The magic of the World Junior Hockey Championship was certainly not lost on Daniel Tkac.

The 19-year old Merritt Centennial forward relished in his time with Team Slovakia, the most prominent stage he had ever had the opportunity to skate onto.

“The experience was amazing,” Tkac told the Herald while still across the pond post-tournament. “It’s not often you get to get an opportunity like that to play against the best players in the world at that age.”

When asked about his readiness to compete at such an elite skill level, Tkac said it was something he was already prepared for: after all, he led the Cents with 23 points before departing to Team Slovakia’s camp in the Czech Republic in early December, and still remains third on the team in scoring, despite missing the vast majority of the month’s games.

That scoring touch was evident right from game one of the world tournament, when he potted the game-winning goal for Team Slovakia over Team Kazakhstan in the dying seconds of the third period.

He called the moment “an amazing feeling,” though was quick to turn the recognition over to his teammate.

“First of all, it was an amazing pass,” said Tkac, about a nice feed from the side of the net by teammate Michal Mrazik. “But yes, it was unbelievable to score that kind of goal with just two minutes left.

“I’ve never heard an arena of 5,000 fans get loud like that before.”

Tkac and Team Slovakia were bounced from the tournament in the Jan. 2 quarterfinal against Team Canada, where the Canadians took it to them by a score of 6-1. The win against Kazakhstan would turn out to be the only pair of points for Tkac and Slovakia, though he added a helper in a loss against Team Finland for his second point of the tournament.

He also picked up four penalty minutes in the tournament, and finished at a minus-four through five games, an impressive feat considering Slovakia finished minus-19 as a team.

An eighth-place finish guarantees Slovakia a spot in next year’s rendition of the tournament.

“The atmosphere was great, even though we didn’t win too many games,” said Tkac. “The team was always positive and motivated each other, and the fans helped out a lot during that time.”

As for the present, it’s back to the BCHL for the Cents’ first ever World Junior player where it will be business as usual.

“Yeah, for sure it will be nice to get back with the guys and make something happen with the team…and looking forward to playoffs.”