Two WHL stars that participated in the recent World Junior Championships graced the Rec Plex over the weekend home action with the Kootenay Ice.

Quinton Howden, a returning veteran for Team Canada from last year's tournament, along with Emerson Etem, who represented Team USA for the second time, showed why they earned spots on their national squads when the Moose Jaw Warriors and Medicine Hat Tigers came to town.

Howden, a 19-year-old forward with the Warriors, mans the left wing and has accumulated 14 goals and 15 assists so far in the season.

However, with Team Canada, he wore assistant captain honours and racked up three goals and three assists in six games earning a bronze medal with a win over the Fins.

Etem was held scoreless in six games, but collected four assists while wearing the stars and stripes this year, as the team bowed out of medal contention with an uncharacteristic seventh place finish.

Both athletes both acknowledge that getting tapped to represent their country in international competition is a special honour.

"I don't think that words can describe it," said Howden, after Moose Jaw's game against the Ice on Saturday. "Not many kids get the opportunity to don that jersey and I've done it a few times and to be able to represent your country like that is something special and memories that you'll take away for the rest of your life."

While Canada didn't live up to golden expectations, the squad rallied to beat the Finnish team 4-0 to capture the bronze medal.

"It was fun, something that I'll have with me for the rest of my life," Howden continued. "We went there for gold, but we got the bronze medal and it still means something special to us."

It's the second time in two years where the Russians have handed Team Canada some tough losses; last year the Ruskies scored five goals in the third period of the championship game to beat the Canadians 5-3.

This year, the Russians rode a 6-1 lead going in to the final frame of the semifinal, before Team Canada mounted an improbable comeback to score four goals by the period's end, coming up one short of sending the game into overtime.

Etem notes that Team USA didn't get the results they wanted, but added that the tournament was a good experience and a good gauge of hockey talent worldwide.

"We lost to the Czech team which had an outstanding goaltender and the Finnish team, so the last couple years, I wouldn't say we would've blown past those teams, but they definitely gave us a better game this year," Etem said.

"It's fun to see the game of hockey growing now but at the same time, we went there for the gold medal and we didn't accomplish it, so in a way it's a bad feeling, but at the same time, I think you can learn just as much from losing as you can from winning."

The 19-year-old product from Long Beach, California, skates for the Medicine Hat Tigers where he's sits in sixth place in WHL scoring, with 34 goals and 31 assists.

Even though the Team Canada had earned its spot into the semifinal before the tilt against the Americans on New Years Eve, it was still a clash of two hockey titans.

Team Canada entered the third period with a 3-0 lead, but two goals from Charlie Coyle and Jason Zucker made for an exciting finish.

"There's a huge rivalry, we came up just short in the last couple minutes," said Etem. "We made a push for it, but [they were] a well-coached team; they gave it their all and so did we."

And while Etem never got on the scoreboard, the Canadians kept an eye on him to limit his offensive capabilities, said Howden.

"He's a great player," said Howden. "He's a skilled player, he's really fast and you always got to be aware when he's on the ice."

While both teams didn't get the results they wanted, they still got to participate in the world's premier major-junior hockey tournament.

Both have been drafted into the NHL; Howden was taken 25th overall in the 2010 draft by the Florida Panthers while Etem was taken 29th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the same year.

Both will be ineligible to return to their rosters for next year's IIHF World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia.