These Ukrainian youth hockey players survived war. Then they played in Peoria

PEORIA — Artem Liubyi and his family escaped with their lives from a Russian attack on a convoy of seven cars in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

Hockey, in the eastern part of war-torn Ukraine, died with four other families in that caravan. The Kharkiv arena, home to the local pro team, named the Berserks, was bombed.

Kids like Liubyi had no place to live and no place to play the game they loved.

Until now.

A barnstorming team of Ukraine youth hockey players — survivors, really, from Kharkiv — arrived in Peoria on Thursday to play a friendly scrimmage against youth hockey players from Peoria, Pekin, Springfield and other central Illinois communities as part of a Hockey for Heroes fundraiser staged by Help for Heroes of Ukraine.

The non-profit charity arranged to bring the kids to the U.S. to give them a chance to get on the ice and play in peace. They were in a tournament in Chicago last week.

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They visited the Springfield capitol on Thursday morning and the Lincoln monuments, then came back to Peoria and played the fundraiser at Owens Center.

"They need to see where freedom was born," said Chicago resident and Help for Heroes of Ukraine president Igor Terletsky. "We want to show them Abraham Lincoln's place of honor."

The Help for Heroes of Ukraine team

Terletsky arranged to bring in Kharkiv's 12-under youth hockey team, and there are 20 of them. In addition, there are about seven 18-under players.

The younger group faced a Peoria 12-under team supplemented by players from Springfield, Peoria and other towns. The older Ukraine players joined a group of 18-under Peoria-area players and choose up sides for a split-squad scrimmage.

"We have some 16-under players coming up from Springfield," said Peoria Youth Hockey Association president Andy Babcock. "And we'll have some older players from the Peoria Mustangs (tier III junior hockey's NA3HL)."

Among the Mustangs playing are Tristan Trudel (son of SPHL Peoria Rivermen head coach Jean-Guy Trudel), Jonathan Switzer, Eddie Peterson and Jaycob Bland.

Of the five players who came from Springfield — Kane Baskett, Griffin Douglas, Cam Hammer, Sully Powers and Pano Soler — Hammer scored a Michigan goal, a type of goal where the player balances a puck on his stick and puts it in the net from behind.

"After I scored the Michigan goal, one of (the Ukrainian players) did come up to me and said, ‘Good job,’ and that was pretty cool," Hammer said. "I’ve never done it before. I saw (the move) on YouTube Shorts and I saw (the puck) wobbling and I just thought it was a good opportunity."

As far as Hammer's Ukrainian counterparts?

"There were definitely a few kids that were really good out there," said Hammer, 12.

The 12-year-olds played first, followed by the older group. Admission was free at Owens Center, but there was a donation box for the Ukraine team. Those donations will go toward rebuilding the ice arena in Kharkiv.

Hockey, war and Kharkiv

Estimates are 11,000 buildings in Kharkiv and its region have been partially damaged or completely destroyed following Russia's invasion and occupation of the city. Ukraine said 606 civilians were killed in that battle, and put military casualties at 2,435.

One of the 12-year-olds playing for Ukraine on Thursday at Owens Center was right in the middle of that attack.

Artem Liubyi, No. 7 on Ukraine's roster, was with his family in a caravan of seven cars in Kharkiv about 20 miles from the border with Russia — when they hit a Russian minefield.

"His town was occupied," said Katerina Manofa, who helped Liubyi translate. "His mother had to flee the city, they had to evacuate the soonest. When the Russian soldiers came into the city, they just started shooting everyone. His mother decided to leave the occupied city."

Liubyi said he only began playing hockey since the Russian invasion. He didn't know how to skate when he started the sport and is still hoping for his first career goal.

"When he joined the team to leave the occupied city, he had no choice but to skate with them and learn how to play hockey," Berserks' general manager and head coach Pavlo Legachev said through a translator while at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield on Thursday.

He survived with his family, but four of the seven families died in that carnage.

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"He went through that, it was just awful," Terletsky said. "But he made it. And he wants to play hockey and we want to give him and the other kids from Kharkiv that chance. That's why they are here."

Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in September of 2022 and took the city back, but for many residents, there are no homes to which they can return.

A home without hockey

With no ice arenas left standing in Kharkiv — an eastern-Ukraine based city — the youth players in that region haven't had a place to play in over a year. The team's training grounds has moved from Kamianets-Podilskyi after 2 1/2 months to Vinnytsia for six months and then to Kremenchuk for another two months as the front line has changed.

"They were unable to have any competitions in Ukraine, any tournaments," said Manofa, whose 12-year-old son, Kiril, is on the team. "They only can practice sometimes although their practices are quite often canceled due to missile alerts that they receive and they have to hide not to get bombed."

So Help Heroes of Ukraine brought the kids to the U.S. and staged a tournament in Chicago with Canada, Slovakia and U.S. teams last weekend.

"We thought it would be great to bring the kids from Ukraine here," Terletsky said. "They have not been able to play any games there for many months now. But they came here and beat the Slovakians, 7-4, Canada 9-4. They loved just being on the ice. It meant everything to them."

The Ukraine players' two-week stay in the U.S. ends Monday. The team is traveling with three coaches and a handful of moms. The roster includes players as young as 7 and old as 18.

They will play and tour as much as they can. The Ukraine kids went to the United Center to see the Chicago Blackhawks host the Boston Bruins on March 14.

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"They get to see the game played at its highest level in the world," said Manofa in an interview with WGN-TV in Chicago. "To see the hockey life of the USA, to see the (NHL) it's their biggest dream. Show our kids that dreams can come true.

"And to show them once again that there is life without war."

Grant Hammer was not only glad for his son Cam to gain the experience, but he was happy that the Ukrainians got away, even for a little while.

"Those kids have been through a lot and I’m just glad they were able to get away from that and play the game that they love," Grant Hammer said. "It was really cool to see central Illinois connect with them playing a game they all love."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve. The State Journal-Register's Ryan Mahan contributed to this article. Contact him: 217-788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com or Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Ukraine youth hockey players survive war, come to Peoria to play