More than a year and a half ago, he fled Ukraine and joined ice hockey club GIJS. Meanwhile, Danylo Douma (17) became a Dutch international and on Saturday Douma was important in the match won against Dordrecht Lions: 8-4.
Somewhere in the beginning of the second period. The more than 900 spectators took a seat in Kardinge. GIJS HEPRO Groningen, which had already started the competition in the Premier League poorly, also had a difficult time against Dordrecht Lions, the number 9. It was still 1-1 and the Dordrecht team launched an offensive. GIJS came under pressure and Douma’s goal was fired upon several times. Miraculously the young goalie saved. Not once, not twice, but certainly three times in a row, and each time with a cat-like reflex. He received a standing ovation.
Danylo had big shoes to fill
It is indicative of the game of the young Ukrainian Dutchman, who has now also been embraced by the GIJS audience. After the departure of his Czech predecessor Matyas Dana, who returned to his native country, Douma had big shoes to fill, but he is making significant progress.
He was 15 when he boarded the train with his Ukrainian mother Swetlana to Groningen, where his father Fré has lived for years. Fré and Swetlana had been together for years at the time, but lived separately. Danylo, born in 2006, was actually destined to grow up in Groningen, but his exceptional ice hockey talent required a longer stay in Krivoy Rog, near Kiev. The idea was that he could develop better as an ice hockey player there than here.
Soon at the World Cup in Scotland
And so it happened. But the war changed everything. Douma fled to his father with his mother and went to play ice hockey at GIJS. But his development is going smoothly. Danylo Douma has been GIJS’s first goalie for several weeks and will soon play with the Netherlands U20 at the World Cup for U20 teams, which will be played in Scotland. It will be his first world championship. “I’m really looking forward to that,” says the young goalie shyly, shortly after the game, in the locker room under the ice rink. “That’s a nice platform to show what you can do.”
Douma doesn’t use big words. Better show his skills on the ice. “Dana was very good. When he left I was disappointed, because he really scored points for us. When the coach then told me that I would be the first goalie, I had to swallow. I didn’t immediately expect that. I was also quite nervous in the first matches and made some mistakes. But that’s also part of it, I think. I notice that things are getting better.”
‘I should have caught that’
Douma also had to come on against Dordrecht Lions. The guests took the lead after just 30 seconds in the first period and Douma took the early goal to his credit. “I should have just caught that one,” said the tall GIJS goalkeeper. “I wasn’t particularly to blame for the goals they scored afterwards.”
Zahir Hup brought GIJS alongside in the first period: 1-1. After the difficult initial phase of GIJS in the second period and the open curtain for Douma, things finally started going. Björn de Haan took GIJS by the hand, first scored the important 2-1 and then things went quickly.
The match seemed decided
Tim Bartels scored a nice 3-1 from a distance and ten seconds of pure playing time later the 4-1 was also in the net. Hup was up close to the maker. Through Carsten Smit, who extended a bet from veteran Danny Kerstholt, and an excellent goal from Romeo Stroosma, GIJS increased to 6-1 in the third period.
The match seemed decided, but ‘Dord’ brought back the tension with three quick goals. Kerstholt scored the liberating 7-4 four minutes before the end and Joop Uchtman got the crowd on the benches with his beautiful 8-4 after good perseverance.
GIJS is 10th after the second victory of the season e in the premier league. But that level is not the end point for goalie Douma. “I want to become a professional, play as high as possible,” the Ukrainian from Groningen is determined.
GIJS HEPRO Groningen-Dordrecht Lions 8-4 (1-1, 3-0, 4-3).
Scoring: 1. Brakss 0-1, 15. Hop 1-1, 34. De Haan 2-1, 40. Bartels 3-1, 40. Hop 4-1, 43. Smit 5-1, 44. Stroosma 6- 1, 48. Lapsa 6-2, 52. Brakss 6-3, 54. Lapsa 6-4, 57. Kerstholt 7-4, 58. Uchtman 8-4.