World Junior Hockey 2013: USA vs. Canada [game thread]

One of the marquee matchups of the 2013 World Junior Championship takes place (or took place, depending on when you see this) Dec. 30 at 4:30 a.m. EST. In North America it's airing on the NHL Network in the U.S. at 4:30 a.m. EST and will be replayed at 8 p.m. EST. In Canada, it's live on TSN and will be replayed at noon, plus at 8 p.m. ET on TSN2.

Whether you're watching live or on replay, consider this your comment thread for what you see. Though obviously -- spoiler alert -- if you're chiming in during a replay or delayed viewing, you risk seeing some spoilers herein.

This is a preliminary round match, the stakes of which are mostly for seeding and matchups in the elimination round. Canada survived a scare against Slovakia to start 2-0, while the U.S. lost a close one to Russia to drop their record to 1-1. This is big for the U.S., but not mandatory.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and New York Islanders prospect Ryan Strome are 1-2 in tournament scoring so far. (Fellow Isles prospect Griffin Reinhart has been rock solid for Canada so far.) The top U.S. scorer is Alex Galchenyuk, with a goal and three assists (though his ice time dropped against Russia).

Yahoo has some keys and difference-makers for the two teams. Canada will have 11 forwards thanks to JC Lipon's one-game suspension for a check to the head against Slovakia.

Standings entering today:

Enjoy, share what you see, and brew strong coffee if you're crazy enough to watch this live.