While the hockey world (that’s ice hockey) was focused on the New York Rangers beating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 outdoors at the annual Winter Classic this afternoon (along with some linguistic troubles for caustic commentator Mike Milbury), the junior world championships taking place in Canada is home to real hockey action.

And some barfing.

The favored Canadian juniors have been stricken with the flu – whatever that means – as the bug is threatening to spread through the Canadian dressing room in advance of Tuesday’s world junior semi-final against either Russia or the Czech Republic.

Player Brendan Gallagher said, “You can’t underestimate that stuff, because if you get the flu, it can really hurt your game, so you gotta be real careful. The doctors are doing a good job. We all got our own hand sanitizers. We’re trying to keep it under control. Obviously, it’s a pretty important thing for us to be aware of. You gotta wash your hands.”

So, in addition to all the basic facts of hockey life that they had drummed into them Monday, that is the mantra going forward: Wash those hands.