WINDSOR, Ontario -- Born in Australia. Plays for Sweden. Hopes to play for the Vegas Golden Knights someday.
Jakob Ihs-Wozniak might have the most intriguing bio at the World Junior Summer Showcase, a tournament featuring prospects from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States at WFCU Center this week.
“Australia’s a part of me,” said the 19-year-old forward, whom Vegas selected in the second round (No. 55) of the 2025 NHL Draft. “I think it’s a big part of me. Of course, I’m mostly a Swede now, but I still always want to have Australia there too.”
What’s the backstory? What does Ihs-Wozniak need to do to make Sweden’s roster for the 2027 IIHF World Junior Championship in Alberta and eventually the Golden Knights’ roster? If he makes the NHL, where would he fit in Australian hockey history?
St. Louis Blues forward Nathan Walker is considered the first Australian to play in the NHL, even though he was born in Cardiff, Wales. He moved to Sydney when he was 2 and began playing hockey there, then moved to the Czech Republic at 13 and the United States at 19 for hockey. He has represented Australia internationally.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jordan Spence is the first Australia-born player in the NHL. He was born in Manly, a Sydney suburb. He moved to Japan at 1 ½ and began playing hockey there, then moved to Canada as a teenager partly for hockey.
He has represented Canada internationally.
Ihs-Wozniak has a chance to become the second Australia-born player in the NHL. When he competes for Sweden internationally, he displays his dual Swedish-Australian identity on the back of his jersey with his hyphenated last name.
His mother, Anna Ihs, is from Lulea, Sweden. While pursuing a graduate degree in engineering, she studied abroad on the other side of the world in Adelaide, Australia. A few weeks before going home, she met Adam Wozniak.
“You’re young,” she said. “You don’t really know what’s going to happen. But I went back to Sweden, and then I thought, ‘Maybe I should give it a try.’ So, I said, ‘OK, I’ll go back to Australia and see what happens.’ I went back to Australia.
The university helped me to find a job over there, and so I started working. We moved in together, and then, yeah.”
Jakob was born in Adelaide. But Anna had made it clear from the beginning that she wanted to return to Sweden, and the family moved to Lulea when Jakob was almost 2. He began playing hockey there.
His Australian grandparents would visit him in Sweden every year, and he would visit them in Australia almost every year until the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has never skated Down Under, although Australia has more than a century of hockey history, Adelaide has a semipro hockey team, and his mother took his father ice skating there before he was born.
“I think he feels very Swedish,” his mother said. “He does. Sweden is where he grew up.
But, of course, Australia is a big part of his life as well, because his grandparents are there and he’s got a close relationship with them.
He keeps saying he would like to go back to visit.”
Ihs-Wozniak said he always had a good time there.
“The weather is awesome, of course,” he said. “Australia has cricket and the Australian football my dad grew up playing. I’d like to go back and see that -- and see it in another way now when I’ve gotten older.”