Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith, who have already won Olympic gold medals this year, added to their hardware Wednesday, June 23 at the 2010 NHL Awards in Las Vegas.

Crosby (Cole Harbour, N.S.) received the Bridgestone Messier Leadership Award for exemplifying “great leadership qualities to his team” and the Maurice Richard Trophy for being one of two top goal scorers in the league, while Keith (Winnipeg, Man.) won the James Norris Memorial Trophy for demonstrating “the greatest all-round ability in the position” during the 2009-10 season.

Crosby and Keith were both members of the 2010 Men’s Olympic Team and will be in Edmonton, Alta. on Monday, June 28 for the Hockey Canada Foundation (HCF) Celebrity Classic gala, including the public Canada Celebrates event at Commonwealth Stadium. They are two of 61 Olympic and World hockey champions from 2009-10 who will be attending the highly-anticipated celebration.

Other Canadians honoured at the 2010 NHL Awards:

Martin Brodeur (Montreal, Que./New Jersey Devils) – William M. Jennings Trophy

Shane Doan (Halkirk, Alta./Phoenix Coyotes) – King Clancy Trophy

Steve Stamkos (Markham, Ont./Tampa Bay Lightning) – tied with Crosby for Maurice Richard Trophy

Martin St. Louis (Laval, Que./Tampa Bay Lightning) – Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

José Théodore (Laval, Que./Washington Capitals) – Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

Dave Tippett (Moosomin, Sask./Phoenix Coyotes) – Jack Adams Award      

The NHL also announced its 2009-10 All-Rookie Team, which consists of the top six rookies from the season, including four players who represented Canada at the 2010 IIHF World Championship held in Germany this spring.

NHL All-Rookie Team members who played at this year’s World Championship:

Michael Del Zotto (Stouffville, Ont./New York Rangers)

Tyler Myers (Dewinton, Alta./Buffalo Sabres)

John Tavares (Oakville, Ont./New York Islanders)

Matthew Duchene (Haliburton, Ont./Colorado Avalanche)

For more information on the 2010 NHL Awards, go to www.nhl.com.

For more information on the upcoming HCF Celebrity Classic gala, including how to buy tickets for the Canada Celebrates event on June 28, go to www.hockeycanada.ca/hcf.

Daniel Alfredsson believes some things are worth giving up a few rounds of golf for.

The Ottawa Senators captain leapt at the opportunity to take on a leadership role at the upcoming World Hockey Summit even though it will require him to volunteer four days of his time this summer.

“I hope that I can contribute with my experiences,” Alfredsson said Monday on a conference call. “It would be fun to golf in August but I'm sure I'll have enough time to get some games in before. I'm really looking forward to this.

“It's a lot of people with a lot of experience so I'm sure I can contribute a little bit. But I'm going to learn a lot as well.”

Alfredsson will form the summit's leadership team with Steve Yzerman, Brian Burke and Hayley Wickenheiser – four big names in the sport that come from a variety of backgrounds.

Together, they encapsulate the spirit of the event. The Aug. 23-26 summit in Toronto will bring together key individuals from all levels of the game to discuss a myriad of issues that affect it.

Yzerman, the new GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, received a personal invite from Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson. He felt he owed that organization for exposing him to a number of different experiences over the years.

“It was an opportunity for me to repay them,” said Yzerman. “Also, I feel that it's a great education for me to be involved in this type of concept. You learn a lot just by being there and you meet a lot of people (and) you come up with a lot of great ideas.”

The summit's agenda includes issues such as women's hockey in the Olympics, player safety, skill development and potential harmonization of major international events such as the Olympics, world championship and the World Cup.

Judging by Monday's conference call with the leadership team, almost no aspect of the sport is likely to go untouched. The cost of getting children involved in the sport, the amount of practice time they should receive and the NHL's potential expansion to Europe were among the issues discussed during a session with reporters.

For Burke, the summit comes down to one overriding issue.

“The challenges that I think we have in our game – forget where it's played – are to keep the game available, affordable and to make sure we're always looking at alternatives,” said Burke. “My primary goal going in is to see how we're going to continue to grow this game.”

It's an issue that is close to Wickenheiser's heart as well.

The three-time Olympic gold medallist has seen the women's game come under fire because Canada and the U.S. are playing at a level so far beyond their competition. She'll be a key part of the discussion on that topic.

“My interest lies in the development of the female game – not only here in Canada and North America but around the world,” said Wickenheiser. “(There are) pressing questions about how we can continue to take the game to the next level and develop the game worldwide.

“I'm looking forward to being a part of it, offering what I can and making some steps forward out of this summit that can really help the women's game.”

The International Ice Hockey Federation, the NHL, Hockey Canada, USA Hockey and the Canadian Hockey League have all been listed as partners in the summit, with Molson as title sponsor.

Alfredsson will be one of the people who brings a European perspective to the discussion. He was raised in the Swedish town of Gothenburg and drafted by the Senators in 1994.

“(When) I moved to Ottawa it was a huge change,” said Alfredsson. “Once you're in the locker-room, it doesn't matter where you are. The atmosphere (and) the language might change – but everything from how you're treated in the locker-room to the language that goes on is the same all over the world.”

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. – He earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP and became the second-youngest captain to hoist the Stanley Cup, helping the Chicago Blackhawks end a 49-year championship drought, but Jonathan Toews added one more piece  of hardware to his collection Wednesday night.

With the Blackhawks’ 4-3 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Toews became the 24th member of the IIHF Triple Gold Club, comprised of players who have won an Olympic gold medal, IIHF World Championship gold medal and the Stanley Cup.

He is the second Canadian to join the exclusive club this season – Eric Staal earned membership in February after Canada won Olympic gold in Vancouver – and is the youngest player to win hockey’s three biggest championships. Toews, who turned 22 on April 29, was nine months and 11 days younger than Peter Forsberg was when the Swede completed his trifecta with Colorado’s Stanley Cup win in 1996.

The Winnipeg, Man., native also tied Forsberg for the fewest Triple Gold Club events to gain entry – Toews won gold at the world championship and the Olympics on his first try, and needed just two editions of the Stanley Cup playoffs to win the big prize.

Toews started his collection at the 2007 IIHF World Championship in Russia, winning Worlds gold just four months after claiming his second-straight World Junior gold medal, and added the Olympic gold medal in Vancouver, opening the scoring in the gold medal game, leading a star-studded Canadian roster in scoring and winning the tournament’s Top Forward award.

Although the first players gained entry into the Triple Gold Club in 1994, members were not officially recognized and honoured until a ceremony during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver that saw the first 22 members in attendance.

Toews’ induction brings the total number of Canadians in the club to seven, joining Rob Blake, Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Joe Sakic, Shanahan and Staal.

In addition to his Triple Gold Club honours, Toews – along with Chicago teammates Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook – joined another exclusive club on Wednesday. The three became just the fourth, fifth and sixth players to win both Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup in the same season, joining Ken Morrow (1980 – USA, NYI), Brendan Shanahan (2002 – CAN, DET) and Steve Yzerman (2002 – CAN, DET).

(Montreal) For the very first time in its history, the International Ice Hockey Federation will stop in North America to present one of its most prestigious championships and, on this occasion, Quebec`s minor hockey will meet in Québec City.

This tournament will take place from May 2nd to 18th in Québec City and will involve 16 countries. Hockey fans will be able to see the best players in the world, some of whom belong to the National Hockey League.

The World Championship’s Organization Committee has set up a financing program for Québec’s minor hockey teams. The co-president, Mr. Claude Rousseau, is pleased to announce that tickets will be bought and sold by minor hockey teams and organizations, at a very competitive price.

The formula, exclusive to minor hockey, will be a way to raise funds from the sale of these tickets. Hockey Québec’s General Director, Mr. Sylvain B. Lalonde, is very happy about this partnership.

« This financing and promoting campaign offered to our clients makes it possible for more of our members to live a unique experience in the world of international hockey and, as well, to benefit from an additional source of revenue.»

« Hockey Québec is grateful to Québec’s Organization Committee for its initiative and dedication to make sure that Quebec’s minor hockey, as a whole, will profit from this historic meeting. » added the General Director.

Other packages will be available and adapted based on the interest and involvement of each of the parties. We must remind everyone that this championship is organized as part of the 400th Anniversary of Québec City, another special occasion to help young people discover Québec’s history. We invite you to refer to the enclosed document and/or visit the IIHF’s 2008 World Championship website: www.hockey2008.ca

For more details relating to this promotion for Québec’s minor hockey, please visit Hockey Québec’s website: www.hockey.qc.ca

Oslo, Norway & Boston, Massachusetts – &

Unassuming Connie Broden is the answer to one of hockey’s best trivia questions: Who is the only player to win the IIHF World Championship and the Stanley Cup in the same year? Broden accomplished this unique double in the spring of 1958. As a high-scoring forward on Canada's Whitby Dunlops, he won the IIHF World Championship in Oslo, Norway. Later, Broden joined the Montreal Canadiens and won his second Stanley Cup in two years with the Habs.

Since 1977, when NHL players whose teams have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs have played at the IIHF World Championship, the double victory has been impossible. But in earlier days when an amateur could turn pro or a pro revert to amateur, no one before or after Broden came close to winning the two great prizes in the same season.

While Broden was a marginal player in the professional ranks, the Montreal native led the Oslo championship in scoring with 12 goals and seven assists in seven games. His most important goal gave Canada a 2-1-lead in the decisive game against the Soviet Union, on the final day of the tournament, . The game ended 4-2 and the Dunlops won Canada its first title in three years.

Just six weeks later, Broden was with the Canadiens as they marched to their third straight Stanley Cup. Broden played only one of the five games in the finals against Boston, but that was enough to have his name etched on the hallowed trophy.

Broden's NHL career was as short as it was remarkably successful. In just three seasons with Montreal, he played a mere six NHL games in the regular season and seven more in the playoffs. In all, he recorded only two goals and two assists yet got his name on the Stanley Cup twice, in 1957 and '58. Some 50 years later, Broden's achievement remains unmatched. It might well be one that is never equaled.

As part of the IIHF's 100th anniversary celebrations, IIHF.com is featuring the 100 Top International Hockey Stories from the past century (1908-2008). Continuing through the 2008 IIHF World Championships in Quebec City & Halifax, from May 2 – 18, the IIHF will post approximately three stories a week counting down from Number 100 to 1.

The Top-10 Countdown will be one of the highlights of the IIHF’s Centennial Gala evening in Quebec City on May 17, the day prior to the gold medal game of the 2008 IIHF World Championship. The evening will culminate with the announcement of the Top Story of the Century.

Seventeen-year NHL veteran goaltender Sean Burke announced his retirement on Tuesday, wrapping up a career that saw him star not only in the NHL, but also on the international stage.

The Windsor, ON native wore the maple leaf on nine occasions, winning two gold medals (1997 IIHF World Hockey Championship and 2003 IIHF World Hockey Championship – winning the IIHF Directorate award for Top Goaltender) and three silver medals (1986 IIHF World Junior Championship, 1989 IIHF World Hockey Championship and 1992 Winter Olympics). He fashioned a 27-13-2 record with Canada’s National Men’s Team in 1986-87, including a gold medal at the 1986 Izvestia Cup in Moscow, Russia.

He also appeared at the 1987 IIHF World Hockey Championship, 1988 Winter Olympics and 1991 IIHF World Hockey Championship, and was the alternate goaltender for the 1991 Canada Cup.

Burke was drafted 24th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 1985 and played for nine teams in his NHL career (New Jersey, Hartford, Carolina, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Florida, Phoenix, Tampa Bay and Los Angeles). He was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2001-02, and appeared in the 1989, 20 NHL All-Star Games.

CALGARY, Alberta – Hockey Canada has announced that two-time Olympic gold medallist Rick Nash (Brampton, ON/Columbus, NHL) will serve as general manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, May 10-26 in Prague and Ostrava, Czechia.

Nash was selected by Doug Armstrong (Sarnia, ON/St. Louis, NHL), management group lead for Canada’s National Men’s Team, Ryan Getzlaf (Regina, SK/Anaheim, NHL), player relations advisor and Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C.), senior vice-president of hockey operations and high performance.

“Rick is an outstanding person to lead Canada’s National Men’s Team at this year’s world championship, as he brings a wealth of international and NHL experience from his playing career and his time as an executive,” Armstrong said. “We are excited to work with Rick and begin building the staff and roster that will wear the Maple Leaf in Czechia and help us defend gold this May.”

Nash most recently won a silver medal as assistant general manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team at the 2022 IIHF World Championship. He is in his third season as director of player development with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and previously spent two seasons (2019-21) as the team’s special assistant to the general manager. As a player, he represented Canada at the Olympic Winter Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014, winning gold in 2010 and 2014. He also wore the Maple Leaf at four IIHF World Championships, winning one gold medal (2007) and two silver (2005, 2008), and won a silver medal at the 2002 IIHF World Junior Championship. Professionally, he played in 1,060 NHL games over 15 seasons with the Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Boston Bruins, amassing 805 career points (437 goals, 368 assists).

Additions to the management group, as well as the coaching staff, support staff and roster for the 2024 IIHF World Championship will be announced at a later date.

Canada will open the tournament against Great Britain on May 11 at 6:20 a.m. ET/3:20 a.m. PT. It will also take on Denmark, Austria, Norway, Finland, Switzerland and Czechia in the preliminary round before the tournament concludes with the medal games on May 26. Prior to the start of the tournament, Canada’s National Men’s Team will play pre-tournament games against Austria at Steffl Arena in Vienna on May 5 and Hungary at the MVM Dome in Budapest on May 7.

For more information on Hockey Canada, Canada’s National Men’s Team and the 2024 IIHF World Championship, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along via social media on Facebook, X and Instagram.

TAMPERE, Finland – A three-goal third period helped Canada’s National Men’s Team win gold at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, downing Germany 5-2 in the gold medal game at Nokia Arena on Sunday.

Sammy Blais (Montmagny, Que./St. Louis, NHL) netted the game-winner off a rebound just under five minutes into the third period, his second goal of the game and fourth in three contests, to give Canada its 28th gold medal at men’s worlds.

“This feels really good. We have been in Europe for a month and have waited for our moment to play for a gold medal, and it is really special to win in front of our friends and family that travelled here,” Blais said. “Our group built chemistry so quickly and it feels like we have played together for a long time, and we are excited to bring this gold medal back home to our fans.”

Canada fell behind 1-0 just over eight minutes into the game before Blais, who was named Player of the Game, buried a one-timer off a Peyton Krebs (Okotoks, Alta./Buffalo, NHL) pass to tie the game. Germany responded with a goal 13:47 into the middle frame before Lawson Crouse (Mount Brydges, Ont./Arizona, NHL) redirected a puck past German goaltender Mathias Niederberger on the power play to equal the score at 2-2 before the end of the second.

After Blais gave Canada the lead early in the third, Tyler Toffoli (Scarborough, Ont./Calgary, NHL) and Scott Laughton (Oakville, Ont./Philadelphia, NHL) added goals to secure the win and give Canada its 51st medal overall at the IIHF World Championship.

“I could not be more proud of this group. We battled through a lot of adversity and doubt to get to this point, and this win is so special,” Toffoli said. “We have such a close-knit team that came together quickly, and we always believed in each other. Everyone bought in and we played a great game today, and I am incredibly happy to be going back to Canada with a gold medal.”

Sam Montembeault (Bécancour, Que./Montréal, NHL) capped off a stellar tournament with a 21-save performance. A full game summary can be found at HockeyCanada.ca.

Following the gold medal game, MacKenzie Weegar (Nepean, Ont./Calgary, NHL) was named Best Defenceman of the tournament and was selected to the media all-star team. Crouse, Montembeault and Weegar were also named Team Canada’s three best players of the tournament following the semifinals.

“The commitment of everyone on our team was unbelievable. We knew we had to come here and play for each other and commit to a team game. We came here to represent Canada and make our country proud, and I am so blessed to be a part of this group,” said head coach André Tourigny (Nicolet, Que./Arizona, NHL). “Our players wanted to win so bad. They wanted to bring a gold medal back to Canada, and when you have that mindset you can accomplish great things, and we did that tonight.”

Canada finished the preliminary round in second place in Group B after wins over Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and Czechia. It booked a spot in the gold medal game after a 4-1 win over Finland in the quarterfinals and a 4-2 win over Latvia in the semifinals.

Since 1931, Canada has collected 28 gold medals at the world championship, to go along with 16 silver and seven bronze.

For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca, or follow along via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.