May 27, 2016
When the Sochi Olympics rolled around in 2014, Claude Giroux was notably left off a Canadian roster that went on to earn a gold medal. With the World Cup of Hockey rebooting in the 28-year-old center’s home country a few months from now, there was a question if Giroux would again be on the outside looking in. After all, Canada’s incredibly deep pool of talent is always going to produce the most high-profile snubs.
Nope. Giroux was one of seven players added to Team Canada’s 16-man preliminary roster on Friday night:
Canada adds: Burns, Muzzin, Pietrangelo (D). Duchene, Giroux, Marchand, Thornton (F).
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 27, 2016
In what felt like a no-brainer, the North American young guns (23-and-under U.S. and Canadian players) added Shayne Gostisbehere to the roster. “Ghost Bear,” who will join teammate Sean Couturier on the roster, will play on the same blue line as Aaron Ekblad, Seth Jones, Ryan Murray, Morgan Rielly, Colton Parayko, and Jacob Trouba. Not too shabby for someone who wouldn't have even been in consideration at this time last year.
Both players underwent similar hip surgeries last week, and their recovery time is scheduled to be 10-12 weeks. Three months would put Gostisbehere and Giroux’s respective returns in the middle of August, which would be in time for the start of World Cup training camps on September 4th.
The World Cup of Hockey is an eight-team tournament that will run from September 17th to October 1st in Canada.
In addition to Giroux and Ghost, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was also added to the World Cup. The French forward will join teammate Mark Streit on Team Europe, which is comprised of Europeans from countries other than the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
Prior to today, five Flyers already had cracked the preliminary rosters of their respective countries:
• Mark Streit, Team Europe
• Sean Couturier, North America
• Jake Voracek, Czech Republic
• Michal Neuvirth, Czech Republic
• Radko Gudas, Czech Republic
So to recap, here are the #Flyers in the World Cup.
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) May 27, 2016
🇨🇿: Voracek, Gudas, Neuvirth
🇪🇺: Streit, Bellemare
🌎: Ghost, Couturier
🇨🇦: Giroux
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
