Thirty-five years ago, on August 27, 1981, the brightest star of Soviet hockey went down - the legendary Valery Kharlamov died in a car accident.

One of the greatest Soviet hockey players, striker of CSKA and the national team, two-time Olympic champion and eight-time world champion, included in the Hall of Fame of the International Hockey Federation and the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame, crashed along with his wife Irina on Leningradskoye Shosse at the age of 33.

Valery Kharlamov on the bench, 1976;
Source: Valery Zufarov/TASS

The next day, an obituary appeared on the last page of the Vechernyaya Moskva newspaper, which shocked the sports world. Kharlamov died?! Can't be! After all, he had to leave with the national team for Canada! Strange, but the only all-Union sports newspaper of that time, " Soviet sport", they were not allowed to write a single line about the tragedy ...

Tikhonov did not take him to the team

The day before the tragedy, Irina Kharlamova and her six-year-old son Sasha were returning from the south, and Valery went to meet them at the airport. Mother-in-law Nina Vasilievna lived with her little granddaughter Begonita in a dacha in the village of Pokrovka, near Klin, that evening the whole family gathered there ... And the day before, a turning point occurred in the career of hockey player Kharlamov. The team flew away to the Canada Cup, and at the last moment he was “unhooked”. Roughly, without ceremony. The team was already packing before heading to the airport when Main coach Viktor Tikhonov called Kharlamov for a conversation. Half an hour later, Valery left the coaching room not himself. Without explaining anything, he shook hands with his colleagues, mumbled something about the need to definitely win, turned around and left.

Of course, the coach had every right to decide with whom to go to the most prestigious tournament, but none of the hockey players understood why everything had to be arranged like that.

It was clear that for the 33-year-old Kharlamov it would be last tournament of such rank, his swan song. He prepared for it frantically. But alas...

Valery got behind the wheel

The mother-in-law of Valery Kharlamov, Nina Vasilievna, recalls:

Arriving from the airport, my daughter immediately took me aside and warned me not to say a word about the national team. It was clear that Valera was already very worried. Ira caught a slight cold in the south, so they went to bed early. There was no booze, nothing. Ira brought good wine, but Valera told me to keep it for my fiftieth birthday. Stayed in one room. But Valera did not lie down immediately. He pushed around the dacha, then joined Sasha on the bed. I wanted to take the child to her, but he refused. I sleep lightly, so I saw Valera get up several times. He didn’t smoke, he just sits, sits, and lies down again. Got up early in the morning. Ira and Valera were going to Moscow, and she offered to drive the car, since he did not get enough sleep. At this point, knowing that my daughter had no rights, I protested:

“Don’t give her the steering wheel, she came to the dacha alone twice without you. And the weather is rainy today.

Valera agreed with me, especially since it was necessary to make a detour - to bring his nephew Seryozha, who had recently returned from the army, on business. In short, Valera got behind the wheel, and they left.

"Volga" jumped out to meet

August 27, 1981. Place of a terrible accident

No one will know why, having barely left the dacha, Valera gave up the wheel to his wife. Apparently, this happened immediately, as soon as the village disappeared around the corner. And the tragedy occurred four kilometers from Pokrovka. The ZIL driver Viktor Petrovich Krylov recalls:

About nine o'clock I was driving in the area of ​​Solnechnogorsk along the Leningrad highway. Distilled a new car from Pushkin to Leningrad. My speed was low, I always drive carefully, and then there was new asphalt. He is slippery, as if greased. But the road was clear, there was little traffic. And suddenly a Volga flies towards me along my lane. She tried to avoid the blow, so she turned sideways. It was with this side that she hit my bumper. She was turned around again and thrown to the side of the road. The policeman later told me that their speedometer jammed at 110 kilometers (in the materials of the criminal case it was recorded that the speed of the Volga was 60 kilometers). I was also dragged to the right, and I drove into a ditch.

The police are right there. She followed the Kharlamovs, as if on purpose ... I recovered a little from the shock and began to help the senior lieutenant take people out of the car. A woman was driving.

When they got it, she sighed twice more and died. And two men were pulled out already dead. They didn't have a scratch on their faces. Someone recognized Valery Kharlamov in one. Then came the major general, head of the regional traffic police. He took me aside and looked into my eyes for a long time, trying to figure out if I was drunk. Then he patted his shoulder, "Don't worry!" I spent forty minutes at the crash site.

Many died in the cursed place

Photo: lana-kr.ru

A monument now stands at the site of that catastrophe. On a small pedestal - a granite hockey puck and a metal stick. The puck says: “Valery Kharlamov. Here the star of Russian hockey went out. Often on the pedestal you can see an ordinary puck and an old, battered stick, rewound with electrical tape since Soviet times. Above are flowers.

The road at the 74th kilometer is now a feast for the eyes, the asphalt is excellent, not a pothole. But on both sides of the monument, a little to the side, there are wreaths on the trees. Not only for the Kharlamovs, this place became fatal ... Viktor Krylov, ZIL driver:

I've been to that damned place many times. I then continued to drive cars around Leningradka. I’ll stop, go up to the monument, stand still… But I don’t know what to reproach myself with. Apparently, it was God's will.

“I don’t blame the ZIL driver”

© RIA Novosti. Mikhail Klimentiev, son of the famous hockey player Alexander Kharlamov

Alexander Kharlamov, son:

I named my son in honor of my father, Valery. Now he is 15 years old, he did not work out with hockey. I myself played hockey for 13 years, three of them in the NHL, in the Washington Capitals. I visit the site of my father's death every time I go to the dacha. I don’t blame that ZIL driver for anything, what happened was a coincidence.

Fact

From the protocol from the scene of the accident:

“The collision occurred in normal visibility on a section of the highway, the carriageway of which is wet, asphalted, of a horizontal profile. When the GAZ-24 car left the strip of old asphalt concrete (black gravel) and hit the edge of the freshly laid asphalt concrete protruding by 7 centimeters, the car skidded, after which it drove into the oncoming traffic lane. One wheel of the "Volga" turned out to be on the new, high-protruding asphalt, and the other - on the old one. Specialists say that a small oil film always appears on new asphalt at first. And then frost. That's the "Volga" and suffered. And a ZIL from Pushkin was driving towards them.

Father - Boris Sergeevich Kharlamov - a test fitter at the Moscow Kommunar plant. Mother, by nationality a Basque from the city of Bilbao, full name Aribe Abbad Hermane (Begonita), in 1937 the girl was brought to the USSR among the refugees from the Spanish civil war engulfed in the civil war, since the 1940s she worked at the same factory as a revolver turner.

Boris and Begonia met at a dance at the club of the Kommunar factory. Kharlamov came to the club with a Spanish friend whom he knew before the war, and left already with a girl. At the same time, it turned out that the girl was a work colleague. Valery Kharlamov was born in Moscow on the night of January 13-14. Boris and Begonia that day were in the hostel of the Kommunar plant. Closer to the night, Aribe felt that labor was beginning. The factory ambulance was urgently called, which took her to the hospital. In the morning, a young couple had a son. The son was named Valery in honor of Valery Chkalov. Boris and Begonia were not scheduled due to the fact that Begonia only had a residence permit. Only three months after the birth of their son, they officially registered the marriage.

Later, a girl was born in the Kharlamov family, who was named Tatyana.

Childhood and youth

Among the sports childhood hobbies of Valery Kharlamov were football and hockey. He first started skating when he was 7 years old. The father often played Russian hockey at the rink for the factory team and took his son with him, and so that he would not freeze in unheated locker rooms, he put him on skates. In 1956, when the Spaniards who arrived in the USSR in 1937 had the opportunity to return to their homeland, Valery left for Spain with his mother and sister, where he lived in Bilbao for several months and went to school there.

In March 1961, Kharlamov fell ill with a sore throat, which gave complications to other organs: doctors discovered he had a heart defect and diagnosed him with rheumatic heart disease. From that moment on, Valera was forbidden to attend physical education classes at school, run in the yard, lift weights, swim, and even attend a pioneer camp. However, his father thought differently, and when a summer skating rink opened on Leningradsky Prospekt in the summer of 1962, he took his 14-year-old son to sign up for the hockey section (they did this secretly from their mother, carefully hiding it for a long time).

That year, the boys of 1949 were accepted, but Valery, with his small stature, looked so young that he easily misled the second coach of CSKA, Boris Kulagin, about his age. Kharlamov then turned out to be the only one of several dozen boys who was accepted into the section, into the group of coach Vyacheslav Tazov. After a short time, the deception was revealed, but Kharlamov was not expelled, as the coaches liked him. The hockey player was transferred to the group of the head of the school, coach Andrei Starovoitov, who worked with him for about four years.

At the same time, once every three months, the father and son visited the Morozov hospital, where Valery was examined by doctors. As a result, young Valery coped with all diseases - the doctors recognized him as absolutely healthy - and began to seriously engage in hockey.

Talent Recognition

A talented young man began to be recommended to the adult CSKA team, however, the head coach of the army club and the national team, Anatoly Tarasov, at first did not see serious inclinations in young Kharlamov and said that his main drawback was his small stature. Young Kharlamov, who did not stand out in the CSKA hockey school, flashed in the final tournament of the USSR junior championship in the spring of 1967 in Minsk. According to Vladimir Bogomolov, who played with him in those days, Valery showed himself as a non-standard improviser, but at the same time hardworking and playing exclusively for the team. Upon arrival in Moscow, right at the station, the coach of the CSKA sports school Vitaly Erfilov announced to Kharlamov that they wanted to try him in CSKA. In the summer of 1967, Valery went through a training camp with the CSKA team in Kudepsta, after which he changed a lot physically, gained muscle mass.

Gradually, Kharlamov began to be admitted to the main team. On October 22, 1967, he made his debut as part of CSKA in Novosibirsk in a match with Sibir. The army team easily won 9:0, Valery could not distinguish himself. He didn’t play more matches at the beginning of the 1967/68 season, and in November, in order to “develop his playing independence, improve the stroke”, he was sent to the second league, to the Chebarkul Zvezda, the army team of the Ural Military District. As the head coach of Zvezda Vladimir Alfer admitted, he received strict instructions from Tarasov: “You must create conditions for him to train three times a day. In calendar meetings, Valery must spend at least seventy percent of the time on the ice, regardless of how the game goes.

Together with Kharlamov, a young CSKA defender Alexander Gusev was sent to Zvezda. In a short time, the hockey players quickly settled into the team and made a great contribution to the Zvezda game: Kharlamov scored 34 goals in 40 games and became a favorite of the local public, and Gusev played effectively as a defender. Vladimir Alfer regularly informed Tarasov about Kharlamov's achievements, and after a personal meeting at the end of February 1967 at the CSKA calendar game in Sverdlovsk, Kharlamov was called back to Moscow. Having played the last game for Zvezda in Kalinin on March 7 (after which the team received a promotion), on March 8 the hockey player returned home and on the same day was called by Tarasov to CSKA training.

First successes

On March 10, Kharlamov was included in the main team of CSKA, and again against the Novosibirsk Siberia. The army team easily defeated the opponent 11:3, and Kharlamov played together with Vikulov and Polupanov, replacing Firsov.

On April 23, 1968, he scored his first goal in the team of masters - against the Wings of the Soviets. At the end of the season, he already played as part of the youth team of CSKA: Kharlamov - Smolin - Blinov. He managed to gain a foothold in the main part of CSKA only in the next season. In October 1968, Kharlamov for the first time entered the same trio with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov for a match against Gorky's Torpedo. CSKA lost the game 0:1, and Kharlamov played inexpressively.

However, soon the three young forwards began to play brightly and effectively. In December 1968, Kharlamov was called up to the second national team of the USSR, which replaced the team of Czechoslovakia at the international Moscow tournament (later it became known as the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper). Immediately after the end of the tournament, Kharlamov, along with Boris Mikhailov and Vladimir Petrov, was invited to the main team for two exhibition games with Canada. On December 6, 1968, Valery made his debut in the first game, and the next day he played the second.

It was from these games that the three Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov appeared in the USSR national team. From the beginning of 1969, all three were regularly called up to the national team for friendly games, after which the coaches decided to take them to the World Cup in Stockholm. From the first games, the debutants demonstrated a high class of play, which contributed to their consolidation in the national team.

There are discrepancies in the sources about Kharlamov's 1st goal scored at the tournament - in the story "Forward No. debut game of the World Cup against the US team in the 38th minute. However, the protocol of the game in the encyclopedia "Hockey" and on the website of Artur Shidlovsky refute these data.

If we take into account the 2nd version, then Kharlamov spent his first goal at the World Championships in the next game against the Swedes. The tournament for the national team in 1969 was tense - after a series of won matches, a defeat from the Czechoslovak national team 0: 2 followed. Through the game, a meeting took place with the Swedes, whom the Soviet hockey players beat 3: 2, not without difficulty, all three goals were scored by Petrov's troika. In the next match (the penultimate one in the tournament), the team again lost to the Czechoslovaks - 3:4. In that match, Kharlamov first threw the puck into the opponent's goal, and then gave the transfer directly to the opponent's stick in his zone, which led to a goal against the USSR national team. That puck turned out to be decisive, and after the match, the coaches declared Kharlamov and goalkeeper Viktor Singer guilty of the defeat. Nevertheless, no sanctions followed, and the USSR national team became the world champion (in the last round, the Swedes beat the Czechoslovaks 1:0, and as a result, the teams of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Sweden had an equal number of points, and the USSR national team took first place thanks to the best the difference between goals scored and goals conceded).

Upon returning to Moscow, the first-class Kharlamov (as well as his partners in the troika) was awarded the title of Honored Master of Sports. At the same time, this was done without the knowledge of Anatoly Tarasov, which caused serious indignation on his part.

The heyday of a hockey career

Troika Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov

The three forwards of CSKA were created within 3 years. First, Boris Mikhailov appeared in CSKA. Since 1967, Vladimir Petrov began to appear at the base of the army team, who was seen as a replacement for Alexander Almetov, who was leaving hockey. At the same time, Mikhailov and Petrov did not compete with each other for a place at the base - the coaches considered them as complementing each other. For the first time in the 1967/68 season, they played together with Veniamin Aleksandrov, and after the CSKA team went to games in Japan, Kharlamov joined the trio. By the beginning of the 1968/69 season, it was obvious to CSKA coaches that Alexandrov's classic playing style was not suitable for young players who needed not the influence of a master, but gaining self-confidence among their peers. As Leonid Trakhtenberg notes, it was Kharlamov who turned out to be the informal leader in the top three, followed by Mikhailov and Petrov. At the same time, each of the players had a unique style of play:

Mikhailov was passionate, knew how to make partners and lead them, did a lot of rough work on the court, worked out in defense, skillfully played rebounds and at the same time managed to score the most in the top three.

Petrov is a physically developed hockey player, he knew how to conduct a power struggle, he had a powerful and irresistible throw, he was persistent in character, but a little stubborn.

Kharlamov in the top three stood out for his unique stroke style: he boldly went to the defenders, trying to squeeze between them and knowing that he would succeed, as the defenders would rely on each other and make way for him. He scored less than his partners in the trio, but he gave a lot of assists for Petrov and Mikhailov. Kharlamov's non-standard stroke ended either with a throw or an accurate transfer to a partner.

The troika was distinguished by the fact that it was the first in Soviet hockey to play on the court in a power manner.

Kharlamov himself noted the game of the troika as follows: “We understand each other not from a half-word, but from a half-letter. I know what they can do at any given moment, I guess their decision, even if they are looking somewhere else. More precisely, I don’t so much know as I feel what they will do in the next second, how they will play in this or that situation, and therefore at the same moment I rush to where the puck is waiting for me, where, according to my partner’s plan, I should appear.

Without saying a word, only by looking at each other, we immediately find a solution that suits everyone - having lost the puck, we know who should run to the aid of the defenders, we know when the partner is so tired that it is you who should “work” back, although he is closer to his goal , at any moment of the match we know who to fight, who to attack the player who owns the puck.

The trio crashed several times, especially in the games of the national team (Olympics-72 and Super Series-72, 1976, the last years of their career). But with all the partners, Kharlamov felt free and confident. Hockey players of the trio easily felt together during games on the court, but outside of hockey there was no ideal relationship between them.

First Olympic success

Since the early 1970s, young Kharlamov has been one of the leading hockey players in the country. His playing technique, impeccable skating and possession of the puck, and goalscoring qualities are most clearly manifested.

In the 1970/71 USSR Championship, he became the top scorer, scoring 40 goals against opponents. At the 1971 World Championship, in the decisive game against the Swedes, with a score of 2:3 in the third period, it was thanks to Kharlamov that a turning point was thrown, which ultimately contributed to the victory of the USSR team in the tournament and the third world title for the hockey player himself.

At the end of 1971 Tarasov, in anticipation of Olympic Games in Sapporo, in order to create a "fundamentally new tactical arrangement" decided to transfer Kharlamov to another trio - to Vikulov and Firsov. First, the new trio was tested at the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper, where it became the best in terms of “goal + pass”, and Vikulov, with five goals, was the best sniper. Kharlamov spoke about the new partners and his place among them: “At first I was worried: still, I play next to such masters! But they accepted me as an equal, and without lectures and shouts they helped me find my place in the link.

Directly at the Olympic tournament, Kharlamov became the top scorer. He scored in every game (except the last against the Czechoslovak national team), twice he managed a hat-trick (against the Finns and the Poles). As a result, the Soviet Union team won five victories, tied one game and took 1st place. Valery Kharlamov scored 16 points during the games, scoring 9 goals and giving 7 assists, and his partners in the top three were also among the top scorers. The gold medal in honor of the victory in the tournament was Valery's first success at the Olympic Games.

USSR Super Series - Canada (1972)

During a series of games with Canadian professionals in September 1972, Valery Kharlamov received truly universal recognition in international hockey. Along with Tretyak and Yakushev, he was one of the leading players in the Soviet Union in these games. The most successful for Kharlamov was the "Canadian" part of the series. In the 1st game, thanks to the efforts of Valery, the USSR team took the lead (3:2) and consolidated its success (4:2). Both goals were scored thanks to his individual skill, namely a quick dribble and a sharp shot.

As a result, Soviet hockey players won the match with a score of 7:3. When summing up the results of the meeting, the organizers recognized Kharlamov as the best player of the match in the USSR national team. The 2nd game for Kharlamov, like the whole team, failed. In that match, he received a 10-minute misconduct penalty from American referees. Scored one goal in Game 3. At that moment, the USSR national team, with a score of 1:3, was in the minority. Kharlamov, picking up the pass of Boris Mikhailov, completed a quick break. The game ended in a draw - 4:4. In the last game of the "Canadian" part of the super series, Kharlamov limited himself to only one assist. However, he was still useful in the game, which eventually brought a victory with a score of 5:3. In the 1st game of the "Moscow" part of the super series, Kharlamov was very active and participated in one of the abandoned washers, contributing to the final victory with a score of 5: 4. The 2nd game was overshadowed by the unsportsmanlike behavior of Canadian Bobby Clark: in one of the episodes of the game, he struck a chopping blow with a club hook in the area of ​​​​Valery's ankle, just above the upper edge of the boot.

The Canadian himself spoke of this episode as follows: “We walked in parallel courses, and Kharlamov pushed me with a stick, and then turned around and left. I caught up with him and poked him on the leg, not thinking at all where and how I hit him.<…>I am a tough player and I respect toughness in others. But if they touch me with a club, I do the same. At the same time, Clark was not sent off until the end of the game, but received only a penalty of 2 + 10. The bloodless and discouraged team eventually lost 2:3. The 3rd game of the super series went without Kharlamov, and the team again lost with a difference of one goal - 3:4. At the last game of the series, thanks to the efforts of doctors and his own desire to play through “I can’t”, Kharlamov nevertheless came out, in that match he made one assist; the victory both in that game (5:6) and in the series remained with the Canadians.

USSR Super Series - Canada (1974)

Another highlight in Kharlamov's career was the Super Series-74. In 8 games, he scored only 2 goals, but both goals are recognized as masterpieces. On September 17, 1974, in Quebec, during a match between the USSR national team and the WHA professional team, Kharlamov scored a goal that amazed and delighted tens of thousands of fans in the stands. Famous Canadian defender J.-K. Tremblay recalled: “When Stapleton and I rolled back, I was calm: not a single WHA or NHL forward would dare to wedge between us. Without false modesty I will say that it is less dangerous to find yourself between two millstones. However, this Russian attacker rushed straight at us. What happened next? I saw that the forward was going to go around me from the outside, on the left. Pat Stapleton, as it turned out later, noticed the exact opposite: they say, the Russian wants to bypass him on the right and also from the outside. When we parted to catch each "his" Kharlamov, he slipped between us. And to this day I don't understand how he made a fool of us. But one thing I know for sure: there is no other player like him.”

Canadian journalists described the puck as a "gourmet goal". Valery Kharlamov often repeated: "I like to play beautifully."

On October 3, in Moscow, Kharlamov scored the puck, which Anatoly Tarasov described as follows: “He circled the first Canadian with his signature feint - a deceptive nod of his head to the side, which made him rush across, where Valery was not going to move. missed and missed.

And to the third, he showed that he had lost the puck, deliberately releasing it from the hook of the stick, and when the Canadian touched the puck, already tasting the joy of taking it away from Kharlamov himself, Valery ran into him, pushing him with his shoulder, knocked him over on the ice, again took possession of the puck and found himself face to face with goalkeeper Chivers. As if jokingly, even playfully, Kharlamov approached the most experienced Canadian goalkeeper, swung his club and lunged to the left with the clear intention of punching into the corner of the goal to the right of the goalkeeper. His feint was so natural that the goalkeeper began to shift to the right, but Valery played differently - with an elusive movement, he sent the puck on top into the left corner of the goal.

At the same time, as the team doctor Oleg Belakovsky notes in his memoirs, the Canadians in that game played dirty and unsportsmanlike against Kharlamov:

“It would seem that an imperceptible poke with a club, and Kharlamov’s bridge of the nose is broken. I have a hard time stopping his bleeding. A blow to the bridge of the nose is a very painful thing, but now it’s not up to pain, and Valery is again torn on the ice. The Canadians set themselves the task of breaking this stubborn man at any cost. And then, in front of thousands of indignant spectators, something disgusting happens. Rick Lay, a Canadian defender, overtakes Valery and punches him in the face out of the blue. He punches in the nose! Lay's blow serves as a signal, and the real carnage begins. Most of all goes to Kharlamov, Yakushev, Maltsev, Vasiliev, Lutchenko. All of them are seriously injured. I barely have time to bandage, grease, glue. I barely have time because the guys are literally eager to fight. They are torn, despite the danger of new collisions. It was truly a great fight."

After the game, Lay came to the training session of the USSR national team and publicly apologized to Valery.

CSKA games with NHL teams (1975-76)

At the end of 1975, the first games between the USSR and the NHL took place at the club level. The army team had to play 4 games in North America.

Kharlamov in the USA and Canada was greeted as a superstar - only he and Tretiak were given a long standing ovation by the audience during the presentation of hockey players before the start of the games. Kharlamov thanked the audience for their support with beautiful goals. So, in the 1st game of the series against the New York Rangers, with a score of 2: 1 at the very end of the first period, Kharlamov, picking up the puck in his own half of the court, easily passed the opponent’s defenders, who met him at the blue line, and irresistibly shot past goalkeeper.

In the 2nd game of the series against the Montreal Canadiens, at the end of the second period, Kharlamov scored another memorable goal: having received a pass from Petrov, he passed between two defenders, and, not approaching the goalkeeper Dryden, threw it in opposition to the right corner of the goal.

In the games of this super series, rude and sometimes dirty tricks were also used against Kharlamov. So, in a match with Philadelphia, Canadian Ed van Imp hit Kharlamov with a stick in the back in the 12th minute of the first period, after which the Soviet hockey player lay on the ice for a long time. Kharlamov later recalled this moment of the game: “The blow was so strong and unexpected that I crashed onto the ice.<...>My eyes darkened. I think I even lost consciousness for a few seconds. And the first thought - it is necessary to stand up.<...>For a few seconds the muscles did not obey me, but somehow got up.

Immediately after this episode, the leadership of the CSKA team tried to stop the opponent’s rough play and the referee’s strange behavior by leaving the field, but CSKA’s demarche essentially didn’t lead to anything then. Moreover, during this break, the team “burned out” and, returning to the court with a score of 0:0, gave the initiative to the opponent and lost 1:4. At the end of the tour, Kharlamov was the best in the CSKA team in the "goal + pass" system, scoring 4 goals and giving 3 assists.

Second Olympic victory

At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Kharlamov performed in the same trio with Mikhailov and Petrov. Despite the fact that the USSR team confidently beat all rivals, the winner of the Olympics remained unclear until the last game with the Czechoslovaks. The game itself was very tense: the first period was lost with a score of 0: 2, in the second period, with the same score, for two minutes the USSR national team was forced to defend three against five. Having survived and not missing in this difficult period, the Soviet hockey players managed to turn the tide of the meeting. Kharlamov scored the winning goal for the national team: with a score of 3: 3, he outplayed goalkeeper Jiri Golechek.

In total, Valery scored three goals and gave six assists in the tournament. The victory in Innsbruck was the second and last "golden" Olympic success for the hockey player.

In April 1976, Kharlamov achieved another individual success: for the first time he was recognized as the best striker of the World Cup (although he did not even enter the top five scorers). However, the USSR national team unconditionally lost the championship in the tournament to the Czechoslovaks.

Events in personal life

On May 14, 1976, Kharlamov married 19-year-old Irina Smirnova, whom he met a year earlier at the Rossiya restaurant. In January 1976, the young couple had their first child, son Alexander. a little later they also had a daughter, Begonita.

Before his marriage, Kharlamov lived as a bachelor in a one-room apartment in Tushino, and just before the wedding he moved to live with his wife and mother-in-law on Aviamotornaya Street. Later, the young Kharlamovs were given a three-room apartment on Mira Avenue, not far from the Alekseevskaya metro station.

Car accident in 1976

On Wednesday, May 26, 1976, the Kharlamovs had a car accident on the Leningradskoye Highway when they were returning from guests at night. Valery, who was driving, decided to overtake a slowly moving truck (although at the same time another truck was moving in the opposite direction at a short distance). When driving into the oncoming lane, he saw that a taxi was rushing at him from behind an oncoming truck. Turning sharply to the left, he veered off the road and crashed into a pole. The hockey player received a two-malleolar comminuted fracture of the right lower leg, a fracture of two ribs, a concussion and many bruises, his wife Irina was not injured. Some doctors recommended that he end his sports career, but Valery was going to continue playing after recovery. The recovery of the hockey player was helped by the surgeon Andrei Petrovich Seltsovsky, who operated on Kharlamov and monitored his health at the Main Military Hospital in Moscow.

Two months later, in August, he took his first independent steps around the ward. Later, a special room was equipped for him in the ward, where he had weights and where he could do athletic exercises.

Return to the ice

In the fall, Kharlamov, on the advice of Tarasov, began to train with the boys at the rink. Gradually taking shape (he managed to do it pretty quickly), he took part in classes with CSKA players. CSKA coaches, feeling that Kharlamov should be let out on the court, began to think about which team to do it in the game against.

The choice fell on "Wings of the Soviets", where at that time a lot of former players CSKA, and the coach was Boris Kulagin. Before the game, with the permission of Kulagin, Oleg Belakovsky, the doctor of CSKA and the USSR national team, spoke to the players of the Wings. He said that Kharlamov would go on the ice in the match against them, and asked the hockey players not to use force against him. The Wings players were sympathetic to this request and acted extremely correctly against Kharlamov. On November 16, 1976, Kharlamov entered the match against Wings of the Soviets.

Those who came to the sports palace in Luzhniki, having heard that Valery had come to the game, gave the hockey player a long standing ovation. Teammates - Mikhailov and Petrov - tried to do everything possible so that Kharlamov scored the puck in this game. And already in the 4th minute of the game, Kharlamov scored a goal, which was met with a standing ovation from the stands and even applause from the Wings players. Nevertheless, Kharlamov spent only two periods on the ice, in the third he was replaced by Vyacheslav Anisin. The game eventually ended with the victory of CSKA 7:3.

Kharlamov recalled his return as follows: “I played then in a fog. And not because he was weak. Functionally, I have already restored the form. I just saw that the guys protect me - both partners and opponents. And it really touched me. So I need. So they appreciate it. It feels like I'm about to burst into tears. Barely coped with the nerves ... ".

Continuing a successful career

Kharlamov returned to the USSR national team in December 1976 at the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper and scored a hat-trick in the very first match against the Swedes. And although he didn’t score again at the tournament, he became the best in the “goal + pass” system (3 + 3, 6 points) together with Boris Mikhailov. In 1977, together with the national team, he played at the World Championships in Vienna.

Having strongly spent the first stage of the tournament, the team failed the second part and eventually lost one point to the Czechoslovaks in the standings, and missed the Swedes in 2nd place (according to the results of personal meetings). Despite the overall unsuccessful performance, Petrov's trio was the best in the championship in goals scored and points scored. In the summer of 1977, Viktor Tikhonov, invited from Riga, headed CSKA and the USSR national team. After analyzing recent failures in the international arena, new coach came to the conclusion that the hockey players of the base club of the national team are in low functional and psychological readiness, the reason for which is the spoiledness of the leading hockey players and their satiety with numerous victories.

Tikhonov began with the introduction of two-time training sessions and additional exercises, and in terms of the game plan, he began to master the transition to four-link games with the team. Valery Kharlamov described Tikhonov's first days in the team as follows: “Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov did not remind us of our former coaches. But with them we won, became champions. So why should we now train, prepare for the season differently? When in July Tikhonov told us that during one workout, or rather, at the end of it, we would run ten times 400 meters, each time keeping within 70 seconds, we took it as a bad joke. And now we run through, and nothing, we are alive. We forced ourselves and, as a result, overcame our own inertia, our own skepticism, distrust of the coach’s ideas.”

However, the new coach could not help but trust the leading hockey players of CSKA, and therefore relied on them for the first years. The trio Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov under Tikhonov achieved new successes: two more world championships were won in 1978 and 1979, where Valery Kharlamov was also among the best. In addition, in early 1979, Soviet hockey players won the 1979 Challenge Cup in the USA. Kharlamov managed to play only in the first game of the series, and missed the next two due to injury.

In October 1979, in the match of the USSR championship against Spartak, Petrov's troika (Mikhailov distinguished himself) scored his thousandth goal in the USSR championships in the major leagues.

However, the most main tournament four years - the 1980 Olympic tournament - the USSR team held uncertainly. In one of the decisive matches, the hockey players lost to the US student team 3:4, and lost their chances of winning gold. After the Olympics, the Mikhailov-Petrov-Kharlamov troika was accused of a weak game and offers to end their careers as soon as possible.

In the 1980/81 season, the trio was disbanded. In December 1980, Boris Mikhailov was forced to end his career, and Kharlamov and Petrov continued to play, but at the same time they were periodically transferred to different levels (Petrov ended his career after the 1981 World Cup). In the second half of 1980 and the first half of 1981, Kharlamov did a lot to develop the skills of the young Sergey Makarov, Vladimir Krutov, Andrey Khomutov. Some visiting hockey players lived at his house for some time - for example, Alexei Kasatonov.

Before the start of the 1981/82 season, Kharlamov told his friends that this season would be his last, after which he would become a children's coach. In the summer of 1981, he was intensively preparing for the new season and gaining good shape: as part of CSKA, he became the champion of the USSR for the 11th time and won the European Champions Cup. At this tournament, he was named the best striker, gaining 11 points (2 + 9) in three meetings. In addition, having spent four exhibition games in Scandinavia in August 1981, Kharlamov hoped that he would be included in the 1981 Canada Cup team, but Tikhonov decided otherwise. The head coach of the national team explained the decision by the fact that he had a conversation with a hockey player, where Kharlamov agreed that he did not have sufficient physical condition to play in Canada. As a result, Valery remained in a depressed state of mind in Moscow, and a few days later he died in a car accident.

Doom

Razzakov's book "Star Tragedies" says that the day before the accident, the asphalt was changed on this site. Where the new coating ended, a peculiar protrusion 5 cm high formed, which caused the tragedy. Kharlamov's wife was an inexperienced driver and, having run into a bump, lost control. Also, an additional factor that caused the death of people was the fact that the truck was packed to capacity with spare parts. On the evening of August 27, world news agencies spread the news: “According to TASS, the famous hockey player Valery Kharlamov, thirty-three years old, and his wife died in a car accident near Moscow this morning. They left two small children - a son and a daughter ... ". On August 31, a memorial service was held at the CSKA Weightlifting Palace. On the same day, the dead were buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the hockey player.

The players of the USSR national team, who at that moment were in Winnipeg, could not attend the funeral. They held a meeting at which it was decided by all means to win the Canada Cup. The Soviet hockey players fulfilled their promise by beating the Canadians 8:1 in the final.

The Kharlamov family: life after the death of Valery and Irina 5 years after the tragedy, Kharlamov's mother passed away. After the accident, the children of Valery and Irina lived with their grandmother Nina Vasilievna Smirnova. Little Alexander was taken under the patronage of CSKA players Kasatonov, Krutov and Fetisov, who replaced his father. Having matured, Alexander became a hockey player, played in CSKA and the USA in the lower leagues. In 1997 he got married and is raising his son Valery. Works in hockey club CSKA, continuing the work of his father. Daughter Begonita was engaged in rhythmic gymnastics, became a master of sports. She is currently married and has two daughters, Daria and Anna. Father Boris Sergeevich died on January 27, 2010, after lying for several days in the Botkin hospital and undergoing a stomach operation. In recent years, he lived with his daughter Tatyana.

Achievements

• Member of the IIHF Hall of Fame (1998).
• Member of the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame (2005).
• Olympic champion (1972, 1976).
• World champion (1969-1971, 1973-1975, 1978-1979).
• World Cup best striker (1976).
• Entered the symbolic team of the World Cup (1972, 1973, 1975, 1976).
• Challenge Cup Winner (1979).
• Named to the IIHF Team of the Century.
• Champion of the USSR (1968, 1970-1973, 1975, 1977-1981).
• Five-time winner of the USSR Cup.
• The best hockey player of the USSR (1972, 1973).
• The best scorer of the USSR championship (1971).
• The best in the system "goal + pass"(1972).
• Third scorer in the history of the world hockey championships, second only to Mikhailov and Maltsev: 155 points (74+81) in 105 matches(at the same time, Kharlamov was never the top scorer of a separate world championship).
• Winner of the hockey prize "Three Scorers" in 1970/1971, 1974/1975, 1977/1978 (Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov), 1971/1972 (Vikulov - Firsov - Kharlamov), 1979/1980 (Mikhailov - Kharlamov - Krutov).
• R Champion of the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper in terms of the number of goals scored (40).
• Cavalier of two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1975, 1978).
• Cavalier of the Order of the Badge of Honor (1972).
• Awarded with the medal "For labor valor" (1969).

January 14, 1948. His parents worked at the Moscow Kommunar plant: father Boris Kharlamov is a test fitter, mother Aribe Abbad Hermane (Begonita) is a Spanish refugee.
Already at the age of seven, little Valery learned to skate, and in 1962 he was enrolled in the hockey section. Among all the available players, the coaches saw a talented hockey player in Kharlamov and immediately offered to move to the adult CSKA team, but the then coach Anatoly Tarasov did not take him, citing his small stature. Only after Kharlamov proved himself at the USSR junior championship in Minsk in the spring of 1967, upon returning to Moscow, he was enrolled in CSKA.
In 1968, Kharlamov managed to break into the main team of CSKA, where he formed a troika with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov. In December 1968, to participate in the international Moscow tournament (later named for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper), Kharlamov was invited to the second USSR team. After the end of the tournament, their trio Kharlamov-Petrov-Mikhailov was invited to the main team for two exhibition games with Canada. Starting with these games, their trio became famous all over the world.
In 1969, Kharlamov participated in the World Championships as part of the USSR national team. At this tournament, the team became the gold medalist, and Kharlamov became the Honored Master of Sports. In the 1970/71 season of the USSR championship, he was the best in terms of the number of goals, where he scored 40 goals. In 1971, in the final of the World Cup, Kharlamov scored the decisive goal against the Swedish national team, and at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo he was recognized as the best goal scorer of the tournament. At that time, the USSR national team became Olympic champion.
Kharlamov received universal worldwide recognition after a series of games between the USSR and Canada in 1972, where he became one of the main players. In 1975, games between the NHL and the USSR took place at the club level. Four games were planned for the CSKA team, and Kharlamov was already a superstar by that time. In this tour, Kharlamov was recognized as the best in the CSKA team, where he scored four goals and three assists.
At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck in February 1976, Kharlamov scored the decisive goal in a match with Czechoslovakia. In the same year, in April, at the World Championships, he became the best striker. On May 14, 1976, the wedding of Valery Kharlamov took place, he married Irina Smirnova, who was 19 years old. Before that, they had a son, Alexander, and later a daughter, Begonita, was born. Almost two weeks after the wedding on the Leningrad highway, Valery and Irina had a car accident. The hockey player had a fracture of the right shin, a concussion, a fracture of two ribs and many other bruises. Doctors forbade him to play sports, but by the autumn he resumed training. Already in November of the same year, he played in a match with Wings of the Soviets, where one of the goals was on his account.

In December 1976, he participated in the tournament for the prize of the Izvestia newspaper and, in the very first match with the Swedish national team, scored three goals. In 1978 and 1979 Kharlamov also played at the World Championships under the leadership of Vyacheslav Tikhonov, where he helped the team become a gold medalist. After an unsuccessful performance at the 1980 Olympics, the trio Kharlamov - Petrov - Mikhailov was accused of a weak game, and even offered them to end their careers. Due to injury, he missed about half of the 1980/81 season, which turned out to be his last. His last puck was thrown into the gates of the Moscow Dynamo on May 14, 1981.
Valery's life ended tragically, on August 27, 1981, together with his wife, he got into a car accident. The players of the USSR national team could not attend his funeral, as they were at the Canada Cup tournament. But between themselves they decided to win the tournament. And won the Canadians in the final with a score of 8:1.After the tragic death of the Kharlamovs, Nina Vasilievna Smirnova, Irina's mother, took up the upbringing of their children. Soon, having matured, son Alexander followed in his father's footsteps and became a hockey player. But he did not become as famous as his father, periodically changing clubs, either in the North American leagues or in the Russian ones. He also worked as a coach for a while, and then went into business. Begonita became a master of sports in rhythmic gymnastics.
For all 15 years of his career as a hockey player, Valery Kharlamov played 438 matches for CSKA, scoring 238 goals. He played 123 matches for the USSR national team at the Olympics and World Championships. During his career, he repeatedly became the champion of the USSR, five-time winner of the Cup of the country, twice was the gold medalist of the Olympic Games, and eight times the world champion. At the 1971 USSR Championship, he was recognized as the top scorer. He also became the best goalscorer at the 1972 Olympics. He was awarded the title of the best hockey player in 1972 and 1973. In 1976 he was recognized as the best striker in the world.
Kharlamov was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and the medal "For Labor Valour". Kharlamov is assigned the number 17 in recognition of his services to the club. In Toronto, in the hockey hall of fame, his name is immortalized.One of the championships of the Continental Hockey League is named after Valery Kharlamov. Also in the Youth Hockey League, the main trophy is named after him. For the first time, the Kharlamov Cup, which was made by the sculptor Frank Meisler, among youth teams, was awarded to the Russian champion in 2010, the team from Magnitogorsk - "Steel Scales".
On May 18, 2008, Kharlamov was included in the symbolic six hockey players by the International Ice Hockey Federation during the centenary existence of the federation itself. On April 29, 2009, a bust was unveiled to Valery Kharlamov on the Walk of Fame of CSKA. On October 30, 2009, the Central Bank of Russia issued a silver coin with a face value of 2 rubles with a portrait of Kharlamov, which is dedicated to the Outstanding Athletes of Russia series. Commemorative rings on September 14, 2012 were awarded to the participants of the famous first Super Series of the USSR - Canada in 1972. The relatives of Valery Kharlamov were also given his ring.

August 27, 1981 did not become famous Soviet hockey player Valery Kharlamov. Despite the fact that many years have passed since his death, there are still several versions of why the star of Soviet hockey actually went down.

In 1981, Kharlamov announced that he was ending his sports career, and the only goal he had left was to win the first Canada Cup. The tournament was to be held in Winnipeg at the end of August. But at the last training session, the team coach Tikhonov said that Kharlamov was not going to Canada. This news was for Valery like a bolt from the blue. As his teammates recall, Kharlamov tried his best, trained beyond the norm. After talking with the coach, Kharlamov wished victory to the guys on the team, shook hands with everyone and left. As it turned out later, Tikhonov punished Kharlamov for some of the past violations of the regime. According to some hockey players, if Tikhonov had not acted this way towards Valery, he would not have gone to the dacha, and would have remained alive. Tikhonov insisted that he did not take Kharlamov to the national team due to poor functional training. [С-BLOCK]

On August 26, Kharlamov met his wife and son from the airport and took them to their dacha in the village of Pokrovka near Klin, where their four-year-old daughter and mother-in-law were waiting for them. Kharlamov did not sleep all night, as he was very worried about the fact that he was not taken to the national team. In the morning it was necessary to go to Moscow, so Kharlamov's wife, Irina, worrying about his physical and moral condition, offered to drive.

The tragedy happened on the Leningrad highway (74 km). The road surface that day was wet due to rain, and this, according to one version, was the cause of the tragedy. [C-BLOCK] Irina just couldn't handle the controls. In addition, she learned to drive in another car - Moskvich, and her driving experience was not great. Their Volga drove into the oncoming lane and crashed into a truck. Everything happened very quickly, and the truck driver did not have time to react in time, and the fact that he was also loaded did not allow the driver to quickly maneuver and move into a ditch. [С-BLOCK]

Sergei (Irina's cousin) and Valery died instantly from their injuries, and Irina flew out onto the road through the windshield and died a few minutes after her husband and brother. The arriving police officers found out deceased Valery Kharlamov. The news of the tragedy spread throughout Moscow in just a few hours. [С-BLOCK]

The cause of the accident could also be the recently laid asphalt, on which a small oil film remains for some time. Combined with the rain, the asphalt became slippery and driving was difficult. At the time of the accident, the car's speedometer was jammed at 110 km, but the official record says 60 km. Kharlamov's friends also agree with this figure, because Irina was an inexperienced driver and did not drive fast. [С-BLOCK]

By coincidence, the asphalt was being changed near the accident site, and one of the Volga wheels ended up on the new protruding asphalt, and the second on the old surface, which was 7 cm lower than the new surface, due to which a skid occurred and the car drove onto the lane oncoming traffic.[FROM-BLOCK]

10 facts from the life of an outstanding athlete

On August 27, 1981, the life of the legendary Soviet hockey player, who passed away at the age of Christ - at the age of 33, tragically ended.

Spanish blood

Valery Kharlamov - a native Muscovite, was born on the night of girlish fortune-telling - on the Old New Year, from January 13 to 14, 1948. He was born by a Spaniard named Begonita (full name - Aribe Abbad Hermane). In 1936, as a twelve-year-old girl, she arrived in Moscow among the refugees from the Spanish civil war engulfed. After graduating from school, she got a job at the Kommunar plant, where she met her husband Boris Sergeevich. The father of the future hockey star and sister Valery Tatyana worked at the same enterprise as a test fitter. Ironically, the firstborn was born in the car: the mother's contractions began on the way to the hospital. And Valery, the parents named their son in honor of the pilot Chkalov. They saw him as a future hero, despite the fact that the boy was born weak and underweight.

Optical illusion

Kharlamov mastered skates at the age of seven. Since childhood, I wanted to become as popular as Ivan Tregubov and Vsevolod Bobrov. But his health failed: at the age of 13 he had a complicated sore throat, after which the doctors stated a heart defect. Physical activity was forbidden: Kharlamov could not even attend school physical education classes. He was not allowed to run, jump, or swim. Even the briefcase could not be carried without assistance. The mother resigned herself to the doctors' verdict: it would be better if he did not become a hockey player than die. And the father acted in his own way and enrolled his son in the hockey section at the first opportunity - in 1962 a summer skating rink was opened on Leningradsky Prospekt. They took younger boys there, starting in 1949, but the skinny Valery looked their age and deceived the eyesight of the second CSKA coach. The most interesting thing is that the “overgrown” Kharlamov was enrolled in the section as the only one out of dozens of candidates.

Small spool but precious

Very quickly, Kharlamov won the heart of mentor Boris Kulagin, becoming one of the best players in the children's and youth sports school CSKA. Only the head coach Anatoly Tarasov for some time treated the hockey talent with distrust. He bet on strong guys, focusing on their future powerful rivals. “Canadian hockey players are giants compared to ours,” the head coach explained, “how can we defeat them with dwarf attackers?” As a result, undersized Kharlamov was sent to the second league in 1966 - to the Chebarkul Zvezda, the army team of the Sverdlovsk Military District. But a miracle happened there: in one season, first-class Kharlamov scored 34 goals at the opponents' goal! Major Vladimir Alfer (coach of Zvezda) reported the sensational hockey player to Moscow. They didn't believe it. And when Kulagin saw with his own eyes in 1967 a young talent in the game, he immediately called him to a training camp in CSKA.

Beautiful game

“You need to play beautifully,” said Kharlamov. And he was good at it. The spectators enjoyed his game as an art, and the athletes enthusiastically studied the unpredictable ice maneuvers for succession. In 1967-68, the famous army trio Kharlamov - Petrov - Mikhailov was born. The CSKA team won the USSR championship, and together with it Valery Kharlamov became the champion. And in 1969 he became the world champion - at the age of 20! It was a record in Soviet hockey.

The tricks of the "baby"

In the fall of 1972, Valery Kharlamov conquered the "hockey Mecca" - North America. He entered the ice of the Montreal Forum in a series of matches between the national teams of the USSR and Canada as the best hockey player of the Old World: by that time, Kharlamov had already gained fame as the most talented player not only in the Soviet Union, but also in European hockey. Only the Canadians did not recognize the strength of the opponent - both the players and the fans did not allow the thought that someone could surpass their best team in the world. But the very first meeting with the Soviet team on September 2, 1972 ended in defeat for the Maple Leaves. The score 7:3 shocked the Canadians.

And Valery Kharlamov scored two goals in that match. Tall Canadians called the opponent "baby" and were very embarrassed when the "kid" beat the mighty NHL professionals. In the end, the Canadian coach offered Kharlamov a million dollar contract: if the enemy does not give up, you need to make him a friend. But the Soviet athlete laughed it off: he doesn’t play hockey without Mikhailov and Petrov. The Canadians did not back down: "Let's take all three!". They will take it, they will take it, but who will give it to them! In the NHL, our stars were not released. Nevertheless, Valery Kharlamov is one of the few European hockey players whose photo hangs in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Before him, only Vladislav Tretyak and Vyacheslav Fetisov received such an honor.

Can be touched

In 1975, Valery Kharlamov met his future wife, 19-year-old Irina Smirnova. It was in a restaurant. Irina celebrated her friend's birthday, and the hockey players rested at the next table. When Valery invited the girl she liked to dance, she thought that he was a taxi driver. A leather jacket and a cap - almost the uniform of taxi drivers of that time. And when the boyfriend offered to drive the beauty home on a brand new Volga, the girl strengthened her thoughts - mere mortals did not have a personal Volga. The fact that her new acquaintance is a hockey star, Irina learned from friends. And in early 1976, she gave birth to a son, Alexander, a hockey player. On March 8, Valery's parents saw their daughter-in-law for the first time, and the mother-in-law saw their son-in-law. Valery came to Irina's mother with a pram. “Is this the same Kharlamov? - exclaimed the mother-in-law. - You can touch it, but you can’t believe it? “I thought you would throw me off the eighth floor,” Valery smiled.

Bad sign

In the same spring, Irina and Valery signed. But soon the joyful event was overshadowed by an incident that almost became a tragedy. The night trip ended in an accident. Valery lost control and smashed his Volga to smithereens. People were also injured: the driver and passengers were seriously injured. Valery spent two months in a hospital bed with broken ribs and legs, while Irina received fractures and a head injury. But if the woman did not need to think about going out on the ice, then for Kharlamov the question was very serious: the doctors did not guarantee that he would ever be able to return to hockey.

Pride of the country

But Kharlamov again acted contrary to forecasts: in the fall of 1976, the hockey player again went on the ice and showed the previous class of play, dispelling the doubts of skeptics. After the game with Wings of the Soviets, the head coach of CSKA said that Valery Kharlamov is the pride of the country.

By this time, the famous hockey player was already a two-time Olympic champion, a six-time world champion and a six-time USSR champion. And he was, perhaps, the only hockey player in the Soviet Union, who was loved by absolutely all the fans, without the slightest exception.

Bar keys

In the same year, Viktor Tikhonov became the head coach of CSKA. He was unpleasantly puzzled by the lack of discipline in the army club.

The main violators of the sports regime were Alexander Gusev, Boris Alexandrov, Vladimir Petrov. Valery Kharlamov did not go to the "saints", but the glass did not interfere with his fight with an opponent. Somehow, hockey players drank at the wrong time on the eve of a crucial match and lost to the Czechs with a score of 2:0. Angry at the whole world, Viktor Tikhonov nervously muttered: “Some enemies, I withdraw from the game!”. Hockey players defended Kharlamov and Vasiliev, asking the coach to give them the opportunity to rehabilitate. When our team won, these two were called the heroes of the match: Vasiliev scored an assist, and Kharlamov scored two goals. Tikhonov allowed: “Maybe they should be allowed to drink as an exception?” But a more radical proposal came from the Minister of Sports Pavlov. “Guys,” he turned to the guilty, “if you want a drink, here are the keys to my dacha, go and drink, if only not at the training camp, otherwise others will want to.”

Death on the track

In 1981, the seven-time world champion, eleven-time champion of the USSR and the winner of the European Champions Cup announced the end of his sports career. Valery Kharlamov was going to win the Canada Cup and say goodbye to the fans with dignity. But Viktor Tikhonov did not take him to Winnipeg, recalling the violation of the regime. For Kharlamov, who remained in Moscow, the coaching decision turned out to be fatal. Early in the morning of August 27, Valery was returning from his dacha with his wife Irina and her brother Sergei. Two children - 5-year-old Sasha and 4-year-old Begonita named after their grandmother, fortunately, were left with their mother-in-law in the country (the son and daughter also became athletes: Alexander, like his father, a hockey player, played for a long time under his father's number 17 in CSKA, then he went to play in America, he named his son Valery in honor of his grandfather; and Begonita is a master of sports in rhythmic gymnastics). At the 74th kilometer of the Leningradskoye Highway, Irina, who was driving the car, did not keep the Volga on a wet track. The car swerved into the oncoming lane and collided with a truck. The men died immediately, Irina - a few minutes later. Having learned about the incident, the Soviet team dedicated the victory at the Canada Cup to the deceased comrade. At the place of his death there is a sign - a marble puck weighing half a ton with a memorial inscription: “Here the star of Russian hockey went out. Valery Kharlamov".

Vyacheslav Kaprelyants, 2017

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