Australian teenager Nathan Walker has chased his dream of playing in the National Hockey League around the world and found himself a junior standout after barely a month in the United States.
Walker, a 19-year-old left wing, left the Czech league in January and now plays for the Youngstown Phantoms of the US Hockey League, where players display their skills in hopes of attention from NHL teams or college coaches.
Wales-born Walker moved to Australia with his family when he was just two and took up the sport six years later after watching his older brother Ryan lace up skates and take to the ice.
Walker also was inspired by Disney’s “Mighty Ducks” films as well as the hockey movie “Mystery, Alaska” starring Aussie actor Russell Crowe.
“Every time after practice or every time after games I was coming home and saying, ‘Mom I want to go overseas. I want to see what I can do against players my own age from different countries,'” Walker said in a team news release.
“I wanted to see what I got against the world.”
Walker went off to play in the Czech league with Vitkovice Steel and after years in a junior programme, in 2011 became the first Australian to play in a European pro hockey game as well as the Czech Extraliga’s youngest player.
“Everything was so much quicker. You don’t have much time,” he said. “I sort of had my head on a swivel and didn’t really know what to do the first couple of games, but the coaches and players helped me a lot to adjust to that style of play.”
Walker said he likes physical play and learned how to play the game that way in Australia.
“They like to bang bodies. That’s pretty much Australian hockey,” Walker said. “I guess you could say I picked some of it up from rugby, too. When I went to the Czech Republic, I just stuck to my game and kept hitting everyone.”
Walker was the top-rated Czech league player by NHL central scoring ahead of last year’s NHL Draft but was not selected in last year’s draft.
“Not getting drafted made me go to the gym more and made me train more,” Walker said. “I’m on the ice 10 minutes after everyone else and try to be on there earlier than everyone else. I’m motivated a lot more.
“One of my life goals is to get drafted. I’m going to keep pushing.”
The Washington Capitals invited Walker to a prospect camp, but Walker went back to the Czech Republic only to be demoted from the senior team, prompting him to journey to the American Midwest and join the Phantoms a month ago.
Walker has two goals in 11 games for Youngstown but has set up nine others and is getting the attention that might see him realize his NHL draft dream in June.
“There are a lot more scouts watching these junior games in America than there are over in the Czech Republic,” Walker said.
“There are probably a few scratching their heads a bit to see if I could compete with the physicality of the (North American) game. Hopefully I can change their minds.”
Welsh-born Aussie chases NHL dream in USA
