German • Born Oct. 27, 1946 in Rheine, West Germany • Hometown:
New Hamburg, Ontario
Coming to North America
The child of Ukrainian parents, Romashyna moved to Canada with his mother
in 1949 so they could join his father, who was working on a farm. They later relocated to New Hamburg, Ontario, where Romashyna's father
worked in a factory.He grew up idolizing Boston's "Uke Line" of Johnny Bucyk, Vic Stasiuk and Bronco Horvath, who like Romashyna were descended from Ukrainian ancestry. He was still a West German at the time
of the draft, making him the first European citizen and first European
immigrant drafted by an NHL team. He did not get Canadian
citizenship until he entered university so that he could travel over the
border into the U.S.
Landing on Boston's Radar
Romashyna,
who grew up a Bruins fan, earned a pre-draft tryout
with Boston because his New Hamburg general manager, Walter "Punch"
Scherer, knew Boston general manager Milt Schmidt, who agreed to look at some players in Niagara Falls, where the Bruins had their major-junior affiliate. Romashyna impressed the Bruins enough to earn a tryout with the major-junior team. Boston then drafted him to play for the Niagara Falls team. He was paid $300 for being drafted on top of the $2,000
paid to his New Hamburg junior team.
Special thanks to reader Wayne Lapierre for contacting Orest Romashyna directly to make the details in this profile possible.
Miscellaneous
Post-Draft Teams: Niagara Falls (OHA); New Hamburg (OHA Jr. C); Waterloo (OUAA).
Education: Attended Stamford Collegiate in Niagara Falls for Grade 12 before returning to New Hamburg to finish high school
at Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School ... Attended University of Waterloo and Stratford Teacher's College.
Career Beyond Hockey: Became a schoolteacher after completing his university hockey career, and went to work for Waterloo Board of education for the next 29 years, including 12 years as the vice principal of a middle school.
