"Austria looks like the top team here, so it's hard to judge our success against them," Randazzo said in an e-mail.
He commented further: "I think we will do better from here on out."
USA will face a Slovakian team that placed second to the Russians in the last World University Games.
And Italy isn't much worse.
According to Penn State coach Joe Battista, who coached the Games in 2003, at least half of Italy's team consists of "their Olympics' and national team players."
National teams practice year-round. The USA team, which consists solely of players from ACHA club teams, has had three practices and an exhibition game worth of experience.
Needless to say, that puts the USA at quite a disadvantage.
"They're real big underdogs," Battista said.
"And the scheduling gods did not do them any favors."
While fans may point to a seven-goal loss as failure, it's easy to see how things could be worse.
Team USA fell to Canada 5-1 at the last Games.
Yesterday, Canada dominated China 21-1 -- including a 13-0 run in the last period. So for club players squaring off against semi-professional skaters, Battista doesn't think the USA is doing terribly bad.
"It shows people that our level of hockey is a lot better than what people give us credit for," he said.
While it's unknown who will get the start at goal for Team USA today, Lindenwood's Mark Turnispeed may give the last game's starter, Illinois' Michael DeGeorge, a run for his money.
Turnispeed tallied a dozen saves and allowed only one goal in the third period. In the first two frames, however, DeGeorge only managed a save percentage of 78.13 percent.
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