ROUEN, France – The probably best known French player in the European leagues makes his comeback with Team France after a three-year absence. Sébastien Bordeleau of the Swiss regular season winner SC Bern re-joined the French national team for the IIHF World Championship in Quebec City and Halifax, Canada, May 2-18.

Bordeleau has his roots in the province of Quebec and his father Paulin played for the former NHL and WHA team Quebec Nordiques. Recently, he joined his son in Switzerland to coach the NLB’s Lausanne HC. The French-Canadian double citizen Sébastien Bordeleau grew up in France while his father was playing for Megeve, Mont-Blanc and also for Team France.

After diligent research, the French association could in 2004 produce evidence that Sébastien played junior ice hockey in France and was thus eligible to play for the national team. But after the 2004 World Championship in the Czech Republic and an Olympic qualifier tournament in the 2004-2005 season, Bordeleau quit the French team.

However, it was not a French leave. Now, for the World Championship in the home region of the Bordeleau family, the 33-year-old could be convinced by management to help Team France. The Blues play Sweden, Switzerland and Belarus in the preliminary round.

Bordeleau has experience of 256 NHL games (37 goals, 61 assists) and has played the last six seasons for the Swiss top team SC Bern. This season, the centre scored 25 goals and 27 assists in 53 games for SCB and he will play the Champions Hockey League qualifier tournament with the Swiss capital team in September 2008.

Only one current player is better known on the French long list for Canada 2008: Cristobal Huet, the goalkeeper of the Washington Capitals. His participation depends on the results in the Stanley Cup playoffs, as he’s currently in the quarterfinals of the NHL’s Eastern Conference with the Caps.

Long list team France:

Goalkeepers: Cristobal Huet (Washington/NHL), Fabrice Lhenry (Esbjerg/DEN), Eddy Ferhi (Grenoble).

Defencemen: Baptiste Amar (Grenoble), Vincent Bachet (Amiens), Nicolas Besch (Nykoping/SWE-2), Jean-Francois Bonnard (Grenoble), Simon Lacroix (Angers), Benoit Quessandier (Rouen), Teddy Trabichet (Grenoble).

Forwards: Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Leksand/SWE-2), Sébastien Bordeleau (Bern/SUI), Olivier Coqueux (Esbjerg/DEN), Julien Desrosiers (Rouen), Laurent Gras (Amiens), Kévin Hecquefeuille (Grenoble), Antoine Lussier (La Chaux-de-Fonds/SUI-2), Laurent Meunier (Servette Geneva/SUI), Francois Rozenthal (Morzine-Avoriaz), Luc Tardif (Morzine-Avoriaz), Sacha Treille (Grenoble), Yorick Treille (Ingolstadt/GER), Jonathan Zwikel (Morzine-Avoriaz).