WINNIPEG — Plenty of players with impressive pedigrees will suit up in the 2011 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
Sons, brothers, nephews and cousins of current and former NHLers hit the ice in the 10-team tournament that begins Wednesday and runs to Jan. 4 in Winnipeg and Portage la Prairie, Man.
Then there’s Justin Hickman, a forward with Team Pacific whose lineage away from the ice is notable.
Hickman’s great uncle Arthur Hickman was one of Nelson Mandela’s lawyers and his great-great grandfather was knighted by the Queen of England.
“Nelson Mandela is one of my role models,” said Hickman, whose parents were born in South Africa. “He led a whole country that was deprived to success, and through sport as well.
“He spent time in jail and then he was still upbeat to keep going and never give up.”
Hickman has shown some of that determination this year after the Kelowna, B.C., native broke a hand in the preseason and missed about two months with the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds.
“When I got the call (for the under-17 team), I was a little bit surprised,” Hickman said after his first practice with his teammates from B.C. and Alberta.
“I guess they saw something that brought me here. I’ve got to make the most of the opportunity.”
Team Pacific also includes Red Deer Rebels defencemen Matt Dumba and Lucas Grayson.
That’s the attitude most competitors have in the tournament, which features players born in 1994 and later from five regional Canadian teams plus the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia and United States.
Canada’s other squads include Team West (Saskatchewan and Manitoba), Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic.
“This tournament is a stepping stone for a lot of players into the junior program,” Team West head coach Garth Mitchell said.
“This is viewed as a real opportunity for them to get noticed and get into the Hockey Canada system.”
The United States captured last year’s gold medal with a win over Ontario in Timmins, Ont. The two teams are favoured again.
Ontario’s 22-player roster features 15 drafted in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League priority selection.
Defenceman Slater Koekkoek from Mountain, Ont., would like nothing better than to add a gold medal to his collection.
Koekkoek was named tournament most valuable player and top defenceman when his Notre Dame team won gold at the 2010 Telus Cup.
“It’s a big thing to get here,” said Koekkoek, who has 16 points in 33 games this season with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes. “We’ve worked hard to get to this point and we’ve seen how many people have come through this tournament.”
Tournament alumni include NHL stars such as Alex Ovechkin, Jonathan Toews, Marc-Andre Fleury and Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
This year’s U.S. roster includes Stefan Matteau, son of Stephane Matteau, who played 848 NHL games and competed in the first under-17 event in 1986.
Team Atlantic forward Brett Malone has hockey running through his bloodlines.
His cousin, Ryan, plays for Tampa Bay, his brother, Brad, was a fourth-round draft pick (2007) of the Colorado Avalanche, his uncle, Greg, played 704 NHL games and his father, Jim, played in the CHL, AHL and IHL.
There are two five-team pools and the top two from each pool qualify for the semifinals Jan. 3. The gold-medal game is Jan. 4 at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre (TSN, 6:30 p.m. ).
“Ontario is a great team, the U.S. team, too,” Pouliot said. “But it’s just one game and many things are possible in one game.”
Forward Taylor Burke knows his Atlantic squad is one of the underdogs, but the Halifax native liked what he saw after the first practice.
“We have a great crew here and I think that if we put together a good tournament we can show everyone that Atlantic Canada can put some good talent out,” said Burke, who plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Gatineau.
So is there a phenom in the tournament like Atlantic Canada’s most famous player, Sidney Crosby, who was on the national junior team and didn’t compete in the under-17 event?
“There’s no Sidney Crosby on our lineup,” Mitchell said with a laugh, “and, hopefully, we’re not going to play one.”