Just days before the 2012 IIHF World Championship kicks off on May 4 in Finland and Sweden, the two countries who met in last year's gold-medal game, the rosters for each team were officially released. As is the case every year, many of the NHL's biggest stars dot the national-team lineups.

While Belarus, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Norway will not feature a single player currently on an NHL roster, the remaining 12 countries have at least some NHL representation. Surprisingly, the defending champion and top-ranked Finns are not among the more star-studded teams. They will have Kari Lehtonen of the Dallas Stars in goal but won't feature a single NHL player on their blue line. Up front, they'll rely on team captain Mikko Koivu (Minnesota) and forward Jussi Jokinen (Carolina). Top prospect Mikael Granlund, who starred for the Finns last year, is also on the roster.

Sweden, last year's runner-up, will be Red Wings-heavy with Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, and Jonathan Ericsson on the roster. The Swedes also have some of the NHL's top young talent in Loui Eriksson (Stars), Gabriel Landeskog (Avalanche), Victor Hedman (Lightning) and Viktor Stalberg (Blackhawks). After being led last year by Swedish Elite League goaltender Viktor Fasth, the Swedes will rely on Buffalo's Jhonas Enroth this year.

Team USA and Canada will be made up almost entirely of NHL talent. Considering both teams bowed out in the quarterfinals last year, the key will be for Canadian coach Brent Sutter and American coach Scott Gordon to make that talent gel. The Americans will rely on goaltender Jimmy Howard (Red Wings) and veteran defensemen Jack Johnson (Blue Jackets) and Alex Goligoski (Stars), as well as youngsters Cam Fowler (Ducks) and Justin Faulk (Hurricanes). Up front, the United States will be led by 30-goal scorers Bobby Ryan (Ducks) and Max Pacioretty (Canadiens) as well as center Paul Stastny (Avalanche), who starred for the USA at the 2007 tournament.

Like year's past, Canada will feature a number of NHL All-Stars, including goaltender Cam Ward ('Canes), defenseman Duncan Keith (Blackhawks) and Dion Phaneuf (Maple Leafs), and forwards Jamie Benn (Stars), Jordan Eberle (Oilers), Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (Ducks), Jeff Skinner (Hurricanes) and John Tavares (Islanders) -- who led Team Canada in scoring last year. The key for Canada could be Ward, who went 5-0 with a 2.20 goals against average in leading Canada to the 2007 championship. The following year, he went 4-1 as Canada finished second behind Russia.

In the highest-scoring bronze-medal game in tournament history, the Czechs topped Russia 7-4 last year. While a number of players from that game, including Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Alex Ovechkin, will not be participating, the Czechs and Russians still feature standout NHL talent. The Czechs will be led by David Krejci (Bruins), Michael Frolik (Blackhawks), Ales Hemsky (Oilers), Tomas Plekanec (Canadiens) and Jiri Tlusty (Hurricanes). The Russians, meanwhile, will be led by two of the world's best players in Evgeni Malkin (Penguins) and Pavel Datsyuk (Red Wings). With Semyon Varlamov (Avalanche) in net and NHLers Alexander Burmistrov (Jets) and Nikolai Kulemin (Maple Leafs) as well as top prospect Evgeni Kuznetsov up front, Russia will look to improve on last year's fourth-place finish.

Though it's the birthplace of some of the world's finest players, Slovakia will only feature two NHL players in Tomas Kopecky (Panthers) and Andrej Sekera (Sabres). Florida's Marcel Goc will play for Germany; Denmark will have Jannik Hansen (Canucks), Philip Larsen (Stars), Frans Nielsen (Islanders) and Lars Eller (Canadiens), while defensemen Luca Sbisa (Ducks) and Mark Streit (Islanders) will play for Switzerland.



Official 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship schedule provided by IIHF.com



GROUPS

HELSINKI: STOCKHOLM: Finland Russia Canada Sweden USA Czech Republic Switzerland Germany Slovakia Norway Belarus Latvia France Denmark Kazakhstan Italy

Date Game Time City Home Team Away Team Fri, May 4 1 11:15/12:15 Helsinki USA vs. France Fri, May 4 2 12:15/13:15 Stockholm German vs. Italy Fri, May 4 3 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Canada vs. Slovakia Fri, May 4 4 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Czech Rep. vs. Denmark Fri, May 4 5 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Belarus vs. Finland Fri, May 4 6 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Sweden vs. Norway Sat, May 5 7 14:00/15:00 Helsinki Switzerland vs. Kazakhstan Sat, May 5 8 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Latvia vs. Russia Sat, May 5 9 18:00/19:00 Helsinki Canada vs. USA Sat, May 5 10 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Sweden vs. Czech Rep. Sun, May 6 11 11:15/12:15 Helsinki France vs. Kazakhstan Sun, May 6 12 12:15/13:15 Stockholm Denmark vs. Italy Sun, May 6 13 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Finland vs. Slovakia Sun, May 6 14 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Russia vs. Norway Sun, May 6 15 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Switzerland vs. Belarus Sun, May 6 16 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Germany vs. Latvia Mon, May 7 17 15:15/16:15 Helsinki France vs. Canada Mon, May 7 18 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Czech Rep. vs. Norway Mon, May 7 19 19:15/20:15 Helsinki USA vs. Slovakia Mon, May 7 20 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Denmark vs. Sweden Tue, May 8 21 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Belarus vs. Kazakhstan Tue, May 8 22 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Latvia vs. Italy Tue, May 8 23 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Finland vs. Switzerland Tue, May 8 24 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Russia vs. Germany Wed, May 9 25 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Slovakia vs. Kazakhstan Wed, May 9 26 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Norway vs. Italy Wed, May 9 27 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Canada vs. Switzerland Wed, May 9 28 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Sweden vs. Germany Thu, May 10 29 15:15/16:15 Helsinki USA vs. Belarus Thu, May 10 30 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Denmark vs. Russia Thu, May 10 31 19:15/20:15 Helsinki France vs. Finland Thu, May 10 32 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Czech Rep. vs. Latvia Fri, May 11 33 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Kazakhstan vs. USA Fri, May 11 34 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Italy vs. Czech Rep. Fri, May 11 35 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Finland vs. Canada Fri, May 11 36 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Russia vs. Sweden Sat, May 12 37 11:15/12:15 Helsinki Slovakia vs. Belarus Sat, May 12 38 12:15/13:15 Stockholm Norway vs. Latvia Sat, May 12 39 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Switzerland vs. France Sat, May 12 40 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Germany vs. Denmark Sat, May 12 41 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Kazakhstan vs. Canada Sat, May 12 42 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Italy vs. Sweden Sun, May 13 43 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Finland vs. USA Sun, May 13 44 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Russia vs. Czech Rep. Sun, May 13 45 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Sitzerland vs. Slovakia Sun, May 13 46 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Germany vs. Norway Mon, May 14 47 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Belarus vs. France Mon, May 14 48 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Latvia vs. Denmark Mon, May 14 49 19:15/20:15 Helsinki Kazakhstan vs. Finland Mon, May 14 50 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Italy vs. Russia Tue, May 15 51 11:15/12:15 Helsinki Canada vs. Belarus Tue, May 15 52 12:15/13:15 Stockholm Norway vs. Denmark Tue, May 15 53 15:15/16:15 Helsinki Slovakia vs. France Tue, May 15 54 16:15/17:15 Stockholm Czech Rep. vs. Germany Tue, May 15 55 19:15/20:15 Helsinki USA vs. Switzerland Tue, May 15 56 20:15/21:15 Stockholm Sweden vs. Latvia

Date Game Time City Thu, May 17 57 12:00/13:00 Helsinki Thu, May 17 58 14:45/15:45 Stockholm Thu, May 17 59 17:30/18:30 Helsinki Thu, May 17 60 20:15/21:15 Stockholm

Date Game Time City SAT, May 19 61 13:30/14:30 Helsinki SAT, May 19 62 17:30/18:30 Helsinki

Date Game Time City SUN, May 20 63 15:00/16:00 Helsinki

Date Game Time City SUN, May 20 64 19:30/20:30 Helsinki

The 16 teams are divided into two groups for the Preliminary Round: