Thursday Caps Clips

Your savory breakfast links:

• The quarter-finals get underway today in Minsk:
  • Team USA takes on the Czechs in the first match of the day.
  • Canada and its leading scorer (6-3-9) Joel Ward will attempt to shoulder their way past the Finns. [The Province (pracky pics)]
  • Host Belarus will have to slug it out with the defending champion Swedes, for sure without their starting goaltender and quite possibly without Mikhail Grabovski . Grabo sustained an undisclosed injury late in the game against Latvia, sat out the Russia game, and will be a game-time decision today. [pressball.by]
  • Russia will face France. Alex Ovechkin took part in the team’s practice yesterday, and most signs point to him playing in the game. [RMNB, NHL.com, WaPo, CSNW, championat.ru (pracky pics)]
  • Just for fun, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the WC jersey workroom. [IIHF (video)]
• Closer to home, former Nashville bench boss Barry Trotz was apparently in town, and talking with the Caps’ brass. [WaPo, CSNW, TSN, NHL.com, TMM, PHT]
  • Oh, and all those reports about the Great One? Never happened, sez he. [TSN]
  • Here’s why head coaching experience might not need to be a factor in the Caps’ hiring decisions. [RMNB]
• The year in:
  • Michael Latta. [Rink, RMNB]
  • Dmitry Orlov. [CSNW]
  • Joel Ward. [Peerless]
  • Tom Wilson. [Peerless]
• The case for signing Ryan Miller. [THW]
• Congratulations are in order for Brian Pinho, who scored the go-ahead gamewinner to secure the USHL championship for the Indiana Ice. [RMNB, USHL Interactive (post-game interview)]
• Finally, happy 58th birthday to Tom Rowe.