For the second straight night, a squad of elite Russian athletes will battle top jocks from Western Canada.

And while last night's international rugby match between the B.C. Bears and the Russian national team featured plenty of Victoria related talent on the home side, tonight's Western Hockey League All-Stars team features just one: Tyson Barrie.

Barrie is in a unique position as one of only five players to play in both games. Add to that both of the games are happening in his home towns -- Victoria, where he played minor hockey with the Juan de Fuca Grizzlies until he was 16, and Kelowna, where's he's played for the Kelowna Rockets since he left the Island.

The 18-year-old defenceman is looking to follow former Rockets' teammate and fellow Victoria product Jamie Benn by making the jump directly from the WHL to the NHL. The two played together in the Memorial Cup, the major junior national championship last spring. Shortly after, Barrie was selected by the Colorado Avalanche, 64th overall in the third round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

The next step in Barrie's ascent in the hockey world is to show enough in these two WHL games to convince Team Canada to select him for December's World Junior hockey championship in Saskatchewan.

"Any time you have a short period (to practise) like this, and it’s only two games, it's tough to find the same chemistry. But hopefully it'll be there," said Barrie, who joined the WHL All-Stars squad for the team's first practise Tuesday.

The second game takes place Thursday night in Kelowna.

"The drive (to play well) would be there regardless of where the games were, but coming back to Victoria makes the games a little more nerve-wracking and a little more exciting," Barrie said.

The long time Juan de Fuca player recalled starting in atom division and making his way up, crossing paths with current WHLers Brad Hoban (Swift Current Broncos) and Cody Carlson (Regina Pats).

Prior to embarking on his WHL career Barrie was part of the AAA midget provincial championship team coached by his father and current owner of the Victoria Grizzlies, Len Barrie, and current Grizzlies head coach, Vic Gervais.

During that time he also managed to get to know fellow WHLer and Avalanche draft pick Stefan Elliot and former member of the North Shore Winter Club.

"We always seemed to play each other in the finals," said Barrie.