The United States and Russia on a sheet of ice. Nothing more really needs to be said. But what fun is that?

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, USA needed a Miracle to beat the Soviet Union. 38 years have gone by now and at least at the World Juniors level, the tables have turned. Team USA is looking to repeat as gold medal winners for the first time in USA Hockey history and right now, the Russians are merely standing in their way.

Team USA hasn’t been quite as dominant in this tournament as they would have liked so far. After a 9-0 beatdown of Denmark, they lost to Slovakia, needed a miraculous comeback against Canada outdoors and then squeaked by Finland to close out the group stage. However, their star players have shined when they needed them to the most. Russia, on the other hand, aren’t getting too much from anybody. Klim Kostin has 4 goals on the tournament and Andrei Svechnikov has put up 5 assists, but nobody has really stood out on their team. And the thing that has stood out the most so far is they are shaky at the very best defensively. So we’ve got a piss poor defense going up against the best group of forwards in the tournament. Should be fun.

Here are the odds on tonight courtesy of Bovada.

So with those numbers in mind, here’s my final prediction for the game tonight.

Puck drops at 8. Follow along on Twitter @BarstoolJordie for live updates/GIFs/etc.

***LIVE BLOG officially activated***

End of the 1st: USA 2, Russia 1

First time USA gets on the powerplay and they already make Russia pay. This time it’s Brady Tkachuk with a little tap over to Kieffer Bellows and then Bellows unleashes a nuke to put the American up 1-0 early.

With a celly so hard that Putin could probably feel it from Moscow.

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Awesome little moment here, too, with somebody wearing his old man’s North Stars sweater in the crowd.

Marsel Sholokhov then tied this game at 1-1 for the Russians with this backhand that got under the glove of Woll.

I’ll admit I was pretty shocked when I saw that Woll was getting the start tonight over Oettinger. But you have to let him stay in the game here to defend his own honor after Sholokhov broke out the bow & arrow right in front of the USA bench.

But now Russia did something that they didn’t want to do. They did something that they should have never done. They pissed off Kailer Yamamoto and now the Oilers prospect is going to make them pay. Great play here by Samberg on the pinch, great play here by Mittelstadt on the dish, and an unbelievable play by Yamamoto on the goal.

Poise, confidence, skill. Took a little bit of all of that for Yamamoto to stay with the puck here and bury that one in the back of the net. Good guys have the lead again.

Russia then decided if they can’t play dirty by taking steroids, they’ll play dirty by taking headshots. Here’s scumbag piece of shit Vladislav Syomin with a disgusting cheap shot on Max Jones.

He had absolutely no reason at all to hit Jones there. He already made a play on the puck and sent it down the wall. Sees Jones reaching and figured he’d drive through his head. What a scum. He got 5 and a game misconduct.

40 minutes to go. Let’s kill those commie bastards.

End of the 2nd: USA 2, Russia 1

Both teams got plenty of opportunities that period but nobody was able to find the back of the net. Joe Woll seems to have sured things up between the pipes and came up with a few big time saves.

Both teams had a couple of powerplay chances that period. Unfortunately, it’s been the Russians getting most of the powerplays lately. Team USA needs to fill their sticks with pennies during this intermission so they can keep their damn sticks on the ice and stay the HECK out of the penalty box. Keep giving the Russians chances and they’ll burn you on one of them.

20 minutes to play. Everybody listen to some Herb Brooks and let’s lock this shit up.

Final Score: USA 4, Russia 2

Gotta be honest. This one hurt. It’s not very often we see an American team just get flat out muscled in one of these tournaments. But that’s exactly what happened on this Altybarmakyan goal to tie the game early in the 3rd.

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Guess it’s easy to outmuscle guys when you’re on steroids. Now the Russians are going back on the powerplay. Just fan-fucking-tastic.

Remember when I said earlier that Team USA has had their best players step up when they needed them the most? Well let me introduce you all to my main man Water Bottle Bellows.

YOU’RE A FUCKING SUPERSTAR, BELLOWS. I’ll send my regards to that Gatorade bottle’s family. Sucks the baby bottles will have to grow up without a father. By the way, as sick as that top bunk snipe from Bellows was, don’t forget about that little dump in off the boards from Dylan Samberg. Buddy knew exactly what he was doing the whole time and it worked out to perfection.

Captain America seals the deal with the empty netter…

And it’s nothing but Russian tears from there.

Mmmmmmm. They taste so good.

USA takes down the Russians in the WJC playoffs for the 2nd year in a row. Now they advance to play against Sweden in the semifinals. What a night for Big Dick Bellows. What a night for Freedom. What a night to be an American.

USA HOCKEY IS DO OR DIE.

@BarstoolJordie