Slovak phenom Nela Lopusanova moving to USA to play for Bishop Kearney U-19 women’s team
After torching the -U18 IIHF Women’s World Championship with nine goals and 12 points in five games earlier this year, teenage Slovak hockey phenom Nela Lopusanova is coming over to North America to continue her hockey career.
Lopusanova and her family announced the change on Wednesday through the website of her current Slovak team, Vlci Zlinia. The 15-year-old forward has a staggering 28 goals and 49 points in just eight games in the top-tier Slovak women’s league this season.
But get this: Lopusanova has also played 17 games with Zlinia’s U16 men’s league team over the last two seasons, scoring 19 goals and 46 points. For context, 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky scored 30 goals and 54 points in 23 games in the same league at age 13.
Vlci Zlinia confirmed Lopusanova would continue to play for the club through the end of the 2022–23 season before moving to the United States to study at Bishop Kearney High School (located just outside of Rochester, NY) while also playing on its U19 women’s hockey team.
“Thank you that I could grow up here. This club has given me a lot, both in terms of hockey and people. I learned a lot here,” Lopusanova said in a statement (translated from Slovak) on Wednesday. “I am looking forward to a new challenge, but I will always be happy to return to Zilina.”
Lopusanova was born in Zlinia, Slovakia in 2008 and forced her way onto the Slovak national team for the U18 Women’s Worlds earlier this year as one of just eight 14-year-olds in the tournament.
But while the other seven players her age combined for three points, Lopusanova went supernova. She scored in all five of her team’s games, leading the entire tournament with 12 points and finishing second in goals behind 16-year-old Canadian Caitlin Kraemer (who had 10 to Lopusanova’s nine).
She also pulled off a Michigan goal against Team Sweden, because why not?
MICHIGANNNNNNN🔥🇸🇰
Of course it had to be Nela Lopusanova! @HockeySlovakia #U18WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/kronTWtjDE
Bishop Kearney has both U-16 and U-19 women’s hockey teams. The average age of the school’s U-19 women’s team this season is 17.25. If she were to make her BK Selects debut today, Lopusanova would be the only 2008-born player on the U-19 team.
“First of all, Nela wanted to go there to play. People from this school and club had a very good attitude and way of communication. We liked their high-quality hockey and school program,” Lopusanova’s father, Jozef Lopusan, said. “At the same time, representatives of the [Slovak hockey federation] and the club Vlci Zilina supported Nela in this decision. According to them, it could be a good path for her.”
If Lopusanova elects to go down the NCAA pathway, she’ll be following in the footsteps of dozens of Bishop Kearney alumni who have successfully transitioned to the DI level. It also remains to be seen whether she’ll be able to help Slovakia’s women’s national team advance to the top division for future IIHF Women’s World Championships (they currently compete in the second-tier Division I).
Either way, Nela Lopusanova is here to stay. Remember that name, hockey fans.