Valeri Kharlamov

Kharlamov was born in Moscow to Boris and Begonita Kharlamov. Boris was a mechanic at a factory, Kommunar, while Begonita worked with Aeroflot.[1] 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.[2] 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.[2] Due to his mother's heritage, Kharlamov would be nicknamed "The Spaniard" throughout his career.[3]

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.[4] 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.[4][5]

Roadside memorial to Valeri Kharlamov, near the site of his fatal accident.

Kharlamov was still active with CSKA when he was killed in a car accident on 27 August 1981.[17] 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.[21] Coach Viktor Tikhonov said that Kharlamov was left off the team over concerns about his conditioning.[3] 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.[2] 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.[3] Irina's cousin was also killed.[2] 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.[3] 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."[17]

Monument to Valeri Kharlamov in Moscow

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.[3] 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.[3] When he found himself playing for Tikhonov with the CSKA 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."[3] The #17 is not worn by any member of the Russian national team at senior international competitions.[22] Ilya Kovalchuk usually wears #17 in honor of Kharlamov, his father's favorite player.[23]

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.[24] 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.[25] One of the divisions in the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League is named in his honor as well.[26] In 2013, director Nikolay Lebedev released the biopic "Legend No 17", with Danila Kozlovsky portraying Kharlamov for most of the film.[22] "Legend No 17" was nominated for 11 Golden Eagle Awards in 2013, and captured 6 of them, including Best Screenplay.[27] The movie has been described as a personal favorite of Vladimir Putin.[28]

Kharlamov was posthumously inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 1998.[14] 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.[29] To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the IIHF in 2008, a panel of experts named Kharlamov to the Centennial All-Star Team, along with three other Soviet stars, Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Makarov.[30] 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."[17] 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."[10] In 2014, Kharlamov was part of the inaugural class inducted into the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame.[31]

Small in stature (he was measured as 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) and 70 kilograms (150 lb) during the Summit Series) Kharlamov was a gifted offensive player.[32] 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."[33] 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.[17] He was very popular with his fans and teammates.[17]

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.[3] After their parents' death, the children went to live with their maternal grandmother in Moscow.[3][17] Alexander was only 5 years old when his father died, and does not remember him well, although he has seen recordings of his games.[17] 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.[17] After his death, Kharlamov was buried in the Kuntsevo Cemetery in the Kuntsevo District of Moscow.[34]

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• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database