Team USA made its presence known in the opening game of the 2013 World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia with an 8-0 routing of Germany. The win involved eight different goal scorers, a good sign of things to come from the Americans.
The USA offense was led by Alex Galchenyuk, a Montreal Canadiens first-round pick, who scored a goal and also notched two assists – good for player of the game. The seven of his teammates to also score were Sean Kuraly, Jacob Trouba, Riley Barber, Shayne Gostisbehere, Riley Hartman, J.T. Miller and Seth Jones.
John Gibson, an Anaheim draft pick, got the win in net for Team USA. He played the first two periods and was replaced by Jon Gillies of Hockey East's Providence College in the third.
According to USA Today, general manager Jim Johannson said before the World Junior Championships that his team's keys for success were "balanced scoring, self-discipline and dominant defense." It appears as though they achieved most of those goals Thursday, but they did allow a 5-on-3 advantage three times, which other teams in the tournament certainly won't let them get away with.
In all fairness, the team will face a much bigger challenge Friday when they take on Russia, which will be aired on the NHL Network at 9 p.m.
Jill Saftel Jill studies journalism at Northeastern University, covers Hockey East for College Hockey News and is the sports editor for The Huntington News. You can follow her on Twitter at @jillsaftel, just don't ask her to choose between hockey and baseball, it's impossible.