NAHL Topeka Pilots

Lispsberg to travel to Canada for World Championship

Published on December 4, 2008 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Topeka Pilots News Release


The Topeka RoadRunners will have to do without one of their southpaw forwards for five games at the end of the year and into January. #10 Edgars Lipsbergs will be travelling to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championship to represent his home country of Latvia.

The championship is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The tournament dates back to 1977. Historically, the tournament has been dominated by the Soviet Union / Russia and Canada, together accounting for 25 of the 32 overall gold medals awarded. The Soviets won the inaugural four official tournaments, while the Canadians would put together five straight championships between 1993 and 1997, and are currently on a four-year run spanning 2004 and 2008. Canada leads the all-time gold medal count with 14, while the Soviets/Russians lead the all-time overall medal count with 26. Head-to-head matches between these two countries are always much-hyped.

The tournament offers one of the most prestigious stages for young hockey players, able to significantly boost a player's value for upcoming NHL Entry drafts. Most notably, it has featured Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky (1978) and Mario Lemieux (1983), pending Hall of Famers Doug Gilmour and Steve Yzerman (1983), and present NHL superstars Jarome Iginla (1996), Roberto Luongo (1999), Alexander Oveechkin (2005), and Sidney Crosby (2005)

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North American Hockey League Stories from December 4, 2008


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