Вінніпеґ Український № 11 (35) (January 2018)

National Team Prototype:
How the Ukrainian Hockey
Was Born, Developed and
Destroyed in 1920-1940 th
Eugene Kolychev
Львівська Україна перед грою проти AZS Lwów. 1935 рік.
Автор: Kołyński
T
hough Ukraine didn’t have its national team untill
1992, Ukrainian teams competed on the international
level even before the Second World War.
Ukrainian hockey players won big victories over Czech,
German, Polish, Romanian and even American teams in the
1920-1940s. National teams of those countries were among
the best in the last pre-war World Championship in 1939.
There were no World Championship for next eight years,
which was to the advantage of the Ukrainian hockey players.
This article tells how the teams who became the prototype of
the modern Ukrainian National Hockey team, emerged, won
and suffered repressions, and why very little is known about
them.
Origin
To unite Ukrainian community Ivan Boberskyi, Professor
of Ukrainian Academic Secondary School, founded an
“Ukrainskyi Sportyvnyi Kruzhok” (Ukrainian Sports Club)
in Lviv. Four years later Boberskyi compiles international
rules of ice hockey and publishes them in the “Visti z Zaporozha”
(“News from Zaporozha”) sports magazine. Next year
sports community “Ukraine” appears. It became the first officially
registered entity in Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires,
which included the word “Ukraine” in its name. A year
later, an ice hockey section opened within the community.
Galicia and Bukovyna regions become the cradle of Ukrainian
hockey, engaging more and more people into this sport. But
after the defeat in Ukrainian-Polish War of 1918 – 1919, Galician
lands were occupied by Poland and Bukovynian – by Romania.
In 1925, Romanians created a hockey league – Liga Naţională de
hochei. Two years later Polska Liga Hokeja (PLH) was founded
in Poland, where Lviv teams dominated unill 1935. During that
period they took 8 prizes, winning the Polish championship
twice.
“Ukraine” (Lviv)
Years: 1929-1939; 1941-1942
Two years after the formation of the PLH, the team”Ukraine”
officially announced the participation in the District League. A
special sports wear with the letter “U” on the chest was designed.
Most players came from poor families, so the team was donated
by Ukrainian entrepreneurs.
The sons of the famous artist Ivan Trush and the grandchildren
of Mykhailo Dragomanov Roman and Myron became the leading
players of that team.
The “Ukraine” proved to be very successful even in its first
season. It took only one year for the club to enter the strongest
class “A”.
24 Український Вінніпеґ - СІЧЕНЬ 2018 -