World Championships Update - Czech Republic Wins Gold

Yesterday was the end of hockey for a while. What would seem as a substitute for the NHL playoffs, some of the best players in the world were in the IIHF World Hockey Championships.

"Who knows when hockey is going to start up again," Joe Thornton said. "This was kind of our Stanley Cup this year. We just came up short. The guys played their hearts out. That's what we wanted for the last game."

Team Czech Republic, led by captain Jaromir Jagr, defeated the powerhouse Team Canada team 3-0.

The most surprising news was that team Canada was shut out of scoring in this game. There was no late heroics by scoring machine Rick Nash.

Tomas Vokun, a Nashville Predator in his day job, was named MVG (Most Valuable Goalie) for the shutout making 29 saves in the gold medal game.

In other news...

Vladimir "Rosey" Ruzicka has decided to go out on top and step down as head coach of the Czech Republic. He was there as a replacement for legendary coach Ivan Hlinka who past away last August.

Russia defeated Sweden in the bronze medal game 6-3.

"We're happy, but we're disappointed with what happened in the last game because we lost to Canada," said [Washington Capitals prospect] Alexander Ovechkin, who scored five goals in the tournament. "My best game was today, because we won third place. You always want to win your last game of the season."

[Via Yahoo! Sports & Rogers Sportsnet]