Heikki Ruohonen and Juraj Pekarcik will represent their home nations in the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships.
The 2025 IIHF World Junior Championships will run from Dec. 26, 2024 to Jan. 5, 2025 in Ottawa, and the Dubuque Fighting Saints will be well represented.
Current Saints forward Heikki Ruohonen (Finland) and 2023-24 Saint Juraj Pekarcik (Slovakia) will represent their home nations at the WJC.
Ruohonen was selected with the first overall pick in the Phase II USHL Draft last spring by the Fighting Saints. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-shot forward and Harvard commit has made a big impact with Dubuque so far this season, recording five goals and 12 points in 19 games. He also has a +7 rating.
A native of Helsinki, the 18-year-old Ruohonen served as an alternate captain for the Kiekko-Espoo U20 team in 2023-24, scoring 20 goals and 47 points in 37 games. The Philadelphia Flyers selected him in the fourth round (107th overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft.
Pekarcik was one of two USHL players last season to post 50 assists, doing so in just 43 games for the Saints. This season, Pekarcik is playing for Moncton in the CHL and is third on the Wildcats with 35 points in 29 games.
A third-round pick (76th overall) of the St. Louis Blues in the 2023 NHL Draft, the 6-foot-2, 194-pound left-shot forward will be representing his home country for the second straight season. He developed through the NK Nitra program from the U18 level on up starting in 2021-22.
“We are really excited for both Heikki and Juraj,” Saints general manager Trevor Edwards said in a statement. “They are great players and outstanding young men who have earned the opportunity to represent their countries on the biggest stage in junior hockey.”
The pair gives the Saints a total of four players representing their home nations on the international stage this winter. Lucas Van Vliet represented Team USA and Torkel Jennersjo skated for Team Sweden at the recently-completed World Junior A Challenge, where the U.S. defeated Sweden to capture gold.