'If We Don't Do This, Who Will?': Former Pro Hockey Player Oleksiy Lazarenko Fights For Ukraine

The footage in question is from the 1995 World Junior Championship, and prior to speaking with Oleksiy Lazarenko, even a simple highlight package from the contest between Team USA and Ukraine has been elusive.

The hunt for so much as a single clip of Ukraine's victory – the game-winning goal scored by Lazarenko in the dying seconds – bore no fruit. From reputable websites, the exploration moved to slapdash databases and homespun tape-trading repositories to corners of the internet where pages are less content than pop-up-based.

There is, of course, a trove of other video from the ’95 tournament. Almost all of it centers around the Canadian team. Perhaps that's to be expected given the competition's place as the country's unofficial holiday tradition.

Dig deep enough, too, and bits and pieces of clashes featuring Sweden, Russia and Finland crop up, as well as snippets of individual players, such as U.S. standout and then-future-first-overall pick Bryan Berard.

But tape of the United States' stunning loss at the hands of the Ukrainians, still one of the biggest upsets in tournament history, is nowhere to be found. That is, until Lazarenko announces he has it.

The assumption is that he won't pass the file along until he can dig it up. Instead, it becomes clear he has the footage saved on his phone and readily accessible. Within minutes of his revelation, the video arrives: 32 seconds of 1990s technicolor magic.

The clip begins with Landon Wilson putting the Americans ahead late in the first period. From there, though, Lazarenko takes over. First, killing a two-man U.S. advantage, Lazarenko intercepts a pass at his own blueline, flies down the ice and slides the puck past American keeper John Grahame to tie the game in the second period. Then, the video cuts to Lazarenko streaking down the ice, all alone, and receiving a pass in stride. With Berard harassing him on the backcheck, Lazarenko again beats Grahame, this time going five hole on the backhand.

When Lazarenko scores, there are only 13 seconds left on the clock, and he celebrates knowing he's scored a surefire winner, leaping into the air, swan diving onto the ice and sliding with his arms outstretched as teammates rush to mob him.

"Nobody believed in us," Lazarenko said. "It's like Canada playing against, I don't know, Nigeria or something like that."

But all these years later, Lazarenko said, without a hint of sarcasm in his voice, that it "was not really tough" to beat the Americans. He remembers Ukraine simply playing their game, and the game summary supports his description.

Whereas the modern tournament can present outrageous mismatches, with powerhouses playing Harlem Globetrotters to relegation-fodder's Washington Generals, Ukraine's upset wasn't entirely against the run of play. They mustered 23 shots to Team USA's 34, sticking in the game until the bitter end.

Lazarenko explains all of this, and then, after a beat, he begins to crack up again.

"But to be honest, the next year in United States, we also beat the United States, 4-3," Lazarenko said. "It was f---ing crazy. We lost to everybody, but we beat the States."

The unbridled enthusiasm in Lazarenko's voice as he recounts his three-decades-old heroics belies the harrowing realities he has lived through over the past four years.

Since April 2022, Lazarenko has been on the frontlines in Ukraine, protecting his country from the ongoing attacks by Russia. As he discusses his world-junior exploits, he's on the road during an all-too-rare respite from battle.

"I don't have any holidays since the war because I am the commander of fire-group support in special assault Kraken," Lazarenko said. "I have a lot jobs, you know? Guys can go to rest for one month after we're back from the frontlines, but I'm a commander, so I have a lot of work around my team and around my group."

Never could Lazarenko have guessed that this is where his life would lead him.

Before the war, he had no military experience. He had not at any point been part of the armed forces. His life, his entire world, was hockey.

His junior career saw him suit up for CSKA Moscow and the QMJHL's Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Val-d'Or Foreurs. He was drafted by the New York Rangers and played in a handful of NHL exhibition games. And his professional playing days saw him skate in Russia, the North American minor leagues and eventually back in Ukraine.

After playing his final pro games in 2016-17, Lazarenko had moved on to helping shape the next generation of Ukrainian players as an assistant coach with the Ukrainian League's Rulav Odd Kharkiv, now known as HC Berserks Kharkiv.

But then, in late February 2022, came Russia's declaration of war on Ukraine and the subsequent bombings of Kyiv, Odesa, Donbas and Kharkiv.

As Lazarenko watched the horrors unfold outside his own windows, he recalls that he was not so much scared as he was struck by the realization that "this is a big war coming."

Over the next days and weeks, Lazarenko considered what lay ahead. What he was met with was an overwhelming sense of duty. First, that duty was to his ex-wife and children, who he shepherded to the safety of Poland. Then his focus shifted to protecting his homeland.

At first, Lazarenko was met with resistance. Though the Ukrainian government had ordered the mobilization of all men between 18 and 60, he was told he would have to wait and would be called when needed. He refused to accept that as an answer, turning instead to friends who helped him find his way into the special air forces. He spent 10 days in basic training, after which he was sent to the frontlines. And that’s where he has remained for the better part of four years, serving in Donetsk, Bakhmut and Chasiv Yar.

"Everywhere where it was hot, I was," Lazarenko said.

When he began, Lazarenko was a soldier. He has since risen to sergeant and is currently major sergeant with the Kraken Regiment, a volunteer unit that formed in response to the invasion. He has operated anti-tank rockets and other major ordnance, and he now operates first-person-view drones. He has been on the frontlines through the bitter cold of winter and on through the summer heat.

Lazarenko shares images of all of this. And in the pictures, he's often posing and smiling with comrades. Those images are juxtaposed, however, by the accompanying videos, where smoking wreckages, flaming landscapes and bombed-out buildings provide only the faintest glimpse of the horrors of war.

Lazarenko said a lifetime spent in hockey, where mental and physical toughness are considered among the greatest virtues, has done its part to prepare him for the past four years.

But he's also strong enough to admit how wearisome, and how hellish, his time on the frontlines has and continues to be.

"You think, when this will be finished?" he said. "When will this be done? F---, how tired. For four years, we didn't see our family. For example, I didn't see my kids for almost four years, just called them on the phone, talk on the phone, see video on WhatsApp. That's it. Everybody is tired, but we know why we are here. If we don't do this, who will do this? Nobody. Because war is f---ing dirty. It's very scary. When you go on the frontlines, every time you sit and think how I scared, how I scared. But when it’s time to go, you go."

Amid the exhaustion, the destruction and the atrocities of war, hockey has been one of Lazarenko's escapes.

The first thing he does when he leaves the frontlines is sit with a cup of coffee and pore over NHL highlights, summaries and stats. Lazarenko gives an impromptu recital of the league's point leaders, rattling off scoring totals for Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini. He then rattles off some not-fit-for-print critiques of the Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

And Lazarenko has remained connected to Ukrainian hockey. In 2023, he gave whatever time he could to assist with the formation of a new professional team, the Kyiv Capitals. As best he can, Lazarenko stays connected with the coaches, staff and players. And this season, after the team moved from the Ukrainian League to Latvia's top-tier Optibet League, he has continued to provide guidance.

"They invite me to join like a general manager, but I'm here on the frontlines," he said. "But I promise them: if I will not be killed, I will join them when the war ends."

Ideally, Lazarenko will be able to do so on Ukrainian soil. However, the heartbreaking reality is it will take years for the country to recover from the damage inflicted by Russia. That includes the nation's athletic programs.

In April 2025, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that 725 sports facilities had been "damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks." Among those was the Kharkiv Sports Palace, where Lazarenko began his own hockey journey.

Lazarenko understands that the path forward – for his country and also his beloved national team – cannot begin until the war ends. For now, those who continue to play in what is left of Ukraine's professional league do so with limited resources, ice time and money.

"They play," Lazarenko said, "to be."

But his hope is to one day see Ukrainian hockey rise again, to see it back on the international stage and perhaps even back in the world-juniors spotlight.

"Maybe when war will be end, they will invite me, and we will start the construction to build Ukrainian hockey," he said. "Because even when this war will be end, we have to start from zero. From the ground. I understand this, and I will do all my best to help Ukrainian hockey to go up."

This article appeared in The Hockey News' Rookie Issue 2026.

The issue features previews of the upcoming Olympic tournaments and the NHL's trade deadline, plus our annual rookie coverage. You'll also find our countdown of the top 100 Chicago Blackhawks and a look at 20 memorable moments from their 100 years of history.