Before the begining of the start of the third round of Carpathian Junior Hockey League, we asked some questions to our visitors from the US, representatives of Hockey Holdings Group.

Gentlemen, can you please introduce yourselves?

My name is Joseph Kolodziej (J.K.), I am the CEO of Hockey Holdings Group. Hockey Holdings Group is a diverse company offering many different products, services and events as they relate to player development, education and scouting opportunity.

My name is Neil Liston (N.L.), and I am the Vice President of Hockey Holdings as well as a scout for the Brookings Blizzard in the North American Hockey League. My role is to manage player development and promotion of players to the highest levels of hockey they can achieve.

Hockey Holdings is planning to open branch office in Krakow. What is the point of this expansion?

J.K.: There are several reasons. The first is that my family ancestors can be traced back to the seventh century in Poland, so I have a deep connection to the country. The second reason is that Krakow is centrally located to some of the best hockey development programs in all of Central Europe. The third reason is that as a group, we believe that not enough attention is being paid to player developing in the region, and we want to bring more attention to them.

You are going to visit the third round of Carpathian Junior Hockey League in Sanok. What are the main goals of your visit and how has this idea been born?

N.L.: Our main goals are to meet everyone we can that is involved with the CJHL, and to get to know the players within the league. The idea came about when we noticed that there is very little information available to scouts in the United States and Canada because they do not have the opportunity to scout the region. When we asked the top leagues in North America if they were interested in having us provide them player information, all of them responded that they would like for us to give them as much information as we can provide.

Do you think you will find any interesting players in the CJHL teams?

N.L.: We are coming to Sanok looking for player who are ready to come to North America. Players who want to achieve the highest level of play they possibly can. After watching video, we believe there are some unknown talent within the CJHL, and we hope to make them known to the world. The CJHL has been very helpful in their efforts to promote players, and have shown us they are committed to developing strong athletes with a great compete level and will to succeed. With the USHL generous import player limits, I am hopping to find several players we can bring to the United States next season.