ANAHEIM, Calif. – The International Ice Hockey Federation announced today that Mighty Ducks defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski has been added to the Russian Olympic Team. He will represent Russia at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Feb. 15-26.

Vishnevski, 25 (3/18/80), has appeared in three international tournaments for Russia. He played in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, going scoreless in three appearances with a +5 rating. The Kharkov, Russia native has appeared in two World Championship tournaments. He earned 0-3=3 points in seven games at the 2001 tournament and helped Russia to the gold medal at the 1999 World Junior event, where he tallied 0-1=1 point.

With Anaheim this season, Vishnevski has posted 1-3=4 points and 61 penalty minutes. He was drafted by Anaheim in the first round (5th overall) of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Vishnevski currently leads the team in hits (137) this season, while ranking sixth on the Mighty Ducks all-time games played list with 389 appearances.

Vishnevski’s addition to Team Russia brings the number of Mighty Ducks named to Olympic rosters to six (also Ilya Bryzgalov, Scott Niedermayer, Sandis Ozolinsh, Samuel Pahlsson and Teemu Selanne).