Another year, another heartbreaker for the Americans.

Just when you think Team USA is going to get over the hump and beat Canada, a two-goal, third-period lead slips away and the game-tying goal comes shorthanded. Then, the Americans lose in a shootout.

Danny Kristo scored Team USA’s fourth goal and also buried his shootout opportunity, but Canada was perfect in its shootout chances on U.S. goalie Jack Campbell.

So, now the Americans have to play a quarterfinal game and they’re in Sweden’s half of the draw. Sweden is very good. Here’s your playoff bracket:

Saturday’s quarterfinals

Russia vs. Switzerland, 4 p.m.
U.S. vs. Finland, 8 p.m.

Sunday’s semifinals

Canada vs. Russia-Swiss winner, 4 p.m.
Sweden vs. U.S.-Finland winner, 8 p.m.

Tuesday’s medal games

Bronze, 3 p.m.
Gold, 7 p.m.

Tour the home of Mario Lamoureux, Ben Blood and Corey Fienhage.

Yahoo named its top 10 hockey goals of the decade today and a pair of Sioux players made the list.

Evan Trupp’s diving, overtime goal against Minnesota in 2008 was named the No. 8 goal of the decade. Trupp is the only non-NHL player to make the list.

Jonathan Toews is on the list at No. 4 with his goal against the Colorado Avalance. Toews walked through three Avs players, then deked the goalie.

Both goals are on the right side of the blog if you scroll down.

For the full list, go here.

The weekly press conferences were held in the morning, because the team is practicing earlier with no school going on.

It started with coach Dave Hakstol and forward Matt Frattin addressing the media about Frattin’s return. Hakstol said that there’s a good chance Frattin will be in the lineup on Saturday when the Sioux play Niagara. There will be more from Frattin later.

As for the injury situation, nothing has changed in regards to Chay Genoway. He will not play in Notre Dame’s tournament this weekend, but he will make the trip with the rest of the team.

"It will be nice not having to see him standing in the tunnel as the bus pulls away," Hakstol said.

Darcy Zajac also is making the trip with the team. He’s not going to play this weekend after having hernia surgery a couple of weeks ago. But Hakstol said that Zajac is making good progress and is either ahead of schedule or right on schedule. Zajac already is doing light skating.

Brett Hextall said that the first three practices this week have been pretty spirited and tough. He also said there is an excitement in the air around the locker room with Frattin being back.

Hockey Canada just announced its 2010 Olympic roster and UND’s Jonathan Toews is on the team. For the full story on the Toews selection, go here.

Goalies
Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury

Defensemen
Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook
Shea Weber
Chris Pronger
Scott Niedermayer (C)
Drew Doughty
Dan Boyle

Forwards
Patrice Bergeron
Sidney Crosby (A)
Ryan Getzlaf
Dany Heatley
Jarome Iginla (A)
Patrick Marleau
Brenden Morrow
Rick Nash
Corey Perry
Mike Richards
Eric Staal
Joe Thornton
Jonathan Toews

So, it was as bad as we expected.

Danny Kristo had two goals in the first 12 minutes and the U.S. led 6-0 after the first period. The final score was 12-1.

This sets up another New Year’s Eve showdown between the Americans and Canadians. The winner gets a bye to the semifinals. The loser will likely get Finland in a quarterfinal, while being placed in Sweden’s half.

Canada has had USA’s number since the Americans beat them for the gold in 2004.

Last year on New Year’s Eve, USA took a 3-0 lead only to lose 7-4. In 2007, Canada beat the U.S. in the Jonathan Toews sudden-death shootout game.

What will happen this year?

UND forward Matt Frattin is back on campus, has re-enrolled and is eligible to play in the second half of the season.

He will travel to Chicago with the team, but it’s unknown whether he’ll play yet.

"To this point, he’s done all the right things," UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "It’s one day at a time. He’s eligible to play. I’m approaching it one day forward at a time. I’m really impressed with how Matt has handled everything right from Day One."

For more, read the Herald story here.

The Hockey Academy will be hosting the Little Caesars North American Showcase this year and it has announced the schedule for the event, which will be held Jan. 7-10 at Ralph Engelstad Arena and Gambucci Arena.

The tournament will feature five teams, including Dixon Ward’s Okanagan Hockey Academy from Kelowna, B.C. The other teams are from Michigan, Colorado, Texas and Minnesota.

Shattuck-St. Mary’s, which always seems to be the big draw, is the Minnesota team at the tournament. They currently have four D-I commits on their roster and are bound to have more. When the tournament gets closer, I’ll try to get a better list of players to watch.

Admission is free.

Here’s the schedule:

Thur. Jan. 7
Game #1 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM Okanagan Hockey Academy vs. Shattuck–St. Mary’s
(REA Main)

Fri. Jan. 8
Game #2 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Little Caesars vs. Team Rocky Mountain (REA Olympic)
Game #3 Noon – 2:00 PM Okanagan Hockey Academy vs. Alliance Bulldogs
(REA Main)
Game #4 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Team Rocky Mountain vs.
Shattuck–St. Mary’s
(REA Main)

Sat. Jan. 9
Game #5 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Okanagan Hockey Academy vs.
Little Caesars
(REA Olympic)
Game #6 Noon – 2:00 PM Alliance Bulldogs vs.
Shattuck–St. Mary’s
(REA Main)
Game #7 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM Okanagan Hockey Academy vs.
Team Rocky Mountain
(REA Main)
Game #8 7:15 PM – 9:15 PM Little Caesars vs. Alliance Bulldogs
(Gambucci)

Sun. Jan. 10
Game #9 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Team Rocky Mountain vs. Alliance Bulldogs (REA Main)
Game #10 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM Little Caesars vs. Shattuck–St. Mary’s
(REA Main).

American coach Dean Blais let Jack Campbell start in goal and he delivered with a shutout in Team USA’s 3-0 win over Switzerland on Sunday.

Chris Kreider, Matt Donovan and A.J. Jenks scored for the Americans, who are now 2-0 in pool play and have Monday off. UND’s Danny Kristo tied Kreider with a team-high five shots on goal.

Team USA plays Latvia at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Canada was off today and plays Switzerland on Monday.

It didn’t start well, but Danny Kristo and the Americans managed to take care of business in the first pool play game.

Kristo had an even-strength goal and an assist in the 7-3 win over Slovakia. The Americans trailed 2-0 early after the Slovaks scored twice on a major power play. But Team USA rebounded for four straight goals and seven of the next eight.

NHL.com’s World Junior blog has descriptions of Kristo’s goal and assist.

Goal: Great play by John Ramage to hold the puck at the point. Derek Stepan grabs the puck and makes a fabulous pass to a cutting Danny Kristo and he chips the puck past Ciliak.

Assist: Jerry D’Amigo dropped a pass to Danny Kristo and cut to the net. Kristo returned the puck and D’Amigo tipped it low past Ciliak.

The Americans play the Swiss on Sunday afternoon.

In other games, Sweden beat Czech Republic 10-1, Canada beat Latvia 16-0 and Russia beat Austria 6-2.