USA, especially in hockey, is considered to be Canada's most fierce rival, but Russia is also up there, and based on past World Juniors tournaments, the bad blood and intensity is for real.
That fact was evident in the tournament opener for the Canadians and Russians Monday night as Montreal Canadiens prospect Mikhail Sergachev pumped his fist toward Canada's bench after scoring to tie the game at 1-1.
If we've learned anything after all of these years of watching the World Juniors, it's that the tournament brings out all kinds of emotions, and we doubt that Sergachev was more excited than anything else in the heat of the moment.
That being said, probably not a good idea to "poke the bear," whether you were trying to or not.
