Countries submit final Olympic rosters

VANCOUVER -- Final rosters for the 2010 Olympic hockey tournament were handed in Monday afternoon and there were several changes, although most of the major countries stood relatively true to the provisional rosters submitted to the International Ice Hockey Federation two months ago.

The rosters submitted at today's Directorate Meeting are final and can not be changed for any reason. There are no injury replacements once the official 20+3 roster is submitted.
The host Canadians did not make any changes after Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf proved he was healthy by scoring two goals and two assists Sunday against Edmonton in his first game back after missing two games with a high-ankle sprain.

Philadelphia's Jeff Carter, who was in Vancouver in case Getzlaf could not go, was sent home Monday morning.

Team Switzerland goalie Jonas Hiller, Getzlaf's teammate in Anaheim, was happy to see Getzlaf make it back from injury, but he knows that is bad news for his Swiss team and the rest of Group A.

"He's a great player," Hiller said Monday afternoon. "He showed it again last night. I probably wish he wouldn't be here. The way he played last night, he can be a big factor in this tournament."

Other medal contenders also made minor changes to the provisional rosters submitted in late December.

Team Sweden, the defending gold medalist, pulled Thomas Holmstrom off the roster after he was injured late last week, replacing him with Detroit teammate Johan Franzen, who returned from major knee surgery last week.

The Americans, meanwhile, replaced two defensemen last week. Both New Jersey's Paul Martin and Toronto's Mike Komisarek could not participate because of upper-body injuries. They were replaced on the blue line by Carolina's Tim Gleason and Anaheim's Ryan Whitney.

Slovakia only registered 17 players at the directorate meeting, but Chicago's Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers and Boston's Miroslav Satan -- all hurt in the past week -- are all on their final list. The Slovakians must add six final players by 10 a.m. Tuesday.
 
Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia made no changes from their preliminary roster.
But several smaller countries made drastic changes -- none more so than the Belarusians, who made six alterations because of injury.

NHLers Andrei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovsky are the most notable absences. They are joined by Andrei Antonov, Andrei Bashko, Vadim Sushko and Alexander Syrei. All six have been replaced by non-NHL players. Sergei Kolosov, Andrei Karev, Alexander Makritsky, Alexander Ryadinsky, Konstantin Zakharov and Dmitri Meleshko are the replacements.

Kolosov, a defenseman, is a prospect of the Detroit Red Wings, playing for Grand Rapids in the American Hockey League. Zakharov, meanwhile, was a third round pick of the Blues in 2003, who last played in North America in 2007 with the Peoria Rivermen.

Germany made three changes to its roster. Canadian-born defender Jason Holland was replaced by Sven Butenschon, a former NHLer now playing for Mannheim in the DEL. Forwards Alexander Barta and Philip Gogulla were replaced by Buffalo Sabre Jochen Hecht and Kai Hospelt.

Norway replaced injured forward Morten Ask with Jonas Andersen, who plays for Sparta Sarpsborg.