Published: 22 April, 2009, 14:31
Edited: 22 April, 2009, 14:31
Alexey Morozov was named the captain of the Russian hockey team for the World Championships in Switzerland, Russia’s coach Vyacheslav Bykov announced on Wednesday.
Morozov was Russian captain at the previous world championship, which he and his teammates won, defeating hosts Canada 5-4 in an epic final.
The forward showed some great hockey this season, as his AK Bars claimed the first ever KHL title. And it was Morozov who delivered the golden goal in the decisive 7th game of the final series against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. He scored 32 goals in the regular season, and added 8 more in the playoffs.
Type your cut contents here.He used to play in the NHL for Pittsburgh, together with Mario Lemieux from 1997-2002. During his seven seasons with the Penguins totaling 451 games, Morozov scored 84 goals and 219 points.
Morozov’s assistants will be 32-year-old Oleg Tverdovsky from Salavat Yulaev, and 26-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Thrashers. Both will wear the letter ‘A’ on their uniform for the first time.
The 73rd championship will be held between April 24 and May 10 2009 in Zürich and Berne.
Hosts Switzerland, France and Germany will accompany Vyacheslav Bykov’s men in Group B.