Young Swedish centre Lucas Wallmark's immediate attention is on the World Junior Championship in Canada, and his long-term goal is the NHL, but coming up in a few weeks is another challenge – the CHL semi-finals with his Lulea Hockey club against rival Skelleftea AIK.

by Derek O'Brien, quotations from David Jahoda

TORONTO – The Champions Hockey League provides a stage on which European hockey players can perform on their home continent. One of the bright young stars that has seized that opportunity in the 2014–15 season is Lulea Hockey's Lucas Wallmark. The 19-year-old centre is the top junior-aged player in the CHL with 11 points (5+6) in 10 games, and is tied for eighth in points overall, and has played a role in helping his club advance to the semi-finals.

Wallmark was a member of the Swedish U-20 team that claimed the silver medal on home ice in last year's World Junior Championship, and is now returning to play in his second WJC – this time in Canada. His Swedish team is off to a good start, having beaten the Czech Republic and Denmark by 5–2 and 5–1 scores.

"Both of them are good teams," he said after his team's second win. "They have some good players, so we had to play two great games to get six points."

Just as he's contributed offensively in the CHL, Wallmark has three points in his team's two games. He started with an assist against the Czechs, then scored Sweden's opening goal against Denmark and assisted on the last goal of the game. 

"I had the puck in the middle and hit the far side," he said of his unassisted marker in the 10th minute. "It was a nice goal."

Things will only get more difficult for his Swedish team, though. Up next is a much-anticipated clash with Russia on Monday, followed by a New Year's Eve encounter with a Swiss team that has also beat the Czechs by a 5-2 score, and also feature several CHL talents. 

"First we want to win the group and stay here in Toronto (for the cross-over quarter-finals). That's our first goal. Then we want to go to the finals." Presumably, they would like a better result there than last year's 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the hated Finns. 

Wallmark's play for Lulea and the Swedish national junior team caught the attention of many NHL scouts, and he was taken in the fourth round of the Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. Now playing in this year's tournament in North America, Wallmark is well aware that the Carolina brass are getting a close-up view of what he can do, and he welcomes the chance to prove himself.

"Yeah, of course. This is a good tournament to play in. (Scouts from) Carolina (are) here to watch me on the small rink, so it's a good opportunity for me."

Between the immediate focus of the World Juniors and the NHL dream of the future, though, there is also his Lulea club and the CHL semi-finals that await them in a few weeks. The two-game series is against a familiar foe, and hockey fans across northern Sweden are surely looking forward to it as much as the players are. 

"We're playing against Skelleftea and we know how they play," Wallmark says of the familiarity between the two clubs. "They're a good team and it's gonna be fun because it's a good derby. We're going for gold – that's the goal for us."

For Wallmark, there are two potential golds to be won in the first five weeks of 2015.