On the ice and off the ice, not a lot of things startle Adam Hlinsky. On the ice it’s because of his calm nature, vision, smooth skating, and experience. Off the ice, it’s because despite his youth he’s already well-traveled and rather worldly.
The 2006-born Czech defenseman has been all over the world pursuing a career in hockey, including stops in the United States, Sweden, of course his native Czechia, and now Brandon. That helps explain not only his calm demeanour but his already excellent English.
“My English is decent mainly because of my dad,” Hlinsky explained. “He graduated from Michigan and ever since I was born, he spoke to me in English so he taught me all the basic stuff. When I was nine, I first started going to Pittsburgh to train in the summer so I got some education there also. I think that also helped a lot.”
As experienced as Hlinsky is, there is still bound to be an adjustment period when making the move to North America. Luckily he gets the full training camp to help with that adjustment, and likely some exhibition games as well.
“It was fast,” he said of his first camp scrimmage. “Thinking of Sweden, it’s a big difference in terms of the hockey. It’s a smaller rink, and a lot more body to body contact. It’s a big difference and it was fast.”
The Swedish top junior circuit was about as good of a primer for the WHL as Hlinsky could ask for, however. The pace of play is fast, and there are NHL prospects on many rosters, including his own.
“It was fast too, everyone in Sweden is a very good skater,” said Hlinsky. “The main thing is everyone in that league skates so good. Obviously the rink is bigger so that helps, there’s lots of skating. All the guys are super skilled so it’s quite a good league over there.”
And if Hlinsky needed any convincing to come to the WHL once he was selected, he had plenty of people he could ask for advice. Czech-born imports have been both popular and highly successful in all three CHL leagues, and as Hlinsky has represented Czechia alongside them internationally he had a lot of insider’s opinions.
“I know a couple of my boys who’ve played in the Western, Ontario, and Quebec league,” said Hlinsky. “I talked to them a little bit about how it is over here. Everybody said they’re having a great time.”
So Hlinsky got the scouting report on the CHL, and for Wheat Kings fans looking for a scouting report of their own, the smooth-skating defenseman offered this self-scout.
“I’d say I’m a two-way defenseman,” he said, “who mainly focuses on the defensive side and tries to move the puck fast.”
Hlinsky’s Team Johnston was unbeaten through the first day of Wheat Kings’ training camp scrimmages.
