Sniper Alexander Ovechkin is key to the Russian team's chances at striking gold on home soil. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
2007 men's world hockey championships
Russian intrigue
Team Canada shoots for its first world hockey championship since 2003
Last Updated Fri., April 27, 2007
By Katelyn Corke, CBC Sports
International hockey is back in the form of the 2007 IIHF men’s world championship and if you didn't know that, you must still have a team in the NHL playoffs.
The 71st edition of the tournament gets underway in Moscow, Russia on Saturday with 16 teams setting their sights on the gold medal. And, as past tournaments have shown, no team is a guarantee to win.
The Swedes come into this year's tournament as the defending champs. The yellow and blue are also riding the momentum of a gold-medal win in the 2006 Torino Olympics and their confidence is sky-high.
The formerly dominant Russians will try to take advantage of any home-ice comforts. After losing to the Czechs in the 2006 world championship quarterfinals in Riga, Latvia, Russia will be looking to excite the home crowd and finish in the medals this time around.
Team Canada has seen mixed results in recent IIHF world championship tournaments, winning gold in 2003, 2004, and silver in 2005, but has finished out of the medals nearly as often.
Canada did not win a single medal after winning gold in 1997 until they climbed back on top in 2003. The most recent loss came in the 2006 bronze medal match to a determined Finnish team that shut Canada out of the medals.
This tournament provides an important chance for Hockey Canada to evaluate a new general manager in Steve Yzerman and to see some players on the international scene for the first time. Both are important as the organization looks ahead to a successful 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Here's the breakdown of this year's teams:
GOLD MEDAL CONTENDERS
Finland | Roster
Current World Rank: 4th
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(3), 2001(2), 2002(4), 2003(5), 2004(6), 2005(7), 2006(3)
NHL notables: Jarkko Ruutu, Kari Lehtonen, Ville
Peltonen
The Finns were heartbreakers last year when they blanked Canada 5-0 in the 2006 bronze-medal game. Finland's bronze medal win represented its first IIHF world championship medal since earning silver in 2001.
Beating the Canadians gave the Finnish team plenty of confidence as did winning silver at Torino in 2006.
The Finns enter the tournament with Atlanta Thrashers Kari Lethtonen
and Columbus' Fredrik Norrena between the pipes, which should provide
a solid foundation as both netminders have had success this season
in the NHL.
Finland also has lots of grit up front in the two Ruutu brothers,
who should place pressure on opposition forwards and adding three-time
Selke winner Jere Lehtinen isn't going to hurt their chances either.
While they may be lacking offensive power, a strong defensive performance
and getting goals when you need them could win them a championship
– just ask the New Jersey Devils.
Czech Republic | Roster
Current World Rank: 2nd
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(1), 2001(1), 2002(5), 2003(4), 2004(5), 2005(1), 2006(2)
NHL notables: Marek Zidlicky, David Vyborny, Tomas
Plekanec, Jirí Novotny
The Czechs, who were defending champions at the 2005 worlds, failed in their 2006 bid to win back-to-back titles for the first time since 2001, but the silver represented their second consecutive IIHF world championship medal.
This year having Roman Cechmanek return to the national team after a three-year absence should build the team's confidence and he'll look for solid offensive support in forwards Tomas Plekanec and Petr Sykora.
With such strong past performances, the Czech's are a real threat to be one of the top two teams in the tournament yet again.
BATTLING FOR BRONZE
Rick Nash leads a Canadian team that's without several of its mainstays, including Ryan Smyth. (Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
Canada | Roster
Current World Rank: 3rd
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(4), 2001(5), 2002(6), 2003(1), 2004(1), 2005(2), 2006(4)
NHL notables: Dwayne Roloson, Rick Nash, Eric Staal,
Jordan Staal, Shane Doan
This will be Steve Yzerman's coming out party as Team Canada GM. He has been able to put together a decent roster of players, but the question isn't about skill level. It's about whether the team will be able to mesh well and be a cohesive unit.
Sidney Crosby will not be joining this year's squad due to a broken left foot, but the Staal brothers, Eric and younger brother Jordan, should be an interesting tandem to watch. The team will be hobbled by some missing international veterans, the most obvious being 'Captain Canada' Ryan Smyth, who won't be in attendance as he's nursing an undisclosed injury.
Last year, Canada failed to win a medal for the first time since 2002 and needs to place well in order to move up in the world rankings heading into the 2008 IIHF world championship in Halifax/Quebec City and 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Sweden | Roster
Current World Rank: 1st
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(5), 2001(3), 2002(3), 2003(2), 2004(2), 2005(4), 2006(1)
NHL notables: Alexander Steen
Last year was good to the Swedes. They became the first nation in history to capture Olympic and IIHF world championship gold in the same year, ending an eight-year gold-medal drought.
The world championship also allowed the Swedes to hang to their No. 1 spot in the IIHF world rankings.
While Sweden dominated the international scene last year, this year is a different story. The team will be missing key contributors Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg along with other NHL stars going into this tournament.
The chemistry and talent of the 2006 teams will be hard to match, but they have a decent shot at a medal as any team.
DARK HORSES
Russia | Russia
Current World Rank: 5th
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(9), 2001(6), 2002(2), 2003(7), 2004(10), 2005(3), 2006(5)
NHL notables: Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Frolov, Andrei Markov.
Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov is running a tight ship. In a surprising move, he dropped Alexander Semin from the Russian roster after he showed up five hours late to training camp.
The last time Russia won the tournament was 1993, followed by silver in 2002, and bronze in 2005.
Although Russia had a young team filled with emerging stars in last year's tournament, it didn't translate into a medal. This year the team will try to use tournament experience from last year and the newly-acquired NHL experience of some of its players, such as Alexander Ovechkin, to produce a medal-worthy effort.
Slovakia | Roster
Current World Rank: 6th
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000 (2), 2001 (7), 2002 (1), 2003 (3), 2004 (4), 2005, (5), 2006 (8)
NHL notables: Jaroslav Halak, Zdeno Chara, Marian
Hossa, Miroslav Satan, Pavol Demitra
Slovakia has been sniffing around the podium in recent international tournaments. They last won the tournament in 2002. In 2000 they won silver and 2003 took home the bronze, but failed to secure a medal in the past three years.
That's not to say they don't have any chance at all. Success has been relatively recent and, with limited NHL stars filling the competitions' rosters, they might just surprise a few teams.
THE REST
Phil Kessel, pictured, and NHL rookie of the year candidate, Paul Stastny, will lead a green American team that's preparing itself for the 2010 Olympics. Getty Images)
USA | Roster
Current World Rank: 7th
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(5), 2001(4), 2002(7), 2003(13), 2004(3), 2005(6), 2006(7)
NHL notables: Paul Stastny, Brian Pothier, Erik
Cole, Phil Kessel
The U.S. comes into the world championships with youth on its side. With more than half of his roster having yet to turn 26, general manager Brain Burke will count on young legs and youthful optimism to carry Team USA.
However, there aren't huge expectations for this team as the tournament is being considered a dress rehearsal for the 2010 Olympics. That is when results will be expected, when their youth should have seasoned into some solid talent.
Switzerland | Roster
Current World Rank: 8th
Ranking ( ) by year: 2000(5), 2001 (9), 2002 (10), 2003 (8), 2004 (8), 2005 (8), 2006 (9)
NHL notables: David Aebischer, Martin Gerber, Mark Streit
The Swiss had a strong performance at last year's tournaments giving them a solid hold on eighth place in IIHF rankings going into the 2007 competition.
They surprised almost everybody with wins over the Czech's and Canadians in the 2006 Olympics, but likely won't be able to muster the same kind of results this time around.
Related
QUICK FACTS
All-time standings:
(gold, silver, bronze and total medal count)
1. CZE :11-g 13-s 19-b 43-t
2. CAN:23-g 11-s 9-b 43-t
3. SWE :9-g 18-s 14-b 40-t
4. RUS/URS :23-g 8-s 6-b 37-t
5. USA: 2-g 9-s 15-b 16-t
6. FIN:1-g 5-s 2-b 9-t
7. GER :0-g 1-s 2-b 3-t
8. SUI:0-g 1-s 8-b 9-t
13. SVK:1-g 1-s 1-b 3-t
- The IIHF world championships started in 1920 at the winter Olympics in Antwerp Belguim.
- From 1971-1976, Canada boycotted the tournament because NHL players were not allowed to play.
- Canada's 1994 gold medal ended a 33-year drought. Canada hadn't won the tournament since 1961.
- The 2007 World Ranking (to be established following this tournament) will also be used to determine the four groups at the 2008 World Championship in Canada.
- In 2005 Austria and Germany were relegated to Division 1. Both teams came back in 2006 after winning their Division 1 tournaments. It was the first time ever that two European teams were relegated in the same year.
- Home ice jinx? This year's tournament marks the 21st year of the home ice jinx in the IIHF world championship. The last team to win at home was the Soviet squad of 1986. The coach of the current Russian team, Vyacheslav Bykov, was the player who scored the winning goal in the last minutes of the last game against Sweden that secured first place back in 1986.
Noticeably absent
- Mats Sundin turned down Sweden's invitation to play.
- Alexander Semin was dropped from the Russian team after he arrived 5 hours late to training camp following a visit with his family.
- Sidney Crosby declined to play for Canada due to a broken bone in his foot that he played with for the last 2 ½ weeks of the NHL regular season and the playoffs.
- Peter Forsberg won't be playing for Sweden because of his nagging foot injury that he'll try to heal in the off-season.
- Robert Esche pulled out of playing for the U.S. for personal reasons.
- 'Captain Canada' Ryan Smyth won't be going for Canada. He's nursing an undisclosed injury. Smyth has played in seven world championships, two Olympics and a World Cup for Canada.
