COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- St. Louis Blues forwards David Backes and T.J. Oshie have been added to the 2009 U.S. Men's National Team roster for the 2009 World Championships.
Team USA will compete in the tournament in Berne and Zurich-Kloten, Switzerland April 24-May 10.
Backes posted career highs in points (54), goals (31), assists (23), power-play goals (6), shorthanded goals (2) and shots (208) in 82 games for the Blues this season. Backes also added 1 goal and 2 assists in four playoff games.
Backes is making his third consecutive IIHF Men's World Championship appearance, having played in the tournament in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, he tallied one assist in six games, while he notched three points (1-2) in seven games in 2007.
Oshie skated in 57 regular-season games with the Blues during his rookie season. His 39 points (14-25) ranked ninth among all NHL rookies and he finished third among rookies in points per game. Additionally, Oshie skated in all four Blues playoff games.
Oshie will be making his first IIHF Men's World Championship appearance. Oshie previously represented the U.S. at the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship, scoring one goal in seven games.
Team USA will begin play in the 2009 IIHF Men's World Championship Saturday (April 25) at 10:15 a.m. EDT against Latvia. The United States will play two additional preliminary-round games against Austria (April 27) and Sweden (April 29) before the qualification round begins.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Oshie and Backes to the Worlds
Nice to see a couple of former WCHA players get to play for their country at the World Championships. Now that the St Louis Blues have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs Backes and Oshie will give the USA some more offense. Oshie and Backes will join former WCHA stars, Keith Ballard Minnesota, Matt Niskanen UMD, Ryan Suter Wisconsin, Jason Blake UND, Kyle Okposo Minnesota, Drew Stafford UND, Colin Stuart, Colorado College.
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anybody know if these games will be broadcast in the u.s.?
ReplyDeletei see that the iihf is streaming them online, but for some reason, the u.s. is one of the teams that is blocked from viewing the webcast.
thanks
that is to say the u.s. is one of the countries blocked from viewing the webcast.
ReplyDeleteIf you get TSN you can.
ReplyDeleteI think the USA was blocked last year from watching the games too.
ReplyDeleteI remember trying to watch the games and not being able to hook up to the video feed.
i'm sure i don't even want to know what kind of ridiculous copyrights garbage is leading to this.
ReplyDeletei see that tsn is broadcasting some games, but not the u.s.a. game this saturday. instead, while the u.s. is playing latvia, tsn will be broadcasting the world midget hockey championships.
nbc has some online site that's broadcasting the q-finals, s-finals, and finals, but not the prelim or qual round games.
maybe some sports channel will pick up the u.s. game this weekend. espn-8, the ocho!, perhaps?
And maybe this is why some media outlets claim the US doesn't care about these games... WE CAN'T FREAKIN' WATCH THEM!!!
ReplyDeleteI know it's not the Stanley Cup, but I can't imagine that any of these men aren't proud to play for their country.
Backes and Oshie are money. I enjoyed watching both of them when they played for their respective WCHA schools and it was fairly obvious they would both have instant NHL success. Backes is a little more of a true power forward, but he also takes way more penalties. Both are nice additions to team USA.
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