Aito Iguchi never set out to break conceptions about hockey. He’s just happened to be so successful that suddenly the concept of an Asian youth hockey star wasn’t so dismissed.
Iguchi is a teenager who hails from Saitama Prefecture in Japan, but has earned major attention for his deft stick-handling skills and his speed and vision on the ice. Those kind of plaudits are fairly normal for a high school senior, but for an 11-year-old? That’s uncharted territory.
Of course, so is being an Asian hockey phenom. So, how did Iguchi end up getting so much attention in North America? For one, he has a high powered North American agent, Pavel Barber, who found him and instantly recognized his talent. Iguchi also has the advantage of putting in amazing performances in Japan as opposed to the U.S. or Canada, where highly competitive players abound.
For now, no one else in Japan can catch up to Iguchi, who is still years away from being draft eligible, you know, in case you were interested (he can be selected in the 2021 draft. That gives him a good seven-plus years to keep bulking up and prove he can compete this way at a higher level. He’s certainly turning heads now.
