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In his capacity as head man of the Oilers Entertainment Group, Bob Nicholson is always looking for new ventures and he confirmed Thursday after a media tour of the Oilers’ splendid new dressing room, medical, training and video areas at Rogers Place that OEG is “real close” to getting the storied Ivan Hlinka under-18 international junior tournament.

The Hlinka memorial tournament, named for the late Czech star and former Pittsburgh Penguins coach, is also called the Under 18 World Cup. It’s been held every August in the Czech Republic and Slovakia for the best players yet to be drafted from Canada, USA, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Slovakia.

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If OEG gets the tournament, it would be in Edmonton every second year beginning in 2018. Obviously moving it from Europe would be a major shift because Hlinka is revered over there. He was a huge star in the Czech Republic before playing two years with Vancouver Canucks, where he had 120 points in 137 games.