Some Thrashers will still play after season ends

The Thrashers’ season ends Saturday, but hockey season continues for several of their players.

Zach Bogosian and Ron Hainsey have been invited to play for Team USA in the World Championships in Switzerland from April 24-May 10. Ilya Kovalchuk will play for Russia, Tobias Enstrom for Sweden and Boris Valabik for Slovakia, Thrashers coach John Anderson said Wednesday. There may be others.

“I’d like to see Bryan Little get a chance with Team Canada,” Anderson said. “He certainly deserves it.”

Playing for his country will be a big deal for Bogosian, who went to camp last summer with the U.S. team for the World Junior Championships but didn’t play in the event, which took place during the NHL season Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

“I’m really excited. I’ve never played in an international event,” Bogosian said. “Quite honestly, it would be better to be in the playoffs, but it’ll be a good experience.”

Bogosian, 18, wasn’t around for the most famous moment in Team USA history, the “Do you believe in miracles” victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics. But he knows about it.

“If you haven’t seen the movie ‘Miracle’ then you’re not a hockey player,” Bogosian said. “It still gives me chills just thinking about what they did.”

It’s a different world now, with Russians and Americans playing most of the year as professional teammates.

Bogosian leaves April 19. Kovalchuk leaves two days earlier. This will be Bogosian’s first trip overseas. Kovalchuk will be playing in his fifth consecutive World Championship and scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in Russia’s 5-4 overtime victory over Canada in last year’s gold medal game.

International hockey is different than the NHL variety, and not just because of the pride involved in playing for your country. The rinks are bigger, and that changes the game.

“The hockey, it’s special. It’s fast. It’s 100 miles an hour, and it’s high-skilled,” said Anderson, who played for Canada in the 1983 and 1985 World Championships (seven goals and four assists in 15 games). “It’s very hard to do at the end of the year because you’re [angry] you didn’t make the playoffs and you’re a little tired, but I know for me when I got there it was one of the best experiences in hockey.

“It’s about the sport, not about money. It’s about winning, winning for your country. It’s a great feeling.”

Toronto coach Ron Wilson will coach Team USA in the World Championships and in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Thrashers general manager Don Waddell serves on the advisory group that helps select the team.