Snoqualmie Valley’s Robbie Christensen to visit Czech Republic on hockey tour

A young hockey player from the Valley is about to embark on a very special trip.

Robbie Christensen, a soon-to-be sophomore at Mount Si High School who plays hockey for the Sno-King Hockey Association, will be going on a tour of the Czech Republic Aug. 2 to 12. He will be traveling with players from his association and from the Seattle Junior Hockey Association. Christensen plays on the wing, which is a front-line offensive position in the sport.

The European tour is an exciting opportunity for him.

“I think it will be great for me to go and learn the European style of play,” he said. Christensen has been playing for seven years, and was introduced to the sport by his grandfather, Maurice Doerfler, who at the time was a season ticket holder for the Seattle Thunderbirds junior hockey team.

Christensen is looking to learn more about the Czech culture while he is there. The Czech Republic has produced many great players over the years, most notably pro superstars Jaromir Jagr and Dominik Hasek.

Christensen is looking to make the big time, either with the Western Hockey League, of which the Thunderbirds are members, or with the United States Hockey League, a junior league whose teams reside mostly in the Midwest.

“This year, I went to the WHL prospects camp in Anaheim and the USHL prospects camp in Chicago,” he said, adding that he has invitations from six different USHL teams for their rookie camps but is unable to fulfill those due to the European trip. To make a roster with either of those leagues, he would most likely have to be drafted by a team in either league.

If he were to get on a team, the next step up from there is the National Hockey League, and it takes a lot of commitment.

“You have to sacrifice a lot of your time because you can’t practice in your backyard,” he said.

Robbie’s mom, Sarah, adds that during the season, he travels to the Vancouver, B.C., area for games and is usually not home until the wee hours of the morning. In addition, he has participated in several tournaments and camps that have taken him to several locations this year.

Sarah Christensen told the Valley Record that Robbie hopes to leave home when he is a high school junior, a normal rite of passage for players in the various junior leagues, who are hosted by “billet” families in the various cities where teams are located.

Robbie Christensen is one of a small but growing list of Valley teens playing ice hockey. This spring, the Valley Record featured a story on a team based out of Skyline High School which featured several Valley players.

Contact Snoqualmie Valley Record Sports contributing Writer Rhett Workman at rwteam97@yahoo.com or 425-888-2311.

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