Team World Unleashes Roster
www.VHLHockeyNews.com
From their training complex in Tokyo, Terence Fong, the general manager for the Team World selection announced his starting roster, headlined by superstar Anatoli Zhumbayev, slotted to be the team captain.
Alongside Zhumbayev, the forwards selected for the tournament are Evgeny Namestnikov, Keiji Toriyama, Xin Xie Xiao, Kai Randal, Konstantin Azhishchenkov.
The defensemen named to the roster were Nikita Lebedev, Edwin Encarnacion and Andre Zadorov.
Mikhail Mikhailovich was also named to the roster as an alternate, he has been approached by the coaching staff to slot into the tournament as a defender.
No goalie has been named to the roster as of yet. Terence Fong is said to be gauging his options still on that matter.
"I would like to congratulate all the players invited to the team today. The formation of this team is an important step in the development of the World Cup program and a key feature in international recognition of hockey around the globe. While we may not have as much of a star studded roster as the traditional markets like USA and Canada, I think our team will be able to compete on an even level with them. I am a firm believer that team tactics play an important role in a winning team, it isn't just about having the best players on the ice. There has to be a plan and everyone has to buy into the plan to reach their full potential. Some GMs historically have the best teams on paper but they just never lived up to those expectations because they didn't know how to properly utilize them and manage their ice time. I expect players to play the roles we want them to play and stick to the game plan." - Terence Fong, Team World GM
Terence Fong went on to explain a few things on his ideal team dynamics.
"We will be a team that is hard to play against and we will have speed up and down the lineup. We have some of big bodies and we plan to use them to our advantage. As far as offense goes, we a plethora of players that are able to score and put up points so I don't think that will be an issue. If we play a good team game and keep possession of the puck, then the defense and goaltending will be easier to deal with."
A contending point was that no starting goaltender had been named yet and Fong touched on it a bit.
"We haven't announced a starting goaltender because simply put, we haven't decided yet. It still in progress and we will be looking towards quickly deciding who it will be. It is a tough job but I think we have an idea of who we want to start between the pipes for us sofar, but we'll keep you all updated on that later on, thank you."
On hearing the announcement of him leading Team World in the tournament, Anatoli Zhumbayev was initiatially flabbergasted but did manage a few words after a few moments.
"I am honoured to wear the C. Any of these great players have the leadership skills to lead us to glory and I am appreciative and excited to be the one to lead us. This team has had strong round robins in the past two tournaments, only to fall short in the medal round. We WILL bring a medal home this time and hopefully it is one of those shiny gold ones!" - Anatoli Zhumbayev, Toronto Legion
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