The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Thursday, December 19, 1991 EX-PADUA STAR GOING TO EUROPE: Holzinger named to U.S. junior team By Don Friedman Bowling Green State University freshman center Brian Holzinger has received a Christmas present any young hockey player would cherish. He is one of 22 players named to the U.S. team for the World Junior Championships. Holzinger, who played high school hockey at Padua, and his teammates left last night and will spend the next two weeks playing international competition in Europe. The U.S. team's first game in the eight-nation tournament for players 20 and under is against Finland in Fussenkaufbeuren, Germany, a week from today. The team recently completed a four-day minicamp in Albany, N.Y. Its first stop in Europe will be Zurich, Switzerland, where it will play exhibition games with the Swedish National Junior team Sunday and Monday before moving on to Germany. [I think he messed up with the "Fussenkaufbeuren," and I believe he DID mess up with the "Swedish" team in Switzerland.] Holzinger was one of the nation's top college recruits last year. A sixth-round draft choice of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres in June, he has six goals and four assists in his first 12 games at BGSU. "This is a great thrill to play with so many good players," Holzinger said Tuesday night from Albany. "I think we have five first-round draft picks on the team. I'm looking forward to the tournament. I think it will be a real challenge to play with the top players in the 20-and-under age group." [Who are the 5 first-rounders on the team?] The minicamp in Albany involved two two-hour practices and several meetings each day. "It's been nothing but hockey, hockey, hockey since we've been here, but that's fine with me," Holzinger said. "I went to the Olympic Festival in St. Cloud, Minn., last summer. We knew we weren't going to make the Olympic team, but we also knew they were looking at us for the Junior Olympic team. The actual tryout for this team was at Lake Placid, N.Y., in early August." Holzinger learned by mail early this month that he had made the squad. The tournament ends on Jan. 4 and Holzinger said he expects to be home in Parma on Jan. 6. "The (the BGSU coaches) are giving me four days off to spend some time with my family," he said. "I'll miss the Mariucci Classic (in Minneapolis on Saturday and Sunday) and two league games against the University of Illinois-Chicago. **End Article** I know the daughter of Holzinger's lawyer ("Because he's not allowed to have an agent yet," she says.) I know he wasn't on Padua last year, because I would have recognized him at the local tourney. Padua has had a history of turning out fine players, and have a potential superstar, Ron Czech, on the team this year. It will be interesting to see where he goes. Anyway, she said that last year Holzinger played for the Jr. Red Wings while Don Friedman said in an article earlier this year that he played in Kalamazoo. Who's right? -- [log in to unmask] (Eric Rickin) Go: Penguins, Red Wings, Junior Barons, Thunderbirds, and Crunch University of Michigan Class of 1996 (?)