Thrashers Well Represented At World Championship
Eight roster players and one prospect representing countries in Switzerland
Eight Thrashers and a Thrashers draftee suited up for their countries in the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland and none of them had a bigger tournament than Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk, who was named the tournament's top forward, MVP, and named to the all-star team as he led Russia to a second straight gold medal. Kovalchuk finished second in tournament scoring with five goals and nine assists in nine games. Also winning gold was Thrashers 2000 draft pick Ilya Nikulin, who manned Russia's blueline. Russia repeated as world champions by beating Colby Armstrong and Team Canada in the final. Armstrong also played for Canada in the 2007 World Championship where he scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal game. Sweden defeated the American squad in the bronze medal game, denying Ron Hainsey, Zach Bogosian and Colin Stuart medals. Bogosian and Stuart saw minimal ice time as the tournament progressed but Hainsey was one of the top defensemen in the tournament, logging quality ice-time and scoring six points while serving as an alternate captain. Sweden took home the bronze without the aid of Thrashers defenseman Toby Enstrom who suffered a facial injury in the second game of the tournament.
Other Thrashers competing in Switzerland were defensemen Anssi Salmela (Finland) and Boris Valabik (Slovakia). When it was all said and done, more than one third of the Thrashers roster participated in the tournament, including five of the seven defensemen who finished the season in Atlanta.
USA (Roster PDF): Zach Bogosian, Ron Hainsey, Colin Stuart Final Player Stats
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