OTTAWA, ON – The management and coaching staff of Canada’s World Cup of Hockey 2004 team named on Friday its team captain and the alternate captains for Team Canada in the World Cup of Hockey August 30-Sept. 14, 2004.

Mario Lemieux, who led Canada’s 2002 gold medal winning men’s Olympic hockey team in Salt Lake City as team captain, will again lead Canada as captain at the World Cup of Hockey 2004.

The alternate captains for Canada’s World Cup of Hockey team are:

– Adam Foote (Olympic gold, 2002)

– Jarome Iginla (Olympic gold, 2002; World Junior gold 1996; World Championship gold 1997),

– Scott Niedermayer (Olympic gold, 2002; Stanley Cup, 2003, 2000, 1995; World Championship gold, 2004; World Junior Championship gold, 1991)

– Joe Sakic (Olympic gold, 2002; Stanley Cup, 2001, 1996; World Championship gold, 1994; World Junior Championship gold, 1998)

Four of the five players chosen are captains of their respective NHL teams, and have all previously represented Canada at international competitions on gold medal winning teams, and all were members of Canada’s 2002 gold medal Men’s Olympic hockey team.

“Mario is a great leader and we are very happy to again name him as the captain of Team Canada, “said Wayne Gretzky, Executive Director, Team Canada.

“The coaching staff is pleased to make this announcement today, as we are fortunate to have an abundance of leaders on our team,” said Head Coach of Team Canada, Pat Quinn. “We are confident that these players will bring our team the necessary leadership on the ice and in our dressing room as we prepare for the World Cup.”

For each of Canada’s games, only two alternate captains will wear a letter on their jersey. The four alternate captains named today will rotate each game Canada plays at the World Cup of Hockey 2004.

17 of Canada’s 23 skaters on its World Cup of Hockey roster were either their NHL team captain or wore an alternate ‘A’ at some point during the 2003-2004 season. Seven were captain of their respective NHL team (Doan, Iginla, Lemieux, Marleau, Niedermayer, Sakic, Thornton) and 10 players (Brewer, Foote, Hannan, Heatley, Jovanovski, Lecavalier, Morrow, Redden, Regehr, Smyth) served as alternate captains.

For more information on Hockey Canada visit www.hockeycanada.ca and for information on the World Cup of Hockey visit www.wch2004.com.

For more information:

Brad Pascall

Director, Communications

Hockey Canada

403-777-4556 / 403-703-8561

bpascall@hockeycanada.ca