Moyer to play Swedish NHL All-Stars

North Bay’s Russ Moyer may not have made the NHL but he’s about to get a very good taste of it.

The 26-year-old defenceman left for Denmark last week to join the Rodovre Mighty Bulls of the Danish Pro Hockey League. One of his first games as a “Mighty Bull” will be on Thursday against the NHL Ice Breakers – a Swedish traveling all-star team that is playing exhibition games against various European Club teams this summer.

The former Ottawa 67’s graduate will have to be at his best on the back end guarding against well known NHLers such as Peter Forsberg, Henrik Zetterberg and the Sedin twins.

“To play against the Sedin twins and Zetterberg and a bunch of other great young players and see this seasons second overall pick in Victor Hedman, I might probably be kind of in awe,” admitted Moyer during an interview at Moyer Printing last week.

“I might get embarrassed a couple of times out there but I’m sure hopeful that I put up a respectable show so I’m definitely looking forward to that.”

Moyer, who played in the Central Hockey League last season with the Odessa Jackalopes, was offered a deal to play the second half of the season with Rodovre but that fell through due to some financial issues with the team.

“They lost some money to sponsorship and had to kind of pull back their offer but they maintained they wanted me for this upcoming season and they offered me a contract and I was really happy they did so and I’m looking forward to getting over there,” said Moyer who credits North Bay native Randy Edmonds with helping him get the Danish offer.

“I’ve always wanted to get over to Europe that’s where I felt I would succeed the most so it’s a good opportunity and I’m just looking forward to making the most out of it.”

While the NHL game will be a tremendous high for Moyer, his dreams of coming back over here to put on an NHL jersey himself are fading away with time.

“Hopefully this is the start of playing a few years in Europe and if it doesn’t work out I might try to go on a different career path but I think my years of trying to get to the NHL or a regular in the AHL are done at my age so I’m just looking at making a good career and having fun and seeing the world at the same time,” said Moyer who turns 27 on August 9th.

Danish hockey has been on the rise this decade with Danish trained players such as Frans Nielsen, Mikkel Boedker, Jannick Hanson and 2007 Blues 1st round pick Lars Eller either playing or getting noticed by NHL teams. Moyer believes that success has helped make the Danish league more appealing place to play.

Patrick Jarrett, a Sault Ste. Marie native and former #1 overall pick in the OHL draft, is one familiar Canadian face in the Danish league.

“They always have a couple of good young kids on each professional team to get them some exposure which I think is great and most of the imports are ex-AHLers and guys that have done well in other European leagues so it's definitely going to be a challenging league and usually Rodovre - where I’m going - is right at the top of the league and hopefully we can do that again this year.”

Photo of Russ Moyer at the CHL All-Star game last season