Coach Ivan Pravilov arrested on sex charge

21 Jan 2012 | Davide Tuniz

A controversial Ukranian coach was arrested in Philadelphia.

Ivan Pravilov, the creator of famous hockey school Druzhba'78 Kharkiv, was arrested by US federal agents in Philadelphia last Thursday. He was charged accused of committing sexual acts with a 14-year-old boy according two different but identical accounts released by two boys coming with Pravilov from Delaware to Pennsylvania the night of January 3 for an hockey clinic. According to the charge, Pravilov placed his hand on one of the boys' genitals while in his Philadelphia apartment and, when he learned that one of the boys told of the abuse, threatened and hit him.
A federal magistrate ruled Pravilov will spend a week in detention before a January 27 bail hearing.

Pravilov, 49, worked for many years at famous Druzhba-78 hockey school in his hometown Kharkiv, Ukraine and was member of Ukraine U18 and U20 coaching staff. His most famous pupils are New Jersey Devils Lithuanian Dainius Zubrus and former NHLer Andrei Zyuzin, today playing in Swiss League with EHC Biel. In the US, he is the hockey director at the New England Sports Academy (NESA) and his profile on school website describes him as "one of Europe’s finest power skating coaches. He believes that the talent level of hockey players is directly related to their skating ability. For this reason, Ivan Pravilov’s Unique Hockey School focuses on developing skating power, agility and finesse. By using specialized power-skating drills and dry-land training exercises, Pravilov breaks the vital elements of skating down to a science. His goal is to significantly improve skating balance, the foundation upon which the other ingrediants are constructed - shooting, passing, stick-handling, the ability to both absorb and deliver a check. The results of concentrated study and coaching undertaken by Ivan Pravilov over a 20-year span has enabled him to become one of most authoritative persons working with youth hockey players."

Last year, Pravilov was accused by his former player Maksim Starchenko in a book entitled Behind the Iron Curtain: Tears in the Perfect Hockey GULAG, about Starchenko's experience on Druzhba-78 between 1986 and 1996. The book describes, according to the abstract on Amazon.com, "the cruelty and inhumanity of the team's only coach, Ivan Pravilov. He abused and constantly reprimanded his players for his own entertainment and personal satisfaction. The book describes the author's constant struggle for survival and eventual road to recovery.'. Starchenko said he wants to tell this story to 'encourage other former players to step forward and make Ivan Pravilov accountable for his actions. More so, it raises an important question of why this monster continues to instruct children and live comfortably in the United States.'

But former alumn Danius Zubrus has a different opinion as reported by The Star-Ledger: "I know the man real well, I still keep in touch with him. It's disappointing. Obviously I never thought in my head he'd ever be accused of something like that. But there is a lot of stuff going on back in the Ukraine. He has a lot of enemies there. I'm sure the truth will come out."