Hey, it was July 4, it's not like the Czechs stood a chance.  The United States of America are your Inline Hockey World Champions after defeating the Czech Republic 4-3 in the gold medal game Sunday.  Dick Axelsson of Sweden was named the tournament MVP.  More to come on Team USA's in an upcoming Champions Series piece. 

There's a whole lot to discuss for the upcoming World Hockey Summit.  The website for the event is up, and the schedule, topics for discussion, and full list of representatives/invitees are available.  The topics for discussion are as follows: 

1. Player Safety and Skill Development Initiatives
   
2. Junior Development in the World
3. Vancouver 2010 Evaluation
4. Establishing a Long-Term Global Event Agenda
5. Women's Hockey after Vancouver 2010
6. Growing Participation in Hockey

They have a page for each item on their website, and some of these are topics that have already been discussed on this website. Through the summer, we'll discuss these topics in more detail.

Speaking of the 4th of July, Puck Daddy did a recap of the top five moments in USA Hockey for the 2010 calendar year.  Sadly, no mention of the Clarkson Cup Champion Minnesota Whitecaps. 

Ilya Kovalchuk remains unsigned after four days of unrestricted free agency, and SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL has formally put a different offer than the one originally reported on the table:  4 years, $36m.  Hat tip to Alexander Zaitsev of Russian Hockey Fans for alerting the hockey world of the report from Russian paper Soviet-Express.

Now that the NHL season is over and done with, members of both the Canadian Men's and Women's Olympic Gold Medallist Hockey Teams were honoured at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton last week.  They were presented with rings to go along with their medals. 

For the final standings of the 2010 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship, join me after the jump:

1. United States of America  
2. Czech Republic  
3. Sweden  
4. Canada  
5. Slovenia  
6. Finland  
7. Germany  
8. Slovakia  
9. Austria  
10. Croatia  
11. Hungary  
12. Australia  
13. Great Britain  
14. Japan  
15. Brazil  
16. Argentina

Tournament Directorate Awards

Best Goalkeeper:  Roman Handl, Czech Republic; Best Defenseman:  Sami Markkanen, Sweden; Best Forward:  Nathan Sigmund, USA; Tournament MVP:  Dick Axlesson, Sweden