Russian
Hockey Deaths
On the ice, they were some of the best to
ever play the sport of hockey. They dazzled us with lightening
quick moves, amazing goals and brilliant plays. They were
disciplined, skilled and exciting to watch. Off the ice was a
different story. Struck by tragedy, for some reason, Russians have
had the worst trouble with automibles. Recently, Igor Grigorenko
was in a near fatal crash. Thankfully, he will recover and be able
to return to the ice very soon. Here is a list of players past and
present who weren't so lucky.
The death of Soviet star Valery Kharlamov in the summer of 1981
shocked the hockey world.
Kharlamov's wife, Irina, was at the
wheel that August night when their car skidded on a slippery road
on the outskirts of Moscow and veered into the path of an oncoming
truck. Both Irina and Valery were killed. His death was the first
in a series of auto accidents that would plague Soviet hockey for
the next decade and heads a list of more than a dozen of the
country's top talents who have died under tragic circumstances dur
ing the past 30 years.
Tragedy struck again in June, 1985, when
Anatoly Fetisov, 17, the younger
brother of Soviet national team captain Slava Fetisov, was killed.
The car Slava was driving was involved in a collision near the Red
Army club sports complex in Moscow. 'Tolya' was a sure bet to play
with the Soviet Union at the 1986 World Junior Championship in
Hamilton and strong candidate for selection in the 1986 NHL entry
draft.
"He had great skills and speed and good
hands," said Pittsburgh Penguins' defenseman Dmitri Mironov. "He
was just 17, but (Viktor) Tikhonov wanted him to play regularly
for the Red Army first team the following season." It was raining
and the roads were slippery when both the Kharlamov and Fetisov
accidents occurred. Streets and roads in Moscow and surrounding
area aren't great in the best of weather conditions.
Longtime Russian hockey coach Igor Tuzik
said excessive speed is to blame for many accidents in his
country. Excessive, anyway, for Russian roads. Another factor,
especially in city accidents, is that competent drivers are at the
mercy of untrained motorists piloting other vehicles. Mironov said
when he lived in Moscow a driver's license could be obtained by
anybody ready to payoff the examiner. By contrast, when he came to
Canada to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, by contrast, Mironov
had to take two tests before obtaining a license - the first on a
simulator and the second on the road.
One of the greatest wingers in hockey
history, Kharlamov was involved in a 1976 accident similar to that
which would kill him five years later.
That time, when he pulled out to pass a car,
his vehicle collided with an oncoming truck, bounced off it and
into a lampost. He suffered two broken ankles and two broekn ribs
and was told by doctors he would never play again. Then 28,
Kharlamov was unable to suit up for the 1976 Canada Cup. And
although he later returned to play with both the Soviet National
team and Red Army, he seldom displayed the brilliant moves that
wowed fans when he scored twice on Ken Dryden in the first game of
the Summit Series at the montreal Forum in 1972.
Passed over for the soviet Unions 1981
Canada Cup team, Kharlamov died while the Soviet team was in
Canada preparing for the event. While Kharlamov and Anatoly
Fetisov are the most famous victims of auto accidents involving
Soviet players, an inordinate number of others have lost their
lives on the streets and highways. They include:
Karil
Tarasov - A candidate for the
Soviet Nation Junior team, Tarasov, 18, was killed in 1990 when
his car collided with a bus in Moscow. Vyacheslav Kozlov, then the
top junior player in the country and now a star with the Atlanta
Thrashers, was seriously injured in the same accident.
Vladimir
Durdin - The captain of Riga Dynamo, which toured NHL
cities in 1988-89, Durdin, 34, was killed in a 1991 auto accident
near Siguld in the Soviet Republic of Latvia. Police said Durdin
died while the car he was driving on the way home from Finland
went off the road and hit a tree. When he left the Soviet Elite
League to play in Finland in 1989, Durdin held the record for the
most penalized defenseman in Soviet history - 537 PIM in 14
seasons.
Artem
Kopat - A promising defenseman with
the world champion Commenwealth of Independant State national
junior team and sixth round 1992 draft choice of the Pittsburgh
Penguins, Kopat, 19, died in a 1992 auto accident.
In recent years, two other Soviet stars
have been seriously injured in auto accidents, but survived. The
career of Alexander Chernykh a
24-year old national team center and 8th round draft choice of the
New Jersey Devils in 1983, ended as a result of an accident.
Igor
Boldin, a 28-year-old center who starred with the
gold-medalist Unified Team at the 1992 Olympics, was hospitalized
following an auto accident in Moscow in the summer of 1992.
Boldin, selected by the St Louis Blues in the eighth round of the
1992 draft, missed the next season, but is now playing in
Finland.
Alcoholism and drunk driving have long
been recognized as serious problems in the former Soviet Union,
but to say what part, if any, that may have played in the many
deaths is impossible.
No such connection has been made publicly
in any of these cases.
The worst 'catastrophe involving Soviet
hockey occurred in 1950, four years before the Soviets started
competing in World Championships. Most of the Soviet air force
club, VVS, was killed in a plane crash carrying players from
Moscow to the interior. Among team members who did not make the
trip was Viktor Tikhonov, who went on to become the greatest coach
in the country's history. Among the dead were Yuri Tarasov, brother of Anatoly Tarasov, the Godfather of Soviet
hockey.
Other tragic Soviet hockey deaths
include:
Viktor
Blinov, a 23-year-old Moscow
Dynamo defenseman and 1968 Olympic gold medalist for the Soviet
Union at Grenoble, died later that year of a heart attack suffered
at hockey practice.
Alexander
Sakeyev, a 28-year-old forward with Moscow Dynamo and
Binokor Tashkent, was killed by a train in 1973.
Alexander
Nydyenov, a 24-year- old forward with Spartak, was
strangled to death in 1979.
Vyacheslav
Solodukhin, who played in the Summit
Series, committed suicide in his car through carbon monoxide
poisoning in 1980. He was 30.
Vladimir
Korshenkov, a promising 21-year-old
with the Red Army Club, suffered a serious cut in the throat in
practice in 1981 and died in hospital one month
later.
Sergei
Bushmelev, a 26-year-old Spartak
forward, was shot to death in the streets of Ufa in
1992.
Yvgeny
Babich - Hung himself in his apartment in 1972 at the
age of 51.
Konstantin
Klimov- "Spartak's forward: died
under unknown circumstances.
Mikhail
Kovalev- CSKA defenseman, died under
unknown circumstances.
Aleksander
Naidenov- Spartak's forward, killed. Murderers choked
him, were never found.
Vladimir
Korzhenko - CSKA forward:
died in a hospital shortly after a hit during a
training
Valentin
Markov- Defenseman of Dynamo,
Spartak, Wings, some games for national team, after his hockey
career was stabbed to death
Anatoly
Motovilov- Dynamo forward: died in a
car accident
Evgeny
Belosheikin- according to Tikhonov, the best goalie in
Russia since Tretiak: had problems with alcohol, committed suicide
by hanging himself
Sergei
Bushmelov- Spartak's forward: was
shot right in the heart in center of Ufa.
Valentin
Grigoriev- forward of Kristal
Electrostal: found dead near a railroad station, killers were
never found
Nikolai
Drozdetsky- legend forward of SKA,
CSKA and national team, won almost everything in "amateur" hockey:
died in his apartment when ran out on insulin and sent mother to
get some more. Mother spent hour looking for insulin and finally
when found and got home he was already dead.
Sergei
Zemchenok- Metallurgs goalie: killed
in an apartment elevator. One of not many cases when killers were
found
Sergeu
Korotkov- defenseman of Spartak:
found dead in his apartment, under unknown
circumstances
Vyacheslav
Lavrov- forward of SKA, Canada Cup winner, accidentally
died in his car garage with car exhaust
intoxication
Aleksander
Osadchy- CSKA defenseman: found dead in his home.
Unknown circumstances
Dmitry
Rozhkov- Spartak's forward, killed
at a New Years party was stabbed in artery
Arkady
Rudakov- Spartak center: killed in his own apartment
under unknown circumstances
Alexey
Stepanov- Metallurgs forward: his
body was found in a lake, unknown circumstances
Maxim
Stepanov- Soviets Wings forward:
died in a car accident
Valentin
Sych- President of Russian hockey
federation: was shot in his car while leaving his dacha
(country house). Killers were found and jailed but
investigation refused to go further to find those who organized
this crime
Dmitry
Tertyshny- defenseman was a top
prospect for the Flyers until his life was
tragically cut short
in British Columbia. He was killed in a boating accident on
Okanagan Lake near Kelowna B.C. He was attending a power skating
clinic with Philadelphia Phantoms Francis Belanger and Mikhail
Chernov. Dmitri was kneeling up at the front of the boat when the
boat hit a wave, he lost his balance and fell over the front of
the boat. He was struck by the propeller in the neck and died of
severe blood loss.
Aleksander
Frolov- Torpedos forward, died of a heart attack in a
preseason camp in Turkey
Nikolai
Shorin- legendary player of
Chelyabinsks Traktor: missing
Alexander
Krevsun, 22 year old player, died of
a stroke during a 10 km cross, while being on preseason camp of
CSKA VVS Samara.
