Lone Halifax Moosehead playing at World Juniors reps Switzerland

Halifax Mooseheads forward Nico Hischier is wearing red and white at the IIHFWorld Junior Hockey Championships this year.

But no Maple Leaf.

The 17-year-old is representing his home countrySwitzerland at the tournament, which is split between host cities Montreal and Toronto this year.

"He wants to be pro," said Mooseheads coach AndrTourigny.

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Hischier sixth in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in pointsisexpected to be a first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

"He's an almost perfect player for coaching in the sense that he'sa really hard-working guy, he pays attention to detail, wants to excel in everything," said the bench boss.

That focusshone through Tuesday, when Hischierscored an overtime goal to give Switzerland a 4-3 win over Czech Republic.

Dual loyalties

When Hischier is playing for Halifax, he billets with the Phillips family in Dartmouth.

"He's a really, really nice guy, one of nicest 17-year-olds I've ever met,"says Mandy Phillips, Hischier's"billet mom"while he's away from home.

"We've always been Mooseheads fans, but now we're really rooting for this kid. It's almost like their own kid, you really have a connection with them."

Her son, Ethan, and husband, Ash, even made the trip to Montreal to watchTuesday's game in Switzerland sweaters.

"It's tough," said Phillips."Obviously,we're rooting for Canada, but we're also rooting for Nico to have a phenomenal experience there."

His coach, perhaps, said it best.

"We still want Canada to win, but we want Nico to have success," said Tourigny.

"So we wish Nico to have three points in the 4-3 loss over Canada."

Playing into the new year

The World Juniors continue into the new year, with the bronze andgold medal games on Jan.5.

Canada faced Switzerland in an exhibition game on Dec. 23 and squeaked out a win in overtime.

The two teams mayface off again, if both make it through the preliminary rounds.