Portager Jack Klippenstein is making another trip across the Atlantic Ocean to compete in an elite tournament in Italy. Klippenstein has been working on his game with the U13 Central Plains Capitals, which has a team in action for the first time in about 15 years, he says.
Klippenstein's journey to Italy began with his impressive performance in Calgary.
"When I went to Calgary, Calgary's the tournament where you qualify for the Italy tournament. So, I did very well last year, and I was top three for scoring in points and the guy who runs the tournament looked at that and said, 'Wow, this guy should try to go to Europe,' so he first put me through Paris last year, and the second one is now Italy."
He adds that he feels Italy will be good to try different things.
Jack's father, Trevor, provided more details about the tournaments.
"It was called the International Summer Series. They had teams from Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Czech, Latvia, and they had three North American teams for this. Jack's team, he was with the group. Half the kids were from Canada and the other half were from the States. And this team was based at Philadelphia and the coaches were from Michigan."
Looking forward to the Italy trip, Klippenstein is excited about more than just hockey.
"Other than the hockey, probably the Motorsports Day that we're doing because we're going to a Ferrari Museum, a Pagani Museum and factory, and we're going to a Lamborghini Museum and factory as well."
Trevor highlighted the significance of the upcoming tournament.
"It's called the World Select Invitational. This tournament is an elite tournament," he continues. "One thing that they talked about is 30 players from the last NHL Draft played in this tournament, which is quite remarkable. There's some big names that have done it so we're expecting a much more competitive environment, even more so than last year."
Klippenstein's hard work and dedication have paved the way for these opportunities.
"Jack's worked very hard. He's played the winter leagues. He's played a lot of spring hockey over the last four years, mostly out of Winnipeg but out of Central Plains as well. It's been a bit of a journey already, and he's going back to Calgary for prime next weekend again, so we're really excited about it."
The chance to play for the Western Canada team has some special meaning for Jack, which Trevor outlines.
"I know he's excited to get on the ice with a lot of these kids. He knows some, but most of them he doesn't. And so, they'll be the top kids from Western Canada. He's the only Manitoban going, which is pretty exciting, and we're going to go out there to do some damage."