Copeland aims to be inspiration with Puerto Rico national team

Juan Copeland played for the London Knights, Lincoln Stars and Puerto Rico men’s national team last season, all within a couple of months of his 18th birthday.

He’s believed to be the first player to play for those three teams in the same calendar year. Wherever his journey leads next, Copeland plans to continue representing Puerto Rico internationally, as he has this summer and last.

“I want to be able to play at the highest level I can, to show Caribbean countries that people with [our] descent play other sports than baseball or boxing,” Copeland said in a recent interview. “I want little kids to be able to look up and be like, ‘Wow, if that guy can play at that level, I can, too.’

“Hopefully, one of those kids one day plays [at a] higher level than I do or plays in the NHL consistently. That’s the biggest thing, being able to inspire younger kids and walk in the [dressing] room and have all the guys respect that you worked this hard for Team Puerto Rico.”

Copeland, a Michigan native who plays both wings, has two possibilities for the 2024-25 season: He could return to Lincoln for a second season in the United States Hockey League or sign a contract with Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League. He plans to attend Kitchener’s training camp as a free agent invitee beginning Sunday.

Juan’s parents, Bryan and Sarah Copeland, grew up in Michigan. Sarah’s family is from San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Juan has never been but dreams of visiting. Bryan’s side of the family has played hockey recreationally over the years. Juan took an interest in ball hockey and roller hockey when he was very young, then moved to ice hockey around the age of 7. At the time, the nearest rink was more than 30 miles away from the Copeland home in Fowlerville, Michigan.

Juan didn’t know Puerto Rico had a national hockey team until he saw an Instagram post in which his friend, Logan Cuvo, was wearing a national team jersey. Cuvo, who owns the Best Dam Tape stick tape company, connected Copeland with Puerto Rico national team coach Paul Cohen. Once Copeland submitted documentation to prove his ancestry on the island, he had a spot on the roster.

Copeland played his first tournament for Puerto Rico in 2023, finishing with 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in three games. He had another 10 points (four goals, six assists) in four games of the Challenger Series this year in New York, where Puerto Rico faced Jamaica and Lebanon.

“Puerto Rico has a real place in his heart -- it’s the fabric of who he is,” said Cliff Mander, the player agent at CKM Sports Management who has represented Copeland since last season. “When you look at their national team, and the players they have coming up, he’s the most talented player [of the group] currently.

“He’s a power forward with some skills around the net. He can handle the physical game. I would say he’s a little bit raw, too. There’s still some polish that needs to be ironed out.”

Copeland, who turns 19 on Sept. 3, can speak about the realities of the hockey business with greater perspective than many players his age. 

While growing up, he thought he’d play college hockey. Boston University was one of his dream schools. But in the summer of 2021, a different path emerged: Niagara took Copeland in the second round (No. 22) of the OHL draft. 

“I told my dad, ‘I’m going to Boston University,’” Copeland recalled. “I was obsessed with them for some reason . . . And [my dad] was like, ‘We need to wait things out and see what we all agree on.’ And then my [former] agent called me a couple weeks before the OHL draft and was like, ‘If you want to go to the OHL, let me know now. I have a team that wants to take you 22nd overall.’

“Growing up, I knew I was an OHL-style player -- a lot of skill, a lot of offense, a lot of side-to-side, more than north and south, which is the big difference [between] the USHL and OHL. So I decided, for the style of player I am, the OHL would fit best. I called my agent back and said, ‘I’m going.’ It was a crazy experience. I was shell-shocked.”

Copeland had 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in 58 games in 2021-22, his debut season with Niagara, as an under-17 player. Then the team changed coaches amid organizational turmoil, and Copeland’s production plateaued in his second OHL season; he finished with 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 57 games. He wasn’t selected in the 2023 NHL Draft. 

“The biggest thing for me is, don’t take that time for granted. Don’t take a year off,” Copeland said. “My second year [with Niagara] I didn’t have a good year, because I was comfortable with how my first year was. I thought it was going to be easy. 

“The biggest thing is [to] keep a humble head. Keep playing. … Scouts want the player. Obviously there’s going to be the guys with hundreds of points, but they want a guy that’s all-around. … The points will come. The scouts will come. You’ve got to be patient. You can’t rush it. You can’t take a day off. You’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Midway through the preseason 2023-24, the organization and Copeland agreed that the new systems weren’t a good fit for his style of play. Last Sept. 11, Niagara traded him to powerhouse London.

In a news release, Knights associate general manager Rob Simpson described Copeland as an “offensive-style player, highly skilled and high in puck possession, the way we want to play in London.”

The trade didn’t work out as the Knights or Copeland envisioned. By Halloween, he’d lost his roster spot in London and moved to Lincoln, nearly 1,000 miles away in Nebraska. In 52 games with the Stars, he had 20 points (five goals, 15 assists). 

“It wasn’t the best year, but it was my most developmental year I’ve had in junior hockey,” Copeland said. “Usually, it’s your first year, but I wasn’t held accountable in other places like I was in Lincoln. It made you adjust and change your game. …

“I’m a very offensive player, but the biggest thing [in Lincoln] was my defensive game. … I blocked more shots than I could think of, backchecks, being held accountable for not backchecking -- that elevated my defensive game.”

As he enters a fourth season of junior hockey, Copeland is a more complete player than ever before. And the next time he dons the Puerto Rico sweater, he’ll have even more insight on the hockey life to share with his teammates.