Sharks Well Represented At 2023 IIHF World Championship

Fifteen Canadians, 11 Americans and 18 players born outside North America played at least one game for the Sharks this season. Five of the team's top seven point-getters hailed from Europe and Erik Karlsson posted the highest-scoring season by a non-North American defenseman in NHL history. It's fair to say that Sharks fans have gotten used to having a mix of international players on the team and on the scoresheet.

The IIHF World Championship is one of the premier annual international ice hockey tournaments. The Sharks will have two players don their nation's colors at the upcoming 2023 IIHF World Championship and a large portion of the Sharks coaching staff, including Head Coach David Quinn, will lead the United States' team.

The annual tournament, co-hosted by Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia, will take place from May 12 to 28. A pool of 16 national teams have been divided into two even groups for a preliminary round robin. The top four teams from each group will earn a spot in an eight-team, best-of-one playoff bracket to crown a champion.

The participating nations include:

| Austria | Canada | | Denmark | Czechia | | Finland | Kazakhstan | | France | Latvia | | Germany | Norway | | Hungary | Slovakia | | Sweden | Slovenia | | United States | Switzerland | | GROUP A | GROUP B | | --- | --- |

Hungary and Slovenia are new participants this year after earning promotion during the 2022 Division I - Group A tournament. Italy and Great Britain were relegated to the Division I - Group A tournament based on last year's results.

The Sharks participating in the tournament are:

GERMANY - Nico Sturm

Nico Sturm is making his senior World Championship debut. Sturm will also be making his senior men's debut and will be representing Germany for the first time since the 2015 World Junior Championship, where he appeared in six games.

Sturm is one of three current NHL players on Germany's roster, along with JJ Peterka (Buffalo) and Moritz Seider (Detroit). The Germans are looking to medal at the tournament for the first time since 1953.

UNITED STATES - Henry Thrun, David Quinn, Scott Gordon, Ryan Warsofsky, Thomas Speer, Nick Gialdini

Henry Thrun, who impressed with a multi-point NHL debut and provided a steady presence on the back end for the Sharks as the season wound down, will be making his senior debut representing the red, white and blue.

The Harvard product is no stranger to USA Hockey, however. Along with a two-year stint with USA Hockey's National Team Development Program from 2017-19, Thrun took home some hardware with Team USA at the 2021 World Junior Championship (gold) and 2019 U18 World Championship (bronze).

Five Sharks coaches will be on the United States' staff:

David Quinn, Head Coach

Scott Gordon, Assistant Coach

Ryan Warsofsky, Assistant Coach

Thomas Speer, Goaltending Coach

Nick Gialdini, Video Coach

Quinn is serving as head coach of the United States Men's World Championship Team for the second straight year and previously served as head coach of the 2022 United States Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team. Quinn is well-engrained into USA Hockey's coaching ranks, with coaching experience at various international events dating back to serving as an assistant coach for the 1999 silver-medal-winning United States Women's World Championship team.

Like Quinn, Gordon has plenty of experience with Team USA, as he served as head coach for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 United States Men's World Championship teams and was an assistant coach for a World Championship team (2009), Olympic Men's team (2010) and Team USA World Cup of Hockey Team (2016).

Warsofsky, Speer and Gialdini are serving on the staff of the United States Men's World Championship Team for the first time. Speer previously served as goaltending coach of the 2018 and 2019 United States Men's U18 World Championship teams and served as USA Hockey's national goaltending coach from 2017-19.

Note: Forwards Fabian Zetterlund (Sweden) and Martin Kaut (Czechia) were initially named to their country's rosters, but their playing status for the tournament has not been confirmed.

HOW TO WATCH:

On May 12 at 6:20 a.m. PT, the United States will face off against Finland in Group A while Czechia and Slovakia also play to open the tournament. At 10:20 a.m., Sweden will play Germany, while Latvia faces off against Canada.

Games scheduled to be televised in the United States, including all the United States' matches and all playoff games, will be available to watch on NHL Network. Additional games will be available on NHL Network and ESPN+. For a full schedule, click here.