Tokarski to get the nod

Dustin Tokarski calling it "the biggest game of his career."

Dustin Tokarski will be starting in goal when Canada plays the United States at the 2009 world junior hockey championship on Wednesday night and although it is not a must-win game, the stakes are still high.

The winner will advance directly to the semifinals, while the loser heads to the quarter-finals on Friday.

Tokarski won a Memorial Cup last season playing with the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League and head coach Pat Quinn felt that big-game experience counts for something. Tokarski was named the Memorial Cup tourney's most valuable player as well as the top goalie.

"He was rated No. 1 coming in by our scouting and that is probably the biggest reason [he's starting]," said Quinn early Wednesday. "He has a Memorial Cup under his belt and he knows about the pressure playing in big games."

Tokarski was in goal in Canada'a 8-1 tournament-opening victory over the Czech Republic and afterward Quinn said he thought his goalie lost concentration on the goal he allowed and one that was disallowed.

"Eventually you push that off. He is aware of what happened and he did not like it, and it is not something he experienced too often before and now it is gone," said Quinn. "Now is the time to move on and if it is a lesson learned, he will be a better player because of it."

Tokarski feels he has nothing to prove.

"I am not worried about that one too much," he said.

The final game of the preliminary round is the first time both the Canadians and Americans will be tested and it is a game that players on both sides have been looking forward to for months.

Coach Quinn was asked whether he has a read on the Canadians and how they might respond in a big game.

"This will be a test and I can't guarantee we will win but we will try to do the things we have been talking about that will allow us to win and now is the time for execution and we will find out."

U.S. forward Colin Wilson is looking forward to playing in front of a partisan crowd in Ottawa on New Years' Eve.

"I think he atmosphere will make it more special," said Wilson, whose father Carey played for Canada's 1984 Olympic team. "We are [staying] right beside Parliament and it makes you more into it. But just being in Canada makes it more special."

Canada is 27-5-3 all-time against the United States at the world junior championship.