Boris Dorozhenko is a Ukrainian-born hockey coach. He played professional hockey in the former

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, before becoming the director of the

Mexico Ice Hockey Federation The Mexico Ice Hockey Federation () is the Sport governing body, governing body that oversees Ice hockey in Mexico. References External linksOfficial website
at IIHF.com Ice hockey in Mexico, Federation National members of the Internatio ...

, where he helped develop that country's national hockey program. He then founded the Next Generation Hockey school, which relocated to

Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...

. There he has trained young hockey players, including

Auston Matthews Auston Taylour Matthews (born September 17, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and captain (ice hockey), captain for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). Matthews is widely considere ...

Early life

Boris Dorozhenko was born in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, in what is now

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, during Soviet rule, and began playing hockey at nine years old. He has a degree in Mathematics from the

University of Kyiv The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

and played professional hockey in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

until retiring in 1994.

Coaching

Following his playing career Dorozhenko relocated to Mexico during the collapse of the USSR, and once there he was placed in charge of developing a national hockey program through the Mexican Hockey Federation. As the program's director, he developed the program from the ground up, beginning with the development of peewee age hockey programs in Mexico City. Dorozhenko then moved his hockey school, Next Generation Hockey, to Scottsdale, Arizona in 2005. The move was precipitated by a training camp he held in Phoenix the prior year, where he met the future NHLer Auston Matthews, who was age seven at the time. It was Matthews’ parents that suggested to Dorozhenko that he move to Arizona full-time—where he lived with the Matthews family for his first two years in the US. Dorozhenko acted as a coach to Matthews throughout his youth hockey career, and was referred to affectionately as "Uncle Boris" by the young player. He also received initial support from former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

players

Claude Lemieux Claude Percy Lemieux (born July 16, 1965), is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for six teams between 1983 and 2009. Lemieux won four Stanley Cup championships during his car ...

and

Russ Courtnall Russell William Courtnall (born June 2, 1965) is a Canadian former ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Minnesota North Stars, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, New York Range ...

, whose sons trained under Dorozhenko. At Next Generation Hockey, Dorozhenko runs month long camps focusing on skating and drills, and he also travels to international hockey camps to provide skating drills. These drills focus on “edge control”, so that players develop a natural ability to maneuver better while under duress. In his program, Dorozhenko places skating skills ahead of puck control skills in a player's development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorozhenko, Boris Ukrainian ice hockey coaches Ice hockey in Mexico Ice hockey people from Kyiv Ukrainian ice hockey players Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Ice hockey people from Scottsdale, Arizona Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Ukrainian expatriate ice hockey people Ukrainian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate ice hockey people in the United States