CALGARY, Alta. – Hockey Canada announced Tuesday the 22 players who will play for Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 2012 Deutschland Cup, Nov. 9-11 in Munich, Germany. The roster features the second leading scorers in the Deutsche Elite Liga (Yanick Lehoux) and the Finnish SM-Liiga (Stephen Dixon), as well as six former members of Canada’s National Junior Team. Canada’s three games will be broadcast on TSN/TSN2.

Canada last participated in the Deutschland Cup in 2010, finishing third. The National Men’s Team has taken part in the tournament on 15 occasions (1992-2006, 2008, 2010), winning gold four times (2000, 2002, 2005, 2008).

In addition, it was announced that Rich Chernomaz (Port Alberni, B.C./ Ingolstadt, DEL) will serve as head coach of Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 2012 Deutschland Cup, joined behind the bench by assistant coaches Fred Brathwaite (Ottawa, Ont.) and Doug Mason (Sudbury, Ont./ Iserlohn, DEL).

Chernomaz returns as head coach after leading Canada to the gold medal at the 2008 Deutschland Cup; he was an assistant coach under Mark Messier at the 2010 tournament.

Canada’s roster for the 2012 Deutschland Cup was assembled by Hockey Canada’s vice-president of national teams and hockey operations, Brad Pascall, in collaboration with Chernomaz. It includes a number of players with international experience at various levels, including six players who have played for Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championship (Mark Bell, Shawn Belle, Dustin Boyd, Nigel Dawes, Stephen Dixon, Matt Pettinger), who combined for four gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals.  

The roster is comprised of Canadian players in European professional leagues, including 16 from Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga, two from the Elitserien in Sweden, two from the Kontinental Hockey League, and one each from the Eishockey Liga in Austria and the SM-Liiga in Finland. 

In assembling the roster over the past month, Hockey Canada did not invite any locked out NHL players, due to the uncertainty of their availability. 

TEAM CANADA SCHEDULE AT THE 2012 DEUTSCHLAND CUP

Canada’s three games at the 2012 Deutschland Cup will be broadcast on TSN/TSN2

Canada’s National Men’s Team will take part in two events during the 2012-13 season: the 2012 Deutschland Cup and 2012 Spengler Cup. Canada’s roster for the 2012 Spengler Cup, which takes place Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland, will be announced in mid-December.

For more information on Canada’s National Men’s Team, please visit www.hockeycanada.ca, or follow along via social media at www.facebook.com/hockeycanada, www.twitter.com/hockeycanada and www.twitter.com/hc_teamcanada.