Flin Flon hockey player and current Bomber Joey Lies' skills with a ball - not a puck - will take him far from home this summer.
The 17-year-old has been named to play for Team Canada at this year's World Junior Ball Hockey Championships in Czechia this July.
Lies was named to the under-18 roster for Team Canada, which will play from July 3-6 in the city of Liberec. Canada Ball Hockey announced the teams' rosters intermittently between late December and early January.
Joining Lies will be six other Manitoba-born players, more than any other province. Lies and his six Manitoba compatriots - forwards Lukas Hansen, Tyler Parr and Reeve Sukut, defenders Ethan Alsip and Blake Goretzki and goalie Frankie Gagnon - were all part of the Manitoba Selects squad that won the Canadian national under-17 ball hockey title in Winnipeg last summer.
Despite playing as a forward on the ice and with the Bombers, Lies plays defence in ball hockey. In 20 games with the Bombers so far this season as the team's youngest player and sole local representative, Lies has one goal and three assists.
The other Manitoba players are accomplished on the ice as well - Hansen and Parr both play for the WHL's Saskatoon Blades with Lies' older brother Justin, while Alsip suits up for the MJHL's Selkirk Steelers and was picked by the Calgary Hitmen in the 2020 WHL draft. Goretzki plays under-18 hockey at Winnipeg's Rink Hockey Academy, while Gagnon plays for the Eastman Selects U18 AAA program in Beausejour.
Organized by the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation (ISBHF), the championship includes four age groups for male competition - under-16, under-18, under-20 and under-23 categories - and one tournament for women, representing competitors under age 21. The tournament will be the first of its kind since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
