Hockey Canada unveiled its lineup for the Spengler Cup, and one of the veterans anchoring the defence is Burnaby native Patrick Wiercioch.
The tournament, considered an elite European club team championship that Canada has regularly submitted a squad, begins Dec. 26 in Davos, Switzerland.
It will be the 29-year-old's second straight year skating for Canada at the Spengler. Last year he posted one assist over four games, as the squad marched to the final before falling 2-1 to Finland's KalPa Kuopio.
Wiercioch, is in his second season playing on the European pro circuit. The six-foot-five defenceman skates for HC Bolzano, a northern Italian team competing in the Austrian Hockey League, while a year ago he was a member of the Kontinental Hockey League's Dinamo Minsk. He has dressed for just two games with Bolzano, producing an assist.
The former Ottawa Senator and Colorado Avalanche player -- who skated for Vancouver's Utica Comets in 2017/18, represented Canada at the 2014/15 world championships, playing in 10 games en route to a gold medal.
He has 211 NHL games under his belt, producing 12 goals and 50 assists. His last game was for the Avalanche in 2017.
Wiercioch, who was drafted in the second round of the Senators, also played one season -- 2006/07 -- for the Burnaby Express.
