Faksa, Klingberg to represent Stars at 2019 World Championship

Two Dallas Stars will play at the 2019 IIHF World Championship in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia. Defenseman John Klingberg is on his way to join Sweden and center Radek Faksa arrived for the Czech Republic over the weekend.
Klingberg will be playing at Worlds for the fourth time in the last five years. He helped Sweden win the gold medal in both 2017 and 2018 and was named the tournament's best defenseman in 2018. Klingberg has tallied 18 points (five goals, 13 assists) in 27 games for Sweden during World Championship play.

Klingberg is expected to play his first game on Thursday against Austria as the Swedes continue their quest for their first three-peat at the tournament. Klingberg and Arizona defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson are the only two players on Sweden's current roster that were members of the last two gold medal teams.
"It's big, of course," Klingberg told expressen.se. "A chance to do something no one else has done in Swedish hockey. I go to Bratislava to win my third straight World Championship gold. It will be fun to get this chance."
This will be the third time Faksa has played for the Czechs at the World Championship. Faksa has recorded three assists in 11 career games at the tournament.
The Czechs were hoping to get Faksa into a game over the weekend, but that plan hit a snag. The Stars wanted to give Faksa a little time to rest due to an injury, so the earliest he will play is Thursday when the Czechs take on Latvia.
The World Championship, which features teams from 16 countries, began preliminary round play Friday and runs through May 26. For a complete schedule of games, including NHL Network broadcast information,
click here
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.