BEMIDJI — An invisible string has tied Luka Radivojevic to the State of Hockey since the day he was born.
The 18-year-old Slovakian and Boston College freshman defenseman is the son of Branko Radivojevic, who played for the Minnesota Wild from 2006-08. It was the final stop in a 399-game National Hockey League career that covered three cities in almost eight years.
The Wild were in the midst of a five-game homestand to kick off the new year in 2007. Fresh off a 5-1 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Jan. 2, Branko received a belated Christmas present one day later.
“I was born there (in Edina), and then after a year we moved back to Europe when my dad went to play for another country,” Radivojevic said. “I didn’t get back until BC came here to play Minnesota. It was 17 years.”
Branko played one more season for the Wild before moving back to Europe in 2008. He played professional hockey in Slovakia, Russia and Czechia until he retired in 2020.
Radivojevic didn’t return to the United States until he was a teenager. After playing in the Örebro HK program in Sweden, he jumped at the opportunity to play in the United States Hockey League for the Muskegon Lumberjacks last season, helping the organization win its first-ever Clark Cup with three goals and 22 assists in 38 regular-season games.
Radivojevic enrolled at Boston College in the fall to begin his collegiate career. When the Eagles flew to Minneapolis for an Oct. 9-10 series at 3M Arena at Mariucci, it marked the first time he came back to Minnesota since his family departed for Europe when he was a toddler.
As he prepares for his third and final IIHF World Junior Championship tournament this week, Radivojevic is back in Minnesota again, and will play in the building — Grand Casino Arena, formerly-named the Xcel Energy Center — where his dad’s NHL career came to a close.
Slovakia’s Luka Radivojevic (26) battles Lativa’s Martins Klaucans (13) for the puck during the third period on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, at the Sanford Center.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
“It’s a pretty special place to be at and play World Juniors at,” he said. “Maybe it’ll bring us some luck.”
Radivojevic’s first WJC came when he was 16 years old in Gothenburg, Sweden. He had a goal and an assist in five games. His second under-20 tournament was a year ago in Ottawa. He had a pair of assists in five more games.
In each of his previous WJC runs, Slovakia lost to Finland in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately for Radivojevic, it’s par for the course in international play.
He played in back-to-back IIHF World U18 Championships in 2024 and 2025. In both tournaments, Slovakia lost bronze medal games, including a 4-3 overtime defeat against the United States in 2024 in Frisco, Texas.
“Every time I put the Slovak jersey on, it’s a big honor,” Radivojevic said. “It makes me proud to represent my country. It’s every guy’s dream on this team to medal. We want to win it together. It got taken away from us two times in under-18s the last two years. We are really hungry for it.”
The Slovaks need more than Radivojevic to be hungry. They need him to be famished.
No stranger to the international stage, the 5-foot-10, 172-pound defenseman aims to lead his home country to its first medal since 2015, when Slovakia was the runner-up to Russia in Toronto.
He will do it with an “A” on his chest, serving as an alternate captain.
“Luka is one of our leaders, 100%,” Slovakia head coach Peter Fruhauf said. “I didn’t want to tie him up with the position (of being the captain) because his best hockey is when he’s not too responsible, in a good way. We want him joining the offense — he likes it. I just didn’t want to hold him back. It’s him or (Tobias) Pitka as a captain. They’re similar in terms of experience. But for Luka, I wanted to cut him loose.”
In a 3-1 win over Latvia in a World Junior Championship Pre-Tournament Series game at the Sanford Center on Sunday, Radivojevic stood out as one of Slovakia’s top defenders. He plays larger than his size with offensive tools that are hard to ignore.
From Fruhauf’s perspective, Radivojevic has a chip on his shoulder.
“He was maybe disappointed because he wasn’t drafted,” Fruhauf said. “But if you know him, that pumped him up. He’s working harder, his shot got better, his battles got better. He’s a complete pro. Of course, we’re so happy to have him.”
Radivojevic gave a candid assessment when asked about his first semester at Boston College.
“To be honest, it was pretty hard,” he said. “It was a new system for me, new school, new everything. The first two months were pretty hard. But after that, I got used to it and it’s been awesome.”
His struggles coincided with his team’s growing pains as well. BC started 2-4-1 through its first seven games, then went on a tear to close out the first half of this season. The Eagles (10-5-1) have won eight of their last nine games and have the top points percentage (.700) in the Hockey East Conference standings.
“It’s incredible,” Radivojevic said. “To be around the players and play in college, it’s awesome. We have a really good group of guys, guys like James Hagens (Teddy) Stiga, (Aram) Minnetian, (Drew) Fortescue. It’s awesome to play with them and learn from them.
“We have a really good team, and (this run) says a lot. I think we’re going to be really confident going into next semester.”
Before he returns to campus, Radivojevic will square off against Team USA’s Hagens and Stiga on Dec. 29 in Grand Casino Arena in the preliminary round. BC head coach Greg Brown is also serving as an assistant for the Americans for a fourth time.
Slovakia’s Luka Radivojevic (26) controls the puck during the third period against Latvia on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, at the Sanford Center.
Annalise Braught / Bemidji Pioneer
“It’ll be pretty weird to see them on the other side,” Radivojevic said with a laugh. “We were chirping each other before we flew here. We’ll see, maybe we won’t look at each other when we’re out there against each other. My head coach is on that bench, so that’ll be weird, too.”
While roster cuts haven’t been finalized for all of the 10 competing nations yet, Slovakia is expected to be the youngest team in the tournament with an average age of 18.21 years old, according to Elite Prospects.
With just 27 WJC games played on its roster, Slovakia will rely on players like Radivojevic heavily.
“We’ve known each other since we were 10 years old,” Radivojevic said. “We have a really good group of guys here. I want to be a leader on this team and help guys who maybe don’t know what will happen. I’m going to try to help them as much as I can with the experience.”
Full tournament coverage
Click on the image above to read comprehensive coverage of the 2026 World Junior Championship tournament.
Click on image to read comprehensive coverage of the 2026 World Junior Championship tournament.