North Huntingdon residents Timmy Palmer and Dominic Prosser and Export youths Jonny Stickel and Alexander Berardinelli will compete with their teammates from the 1995 AAA Pittsburgh Junior Penguins in the 2008 PeeWee World Championships in Quebec from Feb. 14 to 24.

The Quebec World Championship Tournament is one of the most prestigious youth hockey tournament in the world. Nearly 2,300 young hockey players, age 12, from as many as 16 countries travel to Quebec by invitation only to participate in this showcase event.

The Junior Penguins are ranked ninth out of 99 teams nationally.

Many of the teams they play against and spend a great deal of time with will not speak English, and yet they still will learn to interact and share their experiences.

For the duration of the tournament, the players will stay with host families. The players will be exposed to their way of life, attend events with their host families and participate in cultural and educational events.

Many current and former NHL stars have passed through this tournament, including Guy Lafleur, Mark Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros and Mario Lemieux.

Coincidentally, Lemieux is one of the team's assistant coaches. The staff also includes head coach Larry Gaus and assistants J.D. Faulkner and Mark Stickel, as well as manager Leroy Eckenrod.

The team also features Noah Batis (Latrobe), Troy Berglund (Pitts-burgh), Nicco Catalano (Wheeling), Connor Eckenrod (Ebensburg), Zach Faulkner (Erie), Dylan Fouts (Mars), Andrew Gaus (Gibsonia), Patrick Hunter (Indiana), Austin Jasper (Indiana), Austin Lemieux (Pittsburgh), Luke Leya (Allison Park), Davis McNulty (Pittsburgh), Nathan Miller (Erie) and Keenan Murray (Pittsburgh).

For more information on the tournament, visit http://www.tournoipee-wee.qc.ca/EN/index.html.

-- Submitted by Helene Palmer