Thursday wasn't the first day of hockey at the Sochi Olympics it only felt that way. Ru sia played, and Canada played and the United States played those teams, save for Sweden, which beat the Czech Republic on Wednesday, are the highest-profile ones in the tournament. Apologies to Latvia and Switzerland. So yes, it was a busy morning/afternoon of hockey. Here are some takeaways. Team USA is good with an asterisk. Jonathan Willis did a great job of laying this out at Bleacher Report, but it bears repeating: the United States' 7-1 win, while impre sive, was as much an indictment of the Slovaks as anything else. : Zdeno Chara had 20 shifts. Rene Vydareny had 17. One of those guys is in the running as the best defenceman in the world, the other one returned to Europe after four seasons of middling play in the AHL. So, while it's nice that Paul Stastny and the USA fourth line demolished Slovakia's depth players, it doesn't mean much moving forward, particularly against Sweden and Canada. MORE: | | Canada is switching it up with an asterisk. Sidney Crosby started and finished Canada's 3-1 win over Norway with Chris Kunitz and Jeff Carter as his wingers. There wasn't much obvious chemistry between two-thirds of the Penguins' top line and Carter though Crosby particularly looked good which is at least somewhat understandable. If coach Mike Babcock is committed to using Carter in that role, and it sounds like he is, it made sense to give it a full warmup game. In that same vein, it was fine for Babcock to mix it up, which he did more regularly with the rest of his forwards. Valeri Nichushkin is a blast. Anyone who's watched the Dallas Stars' 18-year-old rookie knows he's a monster-in-training, and the goal that put Slovenia down 4-2 and gave Ru sia some breathing room was Example A. Nichushkin's inclusion on Ty Smith Jersey Ru sia's final roster drew some criticism, but it makes sense to have him there for 2014 and 2018. And make no mistake, the goal was nece sary; Slovenia was coming off a strong second period and started the third down 3-2. Ru sia had jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin and, for as excited as that made the more than 11,000 people at Bolshoy Ice Dome, a lo s would've been much, much worse. Teemu Selanne is OK. The Finnish icon left their 8-4 win over Austria before the second period with what appeared to be a neck injury, but he's expected to play Friday against against Norway. That's a good thing. FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE 3 a.m. ET, Czech Republic vs. Latvia: The Czechs have a weird roster (no Jiri Hudler, no Radek Bonk) and got terrible goaltending against Sweden. 7:30 a.m. ET, Sweden vs. Switzerland: Henrik Zetterberg may not play for Sweden, which would be a serious blow for an already banged-up group of forwards. Switzerland beat Latvia. Noon ET, Norway vs. Finland: The Finns remain a potential medal candidate, and a big win over Norway gives them a shot at the auto bye. Noon ET, Canada vs. Austria: This should be a blowout but then the same thing was said about the Norway game. So who knows. OTHER NOTES Team USA's James van Riemsdyk-Joe Pavelski-Phil Ke sel was, as expected, fun to watch, but they gave up their share of chances, too. Alex Pietrangelo, superficially, looked a whole lot like Scott Niedermayer. Maybe that was because he was wearing No. 27, maybe not. NBC's streaming service for the games looks great, but it's way behind and features video ads that pop up at terrible times. It was tough to get a feel for either Jonathan Quick or Carey Price; neither was tested all that much. Price made a puck-handling mistake that led to a goal, but you can chalk that up to not playing much without the NHL trapezoid behind the net. The atmosphere at the Ice Dome is going to be out of hand on Saturday for Ru sia-U.S. Slovenia, like half of the rest of the field, has a red, white and blue flag, so they went full Seattle Seahawks with their uniforms. It was cool. Antti Raanta Jersey