Chong Hyun Lee won't be in the lineup when the Prince George Spruce Kings play a trio of road games this weekend.
He has a good excuse.
Lee, a 20-year-old forward from Port Coquitlam, will instead be skating for South Korea at the Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Poland. Lee and his mates open the four-team tournament on Thursday against the host club. South Korea will take on Kazakhstan on Friday and Ukraine on Saturday.
Lee, who received an invitation to play for South Korea, left for Poland this past Sunday and will re-join the Spruce Kings after the Christmas break.
In 31 games with the Kings this B.C. Hockey League season, Lee has 10 goals and 21 points. In his absence, the team will visit the Coquitlam Express on Friday, the Cowichan Valley Capitals on Saturday and the Victoria Grizzlies on Sunday.
To fill Lee's roster spot, the Kings have called up his younger brother, Chong Min Lee, from the Port Moody Panthers of the Pacific Junior (B) Hockey League. Other call-ups - who will fill in for missing or injured players - are Dawson Rodin of the PIJHL's Aldergrove Kodiaks and Ryan Stack of the Burnaby Winter Club.
One other Spruce Kings player away is 18-year-old centreman Kyle Johnson, who is a member of Team Canada West for the World Junior A Challenge, which started Sunday and runs through Saturday in Bonnyville, Alta. Canada West beat Switzerland 6-2 in its Sunday opener and fell 5-3 to Russia on Monday. In that game, Johnson assisted on Canada West's first goal, scored by Carter Turnbull of the Powell River Kings.
Quarterfinal playoff games begin Wednesday. Other teams in the tournament are Canada East, the United States and the Czech Republic.
After Sunday's game against the Grizzlies, the Spruce Kings will be off until Dec. 29 when they host the Langley Rivermen in the front end of a doubleheader.
