Five Lumberjacks Heading to 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship
USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Five Lumberjacks Heading to 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship

Published on December 10, 2025 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Five active or former Lumberjacks will take to the ice at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship to represent their country in Hockey's top Under-20 best-on-best tournament.

The 2026 WJC takes place December 26th through January 5th in Minneapolis, MN, at Grand Casino Arena (formerly Xcel Energy Center), home of the NHL's Minnesota Wild, and 3M Arena at Mariucci, home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers Men's and Women's NCAA Hockey Teams.

Current Lumberjacks, Rudolfs Berzkalns (Cesis, LAT) and Adam Belusko (Kosice, SVK), are joined by alumni Vaclav Nestrasil (Praha, CZE) and Luka Radivojevic (Trencin, SVK) as Jacks in the tournament.

For Berzkalns, this is his second time representing Latvia at the event. Last season, at just 16 years old, Berzkalns helped the Latvian Under-20 squad to a historic shootout win over Team Canada at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON.

Radivojevic is skating in his third World Junior Championship as a member of Team Slovakia. After joining the Lumberjacks in the early portion of the 2024-25 season, Radivojevic was named Slovakia's top 3 player at the 2025 tournament and served as captain for his country at the World Under-18 Championship.

Currently, with 10 games played at the World Junior Championship, Radivojevic ranks among the top 120 Slovakian skaters to have competed in the tournament. Should he play in the four preliminary games, he will slide into the top 20 in Slovakia's history.

Joining Radivojevic on Team Slovakia is Belusko. This is his first time playing at the World Junior Championships, but not his first time representing his home country. Each of the last four seasons saw Belusko wear a Slovakian hockey jersey at the U17, U18, and U20 levels. In his first season as a Lumberjack, Belusko has 8 points in 25 games and a +5 rating.

The final Lumberjacks player taking part in the tournament is Nestrasil, a native of Czechia. The two-year Lumberjack is in his freshman season at UMass Amherst in the Hockey East Association. After a 42-point total in 72 regular-season games with the Lumberjacks, Nestrasil recorded 13 points in 14 playoff games, helping the Jacks to the 2025 Clark Cup Championship. Nestrasil was selected in the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks about 6 weeks later, and now, with the Minute Men, Nestrasil has taken the NCAA by storm with 20 points in 18 games.

Former Lumberjacks Equipment Manager, Patrick Dooley, will be on the bench for Team USA during the tournament as the back-to-back champion's Head EQ. Dooley spent five seasons between 2016-2021 on the Lumberjacks bench before jumping to the NCAA with Vermont (ECAC) and now Notre Dame (BIG10).

Congratulations, Rudy, Adam, Luka, Vaclav, and Patrick! Good luck on your quest for the 2026 World Junior Championship!

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United States Hockey League Stories from December 10, 2025


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