It is important to say that in the 1930-s the Romanian National Ice Hockey team entered the world top – 10. But the with the beginning of the Second World War Romania declared a general mobilization. The majority of athletes went to war, so the 1939 championship did not take place. In June 1940, the Soviet troops occupied Bukovina. The following winter after a couple of victories over the Red Army soldiers, the “Dovbush” players were proclaimed “nationalist bourgeoisie”. To escape the arrest, most of them emigrated. After 20 years of existence the Sports Association “Dovbush” as well as the hockey team ceased to exist. Numerous trophies fell in hands of the occupants. Along with them all archives were lost. Years later the history of the “Dovbush” was re-created by the memory of its members in Ukraine, Canada and USA. “Lev” (Mittenwald); Ukrainian Team in Bavaria Years: 1947-1949 Just before the Soviet army’s arrival almost the whole “Ukraine” team (Lviv) emigrated to Germany and found themselves in a camp for displaced persons in the ski resort town of Mittenwald. There, in 1947 Omelian Buchatskiy and his teammates founded a new hockey team – “Lev”. Already having a well-played composition, they crushed rivals from other camps, and later German professional teams. All in all, the “Lev” played eight games against different foreign teams. “We wanted to make a history of Ukrainian hockey!” - said Oleg Lysiak, the actual participant of those events. Once the Ukrainians even played against the American team “Red Wings”. The game was organized personally by Omelyan Buchatskiy. “Players got telegrams from other towns” - recalled Omelian. “All of our fans, and that was the whole Mittenwald, stopped talking about emigrating to America, and they only wanted us to win over the “Red Wings”. Now it is difficult to assess the level of the American players who came to the ice arena in Munich that day. But as for the physical condition and equipment, the players of the “Red Wings” surpassed those of the “Lev” team without doubt. “Americans stood there: huge, almost two meters tall guys, wonderfully equipment, chewing their gums and smiling,” - Buchatsky said later – “Their smiles made us nervous, but we kept saying to ourselves: Oh, you just wait, the winged ones, we’re going to trim your wings.” That day the Ukrainian team of Kalytiak, Lysiak, Buchatsky, Markov, Svitenko, Tsimbalist, the Dytso brothers and the goalkeeper Shkliar defeated the “Red Wings” with a smashing score of 10:1. After 1949 the team “Lev” gradually stopped playing. Most players emigrated to the United States, Canada, France. Omelian Buchatskiy moved to Australia. Sport became the outlet for Ukrainians in the camps for displaced persons. It not only united people and gave them the opportunity to survive, but it was also an opportunity to identify themselves as a nation in international competitions - from time to time the Ukrainian anthem was sung and people were waving the Ukrainian flag in the camps. Those people never associated themselves with the USSR or the Russian. They were originally and truly the Ukrainians. Epilogue In the Soviet times hockey in Galicia and Bukovina was destroyed. No team from these regions ever played in the Soviet championship from 1946 to 1992. Ukraine was represented only with three teams in the Premier League. The Kyiv “Sokil”’s bronze medal in 1985 was the highest achievement of Ukraine in the Soviet times. But in Canada and the United States, the immigrants from Ukraine made significant progress in the world’s strongest Hockey League - the NHL. 49 Ukrainian descendants won the main club trophy – the Stanley Cup. Another nine players honored place in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. УВ Хокеїсти команди “Лев” (Міттенвальд) Юрій Дицьо (ліворуч) і Омелян Бучацький. Світлина – з «Альманаху РФК 1945-1948». – Мюнхен, 1953. Гокейна команда «Лев» (Міттенвальд) на стадіоні в Мюнхені перед грою з а командою «Ред Вінґз». Стоять зліва направо: брати Сави, Р. Калитяк, О. Лис Бучацький, А. Марковський, Світенко, Л. Цимбалістий і Ю. Дицьо, воротар Ш Світлина – з «Альманаху РФК 1945-1948». – Мюнхен, 1953. 26 <strong>Український</strong> <strong>Вінніпеґ</strong> - СІЧЕНЬ <strong>2018</strong> -
Гокейна команда Довбуш (Чернівці) 1936 рік. Ряд знизу: Пентелейчук, Будний, Стефанюк. Ряд зверху: Балуш, Добровольський, Шерей, Пестик, Загородніков, Людвік. Світлина – з видання «<strong>Український</strong> спортовий клюб «Довбуш» Чернівці-Буковина 1920-1940. мериканською як, О. кляр. - JANUARY <strong>2018</strong> - UKRAINIAN WINNIPEG 27
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