Sustr shoots for spot in junior hockey championship

VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — Phantoms defensemen Andrej Sustr, a Czech Republic native, won’t be spending the holidays at home, but he hopes to be representing his home country in one of hockey’s premier events.

During the next few days, Sustr will compete for a spot on his nation’s entry in the upcoming IIHF World U20 Championship, better known as the World Junior Hockey Championship, which will take place Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Sustr qualified for the Czech Republic’s preliminary roster this summer with a strong showing at a tryout camp.

He now will battle with 27 other prospects to make the final cut of 22 players during a training camp in Regina that runs today through Wednesday. In addition, the Czechs will play exhibition games against Canada and the United States to help prepare for the cauldron that is the WJHC.

“It should be great,” Sustr said. “We’ll be playing against dream teams that are full of draft picks.”

The 18-year-old Sustr leads all Phantoms with 13 assists through the first 23 games of his USHL career.

Last season, he played with the North American Hockey League’s Kenai River (Alaska) Brown Bears. He arrived in Alaska in November 2008 and it was the 6-foot-6 rearguard’s first extended time away from his hometown of Plzen, Czech Republic.

Seeing fellow countrymen around Christmas could be a tonic.

“It was a hard time without family,” said Sustr about the holiday season so far from home. “I stayed in Alaska for Christmas. It was kind of hard but ... it makes you stronger.”

The World Junior Hockey Championship pits the best hockey players under the age of 20 in an annual 10-nation tournament.

Canada has won the last five in a row, matching its streak from 1993-97, and has claimed the most WJHC titles (15) since the competition’s inception in 1977. The United States defeated Canada in 2004 for its lone gold medal in the event.

“I’ve been told by [Czech head coach Jaromir Sindel] that if I just show up and play my game, I’ll have a good chance to make [the final roster],” Sustr said.

Should Sustr successfully make the Czech roster, he will join his countrymen in facing fellow Group B members Austria, Finland, Sweden and Russia during the round-robin portion of the tournament.

If the Czechs place in the top four in their group, they will advance to the single-elimination quarterfinals. The Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia has participated in the WJHC since the beginning, winning a pair of titles back-to-back in 2000 and 2001.