is heading to Switzerland to represent his country at the men鈥檚 world hockey championships, Hockey Canada announced on Tuesday.
This will mark the Pittsburgh Penguins captain鈥檚 fourth career appearance at the international tournament, and second in consecutive years. Crosby was available after the in Game 6 of the first round of the NHL playoffs two weeks ago.
The 38-year-old Crosby鈥檚 addition came at the same time Hockey Canada announced New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal will not compete as a precaution because of an injury.
Philadelphia鈥檚 Porter Martone and New Jersey鈥檚 Dawson Mercer were added to the roster hours before the announcement of Crosby in and Barzal out was made.
It was not immediately clear if Crosby would take over as captain for San Jose鈥檚 Macklin Celebrini, who was initially expected to wear the 鈥淐.鈥�
Crosby most recently captained Canada鈥檚 silver medal-winning team at the Milan Cortina Games in February. He was unable to finish the tournament , which sidelined him for nearly a month.
From Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, Crosby is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation鈥檚 elite 鈥淭riple Gold鈥� club in having won Olympic and world championship gold medals, and a Stanley Cup.
He’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist and most memorably scored the championship-clinching overtime goal in Canada’s 3-2 win over the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Crosby is a three-time Cup champion with Pittsburgh, and was a member of Canada’s gold medal world championship team in 2015.
Canada opens the 17-day, 16-nation tournament facing Sweden on Friday.
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