Valeri Kharlamov

Early life

Kharlamov was born in Moscow to Boris and Begonita Kharlamov. Boris was a mechanic at a factory, Kommunar, while Begonita worked with Aeroflot. Begonita, who was born Aribot Abbad Hermann, was Basque and originally from Bilbao, Spain, but moved to the Soviet Union in 1937 as a refugee from the Spanish Civil War. Kharlamov's parents were factory workers from Moscow. He was named after Valery Chkalov, a pioneering Soviet pilot. He also had a younger sister, Tatiana. In 1956, when he was 8-years-old, Kharlamov moved to Spain with his mother, though they both returned to the Soviet Union after several months. Due to his mother's heritage, Kharlamov would be nicknamed "The Spaniard" throughout his career.

At age 5 Kharlamov first started to skate, fastening his father's blades onto his own shoes. He was trained by Boris, who had played hockey himself. However Kharlamov, who enjoyed playing football as well, was quite sickly as a youth; in 1961 he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and doctors ordered him to cease any physical activity, and spent several months in hospital, though he ultimately recovered with no apparent cause nor lingering effects.

Soviet League

Kharlamov successfully tried-out for CSKA Moscow when he was 12, and joined their sports school. He joined the senior team for the 1967–68 season, and made his debut with CSKA on October 22, 1967 against HC Sibir. However Anatoli Tarasov, the coach of the team, felt Kharlamov was not good enough for the team so after 15 matches with CSKA sent Kharlamov to join Zvezda Chebarkul, who played in the third division. He would lead the team in scoring with 34 goals in 32 games.

The following season Kharlamov was brought back to CSKA full-time. In 42 games he scored 37 goals and had 12 assists and finished third in the league in scoring with 49 points; it was during a match in October 1968 that he was first put on a line with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov; The three of them would play together for the next several years both with CSKA and internationally, forming one of the most famous lines in hockey history. In the off-season he and his linemates Petrov and Mikhailov were awarded the title of Merited Master of Sport in recognition of winning an international tournament (which would become the Izvestia Cup. Kharlamov scored a further 33 goals in 1969–70, and had placed fifth overall in points with 43, as CSKA won the league championship. He led the league in scoring for the first time in 1970–71 with 40 goals and finished second overall in scoring with 52, and CSKA repeated as champions.

Although Kharlamov never played in North America, he was drafted by the Calgary Broncos of the World Hockey Association, along with Soviet teammates Petrov and Alexander Maltsev in early 1972.

World Championships

Kharlamov's career in Soviet hockey was well established by the time he came to greater attention through his play in international hockey. His first tournament for the Soviet Union was the 1969 World Championship, where he helped the team capture the gold medal. Kharlamov was a fixture on the Soviet national team roster for the next decade. He played in eleven World Championships in total, capturing 8 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze. He was named to the tournament All-Star team four times (1971, 1972, 1973, and 1976). He played a total of 105 games in the World Championships, scoring 74 goals and adding 82 assists (156 points).

Olympics

The Soviet Union was the dominant force in international hockey during the 1970s, and Kharlamov played a big part in their gold medal victories at the 1972 and 1976 Winter Olympics. In five games during the 1972 tournament, Kharlamov scored nine goals and added seven assists. He captured his second gold medal with the Soviet Union in 1976, contributing three goals and six assists. Kharlamov was also part of the silver medal winning Soviet team at the 1980 Winter Olympics. Their only loss at the Olympics was to the American squad, a game memorialized as the Miracle on Ice. Kharlamov finished the tournament with three goals and eight assists. When his Olympic career was complete, Kharlamov had two gold medals and one silver. He had scored 14 goals and added 22 assists for 36 points in 22 career games. The 1980 Olympics would be Kharlamov's last games with the Soviet National Team. He never had the chance to represent his country in Canada Cup play. He missed the 1976 Canada Cup due to the injuries he sustained in his first major car accident. Kharlamov was left off the roster for the 1981 Canada Cup just prior to his fatal car accident, because Tikhonov felt he was too old and not in good enough shape for the team. According to his mother-in-law, Kharlamov had been planning to announce his retirement after playing in the 1981 tournament. In 438 national championship matches, he scored 293 goal and stood for 214 assists, a total of 507 points.

Summit Series

As World Championships were commonly played in Europe, and National Hockey League (NHL) players were not allowed to participate in the Olympics either, Kharlamov and his teammates were still a somewhat unknown quantity when the 1972 Summit Series was played. The eight game series, with four games played in Canada, and four in the Soviet Union was one of the first opportunities for the two countries to pit their best hockey players against each other. Most pundits thought Canada would win convincingly.

In the first game of the series, the Soviet Union stunned Canada with a 7–3 victory. Kharlamov scored two goals on Ken Dryden during the second period, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Fresh observers of Kharlamov's play were universally impressed. Summit Series defenceman Serge Savard ranked him as one of the top 5 players of all time. Team Canada head coach Harry Sinden would later say of Kharlamov, "He had the skill and the ability of any player in the NHL at the time."

In the sixth game of the series, Bobby Clarke slashed Kharlamov intentionally, fracturing a bone in his ankle. He would miss the seventh game of the series, and returned to the lineup for the final game of the series, but at much reduced effectiveness. At the time, many felt the slash was intentional. Assistant coach John Ferguson would later say "I called (Bobby) Clarke over to the bench, looked over at Kharlamov and said, 'I think he needs a tap on the ankle'." As for Kharlamov himself, he had little doubt that an attempt had been made to limit his effectiveness, "I'm convinced that Bobby Clarke was given the job of taking me out of the game." Kharlamov's injury, and his diminished play in the aftermath have been regarded as a turning point for the series in Canada's favour, who won the series in the eighth and final game.

Two years later Kharlamov was in the Soviet lineup again during the 1974 Summit Series, playing against the best Canadian players from the World Hockey Association. The Soviets were victorious in this series, with four wins, one loss and three ties. Kharlamov scored two goals and added six assists in the series.

Death

Kharlamov was still active with CSKA when he was killed in a car accident on August 27, 1981. Prior to the accident, Kharlamov had been informed that he would not be a member of the Soviet team playing in the 1981 Canada Cup. Coach Viktor Tikhonov said that Kharlamov was left off the team over concerns about his conditioning. Irina, Kharlamov's wife, was driving back to Moscow from the family's cottage when she lost control and crossed into opposing traffic, hitting a truck head-on. Irina did not have a driver's licence at the time of the crash. When the bodies were recovered, Kharlamov was reaching over from his seat, holding onto the steering wheel. Irina's cousin was also killed. Fans lined the streets during his funeral procession in Moscow, and they filed past his casket which rested at centre ice of CSKA's arena. Near the scene of the crash, a memorial stone in the shape of a hockey puck is inscribed, "The star of Russian hockey fell here."

Legacy

After his death, Kharlamov's teammates with CSKA decided that no one at any level of the organization would wear Kharlamov's #17 sweater, until his son Alexander was old enough to wear it. Alexander wore #17 until he was a teenager, but later switched to #22, feeling that the expectations that went along with his father's sweater number were too great. When he found himself playing for Tikhonov with the Central Red Army club in 1992, the decision was taken away from him, and he was issued the #17 sweater. After initially being reluctant, Alexander said "Now I am used to it. I felt an additional burden on my shoulders. But now I don't feel anything like that." The #17 is not worn by any member of the Russian national team at senior international competitions. Ilya Kovalchuk who usually wears #17 in honour of Kharlamov, his father's favorite player, dons the reverse #71 for international play.

In his memory, Sovetsky Sport established the Kharlamov Trophy in 2002; it is awarded annually to the best Russian player in the National Hockey League, as selected by the Russian players in the league. The annual winner of the playoffs in Russia's Junior Hockey League is awarded the Kharlamov Cup. The trophy features a figure modeled after Kharlamov at the top. One of the divisions in the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League is named in his honor as well. In 2013, director Nikolay Lebedev released the biopic "Legend No 17", with Danila Kozlovsky portraying Kharlamov for most of the film. "Legend No 17" was nominated for 11 Golden Eagle Awards in 2013, and captured 6 of them, including Best Screenplay. The movie has been described as a personal favourite of Vladimir Putin.

Kharlamov was posthumously inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 1998. The Milestone Award is given by the IIHF Hall of Fame to teams that have made significant contributions to international hockey. In 2012, Kharlamov's 1972 Summit Series Soviet Union team was given this honor. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the IIHF in 2008, a panel of experts named Kharlamov to the Centennial All-Star Team, along with 3 other Soviet stars, Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Makarov. Kharlamov was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005. His induction was met with praise from one of the players who idolized him, Ilya Kovalchuk, who said "He should have been there many years ago. I think he was one of the best players in the world." Kharlamov was the second Soviet trained player, after Tretiak, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Upon hearing the news of his father's induction, Alexander Kharlamov said "I want to say thank you for remembering my father." In 2014, Kharlamov was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame.

Playing style

Kharlamov was a gifted offensive player. During his prime, he was one of the dominant players in Soviet hockey, and he maintained this reputation during international tournaments. Kharlamov loved the creative opportunities his sport provided saying "I like to score beautiful goals." Some compared Kharlamov's play to Wayne Gretzky, in the sense that their overall play was greater than their individual skills, such as skating or shooting would indicate. He was very popular with his fans and teammates.

Personal life

Kharlamov and Irina had two children, a son, Alexander, commonly known as "Sasha" and a daughter, Bugonita. Valeri married Irina in 1975, after Alexander was born. At that time Kharlamov was unaware he had a son, until he received a phone call from Irina telling him he was the baby's father. After their parents' death, the children went to live with their maternal grandmother in Moscow. Alexander was only 5 years old when his father died, and does not remember him well, although he has seen recordings of his games. Alexander would also become an ice hockey player, and was selected fifteenth overall by the Washington Capitals in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, though he never played in the NHL, playing in the North American minor leagues and back in Russia before retiring in 2004. Alexander's son is named Valeri, after his grandfather, although his sport of choice is soccer, rather than hockey. After his death, Kharlamov was buried in the Kuntsevo Cemetery in the Kuntsevo District of Moscow.