BOLZANO, ITALY—Kohyn Eshkawkogan of Manitoulin Island is a proud member of the Pro Hockey Development 2007 Gold Medal team competing at the European Summer Series in Bolzano, Italy.
Kohyn was one of only six underage (2008 born players) out of the 153 players playing in the 2007 birth year tournament. Being a 2008 player, Kohyn was proud of playing up and contributing on this championship team.
The tournament had teams from various countries and over seven games, Kohyn was fortunate enough to play against six different countries.
His first game was against Finland and his team came away with a 3-1 victory. They also won their second game against Italy 10-2. They then faced the highly touted Czech Knights who were also the defending Champions.
The Czech team played an aggressive style and came out with a convincing 7-1 victory.
Kohyn’s team rebounded nicely and won their next game 5-1 over the Swiss.
This seeded their team 4th and set them up to face Latvia in the quarter finals. Fortunately, Ted Nolan wasn’t coaching and Kohyn and his team won in dramatic fashion in overtime 4-3.
They then advanced to the semifinals against Draft Day which was made up of Canadian players. After a quick start and building a 4-0 lead, the team held on and advanced to the finals.
In the other semifinal, the Czech Knights defeated SHD Global in convincing fashion by showing no mercy and by winning 12-0.
The Czech Knights had a dominant total of 55 goals for and only seven against. As returning champions, they were expected to repeat their past victory.
The championship was filled with drama in the back-and-forth game. After numerous scoring chances by both teams, the score was still 0-0 after regulation. That set up 3-on-3 overtime, which settled nothing.
Then, as is typical in international play, the game went to a shootout and the Pro Hockey goalie shut the door not allowing any goals, with Pro Hockey scoring one to secure the gold medal.
After seven games, Kohyn was a respectable +7 and had two assists. Kohyn has played all his winter hockey on Manitoulin and will be joining the Copper Cliff Major Atom AA Redmen this coming fall. He will see his first action with his new team in August at an Early bird Tournament in Markham.
Congratulations, Kohyn!
