Valeri Kharlamov
Valeri Kharlamov was born in Moscow, Russia on January 14th, 1948 and is the Hockey Player. At the age of 33, Valeri Kharlamov biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 33 years old, Valeri Kharlamov has this physical status:
Valeri Borisovich Kharlamov (14 January 1948 – 27 August 1981) was an ice hockey forward who played for CSKA Moscow in the Soviet League from 1967 until his death in 1981.
Although small in stature, Kharlamov was speedy, intelligent and skilled and a dominant player, being named the Soviet Championship League most valuable player in 1972 and 1973.
An offensive player, who was considered very creative and intelligent on the ice, he also led the league in scoring in 1972.
He was also a gifted skater who was able to make plays at top speed.
Kharlamov was considered one of the best players of his era, as well as one of the greatest players of all time. In international play, Kharlamov represented the Soviet Union at 11 World Championships, winning 8 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.
He participated in three Olympics, 1972, 1976 and 1980, finishing with two gold medals and a silver, and participated in the 1972 Summit Series against Canada.
He spent most of his career playing on a line with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov, and this trio is considered one of the best in the history of hockey. Kharlamov was killed in a car accident in 1981.
After his death, Kharlamov was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame and was selected as one of the forwards on the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team.
The Kharlamov Trophy is presented annually to the best Russian hockey player in the NHL, as chosen by his peers.
The Kharlamov Cup is presented to the champion of the Minor Hockey League playoffs, and the Kontinental Hockey League named one of their four divisions after him.
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. Begoñita, who was born Carmen Orive Abad, was Basque and originally from Bilbao, Spain, but moved to the Soviet Union in 1937 as a child refugee from the Spanish Civil War (see Niños de Rusia). 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.
Personal life
Kharlamov and Irina had two children, a son, Alexander, commonly known as "Sasha" and a daughter, Begonita. 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 where he made a significant contribution to the Hampton Roads Admirals winning the Kelly Cup, and back in Russia before retiring in 2004. Alexander's son is named Valeri, after his grandfather, although his sport of choice is football, rather than hockey. After his death, Kharlamov was buried in the Kuntsevo Cemetery in the Kuntsevo District of Moscow.
Playing career
When he was 12, Kharlamov successfully tried-out for CSKA Moscow and joined their sports academy. He was with the senior team from 1967-1968, and made his CSKA debut against HC Sibir on October 22, 1967. However, Anatoli Tarasov, the team's head coach, felt Kharlamov was not strong enough for the team, so after 15 games with CSKA, Kharlamov was moved to Zvezda Chebarkul, who competed in the third division, he joined Zvezda Chebarkul, who competed in the third division. With 34 goals in 32 games, he will lead the team in scoring.
Kharlamov was welcomed back to CSKA full time in the following season. He scored 37 goals, 12 assists, and finished third in the league in scoring with 49 points in 42 games; it was during a match in October 1968 that the three of them first met together for the next four years, both with CSKA and internationally, forming one of the most popular lines in hockey history. In the off-season, he and his colleagues Petrov and Mikhailov were given the title of Merited Master of Sport in recognition of winning an international tournament (which would then be called the Izvestia Cup). Kharlamov scored 33 goals in 1969–70 and finished fifth overall in points with 43 points, with 43, as CSKA lifted the league championship. For the first time in 1970-71, he led the league in scoring with 40 goals and finished second overall in scoring with 52 points, while the CSKA finished as champions.
Although Kharlamov never played in North America, the Calgary Broncos of the World Hockey Association drafted him, as did Soviet teammates Petrov and Alexander Maltsev in early 1972.