On May 5, the legendary hockey player, three-time Olympic champion, 10-time world champion, 9-time European and USSR champion, defender of Central Sports Club of the Army and the USSR national team Alexander Pavlovich Ragulin would have turned 81 years old.
One and a half months before the start of the Great Patriotic War, on May 5, 1941, three twin brothers were born in Moscow - Alexander, Anatoly and Mikhail Ragulin. Having not yet learned to walk, they made their first, and long, departure from the capital: together with their mother Sofya Viktorovna, they went on an evacuation - first to Kemerovo, then to Alma-Ata.
In the future, they had enough to shake. All three became hockey players, although they were more likely to have an artistic career. After all, they studied at a music school: Sasha in the double bass class, Tolya - piano, Misha - cello. They also had success in painting. But the athletic inclinations of the twins showed up even then, and they played for the school team in various disciplines. And then they began to play for the team of the Kauchuk plant, and in different roles: Anatoly as a goalkeeper, Alexander as a defender, Mikhail as an attacker.
“And we started with my brothers at school. Thanks to the athlete. He is Armenian or Armenian Greek by nationality. In hockey, of course, I understood little. But he managed to organize us into a school team. From there they got into the team of the Kauchuk plant. Epstein spotted us there. This was his phenomenon. He had a flair, he could see future stars in ordinary boys, ”said Alexander Pavlovich.
Epstein broke up with the most talented of the three brothers when he was 20 years old. Rumor has it that when parting, he did not hide his tears, because, like the army mentor Anatoly Tarasov, he could no longer help but see that a defender of a huge caliber with a gift from God had grown up in the Soviet Union. It is worth noting that all three twin brothers were noted for performances in Central Sports Club of the Army. Of course, Alexander Pavlovich achieved the greatest success, but one cannot but mention the goalkeeper Anatoly Ragulin, the champion of the USSR in the army team, and later the honored coach of the USSR, as well as the striker Mikhail Ragulin.
Alexander Ragulin was a tough, bulky defender, but by no means could he be called a rude man. Even Palych treated the notorious hockey hooligans like a father, he could easily hug the enemy after a forceful reception, exchange a couple of harmless phrases with him. But he did not tolerate dirt and meanness, he punished for unworthy things so that the bones of the offenders crunched.
Ragulin was 30 years old in 1972, our illustrious defender approached the great Super Series-72 already at the end of his brilliant career. But with all the bright moments of that series, everyone remembers the confrontation between Alexander Ragulin and Phil Esposito.
“Normal working time. Faced. I elbowed him in the nose. And he hit me under the eye with the end of the stick. Not on purpose. Pleasant, of course, not enough. They stood, flashed their eyes at each other and parted. True, he was given five minutes for the fact that I had a cut, the scar is still visible. There were many such moments during the Super Series 72. Why take offense at everyone? The Swede Tumba Johansson somehow knocked out my teeth. But I have no complaints. He just started to raise the club, well, he hit me in the jaw. Matter of chance. I myself broke my opponents' legs and collarbones. But this is all unintentional. An industrial injury, no more, ”said Alexander Pavlovich.
After 26 years, at the World Championships in Zurich, Esposito and Ragulin met again. Now no longer as ice heroes, time has managed to create new favorites. But the greatness of these blocks were not able to shake even the years. "Hello, Alex," Phil called out to his old rival. “Hello,” Alexander Pavlovich politely answers, but he himself cannot understand who he greeted a second ago! Kind people immediately reminded Ragulin that Esposito himself was in front of him, and Alexander Pavlovich hurried to correct the awkward situation. "Listen, Phil, and who's to blame that I didn't recognize you?" - "And who?" Esposito asked. “Someone, of course, you,” Palych explained. “You knocked out my eye then, remember, no?” – “But how! Esposito replied. But look at my nose. And who do you think did it?" Alexander Pavlovich has a sense of humor, and the fact that Ragulin was respected not only by partners, but also by sworn rivals is not a secret at all. The same Canadians, out of respect for the game of the famous defender, gave him the nickname "Big Rag".
At the World Championships and the Olympic Games, rivals have always turned their attention to the overall defender, who is not inferior in any collision, who did not want to give up a single centimeter of ice space. He surprised us not only with his physique, but also with the brilliant organization of the game. San Palych, as his teammates called him, despite his young age, lined up the actions of the whole team with precision. Ragulin's imperturbability became a byword. If other legends of Russian hockey were famous for their charisma and artistry, then Ragulin instilled confidence and calmness in partners.
“Ragulin could not be called a defender of either an attacking or defensive plan. In those days, our hockey school did not imply any specialization. It was later that it came to us from across the ocean. And then each of us, the defenders of the USSR national team, was the best both in defense and in attack. And Ragulin was the best of the best, ”Vitaly Davydov spoke about his partner in the defensive line of the USSR national team.
Among all the awards of one of the most titled people in the history of hockey, his last Olympics, Sapporo-72, should be singled out in a separate line. It was at these Games that Ragulin (together with Vitaly Davydov, Viktor Kuzkin and Anatoly Firsov) received his third Olympic gold. Subsequently, no one managed to beat this record, although Vladislav Tretyak and Andrey Khomutov were added to the list of three-time champions. No one has surpassed Ragulin in victories at the world championships, where he holds the lead along with the current president of the FHR, Vladislav Tretiak.
In 1997, in Helsinki, Alexander Ragulin was inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2004 - in the National Hockey Hall of Fame. At the end of his career, the famous defender managed to work as a coach at the Youth Sports School of CSKA, and later - at Novosibirsk SKA. Alexander Pavlovich was also actively involved in the veteran movement.
The great hockey player died on the night of November 18, 2004 at the Burdenko Hospital and was buried in Moscow at the Vagankovsky cemetery. For many years, the city of Sudogda, Vladimir Region, has hosted an annual tournament named after Alexander Ragulin, and since 2004, in memory of the famous hockey player.
“Everyone knew Ragulin as a great defender, thanks to his efforts our hockey became the best in the world in those years. But I would like to say something else, because I often talked with him in everyday life. I knew Sasha as a good-natured, absolutely conflict-free person, a real Russian hero who was always ready to help. He is the embodiment of all the best that is in a Russian person", it’s probably impossible to speak better than Evgeny Zimin.
We remember you, Alexander Pavlovich.
