Northern Michigan University’s Tobias Pitka brings the puck out of his defensive zone during a CCHA game played against Minnesota State-Mankato at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on Nov. 28. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The international flavor of the hockey team at Northern Michigan University will show itself at the World Junior Hockey Championship to be held starting the day after Christmas.

One of the five Wildcats who are natives of Europe, Tobias Pitka, will represent his home country of Slovakia at the International Ice Hockey Federation-sponsored event to be held in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, starting Friday.

Pitka is a native of Poprad, Slovakia, one of the two countries that came out of the breakup of Czechoslovakia when the Iron Curtain crumbled in the early 1990s.

The 6-foot-4, 191-pound Pitka is a freshman forward at NMU, just like his Wildcat teammate and fellow countryman Peter Cisar of Bratislava, who is 6-foot and 191 pounds.

Meanwhile, Northern sophomore Jakub Altrichter is a 5-11, 165-pound forward from the other half of their former country, Prague, Czechia — also called the Czech Republic.

The other NMU Europeans are junior Girts Silkalns, a 6-3, 201-pound forward from Talsi, Latvia, and junior William Gramme, a 6-3, 209-pound goaltender from Stockholm, Sweden.

As far as the non-U.S. influence at Northern, it also includes 13 Canadians on the current roster.

Pitka, 19, will be at his second world juniors tourney, also representing Slovakia when he was 18 years old in the Under-18 WJC in the 2023-24 season, when he recorded an assist in seven games.

He’s also represented his country on numerous other occasions outside the WJC, according to an NMU Sports Information news release announcing his involvement.

For the Wildcats this season, Pitka has three goals and three assists for six points in 14 games this season. The goals are tied with Altrichter for third on the team, the assists are tied for sixth, and the points tied for fourth.

Pitka is averaging just over 16 minutes per game, playing in all special-team situations as the second-line center. With 12 blocked shots, he also has 119 faceoff wins with his 48% success rate in the circle No. 2 on the team only behind Altrichter.

Pitka joins Boston College’s Luka Radivojevic as NCAA players representing Slovakia at the world juniors, which runs through Monday, Jan. 5, for the best junior hockey players internationally.

Radivojevic has the most experience in this event for Slovakia, this being his third WJC with at least double the career games in the event of any other Slovakian returnee. The freshman defenseman has nine assists in 16 games for the Eagles in the NCAA.

Slovakia is listed as the No. 7 team in terms of experience, with its returnees totaling 27 games at these championships. In all, six of its 28 skaters have WJC experience.

Pitka’s team will compete in Group A alongside the U.S., Germany, Sweden and Switzerland for preliminary round play at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul. Slovakia opens against Sweden on opening day at 1 p.m. EST Friday.

Group B, including Canada, Czechia, Finland, Latvia and Denmark, plays at 3M Arena in Minneapolis.

Two quarterfinals each will be held at the St. Paul and Minneapolis rinks, with gold- and bronze-medal games set for the Grand Casino Arena.

More information online about the WJC is available at https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2026/wm20.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the news. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.