The world’s top hockey powers are sending their best teams to the World Cup.

All the biggest names in the sport. A best-on-best tournament.

By circumstances of birth, Anze Kopitar comes alone. Somewhat, anyway.

Kopitar is the lone Slovenian in the tournament. It is as if Slovenia said, “He is our best and, in fact, all we’ve got.”

Last week, players from eight European nations, none of them considered traditional “hockey powers,” met up in Quebec City and formed a temporary — and maybe never repeated — confederation: Team Europe. And to the surprise of few, Kopitar was named the captain of the squad.

It was a whirlwind end of summer for the 29-year-old from Jesenice. He was in Minsk over the Labour Day weekend, the lone NHL player on a Slovenian team that beat Belarus 3-2 in a shootout and thus qualified for the 2018 Olympic Games.

The next day he flew from Minsk to Frankfurt to Montreal and on to Quebec City. Upon arrival, he was informed that he had been named the captain of Team Europe, a first — and again, maybe never repeated — honour.