Germany vs. Belarus - 02-20-10

This ended up being a rather entertaining game. Especially late in the third. Both teams went up and down the ice. Even if the team's are all that good compared to the likes of Canada or Russia, they close enough in regards to talent and skill to produce decent games.Belarus just had a little bit more talent and pulled out a 5-3 win.

-The third period was really fun. Belarus entered the third up, 2-1. A goal with just under nine minutes left seemed to ensure them a win. Germany tied it up, 3-3, with goals by John Tripp and Marcel Goc winin the next minute. The place was going nuts. But Germany takes a penalty with just under seven minutes left. Avalanche defenseman Ruslan Salei cashes in the power play with 5:24 remaining and the rest is academic.

-Not that we expected much out of Germany, but their performance has been pretty disappointing in this tournament. They have seven NHLers and five former NHLers. They should be able to beat a team like Belarus.

-Canadiens forward Sergei Kostitsyn, the only NHL forward on the Belarus roster, really pushed his team tonight. He ended up with a goal and three assists.

-Former Penguins forward Konstantin Koltsov had two assists for Belarus. Fire Ray Shero.

-Belarus goaltender Vitali Koval was fantastic stopping 37 of 40 shots.

-Goc, a forward with the Predators, led Germany with a goal and an assist.

-Germany led in shots, 40-17.

-Thomas Greiss (above) wasn't sharp giving up five goals on only 17 shots.

-Goc led the game with six shots.

-Kostitsyn, Aleksei Kalyuzhyny, Aleksandr Kulakov, Dmitri Meleshko, Nikolai Stasenko, Aleksei Ugarov, and Konstantin Zakharov each led Belarus with two shots.

-German and Panthers defenseman Dennis Seidenberg leads the game with 26:24 of ice time.

-Salei led Belarus with 24:18.

-German defenseman and former Penguin Sven Butenschon's beard might be the most impressive part of this entire tournament:

(Photo: Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images)