GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Six current and former members of the Grand Rapids Griffins will compete at the 2010 IIHF World Championship, hockey’s premier annual international event which began today and runs through May 23 in Germany.

Two players from the Griffins’ 2009-10 squad – Sergei Kolosov (Belarus) and Tomas Tatar (Slovakia) – will represent their native countries in international competition for the second time this year. Kolosov took part in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, becoming one of just four players in franchise history to participate in the Olympics as an active Griffin, while the 19-year-old Tatar played for Slovakia at the World Junior Championship in Saskatchewan in January.

Four other Griffins alumni are slated to participate in the tournament, including the Czech Republic’s Karel Rachunek (1999-00), Kazakhstan’s Konstantin Shafranov (1999-00), Slovakia’s Ivan Ciernik (1999-02), and Switzerland’s Julien Vauclair (2001-02).

Complete rosters, statistics and results for the 2010 IIHF World Championship can be found at iihf.com. The 16-nation tournament consists of a preliminary round (May 7-13), qualification round (May 14-18), relegation round (May 15-18), quarterfinals (May 20), semifinals (May 22), bronze medal game (May 23) and gold medal game (May 23).

Last year, four Griffins alumni combined to take home every color of medal from the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland. Russia’s Konstantin Gorovikov (1999-01) earned a gold medal for the second straight year, Canada’s Jason Spezza (2001-02) and Joel Kwiatkowski (2000-02) claimed silver, while Stefan Liv (2006-07) backstopped Sweden’s win over the United States in the bronze medal game.