"Hey bro, you okay, bro?"

On Friday, the 76th annual IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship got underway in Finland and Sweden, and the U.S. team laid a 7-2 hurting on Team France for anyone who might have missed the game (translated: errbody). Obviously, France was pretty pissed off about that humiliating defeat, so the Fightin’ Eiffels came out swinging pretty hard against Kazakhstan yesterday. France won the game 6-3, but that’s not what anyone is talking about today.

The game featured 63 penalty minutes in total, but the biggest hit of the game belonged to 24-year old French forward Sacha Treille, who laid a vicious shoulder shot to Roman Starchenko’s head-ish/neck-ish regions, knocking him out cold. Treille received a major and match penalty, good enough for an ejection, and the hit will be reviewed by the IIHF disciplinary panel.

Sadly, I think this means I have to retire my Zinedine Zidane headbutt GIF as my favorite French sports cheap shot. I think it’s worth it, though.

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If there’s one thing we don’t cover enough on this blog, it’s the International Ice Hockey Federation Division III Championships. That’s about to change thanks to Israel’s Eliezer Sherbatov†. The 19-year old capped off a six-point game against Greece during the D-III championships in April in South Africa with one of the coolest shots I’ve ever seen — and one I would’ve seen months ago if International Hockey uploaded highlights without an 80-day delay. Who do they think they are, Major League Baseball?

In case you’re at work and can’t view YouTube videos (because you sold you), Sherbatov breaks all eight of the Greek goalie’s ankles by scooping the puck up between his legs, then tapping it in over the poor guy’s shoulder in mid-air. It was some wonderful hockey amalgamation of Mr. Perfect’s behind-the-back towel toss and Isiah Rider’s East Bay Funk Dunk, and if I could do anything requiring this much hand-eye and total body coordination I would start jumping from high things and trying to fly.

Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of this kid, who deserves at least a Daily Motion-level of exposure. In addition to skating for the Israeli national team, he plays for something called Baie-Comeau Drakkar, which is either a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team or a character from Twilight.

[h/t Puck Daddy]

† Dugout screen name either “EliezerDoolittle” or “SheWorkSherbatov”

The International Ice Hockey Federation has announced that a game between the Straubing Tigers (sounds kinky) and EHC München (also sounds kinky) has set a world record for the longest penalty shootout in professional hockey history with 42 attempts. Straubing defeated EHC 5-4 after more than 3 hours of play and 21 rounds of stupid goalies doing their jobs.

Eric Meloche was the hero for Straubing, as he nailed his shot to start the 21st round. Meloche has played 74 games of NHL action in his career, but surely after such a magnificent victory he’ll be on a plane back to the States in no time.

Hey IIHF, I was really hoping to place some blame for this, is that possible?

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