Team Canadas squad competing at the Spengler Cup hockey tournament was announced on Tuesday and includes a former Prince George resident.
Former Prince George Cougars defender Joel Kwiatkowski will be on the blueline for the national team when the annual tournament starts on Dec. 26 in Davos, Switzerland, where it has been held every year since 1923.
The Spengler Cup is a tournament featuring the best players in the combined professional leagues of Europe but since 1984 the competition has allowed Canada to field a national team in recognition of all the Canadian content on those Euro rosters. Team USA has also fielded a national team at the Spengler tournament, and the American Hockey League is also an allied league, allowing its players to round out rosters for national teams.
Kwiatkowski currently plays for Fribourg-Gottron HC in the Swiss A-League. For the past five seasons he has been a key member of European teams in the KHL and Swiss-A leagues.
Kwiatkowskis NHL career included stops in Ottawa, Washington, Florida, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. He amassed 16 goals and 45 assists, plus a reputation for solid body checks. He was an all-star at both the AHL level and Western Hockey League level where he played for the Tacoma/Kelowna Rockets at first, then three standout seasons in Prince George.
The 37-year-old Kindersley, Sask., native has played for Team Canada in three past Spengler Cups, including the 2010 silver-medal team, and also wore the maple leaf for the 2009 IIHF world championship tournament in which Canada won silver.
