PARIS, FRANCE – Hockey Canada announced on Sunday that that Rick Nash (Brampton, Ont./Columbus, NHL) will be Canada’s captain at the 2011 IIHF World Championship, which will take place April 29-May 15 in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia.

Nash, 26, will be representing Canada for an eighth time in international competition at the 2011 IIHF World Championship. It will mark his fourth World Championship, in addition to two Olympic Winter Games, one World Junior Championship and one summer Under-18 event.  The native of Brampton, Ont. has served as team captain with Columbus since . 

Hitchcock also announced, four alternate captains who will split these duties over the course of the event: Andrew Ladd (Maple Ridge, B.C./Atlanta, NHL), Dion Phaneuf (Edmonton, Alta./Toronto, NHL), Jason Spezza (Mississauga, Ont./ Ottawa, NHL) and Travis Zajac (Winnipeg, Man./New Jersey, NHL).

The team has been in Paris since April 21, and plays its first exhibition game today, Sunday (April 24) vs. France in Paris and will face the Czech Republic on April 27 in Prague before departing for Kosice, Slovakia, where Canada will be based for the preliminary round of the 2011 IIHF World Championship.

Canada’s roster currently stands at 19 players, including two goaltenders, five defencemen and 12 forwards. An additional defenceman, Mario Scalzo (Montreal, Que./Mannheim, DEL) has joined the team as an alternate player, and will probably appear in one or both of Canada’s exhibition games. Scalzo played for Canada at the 2010 Spengler Cup.

Teams can officially name up to 23 players, including three goaltenders, for the preliminary round at the IIHF World Championship. After the preliminary round, teams can have up to 25 players on their official rosters.