Thomas Milic's road to the biggest stage of his young budding hockey career begins this week.
The Coquitlam goaltender will hit the ice on Saturday (July 23) as part of Hockey Canada's summer development camp for its national under-20 team in search of its next gold medal-winning world junior squad.
The 19-year-old was officially invited to the five-day camp on June 16, along with three other shortlisted netminders, including two he played with at the 2021 IIHF under-18 men's world championships.
Milic earned two wins in two games at the tournament in Texas last year — his second international appearance in a maple leaf sweater.
He shared cage duties with Tyler Brennan and Benjamin Gaudreau, and will do the same in Calgary later this week.
If successful in making the world junior team, it'll be Milic's third official stint with a Canadian national team.
The Coquitlam Minor Hockey Association alumni has his debut in 2020 with Team Canada Red at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. A year earlier, he was a member of Team BC at the 2019 Canada Winter Games.
He's currently one of the go-to goaltenders with the Seattle Thunderbirds and just came off an impressive postseason that took him all the way to the WHL Championships series.
Unfortunately, despite 14 wins in 25 playoff games, Milic and the T-birds lost to the Edmonton Oil Kings and two wins shy of competing for the Memorial Cup.
Milic amassed a record of 27-16-2-2 in 47 starts in the 2021-22 regular season, while compiling a 2.44 goals-against average and a .912 save-percentage.
"This is an exciting first step as we begin preparations for the upcoming season and the opportunity to compete at the 2023 World Juniors on home ice in Halifax and Moncton this December," said Alan Millar, Hockey Canada spokesperson, in a news release.
"We are excited about this group of players, and we look forward to returning to the ice for a highly-competitive camp to kick off a new season."
Milic will put on his goalie pads with Canada's best under-20 hockey players from July 23 to 27.
The players participating in this camp are hopefuls for the 2023 IIHF under-20 world junior hockey championships.
