text: nathan walker nathan walker ( born 7 february 1994 ) is an australian professional ice hockey player currently playing for the hershey bears of the american hockey league ( ahl ) and a prospect for the washington capitals of the national hockey league . walker , who was born in wales , grew up in australia and first played ice hockey there . he moved to the czech republic in 2007 in order to further his career , and joined the junior program of hc vítkovice , a member of the czech extraliga . he first played for the senior team in 2011 , becoming the first australian ice hockey player to play for a professional senior team in europe . along with hc vítkovice , walker was loaned to several lower - level czech teams . in 2013 walker signed with the youngstown phantoms of the junior united states hockey league , moving to north america for the first time . he attended the training camp of the washington capitals in 2013 and signed with their ahl affiliate hershey . walker represents australia internationally , and first played for them at the 2011 iihf world championship division ii tournament , where he helped his team win their group and earn a promotion to division i for the following year . passed over in the previous two nhl entry drafts , walker was selected by the capitals in the third round of the 2014 nhl entry draft , the first australian selected in an nhl draft . playing career australia and czech republic walker began playing hockey at age six and by thirteen he was in a league with players as old as twenty and able to them . during the 2007 season he played in both the under - 14 and under - 16 leagues . during 14 u14 games he recorded 77 goals and 25 assists for 102 points , a record for the league ; the second leading scorer had 70 points in 24 games . walker had similar numbers in the u16 league ; he scored 69 points in 16 games to again lead the league in scoring , with the second highest total was 53 points in 20 games . as walker was dominating the local competition , he began to look for other options . in 2007 his coach ivan manco , who came from slovakia , arranged for walker to tryout for hc vítkovice in the czech republic , where manco knew one of the coaches . walker impressed the team enough to be given a place on their under - 18 junior team . in 2009 – 10 he recorded 42 points in 28 games for the u18 team and earned a chance to play for the u20 team . he also returned to australia during the czech offseason and played for the sydney ice dogs of the australian ice hockey league . on 9 october 2011 , walker made his debut for the senior hc vítkovice club in the czech extraliga , making him the first australian to play professionally in europe ; he was also the youngest player in the extraliga . hc vítkovice was invited to the 2011 spengler cup and in their first game against canada walker scored the only goal for vítkovice . he became the youngest player to score in spengler cup history and was named player of the game for vítkovice . with the conclusion of the 2011 – 12 czech extraliga season , hc vítkovice loaned walker to hc olomouc of the 1 . národní liga , the second - highest league in the czech republic , on 20 february 2012 . walker played 34 games in his first season in the extraliga , scoring four goals and five assists for nine points . he played a further two games with hc olomouc , recording an assist . as a result of his play in the extraliga , walker began to be noticed by the national hockey league ( nhl ) . in the nhl central scouting bureau 's january 2012 list of draft prospects , walker was listed as the 21st best european - based skater for the 2012 nhl entry draft , the second highest czech - based player on the list . walker was listed as the 25th best european skater in the nhl 's final list of prospects for the 2012 entry draft . he was not selected in the entry draft , but was invited to participate in the washington capitals development camp in july ; however nhl rules required that walker participate in the 2013 nhl entry draft before he was able to sign with any team . north america during the 2012 – 13 season walker appeared in twenty games with hc vítkovice and recorded one assist ; he was loaned to 2003 for three games , where he also had one assist . after six years in the czech republic , walker signed a contract on 8 january 2013 with the youngstown phantoms of the united states hockey league , a junior ice hockey league in the united states . he made his debut for the team on 11 january against the chicago steel , recording a goal . after four games with the phantoms , in which he recorded six points , walker was named to the ushl / nhl top prospects game on 23 january 2013 ; he replaced his teammate , who was ill . walker played 29 games for the phantoms during the regular season and recorded 27 points ( 7 goals , 20 assists ) . his 20 assists were good enough for fifth on the team , even though walker only joined the team midway through the season . his season ended early due to an injury suffered in a game on 5 april where walker broke a bone in his neck as a result of a hit from behind ; as a result he missed all the phantoms playoff games . upon the conclusion of the season walker returned to the czech republic to train , before heading back to australia . in july he was invited to once again attend the capitals development camp , scheduled for september . he performed well enough to remain with the team and attend their full training camp as one of 40 players . however , due to an overlooked rule , the capitals were unable to sign walker ; as he had started the 2012 – 13 season in europe and then moved to north america , and was under 20 years old , he would have to enter the 2014 nhl entry draft before being allowed to sign an nhl contract . instead , on 24 september walker signed a contract with the capitals ' american hockey league affiliate , the hershey bears . he made his debut for the bears on 5 october 2013 against the adirondack phantoms , becoming the first australian to play in the ahl . during walker 's third game with the bears , on october 27 against the norfolk admirals , he scored his first goal and recorded his first professional fight . the 2014 nhl entry draft was the third and final nhl draft that walker was eligible for , and he was selected in the third round , 89th overall , by the capitals . in doing so , walker became the first australian to be selected in an nhl draft . on 25 july 2014 , walker was signed to a three - year entry - level contract with the capitals . partway through the 2014 – 2015 season walker was reassigned to the south carolina stingrays of the echl . after a two - game stint with the stingrays , where he recorded two points , walker was brought back to hersey . reassigned to south carolina again in january , walker was injured in a game on 28 january when he tore his acl , ending his season . at the time of the injury walker had appeared in 28 games for the bears , where he scored 4 points , and a further 6 games for the stingrays , also recording 4 points . international play walker first played for the australian men 's senior team at the 2011 iihf world championship division ii group a tournament which was held in melbourne , australia . australia won the tournament and was promoted to division i group b for the 2012 world championships . walker finished the tournament with four goals and two assists for six points , tied for third overall . he was also recognised by the tournament coaches as the best player on the australian team . walker represented australia again at the 2012 world championships . playing in division ib , australia finished last in the group and was relegated to division iia for 2013 . walker scored two goals during the tournament . personal life walker was born in cardiff , wales to wayne and kerry ; he also has an older brother , ryan . when walker was two , his family moved to sydney , australia . wayne played rugby league , leading to nathan playing for the cronulla sharks junior team until the age of 15 . ryan , his older brother , also played hockey representing australia in the national under - 18 squad . ryan had to quit hockey after he was injured during a game in the united states . while in the czech republic walker learned to speak czech , slovak , and some russian . walker first played ice hockey in australia at the age of six , after watching his older brother ryan play . due to a lack of ice hockey broadcasting in australia , walker was also inspired after watching the mighty ducks film series and mystery , alaska , all of which are based around ice hockey . career statistics regular season and playoffs international