Wednesday: Worlds playoffs to begin; Memorial Cup; on this date; ample photos

AROUND THE WORLD, AROUND THE WORLD. The IIHF World Championship knockout round begins Thursday as Alec Martinez and the United States will face Ilya Kovalchuk and Russia. You’re in direct competition! (It’s a slow news day, and this notebook will covertly be just links to Michel Gondry music videos and Simpsons clips.) The game will be broadcast at 7:15 a.m. PT on NHL Network, in case you were looking for a soundtrack to your breakfast. Down the road in Kosice, Adrian Kempe and Sweden’s title defense continues against arch-rival Finland. In other quarterfinal match-ups, Canada faces Switzerland and the Czech Republic counters Germany.

Adrian Kempe: 7 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 Pts, 2 PIM, 14 SOG, +3, 13:22 TOI
Alec Martinez: 7 GP, 0 G, 4 A, 4 Pts, 0 PIM, 14 SOG, -6, 21:36 TOI
Ilya Kovalchuk: 7 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 Pts, 4 PIM, , 9 SOG, +5, 14:19 TOI

Say, that Alec Martinez minus-six stands out and is the counterpoint to his Player of the Game performance against Germany in which he registered two assists and two shots on goal in 21:42 of time. The Team USA running blog includes a Five Questions feature with Martinez in which he shared that the most recent movie he saw was White Boy Rick. Pure Michigan.

Meanwhile, France and Austria were relegated to Division I-A, where they’ll face South Korea, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia, the likely hosts, while the top flight at the 2020 Worlds in Switzerland will include the six teams in the playoff round, Slovakia, Latvia, Denmark, Norway, Great Britain, Italy, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Here, have some photos.

Martin Rose/Getty Images

Dean Woolley/MB Media

Martin Rose/Getty Images

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Monika Majer

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Robert Hradil

RvS.Media/Monika Majer

MEMORY. The Memorial Cup knockout round is taking shape, with OHL champion Guelph eliminating WHL champion Prince Albert on Tuesday. While WHL hosts have won games at the Memorial Cup, this was the 13th straight loss in the tournament by the WHL champions, which just boils my western blood. Entering the round robin finale between host Halifax and QMJHL champion Rouyn-Noranda that will have a say in whether Guelph could receive a pass to the final (root for a modest Rouyn-Noranda win, creating a three-way tie and would force tournament reporters into some on-the-fly math equations. (The tiebreaker when three teams are tied with 2-1-0 records would not take into account goal differential, but rather goal percentage. It’s explained here.) LA Kings defensive prospect Sean Durzi, acquired in the Jake Muzzin trade, leads all tournament participants with seven points (2-5=7) in three games. Defenseman Markus Phillips has four shots and a minus-two rating in three games.

PRESENTED WITHOUT CONTEXT.

I know I promised no context, but who didn’t own a 2005 Jeremy Roenick action figure? Bless their aggressive merchandising, but is this the Kings equivalent of the Krusty crowd control barrier?

THIS DAY IN KINGS HISTORY. Dustin Penner scored three huge game-winning playoff goals in Los Angeles. Sandwiched between his slam dunk off Jeff Carter’s skate against Vancouver and the McFlurry Miracle one year later was the franchise’s first conference-winning goal since Wayne Gretzky’s in Toronto 19 years earlier. From May 22, 2012:

This, of course, allows us to relive the emotional post-game comments, which for Kings fans is the equivalent of Cartman drinking Scott Tenorman’s tears. Mike Smith said Dustin Brown should be “done forever.” Shane Doan said that Michal Roszival’s knee was “blown out.” It was later shared that Roszival suffered a “knee/thigh bruise,” and in a personal act of poetic justice Roszival eliminated the Kings in the conference final one year later en route to his first of two Stanley Cups. See? The story worked out well for everyone. Except for the Coyotes, who haven’t played a playoff game since. The story of Game 5 – among the most thrilling three hours of hockey any Kings fan has ever watched – is told well through a collection of Getty photographs.

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Norm Hall/NHLI

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Norm Hall/NHLI

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI

Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Norm Hall/NHLI

Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI

–Lead photo via Martin Rose/Getty Images

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