Early Wednesday morning, the NHL began the process of revealing the players that will be competing in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and to the surprise of no one, the Chicago Blackhawks will be well represented at the tournament in Toronto this fall.
Madhouse Enforcer will be providing updates throughout the day as the NHL reveals the first 16 players for each of the eight countries that will contest the World Cup tournament, which will take place in late September at the Air Canada Center in Toronto.
3:30 p.m.: The rest of Europe will also field a team in the World Cup, and the Blackhawks got another representative onto that team, as Marian Hossa was named to Team Europe.
Hossa, who plays internationally for Slovakia in Olympic play, will join players like Zdeno Chara and Anze Kopitar on the squad, which compiled players from the European countries that didn't qualify to play in the World Cup on their own.
12:10 p.m.: Team Sweden was supposed to release their roster at 11:30 a.m. Central time, but news finally trickled out about 40 minutes behind schedule.
The Swedish team is loaded with talent at just about every position, and they will have a Blackhawks player on their blue line, as Niklas Hjalmarsson was named to their preliminary 16-man roster.
Hjalmarsson will be joined by plenty of other talented blue liners, including Ottawa Senators standout Erik Karlsson, Tampa Bay Lightning star Victor Hedman, and Arizona Coyotes blue line stalwart Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
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The Swedes are equally loaded upfront, with players like Nicklas Backstrom, Fillip Forsberg, and Henrik Zetterberg named among the teams forwards.
10:15 a.m.: The next team up on the schedule for revealing their roster has done so, with the Czech Republic picking 14 NHL players and two KHL standouts.
While players like David Krejci, Jakub Voracek, and Petr Mrazek will represent the country in Toronto, there isn't a Blackhawks player in the group. Michal Rozsival and Tomas Fleischmann were among the possible players for the squad, but neither was picked in the initial batch (although they could be added before the event takes place).
Another surprising omission: Jaromir Jagr. The veteran forward wasn't on the list, and one would have to assume that he asked not to play, as he's likely the best player to ever emerge from that country.
There is one former Blackhawks player on the list, as Michael Frolik, winner of the 2013 Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks, will be involved in the event.
3:15 a.m.: Team Finland has named the first 16 players to their roster for the event, and the Blackhawks will have a representative on this Scandanavian squad at the World Cup, as 21-year old forward Teuvo Teravainen will join the team in Toronto.
Teravainen will be joined by a host of other star players, including Pekka Rinne, Tuukka Rask, Valtteri Filppula, and Mikael Granlund.
2:00 a.m.: Team Russia was the first team to announce the first 16 players on their roster. Players like Alex Ovechkin and Vladimir Tarasenko were among those named, and the Blackhawks ended up with two representatives on the team.
Artem Anisimov, who joined the Hawks before the 2015-16 season in the trade that sent Brandon Saad to Columbus, was named to the team, as was rookie sensation Artemi Panarin, who leads all NHL rookies in scoring and has formed a dynamic duo with American star Patrick Kane.
