BRATISLAVA – Thanks to his four goals and an assist in Team USA’s 8-1 against host Slovakia, Jack Combs has become the scoring leader after Day 1 of the 2017 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship in his first international game.

But the 29-year-old is not a rookie of the game. He just finished his eighth season as an ice hockey pro and has seen a lot.

“I was a bad kid when I was young. My parents put me in hockey to keep me out of trouble and for some reason I fell in love with it. It worked out well,” Combs said. “I started with ice hockey and then inline hockey probably two years later, when I was 6 or so. Since then I played all year round.”

After playing his junior hockey in the United States and in five OHL seasons in Canada, he had seven seasons in minor leagues moving between the AHL and the ECHL while also trying his luck in Europe.

The first time he joined Toros Neftekamsk in Russia’s second-tier league VHL in the summer of 2014. The move to the city in Bashkortostan was a throw into the cold water that ended with a return to North America after a few weeks and 11 scoreless games.

“It was not my favourite,” he said after some seconds of thinking. “It’s hard to fit in. Nobody spoke English, the food wasn’t that good. It was tough to adjust.”

He still didn’t give up the idea of having a breakthrough in Europe. The same season he played for five clubs including a short stint with Bjorkloven, a second-tier team in Umea in the north of Sweden.

After trying it in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2015/2016, he moved to Germany one year ago. What started with a try-out contract with the FIschtown Pinguins Bremerhaven, who had just earned promotion to the country’s top league DEL, ended with surprisingly reaching the playoffs and Combs being the scoring leader of his team and the top goal scorer of the league. In 57 DEL games he had 30 goals and 51 points. No wonder does he call Germany his favourite experience of his career as a hockey pro.

“I really enjoyed playing in Germany last year. That’s been my favourite place so far. I had a really good season and love the country,” he said. That’s a good reason to stay there. He signed a one-year contract with league rival Iserlohn Roosters.

“I played there last season a couple of times [with Bremerhaven] but otherwise haven’t seen much of the city. I will join end of July.”

There are also no issues with food anymore in his newest hockey experiences in Germany. “I love schnitzel and beer, so good!” he said.

And now he’s in Bratislava for the 2017 IIHF Inline Hockey World Championship. Just 70 kilometres away from Vienna, the epicentre of schnitzels, something that can be felt in the Slovak capital as well.

“I had a couple of schnitzels, they were really good. We went to the city centre a couple of times. It’s a beautiful city. The weather is a little hot but it’s nice,” Combs said.

Of course he’s not here just for the culinary experience. Host Slovakia got to know that when Combs scored half of Team USA’s goals in his team’s 8-1 opening win.

“It was a good atmosphere, good fans. We’re happy to get the win since Slovakia is a very good team,” Combs said.

While Combs made inline hockey his summer sport since childhood, it’s the first time he played a World Championship in any sport. So far it has been a good experience for him and his team with many players who have put their focus on inline rather than ice skates.

“It’s my first time with Team USA. I finally got asked to try out. We had try-outs the week before coming here. I played pretty good and was fortunate enough to make it. I’m having fun and hope our team can do really well,” he said. “We came here to win the gold. That’s our goal.”

It’s a goal not without hurdles. Although Team USA is the record world champion in inline hockey, the last tournament didn’t work well being ousted in the quarter-finals and thus the Americans had to travel to Bratislava as the fifth-seeded team.

After the opening-day win against Slovakia, the next hurdle will be higher as Team USA faces neighbouring rival Canada today.

“It will be a tough game against Canada. They won it two years ago. We’re going to do our best,” Combs promised.

This game same as other games from the main arena including all top division games can be watched on IIHF.com. In addition, Fanseat is streaming all 46 games including the entire Division I tournament live.

MARTIN MERK