On August 27, 1981, national hockey player Valery Kharlamov tragically passed away. He was only 33. He was going to play one more season, and then finish his career beautifully.
The tragedy happened in the morning on the 74th kilometer of the Leningradskoe highway. “Volga” with number 00-17, driven by the wife of the famous hockey player Irina, flew into the oncoming lane and crashed into a loaded truck. All three passengers, including the wife's cousin Sergei, were killed. Kharlamov's heart broke off from the blow, he did not receive mechanical damage.
Legend No. 17 was in a hurry to train CSKA and himself got behind the wheel of the Volga, which was leaving his mother-in-law's dacha. Why did he transfer control to Irina? We will no longer know the exact answer.
The day before, the USSR national team flew to the homeland of hockey to participate in the second Canada Cup. Without Valery, who was not included in the lineup. His mood was at zero. He hardly slept at night, he was very worried. Kharlamov dreamed of playing in the Canada Cup, because he missed the first super tournament in 1976, recovering from severe injuries sustained in a car accident in May of the same year. An experimental team headed by the coach of Riga “Dynamo” Viktor Tikhonov went to Canada without five leading forwards and defender Gennady Tsygankov. She performed averagely, did not make it to the final, losing to Czechoslovakia (3: 5) and Canada (1: 3), as well as drawing with Sweden (3: 3).
... The USSR national team learned about the tragedy in Winnipeg on TV. In Canada, they played the whole day with the striker's best goals. Team captain Valery Vasiliev and Alexander Maltsev, whom Kharlamov witnessed at the wedding, asked Tikhonov to go to Moscow for the funeral, at their expense. But at the time it was unrealistic. Then our guys vowed to play in the Canada Cup for Kharlamov.
Why didn't Tikhonov take him to the super tournament? There are several versions. Boris Mikhailov said that this is how the coach punished Valery for violating the regime. According to the famous CSKA breeder Boris Chagas, the coach was not going to invite Kharlamov to Canada, who would hardly have been able to get in shape by September.
At the start of the preseason, a group of journalists asked a young colleague Leonid Trakhtenberg to casually ask a question about Kharlamov's Canadian prospects to Yuri Moiseev, Tikhonov's right hand at CSKA.
- Which Canada? Kharlamov will prepare for the season at the club, - said Yuri Ivanovich.
It should be recalled: in the spring of 1981, Kharlamov was not taken to the 1981 World Cup on a sporting basis, and the national team returned from Sweden without defeat and with gold medals. By that time, Mikhailov had already completed his player career, and center forward Vladimir Petrov successfully cemented Sergey Makarov and Vladimir Krutov in the top three of young stars. The excommunication of Legend # 17 from the World Cup did not cause any public outcry.
In the case of the 81 Canada Cup, there was a wave of indignation from the fans. Why? Someone recalls the European Cup, the decisive matches of which were played in early August in Val Gardena, Italy. CSKA defeated rivals from Finland, Czechoslovakia and Sweden with a total score of 28: 3, and Kharlamov was named the best striker of the tournament. However, the level of this club get-together was in no way comparable to the level of the Canada Cup, in which all the strongest players in the world took part.
... And yet Kharlamov had a chance to catch on to the dream team. A concussion called into question the trip to Canada of Krutov, the left extreme shock link of the national team. Tikhonov introduced Legend # 17 into these three. In three of the four exhibition matches against the Swedes and the Finns, Kharlamov played with Makarov and the debutant of the national team Igor Larionov. Alas, these games, which ended in victories of the USSR national team, were not shown on Soviet TV. According to the national team coaches, the three Makarov - Larionov - Kharlamov did not fire. In addition, Krutov managed to recover, who went to Canada, and then sincerely lamented: "If I had not flown then, they would have taken Valery, and he would not have died."
Paradoxically, after Kharlamov's death, his popularity increased. At the beginning of the 2000s, the newspaper "Soviet Sport" established the Kharlamov Trophy prize, which was awarded to the best Russian NHL player according to a survey of the NHL themselves. The first laureate was Sergei Fedorov, now the head coach of CSKA. Two feature films were shot: “Valery Kharlamov. Extra time "and" Legend No. 17 ". The main trophy of the Youth Hockey League, as well as the KHL division, are named after Kharlamov. Kharlamov became a member of the Toronto Hall of Fame, as well as the IIHF. Journalists included him in the team of the stars of the century according to the IIHF, along with army men Vladislav Tretyak, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Sergey Makarov and Canadian Wayne Gretzky.
Four years ago, a monument to Legend No. 17 was unveiled on the Walk of Fame in Luzhniki.
Valery Kharlamov's titles and achievements:
Two-time Olympic champion (1972, 1976).
Eight-time world champion (1969-1971, 1973-1975, 1978-1979).
The best forward of the 1976 World Cup. He was a member of the symbolic World Cup team (1972, 1973, 1975, 1976).
At the World Championships and Olympics - 123 matches, 89 goals
Eleven times champion of the USSR (1968, 1970-1973, 1975, 1977-1981). He played 438 matches for CSKA and scored 293 goals. Five-time USSR Cup winner. The best hockey player of the USSR (1972, 1973). The best scorer of the USSR championship (1971), the best goal + pass system (1972).
Winner of the hockey prize "Three scorers": 1970/1971, 1974/1975, 1977/1978 (Mikhailov - Petrov - Kharlamov), 1971/1972 (Vikulov - Firsov - Kharlamov), 1979/1980 (Mikhailov - Kharlamov - Krutov). Record holder of “the Izvestia” newspaper prize in terms of the number of goals scored - 40 goals scored.
Chevalier of two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1975, 1978) - for victories in the USSR national team at the 1975 and 1978 Ice Hockey World Championships.
Chevalier of the Order of the Badge of Honor (1972) - for victory in the USSR national team at the 1972 Olympics.
He was awarded the medal "For Labor Valor" (1969) - for victory in the USSR national team at the World Championship - 1969.
