LA Kings' centerman Philip Danault is representing the Maple Leaf at the IIHL World Championships being jointly held in Denmark and Sweden. This marks the first time that the 32-year-old Victoriaville, Quebec native has suited up for Team Canada since the 2013 World Junior Championships.
After two games in the preliminary round, the Canadians are a perfect 2-0-0-0, with regulation wins over Slovenia and Latvia. Danault has played in both games and made a smooth setup from the backhand to assist on Barrett Hayton's third period goal to round out the scoring in Canada's 7-1 rout of Latvia.
Danault finds himself part of a loaded Team Canada squad, featuring the likes of Nate MacKinnon, Sydney Crosby, and Marc-Andre Fleury, just to name a few. "Nate Dogg" was a teammate of Danault's on the 2013 World Juniors team that failed to bring home any hardware that year, losing to Team Russia 6-5 in overtime in the bronze medal game.
Danault is coming off a solid performance in the first round series lost to the Edmonton Oilers, recording two goals and six assists in six games, including scoring the late game winner in Game 1. Helping his native land take home a gold medal this spring at the Worlds might help alleviate the sting of four straight playoff series losses at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.