The preliminary rounds ended last night to finally decide how the tournament will continue. All three Devils prospects were in action last night.

1. Mattias Tedenby - He had a full night with an assist, 3 shots on net, and a hooking penalty in Sweden's 5-0 win over Russia. Sweden gets a bye to semifinals thanks to winning Group B. So Tedenby and Sweden will wait until January 3 to play their next game.

2. Mike Hoeffel - Hoeffel didn't have a good night against Canada. He got tagged in the second for a check to the neck/head area resulting in a minor and a game misconduct. And Canada's Cody Hodgson would score on the following power play, which ended up being the game winner in Canada's 7-4 win. Hoeffel and the USA will play Sloakia in the Quarterfinals tomorrow, with the winner playing Sweden.

3. Patrice Cormier - Cormier had 5 shots on net in the game, but didn't get anything else on the box score in Canada's win. But he does get a break as Canada won Group A and a bye into the semifinals. They will play the winner of the Russia-Czech Republic quarterfinal on January 3.

The 2009 WJCs are coming to a head, and it seems like one of the Devils prospects will be coming home with a gold medal. Most likely Cormier, but nothing is over - it only takes one bad game to be out at this point.