Russia wins gold in junior tournament...celebrate in typical fashion.

Every year the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) hosts international tournaments for U20 and over 20 players. The adult tournament usually occurs towards the beginning of summer, when regular seasons are over, and the youth tournament happens in December. This past tournament was a memorable one held in Buffalo, New York. A heated rematch between last year's silver (Canada) and gold (USA) medal winning teams was expected but the Russian team decided to give them a run for their money.

After losing to Canada in the preliminary rounds 6-3 nobody anticipated Canada to route the USA 4-1 to send the USA to the bronze medal match against Sweden and lead to a gold medal game between Russia and Canada.

The game started with total domination by Canada. The first period ended 3-0 and had the Russians sweating. By the end of the game, though, Russia had fought back to win it 5-3. Lots of crazy yelling ensued especially since the game was being broadcast on a national station in Russia. After all the excitement, the players celebrated like any athletes do...lots of drinking. They actually were kicked off of their flight back to Russia because of unruly (read: drunk) behavior. I want to party with those kids. They clearly know how to have fun.