Among the blur of 112 players in Victoria Royals training camp at SaveonFoods Memorial Centre, a few skate in unique appointments

Western Hockey League teams can carry a maximum combined total of five 20-year-olds (three) and two Europeans (two).

Robin Soudek, a 20-yearold native of the Czech Republic, occupies 40 per cent of those slots with the Victoria Royals.

"Yeah, that is kind of an interesting combination," he said, following a training camp session Tuesday.

The Europeans in the WHL have made the boldest life decisions. An Alberta kid leaving the Prairies for Victoria is one thing. Crossing an ocean quite another.

"At first it was hard. I had to learn a new language, a new style of play and do it a long way from my family," said Soudek, who arrived in the WHL in 2008-09 and scored seven goals with 13 points in 63 games with the Edmonton Oil Kings.

"Nobody babysits you." Soudek followed up in 2009-10 with 11 goals and 24 points in 61 games with the Oil Kings. After going to Chilliwack, the five-foot-11 winger broke out with 25 goals and 57 points last season with the Bruins.

That impressed brass enough that Soudek was asked to follow the Bruins franchise as it relocated to Victoria.

"When ownership first told us about the move in March in the dressing room, we thought it wouldn't be for a couple of years," said Soudek.

"It was a big shock for the city [Chilliwack]."

Over the summer, Royals GM and head coach Marc Habscheid phoned Soudek in the Czech Republic and said he felt he would make an ideal fit for both a 20-yearold and a European slot.

It gives the undrafted Soudek one more opportunity to get noticed and land a pro contract in North America.

"My goal is an NHL camp next September. I know I would have to go to the minors and work my way up."

There is certainly the will, now he has to find the way through his play.

Not that his home country, among the six noted hockey-playing nations, doesn't offer a plausible pro fall back option. But Soudek first wants to give it his best shot in the North American game.

With that attitude, he essentially leads by example in the Royals dressing room, which is what 20-year-olds are expected to do in the WHL.


Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/...#ixzz1Wcapi1rF