Bruno Idžan is an 18-year-old forward who represents Croatia internationally. He has already played 32 games, scoring 43 points, at the senior, U20, and U18 levels up until this point. Most notably, Idžan has won gold medals with Croatia at the 2022 World Junior Championship D2B, 2022 U18 World Championship D2B, 2023 World Junior Championship D2A, and 2024 World Championship D2A.
After spending the last three seasons playing junior hockey in Sweden, Idžan has returned home to Croatia and will play his first professional season with KHL Sisak. This will also be the inaugural season for Sisak in the Alps Hockey League. Prior to Sisak’s participation in Round 1 of the IIHF Continental Cup, where Idžan scored 7 (2+5) points in 3 games, I asked the forward questions about his goals for this season, the national team, and the current state of Croatian ice hockey.
Interview
Q: How did you first start playing hockey?
A: I started playing hockey mostly because there was a KHL/EBEL club in my home town Zagreb and I went to all their games and experienced high tier hockey very early. That’s why me and a lot of other kids from Zagreb started training hockey.
Q: You have already played in 7 IIHF tournaments for Croatia. What has been your favourite moment(s)?
A: There is a lot of great moments for me and it is hard to pick just one, but if i had to choose, it would probably be winning the two U20 championships in a row in just two months. Because I think it happens very rarely and especially in a non-traditional hockey country like Croatia.
Q: How big of an inspiration is Borna Rendulić to Croatian hockey?
A: I think he is a big inspiration to probably every kid in Croatia in a sense that even though Croatia is such a non-hockey country everything is still possible with dedication and a bit of luck, and reaching the top is not impossible like you would think when you look at a country with no hockey opportunities like Croatia.
Q: You played junior hockey in Sweden for three seasons. How has that helped you develop as a player?
A: Everybody knows Sweden is one of the biggest hockey countries in the world, so I think it is safe to say that Sweden helped me very much in becoming a player that I am. I learned most of the hockey stuff I know in Sweden so it helped me a lot.
Q: What are your goals for your first professional season with KHL Sisak?
A: I don’t really know what to expect from the season, but I think we have a good team and chemistry in the team is very good, so I think we can go a long way. Some team goals are probably trying to reach the playoffs of the [AlpsHL] and some personal goals are just to get better and try to adjust to senior hockey.
Q: Do you believe that Croatia (or any Balkan nation) has the potential to one day compete with the best European teams?
A: To be honest, I don’t think we are in a great position as of right now, because we have no hockey schools, no infrastructure, and the situation is not overall great. I don’t think it’s impossible that it happens one day of course, but we are very far from it as of right now.
Bonus Q: What do you do outside of playing hockey?
A: I like doing a lot of other sports like tennis and basketball, and I just hang out with friends like every other guy my age (laughs).