'Hard work pays off': Tucson's Miloš Kelemen shines in his first stateside season

Tucson Roadrunners forward Miloš Kelemen has received a warm welcome during his first year of North American hockey.

The Zvolen, Slovakia, native has played in all 15 games for Tucson this season, racking up 11 points.

Off the ice he’s also popular. On Nov. 11, a handful of fans waved Slovakia fans for pretty much all of the Roadrunners’ game against Coachella Valley. His fiancé, Alexandra Krahulcová, had met the fellow Slovaks living his Tucson and they got them tickets.

“I really appreciated them coming,” said, who will lead the Roadrunners (9-5-1-0) into a two-game series at Ontario (9-5-1-0) that starts Saturday.

After five seasons in the Slovak league and one in the KHL, Kelemen played for Mlada Boleslav BK in the Czech Republic. In May the 23-year-old signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Coyotes.

“He’s transitioned so well for us. He’s arguably been one of our most consistent players this season, and obviously it couldn’t happen to a better teammate,” Roadrunners head coach Steve Potvin said. “This guy shows up every day with the intention of getting better and he’s one of those guys that really takes his role seriously and understands what he needs to do to play his best game.”

Kelemen’s six goals are second on the team. On Nov. 19, he picked up his first professional hat trick in a win over San Jose.

“That was a quick hat trick (in) North America. It took me about 16 years to do that,” said Tucson forward Adam Cracknell. “So I’m happy for him. Hard work pays off: (With) that guy, you ask him to do anything and he does it.

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“He got rewarded for his work he’s put in this season and he always gets his chances by his work ethic. You see him get rewarded like that; huge for us and huge for him.”

Kelemen, like Cracknell (Canada) and Roadrunners defenseman Ronald Knot (Czech Republic) played in the 2022 Olympics. His Slovakia team took home the bronze medal.

“I think it’s a dream for every player to play in the Olympics,” Kelemen said. “We won the bronze medal with Slovakia so it was a good execution for me.”

Potvin hopes the Eastern Europe to Arizona pipeline keeps going.

“(Coyotes Director European Pro Scouting & Development) Brett Stewart’s been a guy over there that’s done a really nice job for us,” Potvin said. “He’s been in the game a long time and obviously we trust his knowledge.”