Thanks to one of the glorious readers of this blog, we were able to watch most of the IIHF World Championship preliminary battle between Team USA and Team Canada on one of those hip little nooks on the Internet that the cool kids all seem to know about (and hence, we did not). Kris over on Open Hockey offered a live blog of Canada's 5-4 victory, courtesy of a late Dany Heatley goal scored after the Americans lost starting goalie Tim Thomas and checking center Jeff Halpern to injury. But Kris didn't bring up the scene at the end: The players on the ice "wrestling and throwing punches" as the partisan crowd celebrated the Canadian victory.

While it was a very tightly played contest -- better than a lot of Stanley Cup Playoff hockey, but please don't tell Gary -- and a certain amount of patriotic tension is to be expected, how much emotional spillover is there from these players' other jobs? Everyone in the scrum above plays in the NHL. So do these guys carry over League hatred to the international stage? It's something to consider in light of an incident in the World Championship that has Los Angeles Kings fans riled up: Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Keith Ballard's hit on Anze Kopitar during the Team USA/Slovenia game in prelims that sent Kopi's helmet flying. Matt Murray from Life in Hockeywood explains:

I'm all for hits in the corners, because that's how hockey's played. But this game really didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. This is why I was very hesitant having Kopitar play this off-season in the World Championships.

This buffoon ballard probably felt that he'd make a name for himself by taking out the young Kings star. He probably thought as he skated back to the bench that he'd be getting high-fives from teammates, telling him he did a good job.

Say, those two players wouldn't be division rivals, would they? Murray went on to write that when the ‘Yotes and the Kings meet next season, "Staples will run red with Ballard's blood!" A little over the top? Then you haven't read Rudy Kelly's colorful tirade against Ballard on Battle of California: "Based on my knowledge of Slovenia (and my racism), I'm assuming they're already delving into the national treasury to send their army (his name's Srecko) to literally bust your balls. You're doomed."

We don't know if these violent moments and this palpable detestation are typical hallmarks of the IIHF World Championship ... but we like it.

Related: Goons and Pugilism