Kings well represented in hockey world championships
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The IIHF World Championships started today in Switzerland and five Kings players are representing their respective homelands in the 16-team tournament.
Kings captain Dustin Brown and defenseman Jack Johnson are playing under head coach Ron Wilson on the United States squad. Rookie blueliner Drew Doughty (who really should be a Calder Trophy candidate) is playing for Canada.
Alexander Frolov is back on the ice for defending champion Russia and Michael Handzus is playing for team Slovakia.
Former Kings forward and current Edmonton Oiler Patrick O’Sullivan also is playing for the Americans.
As usual, Canada is the favorite, but Russia, Sweden and Finland are all considered potential champions. The United States is considered a longshot to win, but if the Americans can overcome the youth factor (11 of its players are under 25) and get some strong goaltending from journeyman Robert Esche and Cuban-American Al Montoya they could at least medal for the first time in international competition since the 2004 world championships.
The United States opens the tournament against Latvia on Saturday and will play Austria on Monday. Go here for a complete schedule.
You can pay to watch all of the games on the IIHF site, but Universal Sports will broadcast medal-round games online for free on May 10.
-- Austin Knoblauch
