In the winter of 2012, Seva Losev put on a pair of skates for the first time in his life. Five years later, he is skating for the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League.
Growing up in Moscow, Russia, hockey was never a part of Seva’s childhood sports. He was a swimmer, trained in martial arts and played soccer. It wasn’t until he was introduced to the sport by a friend that he decided he wanted to play hockey. While never too late to put on a pair of skates, Seva knew he had a tough road ahead to become an impact hockey player.On the advice from a coach in Moscow, Seva and his father began searching for some professional training when they came across Alain Raymond, who is Head Coach and in charge of Player Development at CIHA.  Alain was in Moscow to run his annual hockey camp and recruit for CIHA in the spring of 2012.After seeing Seva in his camps and his drive to improve as a hockey player, Alain invited Seva to come to CIHA in a couple of months for the summer camps. Seva enjoyed his time so much and saw such dramatic improvement under CIHA coaches that his family decided to return to Rockland in September to go to school and continue his training, with the ultimate goal of attending CIHA in 2014/2015.Over the next two years, Seva would play for a few different local teams in Rockland while getting his education at a local school. In September 2014, Seva’s dream came true of attending and studying at CIHA. He would play for the Major Bantam AAA team.Over the next three years, Seva dedicated himself to improve on his skills while also keeping up academically. After his Bantam season, he would play two years of Midget AAA while putting up very respectable career numbers with 91 points in 126 games including playoffs.” Seva started at CIHA with a positive attitude and an unbelievable work ethic, working hard the first year just to learn the system of North American Hockey. The following couple of years after that brought growth, speed and strength. One of the things that I admire about Seva is his consistency of pushing through every obstacle and never giving up on his dreams,” said Alain Raymond, who coached Seva during his final Midget AAA season.After his three years at CIHA and meteoric rise as a hockey player, Seva was drafted 46th overall by the Ottawa 67’s in the 2017 U18 Priority Selection. “His progression from beginning until now is remarkable. To have worked from a house league player to a Major Junior player is something to be proud of,” Alain continued. “He is a prime example of investing the time needed both academically and athletically to achieve his goals. We are very proud of him!”After being drafted, Seva would weigh his options of whether to play Junior A and keep his NCAA eligibility, or play in the OHL. Ultimately, he would sign a Standard Player Contract with the 67’s, which gives him one year of studying at a Canadian university, but also makes him ineligible to play in the NCAA. “My contract is only one year with the 67’s, but I use that as motivation to improve and earn another contract next year,” Seva said.Seva still attends CIHA two days a week as he continues his high school education in between practices and games for the 67’s.“I am very grateful for my mother, father and sister for the chance to come to Canada and give me the opportunity to study and play hockey at CIHA. The Canadian International Hockey Academy has become a second home for me. I have made a lot of friends from around the world.”Seva is currently playing centre for the Ottawa 67’s, while playing against former linemates and CIHA alumni Semen Der-Arguchintsev and Pavel Gogolev of the Peterborough Petes.