The 39-year-old Bellemare will appear at the World Cup for the eleventh time, but for the first time since the home championship in Paris in 2017. He last represented France in the 2021/22 season at the Olympic qualifiers. In 2016, he took part in the World Cup in Toronto and reached the final with the Selection of Europe.
He played 40 games for the Kraken this season and scored seven points on four goals and three assists. In 10 years in the NHL, he has 700 games and 138 points for 64 goals and 74 assists for Philadelphia, Vegas, Colorado and Tampa Bay. In 85 playoff games, he scored 15 points on five hits and 10 assists.
Goalkeeper Julian Junca and striker Louis Boudon also played in North America this season. Junca caught two games in the lower AHL for Chicago and was a regular with Tulsa in the ECHL. Boudon scored one goal in 10 games in the AHL for the Iowa Wild and played mostly in the ECHL for the Iowa Heartlanders.
Auvita and Stéphane Da Costa from Yekaterinburg from the KHL also have NHL experience. Auvitu played in 47 duels for Ottawa. Da Costa played 58 games for New Jersey and Edmonton.
Nomination of France
Goalkeepers: Quentin Papillon (Bordeaux), Sebastian Ylönen (Cergy), Julian Junca (Chicago Wolves/AHL),
defenders: Enzo Cantagallo, Florian Chakiachvili (both Rouen), Pierre Crinon (Grenoble), Vincent Llorca (Angers), Thomas Thiry (Ajoie), Yohann Auvitu (Vítkovice/CZ), Hugo Gallet (KalPa Kuopio/Fin.), Enzo Guebey (Davos/Switzerland),
forwards: Aurélien Dair, Sacha Treille (both Grenoble), Baptiste Bruche (Bordeaux), Anthony Rech (Rouen), Nicolas Ritz (Angers), Tomas Simonsen (Amiens), Valentin Claireaux (Vítkovice/CZ), Pierre-Édouard Bellemare (Seattle /NHL), Charles Bertrand (Ingolstad/Germany), Louis Boudon (Iowa Wild/AHL, Iowa Heartlanders/ECHL), Kevin Bozon (Ajoie), Tim Bozon (Lausanne/Switzerland), Stéphane Da Costa (Yekaterinburg/KHL) , Jordann Perret (Hradec Králové/CZ).
Thirty-six-year-old French captain Sacha Treille from Grenoble, who is already preparing for his fifteenth championship and fourteenth among the elite, played for Kladno, Sparta and Pardubice. His seven years older brother Yorick, a former player of Vítkovice, Sparta and Chomutov, is assistant coach to Philippe Bozon.
The 57-year-old former striker Bozon, a member of the IIHF Hall of Fame, has sons Tim and Kévin in the team, just like last year. Thirty-year-old Tim from Lausanne was drafted by Montreal in the third round in 2012, but he did not play in the NHL. Two years younger, Kévin also worked in Switzerland in Ajoie.
Defender Enzo Cantagallo from Rouen and forwards Aurélien Dair from Grenoble, Baptiste Bruche from Bordeaux and Tomas Simonsen from Amiens will make their debuts at the major international event. Auvitu, Bellemare and Da Costa were also absent from last year’s WC in Tampere.
The French beat Italy 3:2 in the warm-up and then lost to them 2:3. They lost to Switzerland 0:2 and 2:3 in overtime. They defeated the Slovenians 2:1 in overtime and subsequently lost to them 0:3. They beat Germany 5-3 and then lost 3-4 in overtime.
They will enter the tournament against Kazakhstan on Saturday at 12:20 p.m. In other matches of the basic group in Ostrava, they will face Latvia, Poland, USA, Slovakia, Sweden and Germany.
Tags: hockey Bellemare Seattle compatriots Czech Republic nominated France
