Phil Kessel burned Team USA on Twitter after they were eliminated from World Cup
When the World Cup of Hockey rosters were announced, one of the most notable absences on the American roster was Pittsburgh Penguins winger Phil Kessel. After all, Kessel is one of the best pure goal scorers the country has to offer.
But Team USA elected to go with a more "gritty" roster for the tournament, choosing less-skilled players who played with more toughness and physicality. The hope was that the Americans would be able to play with a defense-first, punch-you-in-the-mouth mentality that would suppress more skilled teams -- specifically the insanely-talented Team Canada.
That plan backfired when Team USA lost their first two games of the tournament -- the opener against Team Europe on Saturday, then to Canada on Tuesday -- and were eliminated before even playing their third and final preliminary round game.
It was a complete embarrassment for the United States, and Kessel couldn't resist shoveling some extra dirt in the grave with this tweet shortly following the Americans' 4-2 loss to Canada.
"Phil the Thrill" clearly wasn't thrilled about being passed over during the selection process. He bit his tongue waiting for the perfect moment to drop a shade bomb on the international team, and then he nailed it.
The tweet becomes even more explosive when you realize that Kessel has only tweeted three times this year. One of those tweets features a photo of him raising the Stanley Cup after winning it all with the Penguins in June, and one of them is him absolutely eviscerating the USA brass that left him off the roster. Solid shooting percentage there, Phil.
It's worth noting that Kessel may not have played in the tournament even if he had been selected, as he's been recovering from hand surgery over the offseason. Who are we to let that get in the way of a sick burn, though.
