CALGARY, AB – Canada’s National Men’s Hockey Team announced on Friday Canada’s roster for the upcoming inaugural 2005 Hungarian (Pannon PSM) Cup, that will be held February 9-13th, 2005 in Budapest, Hungary and will feature four National Teams: Canada, Hungary, Germany and Slovakia.

The Hungarian Cup is the last of the four men’s events in 2004-2005 (Deutschland Cup, Loto Cup, Spengler Cup, Hungarian Cup) for Canada’s National Men’s Hockey Team, leading up to the 2005 IIHF Men’s World Championship in Austria as well as serving as a part of the preparation schedule for the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.

Hockey Canada’s Vice-president, Hockey Johnny Misley and Team Manager Scott Salmond along with Head Coach Marc Habscheid have put together rosters of Canadian born players playing in European Professional Leagues. As per Hockey Canada’s previous commitment, they will not use locked-out NHL players for this tournament.  To date with this event included Hockey Canada has used a total of 74 players from 12 countries and 15 different professional leagues in Europe and North America. This evaluation of Canadian talent beyond NHL locked out players provides an important option should NHL players not participate in the 2006 Olympics. 

Of the 22 players named, six played at previous events this season for Canada’s 2004-05 National Men’s team.  Two (Jame Pollock, Frank Banham) played for Canada at the 2004 Loto Cup, three (Corey Hirsch, Pollock, Ryan Gardner) played for Canada at the 2004 Spengler Cup and three (Hirsch, Andy Delmore, Chris Herperger) were part of Team Canada’s 2004 Deutschland Cup squad. 

“The support received from the European Pro Leagues that have loaned us their players to represent Canada internationally throughout the 2004-05 season has been tremendous” said Team Canada’s Head Coach Marc Habscheid.  “For the players, representing their country in international competition is a tremendous opportunity and once again we feel confident that this team will put together another strong international showing.” 

Canada’s team is scheduled to arrive in Krefeld, Germany on February 8 where Canada will play Germany in an exhibition game before departing Germany for Budapest on Thursday, February 10.  The following is Team Canada’s 2005 Hungarian Cup game schedule: