Alexander Romanov unable to reach friends, family in Ukraine

The Winnipeg Jets will pay tribute to Ukraine ahead Tuesday’s matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, inviting the Hoosli Ukrainian Male Chorus to sing both the Canadian and Ukrainian national anthems prior to the game.

This is such a great sign of support by the Canadian team, and while he is from Russia, Habs defenseman Alexander Romanov is worried about what is currently happening in Ukraine at the hands of his home country. Since Russia invaded Ukraine unprovoked last week, Romanov has grown worried of close friends and family, who are trapped in Ukraine.

He explained to Marc-Andre Perreault of TVA Sports that while he does have family members living in Russia, he is unable to reach friends in Ukraine and is worried about their safety.

Romanov’s agent, Daniel Milstein, the agent for about 80% of NHL Russian players, made a statement on Tuesday on what’s now taking place in the NHL, revealing that players were being discriminated, threatened as well as their families.

A lot has been happening in the sports’ world since the invasion. When it comes to hockey, the International Ice Hockey Federation announced on Monday that Russia and Belarus would be banned from all international competitions — including the men’s and women’s world championships this summer. The Federation will also relocated December’s world junior hockey championships out of Russia in response to the invasion. Both Hockey Canada and USA Hockey endorsed the IIHF’s decision, with Hockey Canada adding that the two countries would also not be permitted to participate in any non-IIHF international events hosted on Canadian soil. The NHL announced that it would be ending business agreements and shutting down its Russian-language websites and social media platforms. The league said that it will not consider Russia as a location for any future NHL competitions. The International Ice Hockey Federation has suspended Russia and Belarus from every age category in international play until further notice.