Tomek Makes the Slovakian’s WJC Roster

While University of North Dakota sophomore goaltender Matej Tomek has yet to make his debut with the Fighting Hawks, he has secured a final roster spot with the Slovakia World Junior Championship team. Here’s a snippet from UND Sports.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – University of North Dakota sophomore goaltender Matej Tomek has made Slovakia’s final roster for the the 2017 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Junior Championship, which begins on Monday in Toronto and Montreal.

Tomek joins Americans Toby Kvalevog (1994) and Jon Casey (1982) as the only UND goaltenders to participate in the IIHF World Junior Championship. He is also UND’s first player to represent Slovakia at the tournament since forward Rastislav Spirko in 2004.

A native of Bratislava, Slovakia, Tomek has yet to appear in a regular-season game at UND, missing the first half of his freshman season due to injury and playing behind junior All-American Cam Johnson and senior Matt Hrynkiw, who combined to win 34 games en route to an NCAA championship last season.

Naturally, UND fans are antsy and would like to see what Tomek can do between the pipes. With every UND loss, I see fans calling for Cam’s ouster. Serioulsy, I am not so sure we’ll get to see that happen this season. Currently, Matt Hrynkiw is solidly UND’s second string goalie and has traveled with the team to away games.

Again, Tomek is stuck behind an All-American goalie Cam Johnson, who will probably end up being as one of the best in UND’s storied history. Johnson had to wait his turn while he was a backup goalie behind Zane McIntyre. Johnson actually mentioned that during the last Sit Down and Cheer Podcast. Check it out by clicking on the link in the embedded tweet.

ICYMI: @UNDmhockey goalie, Cam Johnson (@itsyaboiiceej) sat down to talk hockey, Christian Wolanin, and more! https://t.co/T9POFFZgAY

— Sit Down & Cheer (@SitDownAndCheer) December 16, 2016

From the NCHC Release:

Tomek (Bratislava, Slovakia) rounds out the group of NCHC players at the World Junior Championship as one of two current NCAA players on Team Slovakia. A third-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers, Tomek has yet to see any official game action in net for UND after missing half of his rookie campaign with an injury and sitting behind All-American goalie Cam Johnson the last two seasons. He has appeared in two exhibition games for UND over the past two seasons. Prior to arriving at UND, Tomek was the North American Hockey League (NAHL) Goaltender of the Year with the Topeka RoadRunners.