the championship finals and being awarded the league's most valuable player award. Finnish Mestis also featured NHL talent when Sami Kapanen and Kimmo Timonen played for KalPa. Timonen and Kapanen partially owned the team and the duo was joined by Adam Hall who also played for KalPa during the lockout. Erik Cole, Olaf Kolzig, and Nathan Dempsey were among the notable players to go to Germany to play in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. Fair share of Slovak NHL players returned to their home country to play for various Slovak Extraliga sides during the lockout, including Pavol Demitra, Marián Hossa, Marián Gáborík (all in HK Dukla Trenčín), Miroslav Šatan and Ľubomír Višňovský (both in HC Slovan Bratislava), Michal Handzuš, Richard Zedník and Vladimír Országh (all in HKm Zvolen), Ladislav Nagy and Martin Štrbák (both in HC Košice), and Žigmund Pálffy (in HK 36 Skalica). Latvian league club HK Riga 2000, which played also in the Belarusian Extraleague, signed several NHL players. Two of them were Latvians Karlis Skrastins and Sergei Zholtok and the third was American Darby Hendrickson, who was a close friend of Zholtok. After Zholtok died due to a heart condition, Hendrickson left the club, so that only Skrastins finished the season with the club. A number of NHL players also went to Great Britain. In the Elite Ice Hockey League, Coventry Blaze signed Wade Belak, Cardiff Devils signed Rob Davison, London Racers signed Eric Cairns and Scott Nichol, and Nottingham Panthers signed Nick Boynton, Ian Moran, Steve McKenna. McKenna also used that season to play for the Adelaide Avalanche in the Australian Ice Hockey League. In the British National League, Guildford Flames signed Jamie McLennan and David Oliver, Bracknell Bees signed Brendan Witt while Newcastle Vipers signed Chris McAllister. In 2008, McCallister signed for the Vipers for a second time. Another notable move came from Karl Dykhuis. He signed with the Amsterdam Bulldogs in the Netherlands. Chris Mason (Nashville), Scott Hartnell (Nashville) and Travis Brigley (Colorado) became Norwegian champions with Vålerenga Ishockey. In addition, Mark Bell, who at the time was playing for Chicago Blackhawks, played for the Norwegian GET-ligaen club Trondheim Black Panthers. Several NHL players signed in the Italian league Serie A, including Eric Belanger to the Bolzano-Bozen Foxes, Craig Adams to the Milano Vipers, Matt Cullen to SG Cortina and Fernando Pisani to the SCL Tigers, among others. Calgary Flames players Steve Montador and Steven