By Kaitlyn Kupiec
@KaitlynKupiec
The violent conflict between Russia and Ukraine began just two weeks after Andrii Ievtukhov returned to the United States in Dec. 2021. Ukraine was the place he called home, but he was 4,544 miles away from it. His only means of communication with his parents were phone calls, which were filled with emotions ranging from panic to fear.
“The information I was receiving – the bombs going off, the shootings, the smoke in the air – was all hard to imagine,” Ievtukhov said. “It was a really life-changing experience for me because I was not expecting that.”
Ievtukov did his best to redirect his attention and focus on his beloved passion, hockey.
Ievtukhov’s godfather convinced his dad to let him try out hockey around the age of 7. His godfather played for many years and was a very close family friend. Ievtukhov’s first time on skates foresaw the future and the important role it would play in his life. Once he got into hockey, there was no going back because it was something he really enjoyed doing.
At the age of 15, Ievtukhov’s agent, who was based in Russia at the time, offered him an opportunity to play hockey in the U.S. Growing up, Ievtukhov was always afraid of coming to the U.S. because he knew he would have to leave his family behind.
It took a lot of courage, but Ievtukhov knew the sacrifices it took to reach his greatest potential. He later made the decision to play in the U.S. with the Springfield Jr. Pics U16 AAA team.
The Springfield Jr. Pics U16 team is an American junior ice hockey organization. AAA hockey is the highest level of youth hockey in the U.S. It’s generally considered to be a higher level of competition than junior ice hockey.
Throughout the 2021–2022 season in Springfield, Ievtukhov was partnered with defenseman Sean Roach.
“He definitely brought intensity to the game,” said Roach, a native of Southington, Conn., who plays Division I hockey for the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. “You could tell he wanted to be out there, and he wanted to have as much impact on the game as he possibly could.”
Another teammate of Ievtukhov’s was Nick Foster. “He was my favorite defensive partner throughout my junior hockey career,” said Foster, a native of Amherst, Mass., who plays Division III hockey for Norwich University.
“I always knew where he was on the ice, and he always knew where I was,” said Foster. “He was very skilled and fast, which made my life so much easier. Just being around him, he provided lots of energy.”
It wasn’t a secret that hockey was second nature for Ievtukhov, but adjusting to living in the U.S. required more than just focusing on hockey.
Ievtukhov had to adapt to being away from home with no family close by. He had to live with a variety of billet families, which are families that provide athletes with a roof to live under during their sports season.
Although it may have been an uncomfortable experience living with an unfamiliar family, it taught Ievtukhov a lot about the American way of life. One of the things he learned was what a simple breakfast looked like on the breakfast table. Ievtukhov was able to adjust to the new lifestyle and culture because of things like this.
Ievtukhov completed high school online after coming to the U.S. He didn’t speak any English when he first arrived, which was one of the biggest challenges in itself.
“One thing that helped me speak English better was watching a lot of movies and TV shows with subtitles,” Ievtukhov said. “My favorite one that actually helped me was The Big Bang Theory. It was interesting and funny at the same time.”
It was difficult for Ievtukhov to find time outside of playing hockey and pursuing his education to make friends. After becoming more fluent in English, being socially interactive with others got easier.
During his first couple of years in the U.S., Ievtukhov met his girlfriend, Aidan Bourbonnais, at the age of 16.
Bourbonnais is currently a senior in the Physician Assistant program at Springfield College. She attended Williston Northampton School, where she played field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse.
Bourbonnais helped guide Ievtukhov with things like learning English and welcoming him into her family.
“It’s incredible how determined he is to learn,” Bourbonnais said. “The fact that he was interested in learning more about certain things made it a lot easier for him to adjust to life here.”
In the span of five years, Ievtukhov traveled back and forth playing hockey between the U.S. and Ukraine.
“You have to think rationally,” Ievtukhov said. “I realized that it’s not enough to just skate a few times a week to become a great hockey player; you have to put in every single day to become better on and off the ice.”
Not only does it take a remarkable amount of courage and strength to pick up your life at the age of 15 and move to a different country, but it’s especially difficult when you’re away from home and your family is dealing with a crisis of their own.
Right before the war started, in 2022, Ievtukhov was playing for the Ukraine under-20 World Juniors team in Estonia. The team trained in Kyiv, Ukraine, the city he grew up in. After they finished playing in a tournament, he flew back to the U.S.
One night Bourbonnias was in the midst of studying for her organic chemistry class, and she received a news alert on her phone saying “Bombs in Ukraine.” She immediately froze and wasn’t sure what to do.
“I had many things running through my mind at the time,” Bourbonnais said. “What do I even say to him? Is he awake? Is he asleep? Do I tell him? Do I not tell him?”
She immediately called her uncle, who Ievtukhov was living with at the time, and they decided to wait until early the next morning to give Ievtukhov the news.
Bourbonnais realized that being there for Ievtukhov was what helped the situation the most.
“The way he looks at everything is so positive,” Bourbonnais said. “His whole thing is that he has to keep living and do his thing.”
After the first six months, which was the worst of it, Ievtukhov slowly drifted his attention away from the news because he realized he needed to do his best to not continue worrying about something he couldn’t control.
“I still had hockey at that time, so I had to put my mind into something that would make my parents proud,” Ievtukhov said with a smile.
Growing up as a hockey player, Ievtukhov’s dream was to play for a Division I team in the U.S. The year 2023 marked a turning point in his hockey career.
Ievtukhov began the season with the Philadelphia Hockey Club in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL).
One morning, he woke up to a call from his team manager in Ukraine saying they had a defenseman with an injury and needed Ievtukhov to come play for the team at the International University Sports Federation (FISU; French: Fédération internationale du sport universitaire) in Lake Placid, New York.
One of the first things Ievtukhov did was call his coach from his Philadelphia team and tell him he would be going to play for his country at the FISU games. His coach told him if he decided to go, he would lose his spot on the team because those games weren’t as important. He began to lecture Ievtukhov on the importance of loyalty, but to Ievtukhov, playing for his country meant a lot.
“At that time, the World Juniors were still going on, and I couldn’t see my friends from back home,” Ievtukhov said. “I have played for my national team ever since I was 15, so I knew everyone on the team, and I really wanted to see them again at the FISU games.”
The FISU Games are the largest global sports events for student-athletes. They bring together thousands of athletes from over 150 countries and have a program that includes 25 compulsory sports.
It was an amazing moment when Team Ukraine stepped onto the shiny-looking, freezing-cold ice at the Olympic Center in Lake Placid. The rink was already filled with so many memories of Team USA during the 1980 Winter Olympics. It was home to the “Miracle on Ice” moment in hockey, where the U.S. beat the odds, defeating the Soviet team during the medal round of the tournament.
For Ievtukhov and his teammates, a different type of moment stood out in the same historic arena. The tournament hadn’t even begun; it was just the opening ceremonies, which included introducing each country.
Team Ukraine was dressed in its warm winter coats. The colors consisted of yellow and blue, exactly like the colors on their country’s flag. What almost looked like yellow racing stripes lined the sleeves of the coats, and in yellow text on the back proudly said “Ukraine.” Some players were holding small Ukrainian flags and waving them high in the air. The crowd gave a cheering ovation to the team in order to show its acknowledgment of the challenges and hardships endured throughout the crisis.
While playing for his national team at the FISU games, one of the coaches from New Jersey reached out to Ievtukhov and asked if he wanted to play for his team when he got back. The New Jersey team was also a part of the EHL, and before Ievtukhov said yes, he took into consideration that he would be playing against his former team in Philadelphia.
After the FISU games ended, Ievtukhov headed to New Jersey. One of his new team’s first games in the playoffs was against Philadelphia.
Starting off the game, there was a lot of pressure because of the physicality of the play. Everyone knew who Ievtukhov was, so he was just trying to stay focused and alert at all times.
“I knew mentally that it was going to be a tough game because I had to play against my friends,” Ievtukhov said.
In the second period, one of the forwards on the other team dumped the puck into the zone, and Ievtukhov went to pick it up. An opposing player jumped onto Ievtukhov’s head and lifted his skates off the ice. His head was squished in between the boards and the other player’s body, causing him to fall. His helmet fell off as he hit the ice with his head, causing him to lose consciousness.
Ievtukhov later woke up in the hospital with a nurse standing over him, completing a computed tomography scan.
The nurse told Ievtukhov some hefty news: he was having a brain bleed.
After staying a day in the hospital, doctors determined the brain bleed had pretty much gone away by the morning, but Ievtukhov couldn’t play hockey for a few weeks because of the staples.
It was a life-changing moment because it was time to decide if he should continue playing the sport he had loved for so many years.
It was a difficult decision, but after taking some time to think it over, he made his choice.
“I decided to just take hockey off the table and find different options,” Ievtukhov said.
He mainly wanted to focus on his academics while figuring out a different future than he would have planned for himself.
With Bourbonnias going into her senior year at Springfield College, she introduced him to the school because she thought it would be a perfect fit for him.
Now, in his first year in the Computer Science program at Springfield College, Ievtukhov doesn’t take living in the U.S. for granted.
It’s now been two-and-a-half years since Ievtukhov has seen his family.
“As hard as it was dealing with all the circumstances of being away from home,” Ievtukhov said, “I would say that I got very lucky being here because I now have the opportunity to go to college and live my life peacefully.”