As you probably already know, a trio
of Thrashers are over in Moscow competing at the International Ice Hockey
Federation World Championship. Kari Lehtonen and Ilya Kovalchuk each have two
games under their respective belts (though Lehtonen rode the bench in Finland's
first game) while Marian Hossa played his first game with Slovakia today,
picking up an assist in the process. Defensive prospects Tobias Enstrom and Ilja
Nikulin are also participating in the tournament, representing Sweden and Russia
respectively. Below are some handy links for the tournament (friendly warning:
the game summaries on the tournament site all launch PDF files).
Official Site | Schedule | Standings | Scores | Teams
Today's update from Thrashers PR:
Marian Hossa made his tournament debut and recorded an assist today to
help Slovakia down Germany 5-1 at the 2007 World Championships, being held in
Moscow, Russia, through May 13 … Former Thrashers defenseman Uwe Krupp serves as
Germany’s head coach.
Slovakia (2-0-0) blanked Norway 3-0 on Saturday, and closes out the preliminary
round against Canada on Wednesday.
Kari Lehtonen stopped 17 of 19 shots to help Finland (2-0-0) skate past
Denmark 6-2 on Sunday … Lehtonen served as a back-up goaltender in Friday’s 5-0
win over Ukraine for Finland, which takes on Russia on Tuesday.
Thrashers prospect Ilya Nikulin leads Russia’s defensemen and shares
second on the team with two goals … Ilya Kovalchuk has recorded an assist
in two games for Russia, which beat Ukraine 8-1 on Sunday to improve to 2-0-0 at
the tournament … Russia plays Finland on Tuesday.
Thrashers prospect Tobias Enstrom, a defenseman, helped Sweden improve to
2-0-0 with an 8-2 win over Latvia today … Enstrom is scoreless in two games for
Sweden, which beat Italy 7-1 on Saturday and faces Switzerland on Wednesday.
All 16 countries participating in the tournament will play three
preliminary-round games, with the top 12 teams advancing to the qualifying round
scheduled for May 3-7 … Following the qualifying round, the top eight teams move
on to the quarterfinals from May 9-10 … The semifinals will be played on May 12,
with the gold-medal and bronze-medal games slated for May 13.
