Canucks at the World Championship

It's go time in Denmark.
The 2018 IIHF World Championship kicks off this weekend in Copenhagen and Herning, with a handful of Canucks taking part.

Team Canada features forward Bo Horvat and goaltender Michael DiPietro, a Canucks 2017 draftee, while Team Sweden features goalie Anders Nilsson and Vancouver's fifth overall pick from the 2017 draft, forward Elias Pettersson.

This will be Horvat's fourth time representing Canada and first since 2014. The forward won gold at the 2012 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, before placing fourth at the 2014 IIHF U20 Championships.
At the Canucks year-end media availability, Horvat revealed he got the call in late March, but didn't want to take any attention away from the Sedins in their final NHL games.
"Just to wear the Canadian sweater and represent your country that way, it's going to be an awesome experience and I'm looking forward to it."

In net Team Canada will be lead by NHLers Darcy Kuemper and Curtis McElhinney, with prospect Michael DiPietro serving as third goalie. This will be the 18-year-old's first time on the national team, but he's no stranger to wearing the red and white. The Windsor Spitfires tender has taken part in four Team Canada sanctioned events: 2015 Canada Winter Games, 2015 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, 2017 National Junior Team Sport Chek Summer Development Camp and 2017 National Junior Team Sport Chek Selection Camp.
If called upon DiPietro is ready to rock.
"It's definitely intimidating at first," said DiPietro, during a video on the Spitfires website. "I have a lot of butterflies in my stomach, it's kind of crazy I'll be practicing with NHL stars and I've got to hold my own. It's definitely an honour to make the team and to get the opportunity to go over to Europe and just practice and get to know the guys. It'll be a great learning experience for myself."
Canada's first game is Friday, May 4th, against the United States, in Group B action. Canada will also face off against the host Danes, Finland, Germany, South Korea, Latvia, and Norway during preliminary-round games, wrapping up on May 15.

Team Sweden is the only other squad Canucks fans will have a vested interest in, especially with Elias Pettersson making his national team debut.
The 19-year-old played for Sweden at the World Junior Championships this past year, winning silver. Pettersson is coming off the most impressive rookie season in Swedish Hockey League history and the hockey world is keen to see how the forward does on the international stage. Early reports from Team Sweden practices have him lined up alongside Mikael Backlund and Gustav Nyquist on the team's intriguing second trio.

In net Anders Nilsson leads the charge for Tre Kronor, backed by Filip Gustavsson and Magnus Hellberg. It's unclear how games will be split between the three, but Gustavsson and Hellberg have a combined four NHL games, to 105 for Nilsson, so you'd expect him to carry the load.
This will be Nilsson's third time playing for Sweden at the World Championships; in 2014 he won six of nine games in a bronze medal finish, before winning one of three starts a year later at the 2015 Worlds. Nilsson was also part of Team Sweden's third place squad at 2010 at the World Junior Championships.
Sweden kicks off action Friday, May 4th, versus Belarus. Their Group A opponents include Austria, Czech Republic, France, Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland.