Six NCDC Alumni Win Gold Medals At World Championships Around Globe
The United States Premier Hockey League (“USPHL”) congratulates all 14 of its alumni of the National Collegiate Development Conference (“NCDC”) who represented their countries at the World Championships which were held from April through May in cities around the world. The top level of World Championships was held in Sweden and Denmark and the United States of America won its first World Championship since 1933. One NCDC alum was a member of that team, and many other NCDC alumni also helped their teams win Gold Medals at additional levels.
World Championship (Top Group of 16)
Drew O’Connor (Boston Junior Bruins / 2017-18) – United States of America
O’Connor, the first NCDC alum to reach the NHL in 2020-21, helped Team USA in his second stint with Team USA at the World Championships. He first represented the U.S. in 2023. He scored a 1-3-4 line in the 10 WC games. He has played in 243 combined NHL regular season and playoff games with Pittsburgh and most recently, the Vancouver Canucks, following a midseason trade in 2024-25. He became the first NCDC alum to win a Gold Medal at the top level of the World Championships.
WC Division 1 Group A
Logan Neilson (Jersey Hitmen / Northern Cyclones, 2021-22) – Great Britain
Great Britain punched its ticket to the group with the top 16 countries in 2026 by winning the Division 1 Group A Gold Medal, its fourth since 2017. Neilson played briefly with the Hitmen and Cyclones, during a Tier II junior career that saw him play in both the U.S. and Canada over two years. He turned pro in 2023-24 in the Elite Ice Hockey League in his home country. In 2021-22, his only other season of representing Great Britain, he helped his team to a Bronze Medal at the World Junior Championships Division 2 Group B tournament, which he also led in points with eight. Like O’Connor, Neilson became the first player with NCDC experience to win a Gold Medal at his level of the World Championships.
Aleksander Pereshunko (Boston Junior Bruins, 2017-19) – Ukraine
Pereshunko was the NCDC Forward Of The Year in 2019, the year that he helped the Junior Bruins win their only Dineen Cup thus far. One year before joining the Junior Bruins in their inaugural NCDC season, where he’d team up with Drew O’Connor, Peresunko won his first of six IIHF championship medals, a World Under-18’s Gold in Division 1 Group B. This year marked Peresunko’s fourth senior World Championship, his first at the D1A level. He had two assists in five games.
Fuji Suzuki (Utica Jr. Comets, 2022-24) – Japan
Suzuki represented Japan for the sixth time in his career and second time this season in an IIHF championship tournament. He first played with Japan’s Under-18 team in the IIHF World Under-18’s in 2021-22. He has three career medals – a Gold (2022-23 World Under-20 Championships), Silver (2024-25 World Under-20) and a Bronze (2022-23 World Under-18 Championships).
Chikara Hanzawa (South Shore Kings, 2020-22) – Japan
Hanzawa just completed his eighth run at an IIHF championship tournament with Japan going back to his World Under-18’s debut in 2017-18. He has won Gold three times, once at each of the Under-18, Under-20 and senior World Championships levels, the Worlds Gold coming in 2022-23 along with Suzuki. After two seasons with Sacred Heart University (NCAA Division I), he signed for 2024-25 with H.L. Anyang in South Korea. He was also with Team Japan for their Olympic Team Qualification tournament. Unfortunately for Hanzawa and his Team Japan teammates, they did not qualify for the 2026 Olympics in Italy. Hanzawa had three points in the five World Championship games.
WC Division 1 Group B
Linas Dedinas (P.A.L. Jr. Islanders / 2023-24) – Lithuania
Dedinas represented Lithuania for the second time in his career, and helped Lithuania win their fifth Gold Medal and first since 2017-18, earning them a promotion to the 2026 World Championship Division 1 Group A tournament. Dedinas scored a goal and added two assists for three points en route to the Gold. Dedinas also has a WJC Division 2 Group A Gold Medal from 2023-24, when he was also voted Lithuania’s top player. He also participated in Olympic Games qualification play, though Lithuania did not qualify for the 2026 Olympics.
Julius Andrekus (Worcester Railers JHC / 2024-25) – Lithuania
Andrekus joined Lithuania for his fourth IIHF tournament and second World Championship, helping them to a Gold Medal. He played briefly this past season with the Railers’ NCDC and USPHL Premier teams. He went into the net for Lithuania’s game against Spain on April 27 and stopped all three shots he faced in relief. He also helped Lithuania’s WJC Under-20 team win Gold in the winter, elevating them from Division 2A at that level to next year’s Division 1B tournament. He was named Best Goaltender at this year’s Division 2A World Juniors. His medal collection also includes a WJC Under-20 Silver Medal and Bronze Medal, as well as a WJC Under-18 Gold Medal in 2022-23.
Stephen Chen (Boston Jr. Rangers / 2024-25) – China
Chen made his NCDC debut with the Jr. Rangers this year and played in 24 games in the Boston team’s inaugural season. Chen, who was previously rostered with Brown University in 2023-24, came out of the Mercer Chiefs youth program. This year, he went 2-3-0-0 for China and was voted Top Player for his team, posting a .928 save percentage at the tournament. Chen has been representing his home nation since 2022-23, when he helped China to the WJC Under-20 D2B Gold Medal – he was also Best Goaltender in that tournament. In the WJC Division 2A tournament of 2023-24 and at the 2023-24 World Championships Division 1B tournaments, he was also named Top Player for his team, giving him three straight such awards.
WC Division 2 Group A
Guus Van Nes (Boston Junior Bruins 2017-18) – Netherlands
Van Nes, a teammate of Drew O’Connor on the inaugural Junior Bruins NCDC team, has just finished his 11th IIHF tournament for his home country, and also won his third IIHF Gold Medal, which was Netherlands’ eighth and first since 2017-18, also in D2A. With tournament-leading totals of seven goals and five assists for 12 points, he was also voted Best Forward for the D2A tournament and won his third Top Player On Team award. This falls right in line with his NCDC Offensive Player Of The Year award that he won in 2018, when he scored 56 points in 41 games. He has also won Gold Medals in 2012-13 (World Under-18 D2B) and 2015-16 (World Championship D2A). Van Nes played for the Netherlands in 2024 in the Olympic Games qualifier, scoring seven points in three games, but Netherlands did not qualify for the 2026 Olympics. He has 23 points in 20 career World Championship games and has represented Netherlands in more than 50 IIHF games. The Quinnipiac University alum is currently in Europe’s ICEHL playing in Austria with Villacher SV.
Ethan Hawes (Islanders HC/Northern Cyclones, 2019-21) – Australia
Hawes, who played briefly with the Cyclones in 2019-20 and with the Islanders in 2020-21, represented Australia for his fifth time in IIHF tournament play and competed in his second World Championship. With a goal and an assist for two points, the blueliner received his team’s Top Player On Team award for this year’s WC D2A tournament. He was also Australia’s Top Player at the 2022-23 WJC Under-20 Division 3 tournament, where he captained Australia to Gold and he was also named Best Defenseman after scoring 12 points. He has played in 25 career IIHF games for Australia. He played pro hockey in 2024-25 in both Australia and Netherlands, including his fourth season with the Newcastle Northstars in his home country.
WC Division 2 Group B
Konstantin Dikov (South Shore Kings 2021-22) – Bulgaria
Dikov, a regular with the South Shore Kings’ Premier team over two seasons, also enjoyed a call-up with the NCDC Kings in 2021-22. With three assists in five games at the D2B tournament, he completed his sixth IIHF World Championship with Bulgaria this spring. He has won six medals in his IIHF career that dates back to 2016-17, including two Golds in 2018-19 at both the WJC Under-20 D3A and World Championship D3 levels. He has also won Silver and Bronze in past World Championships. He was voted Bulgaria’s Top Player at both the 2018 and 2022 Worlds, and he was Best Defenseman at the WJC Under-20 D3 tournament.
WC Division 3 Group B
Gonzalo Hagerman (Thunder Hockey Club / 2019-20) – Mexico
Another Gold Medal for an NCDC alum, as Hagerman helped lead Mexico to their second Worlds Gold Medal and first in 20 years, since 2004-05. Hagerman played in 39 games for the Thunder and scored 18 points. Even by that 2019-20 season, he had already been a veteran Mexican National Team player having started in 2016-17 with both his first World Under-18 and World Under-20 tournaments, and he has played in 10 total IIHF tournaments over his career. Along with Gold this year, he also won Gold at the 2016-17 WJC Under-18 D3B tournament, his first. He won Silver in the 2017-18 WJC U18 D3A, where he was voted Best Defenseman. He was also Best Defenseman at the 2019-20 WJC U20 D3 tournament, and he received Top Player On Team honors there and also in the 2018-19 WJC U20 D2B tournament.
Bryan Tang (Boston Jr. Rangers / 2024-25) – Hong Kong
Tang is coming off a huge 2024-25 season with the Jr. Rangers, including making his NCAA commitment to Skidmore College for next season to begin his NCAA career. Born in Hong Kong, the Middlesex School product made his World Championships debut this year for his native Hong Kong. And, boy, what a debut it was! He scored eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points to place third in overall scoring at the Division 3B tournament. He was voted Hong Kong’s Top Player and finished the tournament with the best plus-minus at +19. Hong Kong earned the Bronze Medal in the tournament.
WC Division 4
Eduard Malakyan (Northern Cyclones / Connecticut Jr. Rangers, 2018-20) – Armenia
Malakyan made his World Championships and IIHF debut this year in style, being named a Captain for Armenia. He posted a goal and five assists for six points in four games as Armenia came in second to Uzbekistan for the D4 championship. Malakyan split the 2018-19 NCDC season between the Cyclones and Jr. Rangers, before spending the full 2019-20 season with Connecticut. He played in 64 total NCDC games and scored eight points, before also playing in the USPHL Premier for the Florida Eels in 2020-21.
Summaries by Joshua Boyd (media@usphl.com)