Minnesota Wild prospect Ivan Lodnia carries the weight of his entire family on his not-so-broad shoulders.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound winger says it’s the least he can do considering everything his family has done to get him to this point.

“I owe them a lot,” he said. “And I haven’t done anything yet to pay them back yet. Hopefully I can continue to play well and someday make the NHL, and that’s when I can finally start paying my dues.”

The 17-year-old’s journey to the NHL got underway last month when the Wild picked him in the third round of the draft, the 85th pick overall. The family’s journey started long before Ivan was even born, and featured many sacrifices from his father Konstantin, his mother Irina and his sister Masha.

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‘A dream come true’: Wild sign Jonas Brodin to seven-year, $42 million extension More than two decades ago, the Lodnia family immigrated from Ukraine, arriving in the United States with $100 to their name. While his English wasn’t very strong early on, Konstantin knew hockey, having played professionally in Ukraine. He coached various teams in southern California to make ends meet.

It wasn’t a lot. But it was enough.

“I never really thought too much about it,” Masha said. “It was life. It was always about hard work. We were taught that without hard work we weren’t going to get what we want. Our father has instilled that in us from the start. … It was such a long time ago, though, so I don’t remember much else. I’m very grateful we made the move. It’s given our family a lot of opportunities.”

Especially Ivan. Born three years after the family came to America, he took to hockey immediately.

“It pretty much started from my family,” Ivan said. “Just playing for my father out there.”

His sister remembers it much more vividly.

“When he was 3 months old my father wrapped him up in a blanket and took him on the ice,” Masha said. “It was absolutely insane to see this child gravitate to a sport so quickly. He was always running around the rink with a pacifier in his mouth and a stick in his hand.”

His talent on the ice was obvious. He played on various teams throughout the Los Angeles area, and the family eventually purchased an ice rink in Anaheim to provide him with some extra ice time.

That rink — KHS Arena — became the family business. While that allowed him to skate whenever he wanted, Ivan still wasn’t getting the competition he needed to flourish.

After much deliberation Konstantin and Irina opted to move to the Midwest with their son, settling in Michigan, where Ivan was able to further refine his skills.

Masha remained in California, giving up her dreams of working in design to tend to the family business.

“It’s our culture,” Masha said. “We work together for each other. I never had any complaints. This is how it is. Our family comes first. If this was going to give him the best opportunities to succeed, there wasn’t even a second thought on my end.”

In Michigan, Ivan started to make a name for himself, and eventually got picked up by the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. He made a good initial impression with 16 goals and 23 assists his first year with the team, and followed that up with 24 goals and 33 assists last season as the Otters won the J. Ross Robertson Cup.

“I definitely learned a lot the last couple of years,” Ivan said. “We had some veteran teams the past two years with a lot of guys signing NHL contracts and stuff like that. I learned a lot going against them in practice.”

Kris Knoblach was his Otters coach the past two season before leaving Erie to became an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers last month.

“I would definitely say his biggest attribute is his playmaking ability,” Knoblach said. “He’s very composed with the puck. He’s a very good skater. He’s very elusive. He has the potential to be a really good player at the next level.”

Well, the Wild certainly hope so after making him the No. 85 overall pick last month with the entire Lodnia family in attendance to share the moment.

“When we saw Minnesota come up, that was a team he was hoping might take him,” Masha said. “When he heard his name, he was like, ‘Can you believe it? It’s Minnesota.’ It was a huge moment for all of us. He has worked really hard for it.”

Ivan recently competed in the Wild’s annual development camp at Xcel Energy Center, where he managed to turn some heads within the organization.

“He’s even more skilled than advertised,” Iowa Wild coach Derek Lalonde said. “You have to have that ridiculous skill set nowadays to compete, especially if a guy isn’t 6-foot-4 or something like that. He’s also very creative offensively, which is something guys have to have at the next level.”

As for the next step in his progression, Ivan said he’s excited about returning to Erie next season, especially considering he’ll have a much bigger role.

“There have always been some guys older than me, so now I can finally step up as a leader next season,” he said. “I’ve always had that target on my back when I was a kid, and these last couple of years I haven’t really had that. It’s good to finally have it again.”

He is the second the youngest player in the Wild organization, so the next level is still at least a couple years away. That said, when that moment finally comes, it will serve as a culmination for the entire family.

“It’s going to be that moment where everything that we’ve done up into this moment pays off,” Masha said. “And as much as we sacrificed for him, he was the person that sacrificed everything to get to this point. He is where he is because of his hard work.”

Still, it’s his family’s hard work that has Ivan determined on making it.

“That really motivates me,” he said. “All I can do now is play my hardest every time I’m on the ice and hopefully make the team someday and eventually play for the Minnesota Wild and pay (my family) back for everything they’ve done for me.”