Volodymyr Mula and Kelly Hrudey (Photo courtesy of Volodymyr Mula) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/c78eef7a-2059-4575-b3d4-56f0e8149658.webp] Volodymyr Mula and Kelly Hrudey (Photo courtesy of Volodymyr Mula) Ukraine is a cornerstone in the history of hockey, yet many fans have no idea how or the players who’ve come from Ukrainian roots. On March 10, Rogers Place – the home of the Edmonton Oilers – will host the Canadian premiere of the documentary UKE. Directed and produced by Sports Emmy award winner Volodymyr Mula, UKE tells the story of several legendary hockey players of Ukrainian descent. What should our expectations be for Gabriel Landeskog as his injury recovery continues? Mula said there were two messages he wanted to make clear and convey to the audience through his documentary. First, he wanted to underline how Ukrainians contributed to making the NHL stronger in the early years of the league’s existence. Second, he wanted to focus on the immigration of Ukrainians to North America and how “hockey was a bridge to a new life.” While this documentary covers the lives of some of the best hockey players to play the game, Mula stresses the importance of understanding where it all started. The genesis of these stories began around 100 years ago when Ukraine was fighting for their independence. During this period, several citizens fled from their home country to create a new life in North America, specifically Canada. Furthermore, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia, Canada holds the second-largest population of Ukrainian diaspora with around 1.36 million, four percent of the nation's population. Therefore, Mula believes it’s more about the relationships between Ukrainians and Canadians than what happens on the ice. “This documentary is not only about sports, about hockey. This documentary is about life and about legacy,” Mula said. Some players featured in this documentary include Kelly Hrudey, Johnny Bucyk, Terry Sawchuk, Eddie Shack, Wayne Gretzky, his late father Walter, and more. These former players and relatives of those players share their stories of the upbringings of their families, how hockey became a huge part of their lives and their Ukrainian pride. This premiere will be the first time the film has ever been shown publicly in Canada. Since the documentary’s release in 2020, it was only available in Ukraine. The documentary was also shown in Poland to help raise money for their Ukrainian neighbors. UKE was a big hit wherever the film played. For some time after the 2020 release in Ukraine, Mula’s documentary was the highest-grossing in the history of Ukrainian cinema. The documentary was also screened in the USA, more specifically in Baltimore and was a great success, raising over $10,000 U.S. to support Ukraine during their ongoing war with Russia. The entire project took around three years of filming, researching and chasing voices around the continent to share their stories. One of Mula’s biggest challenges in the making of the documentary was to get Wayne Gretzky to feature in the film. One day he travelled to Brantford, Ont. where the locals directed Mula to the Gretzky home. The first day he knocked on Walter Gretzky’s front door, no one was home. However, on the second day, Walter was home and spent multiple hours talking to Mula about their Ukrainian roots, his son Wayne and more. After their interaction, Mula began his long quest to speak to Wayne. A few months later, he met up with Walter again as he was close by for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). After visiting him, he left a letter for Walter and his caregiver at the time, Veronica, to forward to Wayne whenever he would see him again. Instead, the letter was given to Wayne’s younger brother Glen. Some time passed and Veronica reached out to Mula, telling him Wayne had advertising commitments in Toronto and that he could try and meet him at the hotel he was staying at. “I spent approximately 14 hours in (the) lobby of this hotel to wait (for) Wayne,” Mula said. After a gruelling wait for The Great One, he finally arrived. However, “Wayne looked at me and crossed by… I was very disappointed.” Mula admitted that it was an uncommon situation and understood that these celebrities pay lots of money to have protection from outsiders like himself, trying to communicate with him. Nonetheless, it was time to move on to the next part of the filming, which was interviewing Wayne’s long-time teammate with the Los Angeles Kings, Hrudey. Mula told Hrudey about his adventure in trying to get Wayne for an interview. Hrudey communicated with Wayne and after several days of uncertainty and hope, the interview was on. After many flights and relocating, Mula and Wayne met in St. Louis and completed their interview, thanks to the help of Hrudey. Mula is very proud of his project and can’t wait to share it with Canada on Monday. Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw?hl=en-CA&gl=CA&ceid=CA%3Aen] and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.
