CALGARY, AB – Canada’s National Men’s Team announced its roster that will represent Canada at the 2005 Deutschland Cup which takes place November 8-13 in Mannheim and Hanover, Germany. Canada finished third at the 2004 event and fourth at the 2003 event. Canada last took home the Deutschland Cup in 2002 after going undefeated with a 4-0-0 record.

Canada will utilize 37 Canadian players that will make up two rosters participating for Canada at the Deutschland Cup.

Game 1, November 8th in Zurich, SUI vs. SUI

A roster of 21 players will make up Canada’s opening game roster of the tournament on November 8th in Zurich versus Switzerland.  This one game event was previously referred to as the Swiss Challenge, but it created confusion as the game is counted as part of the Deutschland Cup final standings. Therefore, the name Swiss Challenge has been dropped.  Canada’s roster for this game on Nov. 8th in Zurich is made up mainly of Canadians playing in Switzerland and will be used as an evaluation for the Spengler Cup, which takes place in Davos, SUI from Dec. 24-31, 2005. Canada’s Spengler Cup roster is annually composed mainly of players playing in Switzerland as the Swiss League is the only European league that breaks during the Dec. 24-31 time period. In December, Canada may name some AHL players to round out its Spengler Cup roster.

Games 2, 3 and 4: November 10-13th in Germany

Five of the 21 Team Canada players that played in game 1 for Canada will remain with the team (Maund, Waite, Lambert, Pittis, Finley) and travel to Germany where they will join-up with 16 new players to make up Canada’s second Deutschland Cup roster of 21 players that will be intact for the remainder of the tournament.  These 16 players that didn’t play for Canada in game 1 are Canadians playing in the German Elite League.

Marc Habscheid will lead Canada as head coach for all four games at the 2005 Deutschland Cup.  Habscheid is in his second year as Canada’s National Men’s team head coach, winning a silver medal at the 2005 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Austria.  Habscheid is one of Canada’s associate coaches for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

Bob Leslie and Serge Boisvert will act as Assistant Coaches to Habscheid for all four Canadian games at the Deutschland Cup, while Ron Kennedy will join them as an assistant for games 2, 3 and 4.

The Deutschland Cup is a round robin format with 3 points awarded for a victory in regulation time, 2 points for an overtime or shootout win and 1 point awarded to the losing team in overtime or a shootout.  Team Canada’s schedule is as follows:

DATE                        TEAMS                        TIME (local)            LOCATION

November 8            CAN vs. SUI            20:00                 Hallenstadion, Zurich

November 10            CAN vs. USA            20:00              SAP Arena, Mannheim

November 11            CAN vs. SVK            16:00               TUI Arena, Hanover

November 13            CAN vs. GER            14:30              TUI Arena, Hanover