Adversity can bring family closer together Adam Dennis says they are keeping a close eye on five of its players who have eastern European ties as the world hits day seven of the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine.
Michael Podolioukh, is Ukranian. Nikita Tarasevich is from Belarus.
The other three players Matvey Petrov, Alexander Lukin and Rodion Tatarenko all are originally from Russia.
"Michael Podolioukh is Ukrainian as well, and he has some family down there," noted Dennis during Wednesday's media conference.
"Anybody going through a crisis back home, they are thinking about it and it is in the back of their minds and they are part of our family and our job is to make sure we are there for them and support them in any way that we can. Certainly anyone who has family over there is affected by it a little bit. It is hard not to think about it."
The players were not made available to comment on the situation.
The Ontario Hockey league released a statement about the situation on Tuesday.
"The Ontario Hockey League condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, desiring a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict as quickly as possible," the OHL stated.
"The League supports measures enacted by both the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and Hockey Canada to suspend Russia and Belarus from international competition as well as participation in national team events held in Canada.
"The OHL remains in communication with its member teams, monitoring the well-being of all players and especially those European players originating from countries directly impacted by the conflict. These young student-athletes have the full support of the Ontario Hockey League as they continue to represent their respective teams, regardless of their country of origin."
Dennis agreed with the league's statement.
"The league statement was pretty straight forward and I will leave it at that but they are definitely mindful of it and I think that was their big point they were making was that there are supports in place for our players individually and we have all got to know Michal, Matvey, Alex, Nikita, Rodion very well and they are great kids," said Dennis.
"We are grateful to have them and we want to support them as much as we can to support their hockey careers."
