When Anze Kopitar appeared at Brnik Airport, it looked like an important politician had come for an official visit to Slovenia. Although he was half an hour late, a weary Kopitar was greeted by his family members and friends, as well as a throng of photographers and reporters.

“Right now I’m pretty tired after spending almost 30 hours in different airports," the 19-year-old was quoted as saying on a Slovenian website, after he warmly embraced his mother. "But everything will change on Sunday when the tournament will start.”

The tournament is the World Championships, which is set to get underway April 15 at Hala Tivoli in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The tournament is split into two divisions, Slovenia being in the lower bracket. Slovenia will match up against Great Britian, Japan, Luthuania, Romania, and Hungary.

"Our expectations are well known," Kopitar said about his team's mindset going into their first round matchup. "We all want to return to the A division. And we all know that our group isn’t as hard as the one with Kazakhstan."

Kazakhstan is in Group A, along with Estonia, China, France, Poland and the Netherlands. But whatever division Slovenia plays in, they have their work cut out for them. Kopitar stated that his team should not underestimate their opponents in the tournament.

“We are mistaken if we think that with my presence, everything will go smoothly," he said.

But Slovenia is betting that the budding NHL star will carry the team far, pairing Kopitar with some of the team's best skaters. According to Kopitar's father, Matjaž, Anze will be joined on the top scoring line by Tomaž Razingar and Ivo Jan. Razingar, 28, had 49 points (20 G, 29 A) for Acroni Jesenice in the Austrian League this season. The 32-year-old Jan has 747 points over his illustrious 16-year career, and will be playing in his tenth tournament for Slovenia.

At 19, Kopitar is the youngest player on the national team, but his success in the NHL this season has made him the face of the club. His face is on the cover of promotional posters for the tournament. But all his success still hasn't fazed the humble hockey player.

“I’m very, very pleased that I’m back home again," he said. "It was very special when we flew over my hometown Hrušica and the Karavanke mountains. In L.A., I’ve missed all the things that are in Slovenia: my family, friends, girlfriend.” He also mentioned that he was looking forward to some good, old-fashioned home cooking.

He then went on to recall the whirlwind of events that has happened to him since being drafted 11th overall by the Kings in the 2005 draft.

“Everything went pretty fast since the draft. The season in Sweden (when he played for Sodertalje SK in 2005) was over fast. But I can tell you that this year went by like crazy. I remember like it was yesterday: My arrival at training camp, how I made the Kings' team and especially my first game.”

His first official game was against the Anaheim Ducks, when he scored the first goal of the season for the Kings. He went on to score 19 more and wind up with 61 points on the year. As with his homeland team, Kopitar quickly became the new face for the Los Angeles Kings. He scored on premiere goaltenders like Martin Brodeur, Manny Fernandez and Tomas Vokoun. In the YoungStars game during All-Star weekend, a game that highlights NHL rookies, he had 5 points (2G, 3A) for the West, out-performing this year's apparent Calder winner, Evgeni Malkin in that game.

But the rigors of an 82-game season wore on the Kings' rookie, who is looking forward to a little leisure time this off-season.

“I’ll take some rest after this tournament for my body and also for my head," he said. "I didn’t expect to score so many points this season. The Kings are a very young team and we want to be a lot better next year."

(Thanks Milana from letsgokings.com for the translation!)