Bylsma on Thursday noted that Canada's gold medals have come while playing two goalies. "(Babcock) might have known that and decided to play two just to make sure that was the case this time around," the Pittsburgh Penguins coach said. "I don't know."

Bylsma's full answer to the goalie question, though, is a little more in-depth. Here it is:

"We have a plan going in. We have a set going in for Game 1 for our team. Is there contingencies after the drop of the puck? Yes. There are. For lines, for matchups, for D-pairings. So we have a starting point for every situation. But having said that, in a short tournament, you can't wait until the 10th game to see if a line combination has gone well. If you find out on the way home that that lineup didn't work out, then you're about 15 days too late.

So you have to have some contingency plans for lines and lineups and matchups and things you might go to in certain situations. In your case of talking about Mike Babcock, he already has one for the one in goal."

So, in summation, we don't know whether we'll see Ryan Miller or Jonathan Quick, or if we'll see them both, when the U.S. opens play on Feb. 13. And that's fine. The element of surprise is important.


 


USA GM HOSPITALIZED


This is not what David Poile needed three days before heading to the Sochi Olympics. Poile, the general manager of Team USA, was hit in the face by a puck on Thursday, as his Nashville Predators took their morning skate in St. Paul, Minn.

The Preds say Poile "will remain in the hospital overnight for observation and evaluation, and further information will be released as it becomes available."

Here are some transcibed tweets from those at the scene:

Michael Russo (@Russostrib): Paramedics in #preds locker room; David Poile hit by puck at skate. He walked and sat self on stretcher; black eye, bloody nose, groggy

Michael Russo (@Russostrib): Poile was in hallway not even on bench. Players were passing boards to boards and a Weber pass ricocheted off blade into David's face #preds

Joshua Cooper (@JoshuaCooper): Poile was rolled out of the #preds locker room on a stretcher. Seemed alert which was good. Sitting up. Just an unreal scene here ...

The good news: he was conscious as paramedics attended to him and took him to a hospital. The bad news: he might not look his best when the U.S. inevitably wins gold later this month.

Earlier in the day, Poile's Canadian counterpart Steve Yzerman avoided an embarrassing situation of his own, by naming Marty St. Louis as Steven Stamkos' injury replacement.


IOC: ALL IS WELL


The International Olympic Committee insists it is too early to label the Sochi Games a "failure" despite a storm of early problems.

Fears of terrorism and incomplete accommodation are among problems as events open in the Russian seaport resort.

IOC director of communications Mark Adams said on Wednesday there had been no renewed threat of terrorism. However, the United States was warning of possible threats from terrorists smuggling explosive material aboard planes using toothpaste tubes and other containers.

Media arriving in Sochi highlighted accommodation problems, such as the incomplete rooms Canadian Olympians discovered.

Adams said the Games should be given a chance before being labeled a failure.

"To be serious, I completely understand, really do completely understand if you are arriving and you don't have the room you expected, that is really not very good," Adams said.

"I think it is a little bit premature at this stage to say it is a failure, it is very premature to say it is a failure, before the Games.

"Every Games has teething problems and I think to put it in context, I think they have delivered 24,000 rooms now and clearly there are still issues and they need to be sorted out.

"But I can assure you that barely a moment goes by where we aren't pushing on this one. We want it to be solved, because not just journalists but unhappy journalists write not very good stories so it is in our interests too."

Adams said the rooms had been delivered, but a small percentage needed to be cleaned, "connected to telephones and so on and so forth."

That contradicts reports of rooms with construction continuing, the lack of light bulbs and yellow water.

Stray dogs in Sochi have also become a problem. After initial reports strays were being killed, Adams said any healthy animals would be protected.

"Those that are fully healthy are being taken away and released elsewhere," he said.

"The rest are being looked at, if they are sick or dying, as with the vast majority of countries in the world they will be eventually put down.

"It would be absolutely wrong to say that any healthy dog would be destroyed."

Contributors: Sean Gentille, OmniSport