For the first time in five years, Austria will play in the IIHF World Championship with a full-time NHL player on its roster. That player is 22-year-old center Marco Rossi, who is coming off a campaign where he played all 82 games for the Minnesota Wild, recording 21 goals and 19 assists.

Having recently arrived in Vienna, Rossi spoke to Franz Berger of Austrian hockey website puckfans.at.

“Twenty goals is very good, but I’m someone who says it could have been more,” Rossi said about his season. “I'm not happy with 20, I could have scored more, but I took a big step and became stronger and faster, but you can never be too strong or too fast. And I want to improve my shot.

“In addition, GM Bill Guerin’s trust in me also gave me an extra boost of motivation. Last year's pendulum between the NHL and the AHL had an additional impact on me and I was able to develop there, which Guerin also saw favorably."

Guerin rewarded Rossi with a new three-year contract, which puts him in a good frame of mind as he turns his attention toward the national team.

Last year, Rossi led the Austrian team with six points. This year, he wants to continue to be a team leader but he knows he can’t do it alone.

“I have gained more experience and can therefore pass on more, but I try not to put too much pressure on myself. I’m just one player on the team. We need all 20 players,” he said. “We are a very fast team and have players who make good decisions. We have a very balanced team and if everyone does their job, we can have a positive outcome.”

Looking at the opposition, he said: “We have difficult games, but also games that we have to win, like against Great Britain and Norway. The start against Denmark is certainly important. If we win that game – and we can win it – it will take some of the pressure off going into the next games.”

Before heading to Prague, the Austrians host Canada in a pre-tournament game in Austria on Sunday. The Canadian team is coached by André Tourigny, who was Rossi’s junior coach with the Ottawa 67’s.

“He's a great guy. It's important to him that you feel comfortable as a player, everyone loves playing for him,” said Rossi said of his former coach. “The fact that he was a coach there was a very big reason why I went to Canada.”