STEVE YZERMAN NAMED TEAM CANADA GENERAL MANAGER FOR 2007 IIHF WORLD MEN’S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP IN MOSCOW, RUSSIA

CALGARY – Hockey Canada announced on Tuesday that Steve Yzerman will be Canada’s general manager for the 2007 IIHF World Men’s Hockey Championship in Moscow, Russia, April 27-May 13, 2007.

While this will be Yzerman’s first time in a management role with Team Canada, the recently retired NHLer has represented Canada on eight occasions in international competition during his playing career.

A native of Nepean, ON, Yzerman was an alternate captain of Canada’s gold medal-winning team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT, helping end Canada’s 50-year drought in Olympic hockey. He also won a gold medal at the 1984 Canada Cup to go along with silver medals at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, 1989 World Hockey Championship and 1985 World Hockey Championship and a bronze medal at the 1983 World Junior Hockey Championship. He also represented Canada at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan and the 1990 World Hockey Championship, where he was named the tournament’s Top Forward by the IIHF Directorate. Yzerman was named to Canada’s roster in May 2004 for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, but was unable to participate due to injury.

Yzerman is in his first season as vice-president of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings following a 22-year playing career, all with the Red Wings. He spent the last 20 seasons as the Red Wings’ captain, one of the longest-serving captains in the history of professional sports, and finished his career as the sixth-highest scorer overall in NHL history (1,755 points, all with the Red Wings).

Yzerman won three Stanley Cup champions