CALGARY - 'Experienced' best describes the management group for Canada's National Men's Team heading into this year's Worlds, as Sean Burke (Windsor, Ont./Montreal, NHL) and Martin Brodeur (Montreal/St. Louis, NHL) have accepted roles as co-general managers of the team that will represent the nation at the 2018 IIHF World Championship in Copenhagen and Herning, Denmark, May 4-20.

Burke and Brodeur were part of Canada's National Men's Team management group that oversaw the evaluation process - which included an extended schedule of events from August to December 2017 - and the eventual Canada's Olympic Men's Hockey Team that captured bronze in PyeongChang in February. They will once again be working alongside Hockey Canada's vice-president of hockey operations and men's national teams, Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C.), as the team's management group.

"I can't say enough about the valuable roles Sean and Marty played on our Olympic team's management group, and the value they bring as we now turn our attention to the World Championship," said Tom Renney, chief executive officer, Hockey Canada. "As an organization, to see former players who have represented us on the world stage come back and contribute to our international success at the management level reinforces just how special it is to be part of Team Canada. It also speaks to the character of the players we select to be part of the program that they want to give back to the national team beyond their playing careers. Their experiences also lend themselves to creating the best environment for our coaches and players to thrive and succeed, because they have been there and know what it takes to be successful."

Burke, a professional scout with the Montreal Canadiens, has international experience in management with Canada's National Men's Team that includes Olympic bronze as general manager of the 2018 Men's Olympic Team, a silver medal as assistant general manager at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, two Spengler Cup championships as general manager of the 2016 and 2017 teams, and two IIHF World Championship gold medals, as director of player development in 2016, and as part of the management group in 2015. He was also general manager of the 2016 Deutschland Cup. Burke is Canada's all-time goaltending leader in games played (35), minutes played (1,991), and wins (21) at the IIHF World Championship - an event at which he won two gold and two silver medals in five appearances as a player. A two-time Olympian (1988, 1992), Burke won silver at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France, and is an IIHF World Junior Championship silver-medallist from 1986 in Hamilton, Ont.

Brodeur transitioned from his NHL playing career into management during the 2014-15 season where he played seven games with the St. Louis Blues and was special assistant to the general manager. He was named assistant general manager of the Blues in advance of the 2015-16 season, and won a bronze medal at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games as part of Canada's Olympic Men's Hockey Team's management group. A three-time Stanley Cup champion, his NHL playing career also saw him awarded the Vezina Trophy four times as the league's best goaltender, and Brodeur is also a Calder Trophy winner and took home the Jennings Trophy five times. Brodeur represented Canada in international competition eight times, having won the World Cup of Hockey in 2004, two Olympic gold medals (2002, 2010), and two silver medals in IIHF World Championship competition (1996, 2005).

Salmond has been with Hockey Canada since 2001, serving in his current position of vice-president of hockey operations and national teams since June 2014. In this position, Salmond oversees all operations of Canada's national men's teams for the Olympic Winter Games, IIHF World Championship, IIHF World Junior Championship, and IIHF U18 World Championship, as well as the sledge hockey program at the Paralympic Winter Games and IPC World Para Hockey Championship.

Canada opens the 2018 IIHF World Championship in Herning, Denmark, at the Jyske Bank Boxen arena against the United States on Friday, May 4, with preliminary-round games scheduled through Tuesday, May 15 that will see them also face off against host Denmark, Finland, Germany, Korea, Latvia, and Norway. The bronze- and gold-medal games will take place on Sunday, May 20.

TSN and RDS, Hockey Canada's official broadcast partners, will carry 64 and 31 games respectively.

Team Canada was undefeated at the 2015 IIHF World Championship in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic, and defended its gold medal at the 2016 IIHF World Championship in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. The team took home silver in 2017, falling to Sweden in the gold-medal game in Cologne, Germany.

Since 1931, Canada was won the world championship 20 times - not counting the years when Olympic Winter Games champions were also considered world champion. The country has also collected 12 silver medals and six bronze in that timespan.

For more information on Canada's National Men's Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.