THREE BARRACUDA SELECTED TO COMPETE IN 2021 IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 17, 2021
San Jose, CA (May 17, 2021) – Three members of the San Jose Barracuda (@SJBarracuda) hockey club – Sasha Chmelevski (USA), Alex True (Denmark) and Lean Bergmann (Germany) – have been selected to represent their native countries at the 2021 IIHF World Championships. The tournament is being held in Riga, Latvia from May 21 through June 6.
This is the first season in franchise history where the Barracuda have three players selected to play in the tournament.
They join San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) players Kevin Labanc (USA), Ryan Donato (USA), Mario Ferraro (Canada), Timo Meier (Switzerland) and Nikolai Knyzhov (Russia) who are also participating in the tournament.
Chmelevski, 21, skated in his first five NHL games in 2021 with the Sharks, recording two assists. In addition, he appeared in 27 games with the Barracuda, finishing tied for first on the team in power-play goals (4), tied for second in total goals (9), second in shots (70), tied for third in points (20) and assists (11) and fourth in penalty minutes (32).
The six-foot, 185-pound, Huntington Beach, California native was originally drafted by San Jose in the sixth round (185th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft.
True, 23, skated in seven games in 2021 for the Sharks, recording one assist. Over the past two years, he has appeared in 19 games in the NHL, all with San Jose, collecting five assists, eight penalty minutes and a plus-two rating. True also dressed in 27 games with the Barracuda this season, finishing tied for third on the team in scoring (20), tied for second in goals (9) and assists (11), and tied for first in shorthanded goals (1).
The Barracuda originally signed the six-foot-five, 205-pound undrafted free-agent from Copenhagen, Denmark on July 13, 2017.
Bergmann, 22, appeared in the Sharks final regular-season game in 2021, collecting four penalty minutes. He also skated in 32 games with the Barracuda, racking up seven points (two goals, five assists), 37 penalty minutes and a plus-six rating. A year ago, in his first professional season in North America, Bergmann dressed in 12 games with the Sharks, recording one assist. In 2019, Bergmann played in five games for Team Germany at the World Championships.
The Sharks originally signed the six-foot-two, 205-pound, native of Hemer, Germany to an entry-level contract on May 28, 2019.
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