In this series, we’ll be asking various Nashville Predators players about their personal memories of the World Junior Championships. The 2019 tournament is being held in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and started on December 26 and concludes with the Gold Medal Game on January 5.
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Roman Josi
Team Switzerland || 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010
Jeremy K. Gover: “So… the World Juniors. I’ll cut to the chase. What was that experience like?”
Roman Josi: “Yeah, it was great. Obviously it was one of the highlights when you’re that age. I got to play my first one in Sweden and I was actually playing with [Yannick] Weber on defense. It’s pretty funny.”
JKG: “Most players — if they’re lucky enough to play in it at all — play in the World Juniors once or twice. You, on the other hand, suited up for your country an amazing four times.”
RJ: “Yeah, I got to play in four. Unfortunately we went down one in 2009 and played in the B Pool — which was still fun because we got to play in Switzerland — but all four of them were a great experience.”
JKG: “At the time, Switzerland was an emerging hockey country so I imagine it was a huge honor to play for a medal in 2010, even though you guys didn’t get the result you wanted.”
RJ: “Definitely, yeah. It was huge. Most of the time, the best finish we had was the quarterfinal. So, to win that quarterfinal and play in the bronze medal game was great for our country. Just to go that far was awesome. And to beat Russia too? What a great hockey country. I mean, I wasn’t playing because I had gotten hurt but still it was great to win it.”
JKG: “Thank you so much.”
RJ: “No problem.”
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Listen to the Preds Profile piece on World Junior Memories that originally aired on the Nashville Predators Pre-Game Show on Thursday, December 27 below.
