Mike Richards - International Play

International Play

Richards made his international debut with Team Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Finland. Despite a third period lead in the gold medal game, Canada lost to the United States 4-3.

The following year, Richards returned to the World Juniors as team captain and led Canada to its first gold medal at the tournament since 1997. Richards tallied 5 points in 6 games.

After Richards' rookie season with the Philadelphia Flyers, he was chosen to his first senior tournament with Team Canada at the 2006 World Championships. Richards scored 5 points in 9 games, but Canada was defeated by Finland in the bronze medal game, failing to medal.

On December 30, 2009, Richards was selected to play for Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Richards helped lead Team Canada to an 8-0 victory over Norway in the first game of the 2010 Olympic tournament by scoring one goal on February 17, 2010. He would go on to score a total of 2 goals and 3 assists in 7 games with a +5 rating. This includes an important assist on the first goal by the Canadians in the Gold Medal game where he forced a turnover, fired a shot and the rebound was put into the net by Jonathan Toews. The Canadians would win that game 3-2 in overtime giving Richards an Olympic gold medal.