UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE
by Ihor Stelmach
Ukrainian duo running dogs
Heading into the 2002-2003 season the Mississauga IceDogs hoped to turn the page on the worst chapter in Canadian Hockey League expansion history. The league's board of governors approved the sale of the team last June 7 to former Ontario League goalie-of-the-year Nick Ricci for a reported $3.7 million (Canadian).
Ricci, a former Niagara Falls Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins netminder - he played 19 NHL games in the early 1980s - gave his front office an all-in-the-family feeling. He hired his former junior teammates Steve Ludzik as coach-GM and Mark Osborne as assistant GM.
Ludzik worked recently as a TV analyst. Osborne was coach-GM of the Toronto St. Michael's Majors in 1999-2000.
The IceDogs will remain in Mississauga and play at the Hershey Center, where the team has 15 years remaining on its lease.
Don Cherry, known as a Canadian broadcaster, was a minority owner of the team and this past season (2001-2002) was behind the IceDogs bench. He was allowed to remain with the organization as director of player development, but was not involved with the day-to-day operations of the team.
With Cherry as coach, the IceDogs had their best season (11-47-6-4), but during its first four years of existence the franchise was the absolute laughingstock of the Canadian Hockey League, going 27-222-17-8.
Wonder if the Ukrainian duo of Ludzik and Osborne really knew what they were getting themselves into with this challenge?
Ludzik exercises tough love
Steve Ludzik wasn't kidding last summer when he said things were going to change in Mississauga. Highly touted center Patrick O'Sullivan was sent home to Winston-Salem, N.C., to cool his jets for about a month, after first-year Coach-GM Ludzik couldn't take any more of the 17-year-old's attitude.
O'Sullivan was suspended by the IceDogs on November 24, a move supported by his agent, Mark Guy of Newport Sports Management.
"This is a wake-up call for Pat," Guy said. "He hasn't bought into the system Steve brought to the team, and when they've talked about it there have been conflicts. There have also been some issues off the ice that make this action warranted."
"I think Pat needed to get away from the game and think about his priorities and come back fresh," he added.
Guy said they never sought a trade and Ludzik reiterated that he never had any intentions of dealing O'Sullivan, who was leading the IceDogs in scoring with 15 goals and 31 points in his first 24 games. O'Sullivan is expected to go high in the 2003 entry draft.
O'Sullivan went on to play for the United States at the World Junior Championship in Halifax. He was Canadian Hockey League rookie of the year in 2001-2002 after finishing with 34 goals and 92 points in 68 games.
Earlier this recently completed season, defenseman Mike Barrett was sent home by Ludzik for missing curfew by 15 minutes and was eventually traded to the Barrie Colts.
"In Patrick's case, a trade is not going to happen," Ludzik said at the time of the incident.
Iuess Ludzik knew exactly what he was getting into all along.
Ex-stickboy now a stick wizard
Ukrainian Dave Bararuk used to hand sticks to members of the Moose Jaw Warriors. Now the 19-year-old center sticks it to the opposition as the Warriors and Western League's top scorer some six weeks into the 2002-2003 juniors campaign.
"It feels great," said Bararuk, the team's former stickboy. "Not in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be up there. Staying up there is the tough part."
Bararuk had 29 points (including 11 goals) after his first 17 games. He ascended to the top of the scoring chart on the strength of a 10-game point streak. (Bararuk's final scoring totals for the recently completed season were 27G-60A-87Pts in 63 games - first on the team and tied for seventh in the Western League)
Bararuk chuckled when he thought about where he is and where he was.
"I started helping out when I was 12 or so, and that ended when I was drafted at 15," said Bararuk, whom the Warriors selected in the sixth round of the 1998 bantam draft.
"I grew up watching the Warriors. I grew up listening to the guys in the dressing room and watching how they prepared for games. That gave me a step up on some guys," he said.
Bararuk took another step up in September when he attended the Dallas Stars training camp. "It was weird," said Bararuk, a fifth-round selection (147th overall) of Dallas in the 2002 draft. "I was watching the guys I had seen on TV and I knew them all."
"In my first shift at main camp, I was playing against Mike Modano, Bill Guerin and Scott Young. I had to take a face-off against Modano and I'm almost going, 'Can I have your autograph after the game?' I lost the draw, but I never got scored on," he related.
No glasses for Chiefs' brothers
Jason Shmyr pictured it in his mind and couldn't help but smile. The mental image was of himself and his brother, Ryan, skating around the Cambria County War Memorial Arena wearing Charlestown Chiefs sweaters and thick black glasses held together at the bridge with white tape.
Sure, they're one short of a complete set of Hanson Brothers. But who would blame the Chiefs if they decided to have some fun with the Shmyr brothers in the same city where the famous hockey movie "Slap Shot" was filmed.
"That would be interesting," said Jason, on the day he was traded from Augusta to Dayton to Johnstown, joining his younger brother with the Chiefs.
The Shmyrs are known around the East Coast Hockey League for their tough-guy reputations. Ryan, 25, stands 6-foot-6, 230 pounds, and has 1,327 penalty minutes in 254 games. Jason, 27, is 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, and has a hefty 1,703 PIM's in 387 games.
The Shmyrs have faced each other once, with the Chiefs beating Augusta 8-2 last January 29. They were together briefly with San Diego of the West Coast League in 1997-1998.
Shvidki boosts work ethic
Denis Shvidki thought life in hockey couldn't get much worse than it did for him in 2001-2002. First he suffered a concussion in a pre-season game with the Florida Panthers. He returned that November, but wasn't playing well, so off to the American Hockey League he went. Then, just as he was finding his game in the AHL, he ruptured a ligament in his ankle and was done for the year.
So much for the breakthrough season many were predicting for the big, skilled right-winger.
This past season didn't start off much better for the 12th overall pick by Florida in the 1999 entry draft. Shvidki was healthy, but his game wasn't. He was demoted early by the Panthers, then more than once found himself a healthy scratch with the AHL's San Antonio Rampage.
"He had to learn to compete," said Rampage coach John Torchetti. "You put him with two guys who compete hard every night and if you don't compete, you stick out like a sore thumb."
Torchetti put Shvidki on a line with grinders Mike Green and Dave Gove. "He turned the tables big-time," Torchetti said. "Over the last month or so he was one of our best players."
"It has taken longer than I expected for my play to return," said the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Shvidki, ranked No. 3 among current Florida prospects. "I enjoy helping my team win, and it wasn't happening at first. But the last two months I've worked hard."
His statistics were rather ordinary: eight goals and 21 points in 48 games. But coach Torchetti liked the way Shvidki has become aware of defensive responsibilities. He's not just thinking offense.
"A lot of people just look at stats," Shvidki said, "and see two or three goals in 20 games and say, 'He's not working hard.' That's not true. I'm still playing my game."
The major boost in his work ethic earned young Mr. Shvidki a late season call-up to the big club, where he handled himself quite well. Look for Denis to be a third-line regular with Florida next year.
(Quotes above thanks to Jim Cressman of the OHL beat, Rob Vanstone, who covers the WHL, ECHL columnist Rob Mueller and Kevin Oklobzija of The Hockey News.)
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
| David Bararuk | Moose Jaw | 63 | 27 | 60 | 87 | 44 |
| Ryan Kinasewich | Tri-City | 63 | 36 | 47 | 83 | 85 |
| Tyler Mosienko | Kelowna | 61 | 30 | 51 | 81 | 41 |
| Kyle Brodziak | Moose Jaw | 69 | 29 | 29 | 58 | 78 |
| Igor Pohanka | Prince Albert | 56 | 25 | 31 | 56 | 28 |
| Jeff Lucky | Spokane | 49 | 19 | 34 | 53 | 16 |
| Jeff Woywitka | Red Deer | 54 | 16 | 34 | 50 | 61 |
| Jonathan Filewich | Prince Gearge | 48 | 24 | 25 | 49 | 45 |
| Johnny Boychuk | Moose Jaw | 64 | 13 | 32 | 45 | 79 |
| Lance Monych | Brandon | 70 | 19 | 26 | 45 | 111 |
| Derek Krestanovich | Moose Jaw | 52 | 24 | 19 | 43 | 118 |
| Michael Bubnick | Saskatoon | 49 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 34 |
| Ryan Mayko | Lethbridge | 69 | 5 | 22 | 27 | 77 |
| Kyle Ladobruk | Regina | 66 | 12 | 14 | 26 | 60 |
| Ricky Kozak | Brandon | 36 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 81 |
| Rory Rawlyk | Red Deer | 49 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 38 |
| John Bubnick | Regina | 70 | 13 | 12 | 25 | 50 |
| Alex Lentowich | Swift Current | 67 | 12 | 9 | 21 | 138 |
| Mark Shefchyk | Vancouver | 64 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 20 |
| Daniel Waschuk | Regina | 43 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 35 |
| James Cherewyk | Kootenay | 44 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 61 |
| Jeff Topilko | Brandon | 50 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 20 |
| Martin Kubaliak | Medicine Hat | 53 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 66 |
| Andy Zulyniak | Prince Albert | 49 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 17 |
| Darryl Moscaluk | Swift Current | 38 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 27 |
| Ned Lukasevic | Spokane | 31 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 29 |
| Josh Pohol | Kamloops | 50 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 68 |
| Colbi Zavisha | Spokane | 47 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 20 |
| Player | Team | GP | MINS | W | L | T | GAA | PCT |
| Devan Dubnyk | Kamloops | 24 | 1159 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3.11 | 0.905 |
| Aaron Sorochan | Prince Albert | 47 | 2656 | 14 | 27 | 2 | 3.68 | 0.876 |
| Kevin Nastiuk | Medicine Hat | 40 | 2219 | 14 | 20 | 1 | 4.48 | 0.872 |
| Clayton Turko | Vancouver | 10 | 372 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0.862 |
| Kevin Dziaduck | Tri-City | 16 | 861 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 5.23 | 0.859 |
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | PIM |
| Matthew Stajan | Belleville | 54 | 34 | 56 | 90 | 66 |
| James Wisniewski | Plymouth | 49 | 18 | 32 | 50 | 60 |
| Mike Melinko | Erie | 70 | 15 | 18 | 33 | 46 |
| Scott Horvath | St. MichaelÕs | 64 | 19 | 13 | 32 | 54 |
| Josh Tataryn | Saginaw | 41 | 17 | 13 | 30 | 22 |
| David Pznenyczny | Sarnia | 64 | 13 | 14 | 27 | 116 |
| Alex Karalchuk | Erie | 59 | 15 | 10 | 25 | 113 |
| Kyle Piwowarczyk | London | 65 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 4 |
| Alex Shevchenko | Sudbury | 59 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 32 |
| Tyler Hanchuk | Sarnia | 46 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 127 |
| Alexander Skorohod | Mississauga | 58 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 58 |
| Rob Dmytruk | S.S. Marie | 27 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 4 |
| Jeff Luckovitch | Saginaw | 30 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 66 |
| Tyler Dutchyshen | S.S.Marie | 47 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Phil Kozak | Saginaw | 61 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 57 |
| Kyle Martiniuk | Sudbury | 56 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 38 |
| Kory Helowka | Erie | 52 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Andrew Maksym | Owen Sound | 54 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 37 |
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 15, 2003, No. 24, Vol. LXXI
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