147 AHL alumni in World Championships

Updated May 14

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … While the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs march on, hockey’s annual IIHF World Championships are being held in Cologne and Mannheim, Germany. The rosters for the tournament, which began May 7, feature 147 American Hockey League graduates representing their countries and competing for medals.

All 16 participating countries have at least one AHL alumnus on board and the list includes 23 former American Hockey League All-Stars, among them Tomas Vokoun (Czech Republic), Pekka Rinne (Finland), Rene Bourque (Canada), Artem Anisimov (Russia) and 2010 AHL All-Stars Lars Eller (Denmark) and Christian Hanson (USA).

Twenty-eight participants played in the American Hockey League during the 2009-10 season, including Portland’s Felix Schutz, who scored the overtime game-winner for Germany in the tournament opener vs. the United States. Pirates teammate Philip Gogulla and Milwaukee’s Robert Dietrich and Alexander Sulzer are also members of the host German team. Grand Rapids’ Tomas Tatar (Slovakia) and Sergei Kolosov (Belarus), Peoria’s Ben Bishop (USA), Springfield’s Taylor Chorney (USA), Jordan Eberle (Canada) and Devan Dubnyk (Canada), Hartford’s Chad Johnson (Canada) and Andres Ambuhl (Switzerland) and Norfolk’s Mike Lundin (USA) and Vladimir Mihalik (Slovakia) are also competing.

AHL players added after their Calder Cup Playoff runs ended included Abbotsford’s Mikael Backlund (Sweden), Chicago’s Arturs Kulda (Latvia) and Albany’s Oskar Osala (Finland). Osala, who won the Calder Cup with Hershey in 2009, joins other former Calder Cup champions Brooks Laich (Canada), Jakub Klepis (Czech Republic), Ondrej Pavelec (Czech Republic) and Rickard Wallin (Sweden) at the event.

AHL experience can be found behind the bench as well, where former Louis A.R. Pieri Award winners Scott Gordon (USA) and Glen Hanlon (Slovakia) are serving as head coaches. Gordon’s staff includes assistant Todd Richards, who won Calder Cups as a player and as an assistant coach in the AHL, while Germany head coach Uwe Krupp and Switzerland head coach Sean Simpson both won championships during their AHL playing careers.

AHL Alumni on World Championship Rosters (updated as of May 14)

Belarus (5)
Vladimir Denisov, D
Mikhail Grabovski, F
Sergei Kolosov, F
Andrei Mezin, G
Ruslan Salei, D

Canada (19)
Francois Beauchemin, D
*
Rene Bourque, F
Brent Burns, D
*Kyle Cumiskey, D
Steve Downie, F
Devan Dubnyk, G
Jordan Eberle, F
Marc Giordano, D
Chad Johnson, G
Brooks Laich, F
Chris Mason, G
Steve Ott, F
Corey Perry, F
Rich Peverley, F
Mason Raymond, F
Kris Russell, D
Ryan Smyth, F
Marc Staal, D
Ray Whitney, F

Czech Republic (13)
Michal Barinka, D
Petr Hubacek, F
Lukas Kaspar, F
Jakub Klepis, F
Marek Kvapil, F
Tomas Mozjis, D
Ondrej Nemec, D
*Filip Novak, D
Jiri Novotny, F
Ondrej Pavelec, G
Karel Rachunek, D
Michal Roszival, D
*Tomas Vokoun, G

Denmark (5)
†*Lars Eller, F
Morten Madsen, F
Frans Nielsen, F
Peter Regin, F
Kim Staal, F

Finland (14)
Riku Hahl, F
Jarkko Immonen, F
Sami Kapanen, F
*Petri Kontiola, F
Lauri Korpikoski, F
Lasse Kukkonen, D
Jori Lehtera, F
Mikko Maenpaa, D
Antti Miettinen, F
Janne Niskala, D
Oskar Osala, F
Antti Pihlstrom, F
*Pekka Rinne, G
Tommi Santala, F

France (2)
Eddy Ferhi, G
Yorick Treille, F

Germany (9)
*Sven Butenschon, D
Robert Dietrich, D
*Christian Ehrhoff, D
Marcel Goc, F
Philip Gogulla, F
Felix Schutz, D
Alexander Sulzer, D
*John Tripp, F
Rob Zepp, G

Italy (4)
Matt DeMarchi, D
Trevor Johnson, D
John Parco, F
Mike Souza, F

Kazakhstan (2)
Konstantin Shafranov, F
*Vitali Yeremeyev, G

Latvia (8)
*Kaspars Daugavins, F
†*Martins Karsums, F
Arturs Kulda, D
Jekabs Redlihs, D
Arvid Rekis, D
Janis Sprukts, F
Juris Stals, F
*Herbert Vasiljevs, F

Norway (3)
Marius Holtet, F
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, D
Patrick Thoresen, F

Russia (8)
Maxim Afinogenov, F
*Artem Anisimov, F
Sergei Gonchar, D
*Denis Grebeshkov, D
*Dmitri Kalinin, D
Nikolai Kulemin, F
Alexander Semin, F
Semyon Varlamov, G

Slovakia (18)
Milan Bartovic, F
Peter Budaj, G
Ivan Ciernik, F
Vladimir Dravecky, F
Stanislav Gron, F
Peter Hamerlik, G
Roman Kukumberg, F
Richard Lintner, D
Michal Macho, F
Vladimir Mihalik, D
Richard Panik, F
Andrei Podkonicky, F
Andrej Sekera, D
*Rastislav Stana, G
Marek Svatos, F
Tomas Tatar, F
Marek Zagrapan, F
Miroslav Zalesak, F

Sweden (11)
Jonas Andersson, F
Christian Backman, D
Mikael Backlund, F
*Jonathan Ericsson, D
Carl Gunnarsson, D
Erik Karlsson, D
Tony Martensson, F
Marcus Nilson, F
Michael Nylander, F
Rickard Wallin, F
Mattias Weinhandl, F

Switzerland (7)
Andres Ambuhl, F
Goran Bezina, D
Martin Gerber, G
Timo Helbling, D
Daniel Manzato, G
Tobias Stephan, G
*Julien Vauclair, D

United States (19)
Ben Bishop, G
Ryan Carter, F
Taylor Chorney, D
Scott Clemmensen, G
Brandon Dubinsky, F
Nick Foligno, F
T.J. Galiardi, F
Matt Gilroy, D
*Andy Greene, D
Matt Greene, D
†*Christian Hanson, F
Jack Hillen, D
Tim Kennedy, F
Mike Lundin, D
David Moss, F
Eric Nystrom, F
Kyle Okposo, F
*Ryan Potulny, F
Keith Yandle, D

* indicates former AHL All-Star
† indicates player played in the AHL in 2009-10