Thursday, May 11, 2023

Three former Sea Dogs named to IIHF World Championship rosters

The 2023 IIHF World Championship begins Friday and three former Saint John Sea Dogs will be taking part.

Forward Joe Veleno of Canada, defenseman Jakub Zboril of Czechia and goaltender Robert Mayer of Switzerland will all take part in the annual event, this year taking place in Finland and Latvia.

It's the first world championship for Veleno, who has played for Hockey Canada at the under-17, under-18 and under-20 levels. The 23-year-old appeared in 81 games with the Detroit Red Wings this season, recording nine goals and 11 assists.

The former Sea Dogs captain spent parts of three seasons in Saint John - which included a President Cup championship with Zboril in 2017.

Team Canada's first game is on Friday afternoon against host Latvia.

Zboril will also be taking part in his first world championship after the Boston Bruins were eliminated in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 26-year-old had a goal and three assists in 22 regular season games with the league-leading Bruins.

Like Veleno, Zboril has played for Czechia at every level except the senior level. He'll get that experience over the next couple weeks.

The Czechs begin the tournament on Friday afternoon against Slovakia.

The 33-year-old Mayer will be playing in his fourth world championship with Switzerland. He went 17-5-2 with a 2.31 goals against average and a .913 save percentage in 25 games with the National League's Genève-Servette HC this year.

Mayer, the third overall pick in the 2007 CHL Import Draft, spent the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons with the Sea Dogs.

The Swiss play their first game on Saturday against Slovenia.

The men's worlds take place May 12-28. All games are being broadcast by TSN.

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