Moon Township, Pa. – France's National Hockey team announced its 26-man roster, representing their country in the 2023 IIHF Men's World Championship, May 12-28, in Tempere, Finland, and Riga, Lativa. Former RMU Colonial forward Justin Addamo was among those selected for the international competition.
Addamo is the second Colonial chosen to play for their home country in the tournament. The first Colonial selected was Daniel Mantenuto for Italy last year. Addamo is the sixth current player in the Penguins organization going to Worlds. He'll look to lead France to their first medal in IIHF Men's World Championship history. Throughout the tournament's 102 years of play, his home nation of France has hosted the tournament five times (1924, 1930, 1951, 1968, 2017).
This will be Addamo's first feature onto the World Championship stage, though he has been a member of France in international competition in the past, all at the junior level.
Now, in his professional career, the 6-foot-6, 24-year-old forward just completed his first year with the Penguins' ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers. In 41 games, he produced 21 goals and 33 points. Addamo then signed several professional tryout agreements with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (Penguins AHL Affiliate) during the second half of the season. Across 14 contests, he scored five goals, earning him an AHL contract with the Penguins for the 2023-24 campaign.
Addamo joins a high-profile list of Penguins players in the NHL and AHL to this year's World Championships. Forwards Nick Bonino, Drew O'Connor and goalie Casey DeSmith were named to Team USA. Forward Alex Nylander was tabbed to Team Sweden's roster, and defenseman Pierre-Oliver Joseph was called up to Team Canada.
Addamo played three years at RMU, posting 22 goals, 27 assists and 49 points across 96 games. In his second year with the Colonials, the French native of Clermont-Ferrand, France was fourth on the team in points with 19. He scored the teams first goal of the season in 2019-20 against Michigan Tech (10/5/19). In the shortened 2020-21 campaign, Addamo produced 15 points in 21 games as a junior.
A left-shooting winger, Addamo was rated a C prospect on the NHL's Central Scouting list ahead of the 2018 NHL Draft. In 24 games played in World Juniors, he registered ten points with seven goals and three assists. Addamo was the captain of France's U18 team in the 2015-16 tournament, and captain again for the U20 team in 2017-18. In two seasons with the North American Hockey League's Lone Star Brahmas, Addamo earned 61 points (28 goals) in 114 contests.
The World Championships, hosted in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Lativia, begins with a preliminary round play on Friday, May 12
th. France is part of Group A, along with countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and the United States. Teams have started training across seas since May 6th. Addamo's squad opens the tournament on Saturday, May 13 against Austria in Tampere, Finland at 12:20 p.m. local time/5:20 a.m. ET.
More information about the teams and schedule can be found by visiting the IIHF website
here. Justin Addamo's EliteProspects page can be found
here.
Below is a list of France's schedule for the 2023 IIHF World Championships.
| Date |
Opponent |
Round |
Location |
Time (Local/ET) |
| May 13 |
Austria |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
12:20 p.m./5:20 a.m. |
| May 14 |
Denmark |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
4:20 p.m./9:20 a.m. |
| May 16 |
Hungary |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
8:20 p.m./1:20 p.m. |
| May 17 |
Finland |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
8:20 p.m./1:20 p.m. |
| May 20 |
Sweden |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
8:20 p.m./1:20 p.m. |
| May 21 |
United States |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
8:20 p.m./1:20 p.m. |
| May 23 |
Germany |
Preliminary |
Tampere, Finland |
12:20 p.m./5:20 a.m. |
| May 25 |
TBD |
Quarterfinals |
TBD |
TBD |
| May 27 |
TBD |
Semifinals |
Tampere, Finland |
2:20 p.m./7:20 a.m.
OR
6:20 p.m./11:20 a.m. |
| May 28 |
TBD |
Bronze-Medal Game |
Tampere, Finland |
3:20 p.m./8:20 a.m. |
| May 28 |
TBD |
Gold-Medal Game |
Tampere, Finland |
8:20 p.m./1:20 p.m. |
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