The Ukrainian Weekly (https://www.ukrweekly.com/uwwp/author/ihor-stelmach/page/4/)
Walter Edward “Turk” Broda was born in 1914 and very quickly as a youngster fell in love with hockey. He grew up wanting to be a defenseman, but had lots of difficulty as a skater. When his Brandon, Manitoba, school organized a hockey team, Broda had high hopes, which were soon enough dashed because of his poor skating. At the time, coaches usually selected the chubbiest kid to play goalie, so Broda had shots fired at him every day in practice.
In June 2020, a group of nine current and former NHL players established the Hockey Diversity Alliance (HDA), an organization dedicated to social justice issues in the world of hockey. One of the two co-chairmen of the HDA is Akim Aliu, a 31-year-old former NHL defenseman of Ukrainian origin, who shook the sport in November 2019 by exposing his encounters with racism.
Chmelevski notches point in NHL debut
Alex “Sasha” Chmelevski produced an assist and two shots on goal in San Jose’s 5-4 shootout win over Anaheim on February 5. Chmelevski was credited with the secondary helper on linemate Matt Nieto’s opening tally. The assist was the 21-year-old Ukrainian’s first NHL point in his debut game with the Sharks. He was selected by San Jose in the sixth round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Chmelevski totaled 27 points in 42 games with San Jose’s AHL team in 2019-2020. He is slated to spend the bulk of the current season back with the San Jose Barracuda, seeing occasional time with the parent club as an extra forward on the taxi squad.
Twenty-plus years ago when Ukrainian Gary Makar and Laura MacGregor were seeking a name for their newborn son, they settled on Cale. Gary was working in the Calgary Flames marketing department at the time when Cale Hulse was a key member of the team’s defense corps. They both liked the name and chose it for their son.
Striker Roman Zozulya was one of many Ukrainian soccer players to exit from 2015 Europa League finalist Dnipro Dnipro-petrovsk in the summer of 2016, signing with Real Betis. Soon after his arrival in Seville, he was viciously attacked by the Spanish press for wearing what they claimed was a T-shirt with the symbol of Right Sector, a Ukrainian ultra-right nationalist party and paramilitary organization.
HARTFORD, Conn. – Having gotten their dancing feet wet in Newark, N.J., at Ukrainian Day at the New Jersey Devils in 2018, Hartford’s Zolotyj Promin dancers kicked up their heels a notch one year later. The XL Center in Hartford, Conn., on April 7 hosted the first-ever Ukrainian Day at the Hartford Wolf Pack, starring the aforementioned group of young Ukrainian folk dancers as solo performers.
The neon lasers beaming downward from the ceiling made the Staples Center boxing ring appear as if it was protected by a high-tech security system. Some thought this prefight display was designed to subliminally reinforce a thought boxing promoters tried to implant in the public consciousness: Vasiliy Lomachenko is a master of the sport.
Kuzma a future Lakers starThe Los Angeles Lakers, a multi-time NBA champion, have been pretty abysmal in recent years, owners of the second-worst winning percentage for the past four seasons. After their horrendous 26-56 campaign, Los Angeles captured the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 draft, which the team used to select Lonzo Ball, a point guard who drew comparisons to Jason Kidd. Ball was widely accepted as one of the top two point guard prospects in college basketball and was effectively given the keys to the franchise when General Manager Magic Johnson traded starting point guard D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets days before the 2017 draft.
SOUTH WINDSOR, Conn. – Undefeated light heavyweight Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk retained his WBC world title with a bizarre TKO victory over challenger Doudou Ngumbu on March 30 before a sold-out, standing-room only crowd of some 1,350 at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. In his first title defense since destroying Adonis Stevenson in a fight that left the Canadian in a medically induced coma, Gvozdyk secured a fifth-round stoppage win when Ngumbu suffered a calf injury. The fifth round had the Ukrainian in complete control of the bout when Ngumbu suddenly turned his back on the champion before grabbing onto the ropes and limping back to his corner.
Young Lunin a keeper in goalAn 18-year-old goalkeeper playing in the Ukrainian Premier League is usually not on too many soccer scouts’ radar as an up-and-coming top prospect. Andriy Lunin happens to be just that – a unique talent not only starting in the Europa League, but firmly cementing his place in a starting-11 on a team that is among the best when it comes to developing talent in Ukraine.