fifth season with the organization, said. “But, at some point we’ll have to make changes.”

Until that time comes, the former Senators’ assistant GM sounds perfectly content with the status quo.

“It’s a roster I’m very happy with right now,” he said. “There are some spots where young players can earn spots. You’re never done with your roster, so I can’t say definitively we’re done with it. There’s always things that crop up.”

With Seguin appearing to be the final addition made this summer, Chiarelli was asked if having everything in place will make his job easier going forward.

“Is it easier now? Opportunities come across your desk that you look at, but what I do know is we have the ability right now to ice a team, and a good team. If that’s all we do between now and the start of camp, I’d be very happy.”

It was reported earlier in the offseason that the Bruins had been working on contract extensions for both Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron, as both key players are set to hit the market on July 1 of next year. Chara, who turned 33 in March, is about to embark on the fifth and final year of a $37.5 million dollar deal signed prior to the 2006-07 season. Bergeron, who just turned 25 in July, is also entering the final year of his contract. The Bruins’ alternate captain and co-leader in points during the 2009-10 season has carried a $4.75 million dollar cap hit throughout the deal.

“All I can tell you is we’ve had talks, we’ve had recent talks, we’ll continue to have talks and we’ll see how they go.” Chiarelli simply stated when asked how the deals were coming along.

The GM also touched on the coaching vacancy left by Craig Ramsay, as Claude Julien’s assistant and defensive guru accepted an offer to be the Head Coach of the Atlanta Thrashers in June.

“We’ll have an update in the next couple of days,” Chiarelli said, regarding a replacement. “We’ve selected and hired an assistant coach. We’re just finalizing it.”

April is supposed to be the busiest month of the year for accountants, but in the NHL, July is the peak season for the number crunchers.

This year’s free agency period has produced the kind of numbers that can clog many a calculator. The terms of Ilya Kovalchuk’s new deal with the Devils in particular didn’t add up for the NHL, which rejected New Jersey’s mammoth 17-year, $102 million deal with the star Russian forward.

The Devils will now have to rework the terms, or else the Players Association can file a grievance and seek arbitration. Kovalchuk will likely remain a Devil after restructuring the deal to terms that less obviously flaunt the loopholes of the current CBA, but the league’s stand here is sure to send a message to the rest of the league.

That includes the Bruins, who have already gotten away with a “retirement deal” of their own when they re-signed Marc Savard last fall. They dropped his cap hit to a manageable $4.007 million a year by adding a pair of low-money years at the back end, as Savard will make $7 million in each of the first two years, but just $525,000 in each of the final two years if he plays that long. Ironically, despite the favorable terms, Savard has been the subject of trade rumors all summer as the Bruins are still in cap trouble and may opt to move the playmaking center now that they’ve added a potential long-term successor in Tyler Seguin.

While the Savard deal passed the NHL’s smell test, the league’s rejection of the Kovalchuk contract could make it difficult to sign any future “retirement deals.” That could make it even tougher for the Bruins to re-sign both Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron when their current deals expire after this season. Chara in particular would have been an obvious target for a long-term deal with some low-money final years to drop his cap hit from its current $7.5 million while allowing the 33-year-old blueliner to finish out his career in Boston. Of course, if the Bruins do trade Savard before his extension even kicks in, it might not be easy to get Chara or anyone else to agree to such a cap-friendly deal again.

A hand injury limited the effectiveness of Zdeno Chara's booming shot, but the Bruins captain still provided a big presence on the blue line and in the locker room. (photo: Getty)

Note: Before the Bruins turn the page to a new season and begin the restructuring of their roster through the draft and free agency this summer, the Black & Gold Blog will take some time over the next few weeks to take a final look back at the recently concluded 2009-10 season, evaluating the club with a player-by-player report card. First up is a look at the captain, Zdeno Chara.

Zdeno Chara

2009-10 regular season: 80 games, 7-37-44, plus-19, 87 PIMs

Playoffs: 13 games, 2-5-7 plus-1, 29 PIMs

Other numbers of note: Led club in ice-time (25:22) and shots (242), but also in giveaways (65); second in hits (151) and blocked shots (104), but also in penalty minutes despite having just one fighting major (31 minors, 2 misconducts); set career-high in shots, but his seven goals were his lowest total since 2000-01; he averaged 15.8 goals the last five years, with a career-best 19 last season; added 39 hits and 24 blocked shots in playoffs as he averaged a team-high 28:07.

Preseason expectations: No. 1 defenseman in contention for another Norris Trophy, contributing on offense and providing a physical presence while shutting down top opposing forwards.

Performance evaluation: Chara’s season would have been good enough for most, but it didn’t quite met the lofty expectations he set with last year’s campaign. Two broken fingers on his left hand had a lot to do with that, as Chara was forced to wear a cast for much of the season after getting his hand jammed between his leg and the boards on a hit by Toni Lydman in Buffalo. That prevented him from fighting until late in the year and limited the power and accuracy he could get on his shot. As the hand got healthier, Chara’s play picked up, as he was 2-9-11 and a plus-13 in 20 games after the Olympic break.

2010-11 outlook: Chara will be entering the final year of his five-year, $37.5 million deal. The Bruins will face a big challenge in finding the cap space to keep him around beyond that, but he remains a towering presence on the blue line who can elevate his partner’s play and makes everyone around him play a little bigger.

Regular-season grade: B

Playoff grade: B+

Overall grade: B

Darren Dreger of TSN has reported that both the Bruins and Sabres have been informed that Zdeno Chara will NOT by suspended for Game 6 for the instigator penalty he picked up at the end of tonight’s game.

By rule, a player receiving an instigator penalty in the final five minutes of regulation or in overtime is automatically suspended for one game and that player’s coach is fined $10,000. Automatic, of course, has a slightly different meaning in the NHL when a star player happens to be the guilty party. In that case, this rule, like many others, is usually ignored. But god help the next fourth-line tough guy that dares to do the exact same thing. He’ll get the book thrown at him to make up for it.

Allowing Chara to play in Game 6 is certainly the proper decision based on the precedents set with the Scott Walker and Evgeni Malkin incidents, where both players had their automatic suspensions rescinded for late-game instigators in last year’s playoffs. Still, the fact that a decision would be announced just minutes after the game, with no in-depth review of evaluation, shows just what a joke of a rule this is.

And this rule would truly be laughable if not for the fact that it is occasionally and erratically enforced. The idea that the punishment for a penalty is determined by the amount of time left on the clock is ridiculous. Start a fight with 5:01 left in a blowout, no problem. But wait another two seconds, and you’re gone for a game. Unless, of course, you’re a good enough player to get away with doing whatever you want.  The NHL and its double standards have become so blatant that the league doesn’t even bother going through the motions to cover them up anymore. Maybe next year they’ll finally end all of the pretext, and just issue both sets of the rulebook they use – the one with the rules as actually written, and also the second one with all the special exemptions for the stars.

The good news is that Chara will play on Monday, as he should. The bad news is that the NHL has again disgraced itself with its ridiculous rules and the hilarious machinations they have to go through to avoid enforcing them when it doesn’t suit their needs. Leave it to the NHL. Even when they make the right decision, it’s usually for the wrong reasons.

Players from both teams and officials pile atop Zdeno Chara in a last-second melee in Game 5 in Buffalo. Chara was called for instigating the fight. (photo: Getty)

A bad night for the Bruins could have just gotten worse. The penalties have finally been updated from the last-second melee in tonight’s 4-1 loss, and Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was charged with an instigator penalty, as well as a fighting major and game misconduct at the 20:00 mark.

Miroslav Satan was also given a roughing minor and misconduct, while Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller was given a minor for leaving the crease, Paul Gaustad a slashing minor and Cody McCormick a roughing minor and a misconduct.

But the key penalty here is the instigator. By NHL rules, an instigator penalty in the final five minutes carries an automatic one-game suspension to the offending player and a $10,000 fine to that player’s coach. of course, automatic doesn’t mean quite the same thing in the NHL that it does in Webster’s. League dean of discipline Colin Campbell reviews each such incident and can chose to rescind the suspension. As Bruins fans will recall, he did just that last year when he opted to rescind the suspension to Carolina’s Scott Walker for his sucker punch on Aaron Ward. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin also didn’t have to serve a suspension for an instigator in the final five minutes in the Cup finals against Detroit, as the league once again displayed its double standard for star players.

As the reigning Norris Trophy winner, Chara should qualify for such star treatment. But as Bruins fans know from the lack of a suspension to Matt Cooke for his cheap shot on Marc Savard this year, as well as the lack of discipline for Walker last year or the one-game ban to Milan Lucic in the Montreal series for cross-checking Maxim Lapierre, then no punishment for Mike Komisarek breaking a stick across Lucic’s face later in the same series, counting on Campbell for clear-headed justice isn’t a position the Bruins want to be in.

Also of note, this is the second time Chara has been charged with a instigator in the final five minutes since the rule was implemented after the lockout. While with Ottawa, Chara was penalized for instigating a fight with Tim Gleason, then with Los Angeles, at 16:39 of the third on Dec. 2, 2005. Chara was suspended for one game for that incident. Granted, Chara had not yet established himself as an elite defenseman at that point, but it does give him repeat offender status if Campbell chooses to rule by the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it.

Matt Cooke is in the lineup tonight for Pittsburgh in the Penguins’ game at Carolina, having escaped any discipline from the NHL. Marc Savard isn’t playing for the Bruins against Philadelphia, and the team has acknowledged that Savard will likely not play again this year has he has yet to show any signs of improvement from the concussion he suffered as a result of Cooke’s cowardly blindside shot to his head on Sunday.

“There’s a good chance that Marc may be out for the year,” said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli prior to tonight’s game against the Flyers. “He’s one of our best players, so it’s devastating to us.”

Savard met with neuro-psychological specialist Dr. Kelly McInnis today, but the examination revealed little progress in his recovery. The Boston Globe reported that Savard remains plagued by symptoms that include sleep disruption, dizziness, sensitivity to light, nausea and difficulty concentrating.

The Bruins are also without forward Miroslav Satan tonight, as he is out with a groin injury. He has been replaced by Brad Marchand on a line with Vladimir Sobotka and Milan Lucic. Captain Zdeno Chara is back after missing one game with a lower-body injury. Jeff Penner is the healthy scratch on defense.

Tuukka Rask is also back in goal after Tim Thomas had started the last four games.

While the Bruins continue to await news of any possible discipline for Matt Cooke’s cheap shot on Marc Savard, Boston has learned it has another key injury to deal with.

Captain Zdeno Chara will also miss tonight’s game in Toronto with a lower-body injury. Coach Claude Julien termed the injury, suffered Sunday against Pittsburgh, as a day-to-day issue and hopes to have Chara back for Thursday’s game at Philadelphia. Call-up Jeff Penner will play his first NHL game in Chara’s place tonight.

Savard will be out a lot longer, perhaps for the rest of the season with the concussion he suffered from Cooke’s hit. Darren Dreger of TSN reported from the GM meetings in Florida that Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said that Savard could be done for the year. Julien was less specific, but equally discouraging, when asked for an update on Savard’s condition during his pre-game media briefing this morning in Toronto.

“The only update I’ve had is that today he is definitely not feeling better,” said Julien. “It’s been a little hard on him, so it’s obviously a pretty serious concussion.”

The question remains how serious the league will take it. The news on that front is also discouraging. NHL senior vice president Colin Campbell, the man in charge of making decisions on supplemental discipline, discussed the hit yesterday on The FAN 590-AM in Toronto. He revealed that he didn’t believe the hit was made with Cooke’s elbow and compared it to the hit Philadelphia’s Mike Richards put on Florida’s David Booth earlier this year. Booth missed 45 games with a concussion; Richards was not suspended.

“We’re talking about a shoulder hit, a legal hit by definition of the rulebook, that causes a concussion,” said Campbell. “That’s our issue. That’s Booth-Richards. That’s the Cooke hit on Savard.”

When the host pressed Campbell on the Cooke hit really not being an elbow, Campbell replied, “No, not at all. We just watched it for about an hour and a half, eight of us.”

Exactly what part of Cooke’s arm connected with Savard’s head is hard to judge from the replays available. But it is clear that the contact was below the shoulder. Cooke did not extend his elbow on the play, but it appears that it is the top of the elbow or the biceps area just above the elbow that hits Savard. Even slightly above the elbow would still be protected by a hard plastic elbow pad, which no doubt contributed to the severity of the injury.

Regardless, the issue shouldn’t be simply whether it was an elbow or not, but whether there was an attempt to injure and a deliberate shot to the head. Cooke has already been suspended twice for such head shots, and there is still some hope that some measure of justice will be served for this latest cheap shot.

“It’s a shoulder,” insisted Campbell, “but we have to look at other aspects yet.”

Also of note, Cooke’s past history of cheap shots won’t necessarily affect Campbell’s view of this latest transgression. Columbus GM Scott Howson revealed on NHL Live this afternoon that repeat offender status cannot be used to determine if an offense is worthy of a suspension. It can only be considered in deciding the length of a suspension if the offense is deemed worthy of punishment.

What’s that all mean? It’s probably all or nothing for Cooke. He’ll either be let off scot free for adding another notch to his gun belt, or he’ll be facing a very long unpaid vacation for his third strike.

There will be no medal for Zdeno Chara. Slovakia held a 3-1 lead over Finland after two periods in the bronze medal game, but the Finns rallied for four unanswered goals in the third to take third in the Vancouver Games with a 5-3 win.

Despite the loss, Chara enjoyed a strong showing at the Games, finishing with three assists in seven games while play 20 minutes more than any other Slovakian skater. One of those assists game tonight, when Chara again played a team-high 25:06. Bruins fans got a bit of a scare when he went down in pain after taking a Teemu Selanne shot off his ankle in the second, but he finished his shift and played the rest of the way. He was hit by another shot, this time taking off his stick, as Kimmo Timonen shot ricocheted off Chara’s stick, then hit Niklas Hagman’s arm and went in to start Finland’s rally 5:06 into the third.

Olli Jokinen followed that with goals at 6:41 and 8:41 and Finland suddenly was in the lead. A Valtteri Filppula empty-netter ended any hopes of Slovakia earning its first hockey medal.

Finland has no shortage of medals, earning its fourth in the last five Games. Jere Lehtonen, Ville Peltonen and Saku Koivu tie the Olympic record with their fourth individual medals, while all-time leading Olympic scorer Selanne closes out his career in the games with his third medal.

The Finns went right back to Miikka Kirprusoff in goal despite his implosion against the Americans in the semifinals, when he allowed four goals on seven shots before being yanked in the first period. He did allow three goals on 14 shots through two periods, but finished with 19 saves for the win.

Bruins forward Miroslav Satan was held without a point in 10:57 and finishes the tournament with one goal – a game-winner against Norway in the qualification round – and an assist in six games, as he missed the first game and played sparingly in several others as he recovered from a hand injury suffered before the break.

Former Bruin Jozef Stumpel did have a point in this one, but did finish with 1-4-5 totals, while Milan Jurcina was scoreless in the seven games.

All the preliminaries are now out of the way, and all eyes can turn anxiously to the matchup all of North America has been waiting for – the United States and Canada battling for the gold tomorrow (3 p.m., NBC).