There was never any doubt that Zdeno Chara would be representing his country at the 2014 Winter Olympics. But for teammate Loui Eriksson, a ticket to Sochi was much less of a certainty.
Both will be headed to the Winter Games, however, as Slovakia and Sweden announced their Olympic rosters Tuesday.
Chara, competing in his third Olympics, will captain a Slovakian squad that finished fourth in 2010 and features Chicago Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa, St. Louis Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak and Minnesota Wild winger Marian Gaborik.
Sweden named Eriksson to its roster despite the fact that the winger has yet to return from his second concussion of season. He’s played in just 24 of the Bruins’ 42 games, tallying five goals and nine assists with a plus-8 rating.
Eriksson will be part of a seriously talented Swedish contingent that also includes Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg, Erik Karlsson and Henrik Lundqvist. The Swedes, who won gold at the 2006 games in Turin, will look to improve on what was a disappointing fifth-place finish four years ago in Vancouver.
See below for the full rosters for both teams.
Slovakia
Forwards: Milan Bartovic, Marian Gaborik, Michal Handzus, Marcel Hossa, Marian Hossa, Tomas Jurco, Tomas Kopecky, Tomas Marcinko, Michel Miklik, Peter Ölvecky, Richard Panik, Tomas Surovy, Tomas Tatar, Tomas Zaborsky
Defensemen: Ivan Baranka, Zdeno Chara, Dominik Granak, Martin Marincin, Andrej Meszaros, Andrej Sekera, Michal Sersen, Lubomir Visnovsky
Goalies:Â Peter Budaj, Jaroslav Halak, Jan Laco
Sweden
Forwards: Daniel Alfredsson, Nicklas Backstrom, Patrik Berglund, Jimmie Ericsson, Loui Eriksson, Johan Franzen, Carl Hagelin, Marcus Kruger, Gabriel Landeskog, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Jakob Silfverberg, Alexander Steen, Henrik Zetterberg
Defensemen: Alexander Edler, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jonathan Ericsson, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Erik Karlsson, Niklas Kronwall, Johnny Oduya, Henrik Tallinder
Goalies:Â Jhonas Enroth, Jonas Gustavsson, Henrik Lundqvist
