I suspect Team USA coach John Tortorella will be on the receiving end of that Byfugilien stare as word filtered out today that big #33 will be a scratch for the Americans in their first game of the World Cup of Hockey game against Team Europe this afternoon according to Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press:
“John Tortorella says Kyle Palmieri and Dustin Byfuglien scratched for U.S. in World Cup of Hockey opener vs. Team Europe.”
Here are some more more quotes from Tortorella.
This comes after Tortorella made the curious move of switching Byfuglien from his preferred defence up to forward during the pre-Tournament games.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out for Team USA. For now Dustin Byfuglien sits.
Update:
Team Europe beat the Americans 3-0. After the game Coach Tortorella was asked about sitting Dustin Byfuglien and he said (according to Mark Masters of TSN):
“It’s not a negative thought on Buff, but we decided to go with this lineup tonight”.
You can listen/watch the post game chat here. The Byfuglien comment starts at 44 seconds of the video:
The date and opponent is now set.
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