Two of Jasper’s young hockey stars recently returned to town after a European tour – complete with new gold medals. 

Sean Allin and Josh Franklin, both 15, were chosen to skate for the Team Canada Polar Bears AAA bantam team, which travelled Europe for over two weeks. The trip ended in Prague, Czech Republic on Aug. 14 where the boys played Austria, Poland, Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. 

Allin, who plays forward, said the medal was a good shot at the Russians, who share a bitter rivalry with Canada. 

“It was great,” Allin said. The trip was his first time outside of Canada. 

The Polar Bears team was chosen by a coach out of Edmonton. Allin and Franklin were picked as two of the three senior members of the junior team. The rest of the players were from all over Western Canada. The two have played their entire hockey careers in Jasper so far, and impressed the coach with their 2009/2010 stats. 

Next year Allin said they may move on to playing in Hinton; they have been in talks to join the team there. Hockey is just a hobby for Allin, but the European trip is a highlight. 

“The fact that (we) won a gold medal is a good thing to say,” he said. 

The trip started in Germany, then went on to Italy and Austria before hopping over to the Czech Republic. In total Franklin and Allin spent 16 days travelling, which included one practice in Italy and a game against the Italian team. 

Allin’s favourite destinations were Germany, Venice and Prague. The Czech Republic hosts the largest summer hockey tournament in Europe.