Great News Tribune Iya Gavrilova Article

Iya Gavrilova was better than the boys.

As a kid forward in her hometown of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, she not only skated on the boys team, but she also played on the first line. Her role in the lineup angered some parents, so the coach appeased their ire and moved her to the lower lines.

Did she deserve to be a starter? “Yeah,” she says proudly.

Iya Gavrilova (pronounced: EE-ah Gov-REE-lowva) has continued to stand out as a freshman for Minnesota Duluth. The 5-foot-7, 20-year-old winger has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) during UMD’s current 10-game winning streak.

Gavrilova takes an eight-game goal-scoring run and a team-leading 32 points into today’s series opener at Bemidji State.

Playing against the boys in Krasnoyarsk, a Siberian city of 900,000 people about 2,500 miles southeast of Moscow, helped Gavrilova develop her skills.

“The boys play faster and I got stronger playing with them,” said Gavrilova, who stated playing hockey with the guidance of her father, Viktor, at age 8.

Gavrilova is on the Russian national team and played five years of professional hockey in Moscow from age 14-19.

Former UMD player Kristina Petrovskaia (2001-03) plays with Gavrilova on the Russian national team and tipped UMD coach Shannon Miller to Gavrilova’s talent.

Miller went to the 2007 World Championships in Winnipeg to scout Gavrilova.

“What I saw was great game instinct, great hands and natural offensive ability,” Miller said. “I saw she could be a playmaker and a goal-scorer. Basically, she is someone that has a gift, so I got really excited.”

Miller said Gavrilova was one of the fastest verbal commitments and one of the most difficult to get to Duluth.

“It was a nightmare,” Miller said. “I spent all summer on it. First off, we’d FedEx a letter of intent to Moscow and it would get stolen. We’d send it again and it would get stolen. The third time we sent it, she got it. We are talking about two months. It was ridiculous.”

After she signed the letter of intent, Gavrilova needed to get accepted into UMD and apply for a travel visa. Overall, the process took from April to September and Gavrilova missed the first week of school.

Gavrilova didn’t speak English and needed Petrovskaia to translate e-mails from Miller.

“If I didn’t know Kristina Petrovskaia and she didn’t talk to me, I wouldn’t be here,” Gavrilova said. “She was key for me to come here.”

Gavrilova, an exercise science major, has begun to learn English and has loosened up around teammates.

“For the first month, she wouldn’t talk,” Miller said. “She would listen and nod if she understood. She [had] tutors for two classes, but does very well in school.”

Myriam Trepanier, Gavrilova’s roommate, said her fervor rubs off on the Bulldogs.

“She has the most enthusiasm on the team,” said Trepanier, a junior defender. “On the ice, she has so much fun and it reflects on everyone on the team. She has so much fun it is unbelievable.”

Gavrilova’s coming-out moment was Dec. 1 against Wisconsin, the two-time defending national champions. She scored the game-tying goal with 25 seconds left in the third period and netted a breakaway 15 seconds into overtime for a stunning 3-2 win in Madison.

“She is coming up with big goals in big games for us — at the right moment,” Miller said. “She is a big part of our success, no question.”

Gavrilova has six game-winning goals and is the nation’s leading rookie scorer with 14 goals and 18 assists. Her 32 points rank ninth on the school’s all-time rookie scoring list. She is on pace to score 47 points, which would place her fifth in school history.

“She is able to read the ice well and find her linemates,” Trepanier said. “She knows — when she looks at players in front of her — what to do to beat her and she is quick enough to do it.”

The Bulldogs (18-3-1 overall, 15-3 conference) have a seven-point lead in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, but they lost Gavrilova’s linemate, Saara Tuominen, to injury. The sophomore center and captain was tied with Gavrilova with 30 points entering the winter break, but Tuominen tore a knee ligament in the European Air Canada Cup and will be out at least 6-8 weeks.

“With Saara Tuominen out, [Gavrilova] has a bigger role to play,” Trepanier said. “If she keeps going, it will be a big help for us.”