Rocco Grimaldi Tallies Assist in 8-0 US Win over Germany

The United States took its first step towards redemption today after a disappointing 7th place finish in 2012 with an 8-0 demolition of Germany.

Rocco Grimaldi didn’t have a goal in the win but he did assist on Union College defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere’s power play snipe in the second period.

Backhand Shelf writer Justin Bourne wasn’t terribly impressed with Grimaldi:

First impressions of Rocco Grimaldi aren’t that flattering. But he’s had like four shifts, so I’ll shut up.

— Justin (@jtbourne) December 27, 2012

Bourne went even further later in the game:

Rocco Grimaldi is good, but he = Chris Conner, or Brett Sterling. Not Nathan Gerbe, unfortunately for Florida.

— Justin (@jtbourne) December 27, 2012

I’m certainly not going to hammer Bourne here. Offensively, Grimaldi didn’t have a great game. However, he was probably the Americans’ best forward in the one pre-tournament game he played, and he played well defensively in this one, stopping a Germany breakaway with a fantastic backcheck. Also, it seems like this is the first time Bourne watched Grimaldi, and while first impressions are important and tend to stick with people, they’re often wrong, or at least give people a stronger opinion than they should have.

Nonetheless, Grimaldi will have more chances to prove people wrong, starting tomorrow morning as the US takes on Russia.