He was ready to fly to the United States, where he could pursue his brilliant career. Instead he was arrested and for alleged evasion of military service. This is what happened to Russian ice hockey goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, who recently signed an entry-level contract with the Philadelphia Flyers of the US National Hockey League. But, according to Russian media reports, he was instead arrested in St. Petersburg: the newspaper Fontanka and the online newspaper Baza in fact cited sources, saying that yesterday police and army officials started a real hunt to the man to track down Fedotov, at the request of the military prosecutor, who accused him of having evaded military service.
The 25-year-old athlete had signed a contract with the US team just last month, because he intended to leave his Central Sport Club of Army (CSKA) in order to play overseas. But CSKA is a Russian Army ice hockey club and its members are officially considered military personnel. Therefore, termination of contracts by team members can be considered illegal.
Fedotov has a brilliant career. He played in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with CSKA Moscow in the 2021-22 season, leading the team to the championship. He was named among the three finalists for the KHL best goalkeeper award. He was also part of Russia’s 2022 Olympic team at the Beijing Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal as a starting goalkeeper.