Playing for country
Canada not the only nation expected to have CHLers at world junior championship
Maxim Cajkovic didn’t know a thing about the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League when he left Europe for the 2018-19 season, never mind how the world junior championship is embraced in Canada.
The annual tournament isn’t viewed quite the same back home in Slovakia.
“I hear people in Canada watch it more than the actual men’s championship,” said Cajkovic, a Saint John Sea Dogs forward from Bratislava.
“I talked to my billet family and they told me they watch it every year, every game. And I see all the commercials here, so I guess it’s really, really big.”
Canada has invited 29 Canadian Hockey League skaters to selection camp next week, but it isn’t the only country with CHL players at the event.
The 17-year-old Cajkovic is one of many CHL import players that will be leaving his team and heading to camp in an effort to crack his national team’s roster for the tournament that begins Boxing Day in Vancouver and Victoria, B.C.
Kazakhstan is the only country among the 10 participating teams that won’t have a CHL player.
“It would mean almost everything to me,” said Cajkovic, who went No. 1 to Saint John in the 2018 CHL Import Draft. “I watched world juniors last five years and it’s pretty much my dream to go there.”
The Ontario Hockey League’s Sudbury Wolves will be losing a big part of their early season success with Finnish goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen heading to the tournament for the second year in a row.
He was Finland’s starter in the 2018 edition in Buffalo and is looking for some redemption after his country was bounced in the quarter-finals by the Czech Republic and placed sixth.
“Last year was a hard year for us but there’s a lot of things to learn from,” said the 19-year-old, who was taken No. 3 in the CHL import draft. “There’s no easy team in the tournament. You have to be ready for everyone.”
CHL players who are attending national team camps and could be participating in the world junior hockey championship include:
Czech Republic: Goalie Jiri Patera (Brandon); Defencemen Filip Kral (Spokane), Radim Salda (Rimouski), Daniel Bukac (Niagara); Forwards Petr Cjaka (Erie), Jakub Lauko (Rouyn-Noranda), Matej Pekar (Barrie), Ostap Safin (Halifax), Krystof Hrabik (TriCity).
Denmark: Goalie Mads Sogaard (Medicine Hat); Forward Philip Schultz (Victoria).
Finland: Goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (Sudbury); Defencmen Anttalainen Aleksi (Blainville-Boisbriand), Thomson Lassi (Kelowna).
Russia: Defenceman Dmitry Samorukov (Guelph), Alexander Alexeyev (Red Deer), Alexander Khovanov (Moncton); Forward Ivan Chekhovich (Baie-Comeau).
Slovakia: North American skaters won’t be confirmed until Dec. 15.
Sweden: Defenceman Adam Boqvist (London); Forwards Hugo Leufvenius (Sarnia), Rickard Hugg (Kitchener).
Switzerland: Defencemen Nico Gross (Oshawa), Simon Le Coultre (Moncton); Forwards Valentin Nussbaumer (Shawinigan), Nando Eggenberger (Oshawa), Philipp Kurashev (Quebec), Kyen Sopa (Niagara).
USA: Goalie Kyle Keyser (Oshawa); Defenceman Joey Keane (Barrie); Forwards Sasha Chmelevski (Ottawa), Cole Coskey (Saginaw), Jason Robertson (Niagara). (Americans are not considered import players in the CHL).