Six Calgary Flames Representatives to Play in IIHF World Championship
The Calgary Flames will be well represented at the IIHF World Championship.
The 2021 IIHF World Championships kick off on May 21st and with the Calgary Flames’ Playoff chances extinguished, a few of their current players and prospects will be joining their national teams to represent their countries on a global stage.
Based on the roster announcements, six Flames players are set to compete at the tournament, including everyday players Andrew Mangiapane and Dillon Dube. There’s a lot of talent to look out for, especially with the way they have been performing in the most recent season.
A look at the Calgary Flames players set to compete in the 2021 IIHF World Championships
Dillon Dube – Team Canada
Dube is finishing up his third season in the NHL. In recent games, he has been playing alongside Milan Lucic and Derek Ryan. He was also getting opportunities with Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk on the second-line at the beginning of the season. In the 48 games he’s played this season so far, he has put up 10 goals and nine assists for a total of 19 points. Dube has represented his country before in 2017 and 2018 when he played in the World Junior U-20 Championships.
Andrew Mangiapane – Team Canada
Mangiapane has had a consistent season for the Flames, coming very close to his production numbers from last year, despite the shorter season. In the 2019-20 season he got up to 32 points with 17 goals and 15 assists. In this season through 53 games, he has earned 28 points with 14 goals and 14 assists. He still has three games to go to match or exceed last season’s numbers too. Mangiapane has not represented Canada in a tournament before so the experience this summer is likely going to be quite an exciting one for him, especially being alongside his current teammate.
Nikita Nesterov – Team Russia
Nikita Nesterov will be joining his home country of Russia for the World Championships. He is finishing up his first season with the Flames after playing in the KHL for the last three seasons. He has played in 37 games this year so far, putting up four assists. He has represented Russia on three other occasions, playing in the U-20 World Junior Championships in 2012 and 2013 and the Russian Olympic team in 2018.
Connor Mackey – Team USA
Connor Mackey made the jump right to the NHL following his collegiate career at Minnesota State U – Mankato. He was signed to an Entry-Level contract last March and was assigned to the Flames Taxi Squad at the beginning of the season. He played his first NHL game on February 13th against the Vancouver Canucks.
He has played three games with the Flames so far this season where he put up his first NHL point with an assist. He spent the majority of the season with the Stockton Heat where he was an established offensive defenseman finishing fourth in team scoring with three goals and 13 assists. This will be Mackey’s first time representing his country on the global stage.
Emilio Pettersen – Team Norway
Emilio Pettersen has already joined the Norwegian team, flying over shortly after the completion of his season with the Heat. He has been playing exhibition games in Denmark against the Swedish and Danish national teams. Pettersen was drafted by the Flames in the 6th Round in 2018 and played his first professional season this year. With the Stockton Heat he played 29 of their 30 games and put up six goals and eight assists for a total of 14 points. This is also Pettersen’s first time competing on the international stage.
Ilya Solovyov – Team Belarus
Ilya Solovyov is a new name in the Flames organization having been drafted by the team in the Seventh Round in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. The young defensemen spent the season playing in the KHL where he put up nine points in 41 games. Solovyov has played in a variety of youth tournaments with Belarus since 2016 and will be a fresh face for Flames fans to keep an eye on in this upcoming tournament.
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There are no other Calgary Flames prospects committed to IIHF teams at this point, but even with six to watch, that is enough to keep fans of the team occupied. The tournament kicks off on May 21st in Latvia with Belarus and Canada each getting opening day games. Belarus will face Slovakia and Canada will face Latvia.