They were like brothers, and not just on the ice: Slava Fetisov and Alexey Kasatonov, both defensemen in one of the best fives hockey history has ever seen.
Friends are inseparable, who always won together: matches in the national Soviet league, countless world championships, two gold medals at the Olympic Games for the Soviet Union.
But then came 1989, when everything changed in the eastern camp. Politics was destined to destroy their friendship when Fetisov rebelled against coach Viktor Tikhonov, and Kasatonov took Tikhonov’s side.
Fetisov and Kasatonov both made it to the NHL a few months later, playing for the New Jersey Devils. But friends became enemies. They again played in the same five, but no longer spoke to each other.
It took them a decade to heal the wound.
But in Vladimir Putin's Russia they got back together and play hockey together five times a week.
SportExpressen newspaper met with Slava Fetisov and Alexey Kasatonov in Moscow. They talk about the golden years of the Soviet national team, difficult times in the United States and what it was like teaching President Putin to play hockey.
Two decades have passed, and Soviet and Russian hockey finally has its own museum, which records and glorifies the history of hockey in this largest country in the world. The museum is located in the “Park of Legends” sports complex near one of the Moscow ring roads. There is a lot to say on this topic.
The Russian Hockey Hall of Fame honors players such as Boris Mikhailov, Vladislav Tretyak, Valery Kharlamov and Anatoly Tarasov. Most of them played during Soviet times, during the decades when Soviet hockey dominated international championships.
© RIA Novosti, Alexey Druzhinin President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and General Director of the Sports and Entertainment District "Park of Legends" Alexey Kasatonov at the gala match of the VI All-Russian Festival of the Night Hockey LeagueAnd here in the Hall of Fame, of course, there are members of the five, who were called either the “Red Car” or the “Green Group” (based on the color of the sports uniform). The beloved child has many names. The one who is afraid, too.
And they were also afraid of them: Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Vladimir Krutov, Alexei Kasatonov and Vyacheslav (Slava) Fetisov.
This team defeated Sweden 13-1 at the 1981 World Cup and defeated Canada 8-1 in the 1981 Canada Cup final.
They were destined to be the last successful hockey team to be produced by the Soviet Union. The five young men grew up together, living and breathing hockey year-round at a hockey camp in the Moscow region, where Viktor Tikhonov was the unquestioned boss.
Formally, they were officers of the Soviet army, but their only and most important task was to play hockey and give victories to their homeland. And they did. Every now and again.
They showed what many consider the most beautiful hockey in the history of the sport. They won five gold medals at the World Championships and two golds at the Olympics in the 1980s. We'll probably never see anything like it again. Alexey Kasatonov explains why:
“It was a unique situation. They managed to get the five of us together when we were young and we had a decade, almost ten years, to play together. Today it is very difficult to repeat this, to collect five stars of such a high level and keep them together for such a long period.”
11 out of 12 months they lived in a hockey camp
We met him at the hockey museum. He is now 58 years old, for three years now he has been the executive director of Legends Park, he is wearing a jacket, jeans, a plaid shirt, but no tie.
Slava Fetisov, 59, was dressed more elegantly when we met him the day before at the famous Pushkin cafe in central Moscow. He is a veteran politician, a member of the Russian Duma and a former sports minister, and he wears a suit and tie.
It was these two who were the pair of defenders of the famous five. Slava Fetisov was also the captain of the team. The two players met while still juniors, first as opponents and then becoming teammates at CSKA Moscow.
“We are the same age and have always followed each other,” says Slava Fetisov. We have known each other for 40 years.
They lived side by side for most of the year. They were forced to live in a hockey camp in the Moscow region for 11 out of 12 months of the year. All the time - under the guidance of coach Viktor Tikhonov.
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Foreign Policy 04/04/2016 This may sound inhumane, but, according to Kasatonov, there were also advantages. At least in the beginning, when they were young.“When you're 18, training three times a day isn't a problem. We were well fed and lived outdoors in a training camp. He was in the suburbs. The camp was very good. Don't forget that these were Soviet times, when there were so many everyday problems. And we avoided a lot.”
But over the years, life went wrong. Players found girlfriends, got married and had children. However, they still had to live in isolation in a hockey camp.
“There was only one telephone for 30 people. Everyone stood and waited their turn. This was the only way to contact the family,” recalls Kasatonov.
I hint to Fetisov that no Swedish or Canadian hockey players have ever known such a life. That intense hockey life may partly explain the team's many successes. He snorts.
“Do you think we played better because we lived in the camp? I guarantee you, we would have played even better if we had avoided this. I don’t know how we managed to remain normal after 13 years in this damn—pardon my language—place.
Viktor Tikhonov died in 2014
There is still a clear rift between Kasatonov and Fetisov regarding the attitude and memory of Viktor Tikhonov, who became a Soviet coach in 1978 (actually in 1977 - approx. transl.) and was their leader throughout the 1980s.
He was a tough, disciplined man, famous for his gloomy appearance and outbursts of anger on the coaching bench. It was as if he was never satisfied, regardless of success.
When he died in 2014, three of his five came to the honoring ceremony at the CSKA hockey center. Vladimir Krutov died two years earlier, Igor Larionov was in the USA, but Fetisov, Kasatonov and Sergei Makarov came.
However, the only one who was then present at the burial itself was Kasatonov.
“How can you treat a person who was so close all these long, long years, who helped us win great victories. He was a teacher, and in recent years he became a great friend of mine,” says Kasatonov.
“And don’t forget that Tikhonov was part of the system, he himself was its hostage. He understood that he could not lose. If he had lost, he would have been kicked out."
When I ask Slava Fetisov to tell me what he feels for Viktor Tikhonov, the answer sounds completely different.
“Look, I criticized him all the time when he was alive. But here in Russia we have a saying that people either speak well of the dead or say nothing.”
After that he falls silent.
Viktor Tikhonov himself admitted that he bears most of the blame for the most sensational defeat of the Soviet team - the loss to the United States in the finals of the Olympic Games in 1980 in Lake Placid. In the United States, this victory is called the “Miracle on Ice” and is considered one of the greatest feats in the history of sports: an American team, consisting mainly of young amateurs, opposed the Soviet machine.
Tikhonov replaced star goaltender Vladislav Tretyak after he allowed two goals in the first period. Backup goalkeeper Vladimir Myshkin was not nearly as experienced.
“Tikhonov didn’t explain anything to us. Nobody knows why he did what he did. It's unfair to put all the blame on one person, but he was the coach.
At the same time, Fetisov states that people from the West - and, of course, primarily Americans - always want to talk about the “Miracle on Ice”.
“It’s so typical,” he says. — Everyone who comes from the West asks me about this. “I usually tell my family that I have the most famous silver medal in history.”
Multimedia
Observer 04/03/2017 “But for young me it was a good lesson. Never underestimate your enemy." Soviet society underwent dramatic changes during the years when Fetisov, Kasatonov, Krutov, Makarov and Larionov dominated the hockey arenas. When they started playing, Leonid Brezhnev was the head of state, his followers Yuri Andropov and Viktor Chernenko did not stay long, and in 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and began his reforms, which ultimately ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
However, few could have predicted how quickly everything would happen. But suddenly it became possible to say and do things that were previously taboo.
Slava Fetisov: “He stuck a knife in my back”
Slava Fetisov decided to challenge the system. Back in 1983, Lou Lamoriello, captain of the New Jersey Devils, instilled in Fetisov and Katasonov the belief that one day the day would come when Soviet players would be released and allowed to play in the United States.
However, this remained impossible for many years, even as Soviet players learned more and more about how different life was in the West during their travels around the world. Alexey Kasatonov recalls:
“We were surprised when we saw players coming to the match in their own cars. And after the game, they could go to a restaurant with their wives or girlfriends. It was a normal, full life. We could compare our situation and theirs and see the difference.”
Slava Fetisov had the determination to try to do something about it in 1989. He wanted freedom, and he did not accept the conditions of Tikhonov and other Soviet leaders. In his struggle, he even reached the then Minister of Defense.
“They wanted to let players keep $1,000 of their NHL salaries. They treated you like a slave. And it wasn't just about money, it ruled everything. That's what I decided to fight against."
The price turned out to be high. Fetisov was no longer allowed to captain the team and was even expelled from the team for a while. Once in Kyiv he was detained and interrogated by the police. It was a difficult time.
He talks about how important family support was to him. In addition, Lou Lamoriello supported him, and despite the fact that Fetisov did not speak English at that time, and Lamoriello did not speak Russian, the American called him almost every day.
“It was enough for him to know that I was still alive. He knew the price you sometimes have to pay when you challenge the system.”
But there was one person who did not support him in his fight against Tikhonov - his old friend Alexei Kasatonov.
“He condemned me at communist meetings, accused me of trying to get permission to play in the United States,” says Fetisov. “He was my best friend, and he stabbed me in the back.”
Kasatonov says today that at that time he could not even imagine that the Soviet Union would collapse. He considered it pointless to try to challenge the system; he believed that this could only lead to the person being crushed. And, according to him, he understood Tikhonov’s arguments.
“Tikhonov wanted to extend this time as much as possible. He thought a lot about the next generation that would come and that he would raise. Players like Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov are the next generation that would support him.
And I must note that I did not quite understand that the changes affected not only our team and myself, but the entire country and the political system. I couldn't understand that it would all be so serious. Larionov and Fetisov communicated a lot with other people who understood the changes that were coming. They understood more than I did."
Fetisov: “I was lonely and upset”
The process that was supposed to give players the opportunity to travel was accelerated when Alexander Mogilny went missing during the World Championships in Sweden in May 1989 and turned up in the United States with the help of the Buffalo Sabres. In August, Slava Fetisov finally achieved what he wanted: he received a visa to travel to the United States and the opportunity to play in the NHL and for the New Jersey Devils.
But the first time in the USA was not easy. Not at all simple.
“I was neither physically nor psychologically ready for new challenges. The year before, the Devils scored the least points, and I didn’t get much support from the club. There were a lot of prejudices against the Soviet Union, the guys said that they didn’t need this Russian guy. For a long time I was lonely and upset.”
But the worst was yet to come. The fight against Tikhonov led to the fact that he lost his friend Alexei Kasatonov. Lou Lamoriello of the New Jersey Devils had tried to recruit other Russians back in 1983, and now that Soviet players were suddenly allowed to leave the country, he brought in Fetisov's old comrade, defenseman Alexei Kasatonov.
“I was fucking furious,” says Fetisov. “I fought against the system, and he didn’t support me.” And then three months later he’s announced!”
His response to American journalists in broken English, which he had only just begun to master, became a classic. When asked how he felt about the fact that Kasatonov had arrived, Fetisov replied:
"I don't happy!"
Kasatonov was not happy either. When I asked him what the worst part of his hockey career was, I expected him to probably answer about losing to the United States in the 1980 Olympics. Instead, I heard this response:
“When I moved to North America and the New Jersey Devils. First time there. Not because of hockey itself, but because of the circumstances and the situation in which I was. Absolutely everything has changed, lifestyle, habits - everything.
Plus, at that time we had a difficult relationship with Slava. It was truly a dark period. Especially since we were supposed to play together again. It was incredibly difficult, purely psychologically.”
Kasatonov: “Hockey heals wounds”
Lou Lamoriello made his choice very consciously. He wanted to strengthen the team's defense and did this with the help of two legendary defenders of the first team of the Soviet Union. So they played together again, side by side, but did not communicate. They didn't even talk to each other. How did they overcome this?
“Hockey heals wounds. You play and forget about everything else, you only think about the result, about what you need to do to win. All other problems fade into the background. In the NHL, we didn't have much time to think about anything else. It was a matter of survival."
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Expressen 05/20/2016 Of course, they did not manage to avoid each other completely. When they played against NHL teams that had other former Soviet players, they participated in the meetings. But it will be many years before they can call each other friends again.They only spent three seasons with the New Jersey Devils. Both Kasatonov and Fetisov moved to other clubs and met as opponents on the ice.
Fetisov drew the longest straw on the ice. Thanks to Scotty Bowman's Detroit Red Wings, he teamed up with Igor Larionov in a new Russian five. It was another stroke of genius from the great Bowman. The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup two years in a row with Fetisov in 1997 and 1998.
“I've been waiting for this for so long. I was 39 years old,” recalls Fetisov. — One and a half million people took to the streets of Detroit. It was very important to me."
Otherwise, both for him and for Kasatonov, the best memories remain the first gold at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo and the first gold for the USSR at the World Championships. Victory over Canada at the Canada Cup in 1981, of course, was also a wonderful revenge after the Olympic silver the year before.
Slava Fetisov would be destined to win the Stanley Cup for the New Jersey Devils once again, but this time as a coach. He immediately mentions that he was also a successful coach when I list his other achievements.
Fetisov received a request from Putin
Fetisov tried a lot besides hockey. When he returned home to Russia after 13 years, he was received with much greater honor than Kasatonov was received a few years later. In 2002, Fetisov was asked if he would like to become the country's minister of sports. President Vladimir Putin was interested in this.
“He was already a minister when he boarded the plane from New York,” says Kasatonov. “Sometimes a person receives offers that are impossible to refuse.”
Slava Fetisov lists everything he did as Minister of Sports. From the construction of new hockey arenas across the country to one of the main roles he played when Russia won the right to host the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014. Hockey, whose Soviet successes were almost forgotten for several years, experienced a resurgence with Fetisov as sports minister.
He also helped his former teammates, Sergei Makarov and Vladimir Krutov, get jobs at the Ministry of Sports.
“Sergey was living in California at the time, and I told him to come back and do important things in Russia. Vladimir, unfortunately, lost his job, and this, of course, contributed to his drinking. When people like Vladimir don't have challenging tasks, they go astray. We tried to get him to stop drinking, but he suddenly died. It was a difficult loss for all of us."
The entire team was reunited during an exhibition match on Red Square in 2006. And it was then that Fetisov and Kasatonov took the first steps to mend the cracks in the relationship.
After the match they sat side by side in the locker room. Fetisov took out a bottle of whiskey. The first ice was broken. Fetisov says:
“We sat together in a small locker room and drank. At that moment I forgave him. He, apparently, is pretty confused in his life.”
A year later, Kasatonov also returned home to Russia. This happened in 2007, after 17 years spent in the USA. He missed home, but he had no significant offers that would attract him. He became the coach of the Podolsk team of the second division.
“It wasn’t the 1990s, it wasn’t as dark, but it was still quite a difficult time. In Podolsk I was offered good conditions. Everything was very good, except for one thing. I didn’t receive a salary and never received one to this day.”
He took on different jobs and projects. At one point, he wrote articles for Sport Express, a major Russian sports newspaper. In 2009, he met again with Slava Fetisov at the wedding of Pavel Bure. According to Fetisov, it was then that they finally began to communicate again.
“We ended up at the same table,” recalls Fetisov. “Our wives started talking about some family problems. My wife helped his wife, and then they dragged me into this nonsense. And what can you do?”
Fetisov says that he took Kasatonov’s phone number and promised to help.
“I started introducing him to my friends, senators and ministers. He began to live a completely different life. People like him. And people love stories like this, where two people who were friends and then had a public falling out get back together again.”
And yes, they reunited. They are playing hockey again five days a week. And they continue to win championships. World Hockey League of Legends matches bring together veterans of the great days past to meet their old opponents. Two tournaments have already taken place: one in Russia last year and one in Germany this year. The Russians took gold both times.
First of all, they meet because they still love hockey.
“We have our own club,” says Kasatonov, “some very respected people train there. We meet for the game at eight o'clock in the evening. It's a good way to relax and recharge for the next working day."
SportExpressen: Who else is in the club?
Alexey Kasatonov (with a smile): I probably need to get permission to answer this question. But Fetisov and Valery Kamensky are playing there. And tennis player Marat Safin.
Among the people he does not name are several of the country's senior political leaders. Hockey is very popular among Russian politicians, partly thanks to Slava Fetisov.
The most significant of these politicians is President Vladimir Putin. The fact is that it was Fetisov and Kasatonov who taught him to skate. When Putin put on his skates and stepped on the ice for the first time, he was 58 years old.
“Imagine that he was pushing a chair in front of him to find balance, just like a child,” recalls Fetisov. “He didn’t see anything shameful in it.” But after three attempts he began to ride on his own. He is very physically developed and in good shape.”
For Putin, hockey also became a way to relax. Kasatonov says:
“Sometimes he would come after work to practice around midnight. Can you imagine his working day? But he still spent 30-40 minutes on the ice. We're glad he liked it. He was happy when he succeeded in something. We saw that it was a pleasure for him.”
Every year, Putin himself plays in an exhibition final in Sochi in a league the Russians have dubbed the NHL - the Night Hockey League, a kind of amateur league for those who play in the evenings. In the first final, Putin scored the puck with a backhand shot.
“Journalists sometimes joke about his goal,” Fetisov argues, “but he scored into the top corner with one shot, and I’m not sure that even I myself could have done it on the first try. He is a talented person."
“I see incredible propaganda against Russia”
Fetisov has been close to Putin since he returned to Russia in 2002 and took up the post of minister. Next year there will be presidential elections, and Fetisov expects to participate in the campaign for him. He himself has been a State Duma deputy since last year, representing one of the Moscow districts.
So how does he view the worsening relations between Russia and the United States? After all, Fetisov knows both of these societies well, and he still has many friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
“This is not good for anyone. And this applies not only to Russia or the USA, but to the whole world. My daughter was born in New York and works in the film industry. She says the world is very fragile now. She feels it.
The young people sense that something is wrong, but the older people who call the shots seem to want to escalate the tension all the time. I became close friends with Americans, Canadians, and Swedes. We fought against each other on the ice, but then we went and drank together, talked about girls, family, movies. But politicians are taking us in the wrong direction. It is very dangerous".
Fetisov recalls how popular Putin was at one time in the United States, when he supported the country after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. It is difficult for him to understand the anti-Russian sentiment that reigns in the United States now. Kasatonov says the same thing.
“I am sometimes very disappointed when I am in the USA. I've been there twice this summer, and when I turn on the TV, I see absolutely incredible propaganda against Russia. Absolutely incomprehensible. This wasn’t the case when I lived there.”
Fetisov states that news from the United States indicates chaos. Basketball players don't want to come to the White House, the president has fallen out with the National Football League. The country is going in the wrong direction. When asked whether Russia is moving in the right direction, he replies:
“Go outside and look! Compare with what it was like in the 1990s. And now we have no choice, we have been driven into a corner. We have to do something. But there is no doubt that compared to 15 years ago, we are moving in the right direction. I can walk down the street by myself, not surrounded by 20 bodyguards and not in an armored car.”
After a foray into the world of politics, we return to hockey. I ask who was the best Swedish player they've ever met. Fetisov replies that Niclas Lidström, Kasatonov prefers Mats Näslund.
Who is the best player of all? According to Fetisov, there are two candidates: Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky.
Kasatonov says that it is impossible to choose just one, but still he does it.
“Glory to Fetisov. We got to the NHL a little late. It was very difficult for us to adapt to a different world, to a different hockey world. It took time. I think he would have done better in the NHL if he lived in a different era."
Although, in fact, he has already achieved a lot. It is hardly possible to achieve even more. This also applies to Kasatonov. They play together again. They still win competitions.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.
One of the brightest figures in Russian hockey is Vyacheslav Fetisov. This is an outstanding personality with an incredibly strong character and nerves of steel. He, and later the rest of his family, devoted themselves entirely to Russian sports. There were difficult times in his life, which he dealt with with ease and came out with his head held high. What was his path to success? What have you achieved? And what is he doing now?
Champions are not born
Some people believe that a champion must be born. But this is far from true. To gain fame, titles and worldwide recognition, you need to work hard and for a long time. This is exactly how the legendary Russian and Soviet hockey player Vyacheslav Fetisov reasoned . He was born in mid-April 1958. He was an ordinary child, no different from others.
Unpresentable living conditions
At the time of his birth, the family already had one child (a boy, Anatoly) and was not going through very good times. The parents were ordinary workers, working day and night at a large aviation plant in the capital.
They received little; instead of comfortable housing, they huddled in a very small room. But it was provided by the plant. This is how the newborn and growing Vyacheslav Fetisov lived. His biography, as you can see, begins with the difficulties associated with difficult living conditions.
Dad's hobby and its influence on his son
Despite the constant lack of money and difficulties associated with the younger generation, Fetisov’s father was an optimist and a rather strong-willed person. He loved sports very much. Therefore, in his free time, he practiced boxing and even played for the factory football team.
At one point, he decided to instill a love of sports in his sons. To do this, he began to teach them to play football. And one winter day he decided to bring them to the ice rink. This is how Vyacheslav Fetisov (his photo is presented below) first saw a yard hockey team.
First training sessions with 100% efficiency
The efforts of Fetisov Sr. were crowned with success. The boy not only became interested, but also firmly decided to play hockey. And the main thing is that his first coach made a huge contribution to the formation of the boy’s sports worldview, as Vyacheslav Fetisov himself later said. He became a hockey lover, a fan and an enthusiast of his craft, Boris Bervinov. Only thanks to him, the yard team, consisting of ordinary boys, turned into a serious organization working as a single living organism.
As the hockey player himself later said, Bervinov knew how to present everything in such a way that you just wanted to grab a stick and immediately start playing. He was, as they say, a coach from God: strict and fair. The children loved him and always trained with 100% dedication. Fetisov Jr. also improved his skills, spending all his free time developing endurance and improving physical fitness.
First participation and victory
After some time, Vyacheslav Fetisov (his biography confirms this information) and other members of his team acquired some hockey experience. In order to hone their playing skills, they unanimously decided to participate in city competitions. At that time, a small Moscow tournament “Golden Puck” was taking place.
To everyone’s surprise, Bervinov’s backyard team not only defeated their rivals, but also made it into the top three in the finals. This was a long-awaited victory and a kind of payment for the grueling training to which all members of the housing office team subjected themselves.
Significant acquaintance and study for the future
The dizzying victory in the city tournament became a landmark for our hero. As it turned out, the play of the young talent, who stood out impressively among his peers and colleagues, was closely watched by the CSKA coach, and later by the Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation, Yuri Chabarin. He liked Vyacheslav Fetisov, hockey player, so much , that he immediately invited him to the prestigious Dynamo hockey club.
However, Vyacheslav still failed to become a member of this team, since he was not suitable for them in age (at the time of the invitation the boy was only 12). But since the young talent deeply sank into Chabarin’s soul, he enrolled him in the CSKA Olympic Reserve Children’s and Youth School. It was there that the aspiring athlete continued his training.
Fetisov Vyacheslav: biography, photo, beginning of a career in CSKA
Thanks to his unsurpassed perseverance, already at the age of 15, Fetisov took part in the next hockey tournament. This time he already represented the interests of the CSKA youth group. And then he began to win in each of the subsequent tournaments. One of the first such competitions was the World Junior Championships. Then there was the European Championship, after which our hero woke up famous.
Continuation of training and change of coach
After graduating from the Olympic Reserve School, Vyacheslav Fetisov was faced with a choice: leave or stay. After consulting with his parents, he nevertheless decided in favor of leaving. This time fate brought him to Leningrad. It was there that he continued to learn all the intricacies of playing hockey, while simultaneously combining them with military service. According to the young man’s relatives, all training took place on the basis of the city Military Institute of Physical Education.
After changing the location, our athlete was taken under the wing of another famous coach, Viktor Tikhonov. Let us remember that he was famous for his stern disposition, because he demanded complete dedication from the players and only unconditional victory. According to the young man, Tikhonov was called a “tyrant,” but he was a wonderful person and always had his own point of view. Thanks to him, the young man learned to find a way out of the most difficult situations, fight to the last and do the impossible for a common victory.
Playing for the CSKA team
When Fetisov turned 17 (according to other sources, 18) years old, he was enrolled in the main roster of the existing hockey club CSKA-Moscow. From that moment on, his career rapidly climbed up. Over time, Vyacheslav Fetisov turned from a young talent into an adult athlete with vast life experience. According to preliminary estimates, he managed to play 16 full seasons under the “banners” of the aforementioned club.
Captain's rank, trophies and awards
Next, our hero was chosen as team captain. Fetisov played another five thousand hockey matches as part of it, many of which were victorious. Together with members of his group, he won three USSR honorary cups and received the title of the most effective defender and hockey player of the Union.
Injury and serious challenges for an athlete
Despite the dizzying success of Vyacheslav Fetisov (biography, family and photos of this hockey player are presented in this article) was temporarily excommunicated from the game. The cause of his woes was a very serious back injury early in 1979. According to doctors, the athlete had to give up not only his career, but also basic movement on two legs. Doctors were afraid that the patient would never be able to walk.
However, our hero did not despair. Disagreeing with the doctors, he continued training, trying to get out of bed. And, to everyone's surprise, he succeeded. Moreover, Vyacheslav started skating again and went on the ice.
Return to the team
At the beginning of 1996, Vyacheslav Fetisov (his family, of course, supported him) returned to his beloved team and again became its captain. According to the athlete, this period coincided with the peak of hockey’s popularity. At that time, the SRSR team was talked about as a group of world-famous athletes, because it was one of the three favorites. And, of course, everyone knew the peculiar “game five”, which included Kasatonov, Krutov, Fetisov, Makarov and Larionov. She repeatedly saved the team and brought it to the podium of Olympic champions.
Fetisov's NHL career
At the beginning of 1989, Fetisov was invited to the legendary New Jersey Devils, giving the hockey player access to the NHL. A few years after such a bright start, Vyacheslav was called to Detroit, where he twice managed to win the honorary Stanley Cup. And then, he was appointed an honorary member of the “Triple Gold Club”, since throughout his career the athlete won three awards at once: the World Championship, the Olympics, and the aforementioned Stanley Cup.
A beautiful farewell and a coaching career
In 1999, our hero decided to end his career as an athlete and retire gracefully to his well-deserved retirement. To do this, he took to the ice for the last time as a hockey player and said goodbye to all his fans during the next match at the Moscow Olympic Stadium.
Next, a coaching chair awaited Vyacheslav. At first, he was on the sidelines and was the deputy head coach of the New Jersey Devils. And then, in 2000, he was invited back to Russia, where he was to work on the re-education of the Olympic team. Two years later, he became the head of the national team, easily combining the two positions of team manager and head coach. Under his clear leadership, the Russian team earned a bronze medal (during the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City).
Political activity and the first “stones in the wheels”
Unexpectedly for everyone and himself, in 2002 our hero decided to try himself in the political field. But this activity turned out to be not as successful for Fetisova as it was with sports. At first, he was expected to be the chairman of the State Sports Committee of the Russian Federation. His responsibilities included organizing the Olympics, which took place in Turin, Athens, and Beijing. However, he did not work well with his colleagues and left, returning again to his beloved club CSKA. But this time the position awaiting him was not a field player, but a president.
Even later, he became a member of the United Russia party. Then he was elected to the Federation Council. Even later, he was appointed to the position of Chairman of the Federation Council Commission on Physical Education and Sports.
Family relationships: wife and daughter
During his travels, Fetisov managed not only to organize his career, but also to start a family. Wife of Vyacheslav Fetisov - Ladlena Sergievskaya supported him in every possible way and helped him morally.
Currently she is the president of the famous charity organization “Republic and Sports”. Like her husband, she does everything possible to develop a love of sports and a healthy lifestyle among modern youth.
The daughter of Vyacheslav Fetisov with the beautiful name Anastasia was born in 1991. She graduated from high school in the Russian Federation, and then went to America, where she received a law degree.
During his career, Vyacheslav Fetisov won all more or less significant trophies and for many years was considered the best defender in the world. However, all his life the hockey player had to fight: against circumstances, the system, but more often - against death.
Vasily OskolkovDuring his career, Vyacheslav Fetisov won all more or less significant trophies and for many years was considered the best defender in the world. However, all his life the hockey player had to fight: against circumstances, the system, but more often - against death.
Childhood in barracks
Vyacheslav Fetisov was born on April 20, 1958 on the street of the 800th anniversary of Moscow. The future hockey player spent his childhood in extreme conditions. The Fetisov family lived in a barracks for 20 people in a room that was divided into several cells by a curtain.
Heating was provided by a potbelly stove, which did not provide much heat. Because of this, the child was often sick. In winter, the future hockey player slept in a hat, felt boots and a fur coat, which did not save him from frequent illnesses. Fetisov recalled how one night he wanted to drink, leaned over to a bucket of water, and there was a solid piece of ice. I had to chew on it.
Only when Vyacheslav was six years old did the family move to an apartment on Korovinskoye Highway.
USSR national team and CSKA
One of the best defensemen in hockey history may not have existed. Although young Fetisov attracted attention from an early age and, as part of the amateur team of Housing Office No. 19, reached the final of the city tournament “Golden Puck,” they did not want to take him into the sports section for a very long time. First, the child was taken to the Dynamo school, where he did not fit in age - he was too young. Then to the CSKA school, where he again did not fit in age - he was too big.
Fortunately for Fetisov, the army soon announced a new recruitment. Anatoly Tarasov himself looked through the boys. The line stretched for a couple of kilometers, and Vyacheslav had to stand for four hours waiting for his chance. Standing on the street was not conducive to a good game. Fetisov was not accepted into hockey again. It was possible to get into the sports school only on the third attempt in 1970.
Tarasov is greeted by "Yaroslav the Wise". Photo by ITAR-TASS
The player’s first coach was Yuri Chabarin, under whose leadership five years later he reached the main team of CSKA, and two years later he joined the USSR national team. Both in the club and in the national team, Fetisov quickly became one of the main characters. For the army team, the defender sometimes followed the “points per game” schedule, which is simply an incredible result for a defensive player. And the five Fetisov - Kasatonov - Makarov - Larionov - Krutov was the best not only in the 80s, but is still considered one of the strongest in the history of hockey.
The young man’s career developed rapidly. Already at the age of 17, he earned more than his father, got an apartment, and bought a car. Over 15 years in red-white and red-blue uniforms, Fetisov became a six-time world champion, eight-time winner of the European Championship, Olympic champion in 1984 and 1988, winner of the 1981 Canada Cup, and the hockey player did not win the USSR championship only in 1976, when CSKA sensationally lost the title to Spartak.
Kasatonov and Fetisov. Photo by ITAR-TASS
Now the list of all Fetisov’s awards takes several lines, but it is difficult to describe how much effort was spent on the path from the barracks to the Olympic gold and the Stanley Cup. Moreover, we are talking not only about training and Tikhonov training camps. At least four times during his career, the defender could have retired from hockey. At least three times - die.
On the edge
For the first time, Fetisov’s career was called into question in 1978. Arriving with the USSR national team in Holland, the 20-year-old hockey player stepped off the plane and fell. The defender's legs gave out. While the national team was playing, Fetisov was staying at the hotel. The defender was carried out of the plane in Moscow on a stretcher. Doctors diagnosed “pinched nerve endings” and decided to perform surgery. Fetisov refused.
The team doctor, Yakov Mikhailovich Kots, put the hockey player on his feet, and treated the player with the help of his invention - an electrical stimulator. Six months later, Fetisov returned to the ice.
Life prepared the most serious test for the defender in June 1985. Fetisov, together with his brother Anatoly, had a car accident. A car going to overtake hit the curb and, crashing into the hockey players' Zhiguli, knocked them off the road into a pole.
Anatoly died in the hospital. Vyacheslav learned to walk again. Fetisov would later say that after his brother’s death he went out onto the balcony of the 17th floor and thought for a long time whether to jump or not. I was dissuaded from suicide by my mother, who said: “Slava, from now on you must live and play for two.”
12 years later, Fetisov was again in a car accident. In 1997, after Detroit’s victory in the Stanley Cup, the hockey player, along with his defensive partner Vladimir Konstantinov and club massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov, were returning in a limousine from a team party. The driver of the car was a certain Richard named Gnida, who smoked herbs before the trip.
The limousine flew into a tree at high speed. Konstantinov and Mnatsakanov received serious injuries and became disabled. Fetisov injured his hip and chest, but was discharged from the hospital a couple of days later. However, he could no longer perform power moves and turns to the right, which did not prevent him from winning a second consecutive Stanley Cup with Detroit.
But all this was already in the late 90s. To leave for the NHL in the late 80s, Fetisov also had to go through a lot.
Against the system
The first attempt to get Fetisov into the NHL was made by Montreal. The effort came in the form of draft picks. In 1978, the Canadians spent a 12th round draft pick, No. 201 overall, on one of the world's best defensemen. However, there was no talk of the Soviet hockey player moving overseas at that time. Five years later, Montreal’s rights to Fetisov expired, and New Jersey decided to try their luck, choosing the player with the 145th pick in the eighth round.
Fetisov with his wife Lada. Photo by ITAR-TASS
In 1988, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello came to Moscow. The Americans wanted to see Fetisov in the NHL, Fetisov wanted to see himself in the NHL, the State Sports Committee saw a million dollars in front of him, but Viktor Tikhonov did not allow him to leave. Fetisov did not want to flee to the west, as Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov would soon do. A protracted conflict began with Tikhonov.
“For Tikhonov, we are ice robots, but we are people with our own joys, sorrows, experiences, worries. I’m tired of Tikhonov’s dictatorship, because of which there is a constantly unhealthy situation in the team. And I don’t want to play anymore for a coach I don’t trust !" - these words in January 1989 cost the hockey player his place in CSKA.
Fetisov was forbidden to play and train with the team, they promised to send him to Siberia, and they threatened his wife. But he stuck to his guns and maintained his form by playing for the amateur team of the Sacco and Vanzetti pencil factory.
However, the defender was not left without great hockey. The top five of CSKA put forward an ultimatum demanding that they take the player to the World Cup in Sweden. Fetisov became the best defencist of the tournament, and the USSR won gold medals.
The 31-year-old defender started the next season with New Jersey.
With the enemy at the gate
Fetisov went to New Jersey with Sergei Starikov, but they didn’t really manage to play together. Starikov's affairs overseas were going from bad to worse. The hockey player had a hard time getting used to the American way of life and hockey. The defenseman's NHL career lasted only 16 games. Two years later, he left the sport and tried a bunch of professions, from loader to builder.
“New Jersey” signed Alexei Kasatonov, with whom Fetisov won everything and whom he did not want to see on his team at all. In the conflict between Soviet hockey players and Tikhonov, Kasatonov took the position of coach and, according to rumors, followed Fetisov’s every move. In the Devils, the defenders played in the same pair, but did not talk and did not trust each other.
In 1993, Kasatonov went to Anaheim, and two years later Fetisov moved to Detroit, with whom he won two Stanley Cups.
At the peak
In Detroit, the defenseman reached the peak of his NHL career. Krylia head coach Scotty Bowman created the Russian five - the best example of Soviet hockey in the 90s. Playing alongside the tough and reliable Konstantinov, Fetisov could join the attack without damaging his own goal.
The best season in the hockey player's overseas career was the 95/96 season. Fetisov scored 42 points in 69 matches with a performance indicator of “plus 37”, but the team won the Stanley Cup a year later, when his indicators were already more modest - 64 matches, 28 points. The defender won the second Cup in 1998 at the age of 40.
Russian Five. Photo s19.photobucket
Third Cup and Olympics
After finishing his career, Fetisov was invited to coach New Jersey. The Russian helped first Robbie Ftorek, and then Larry Robinson, with whom he won his third Cup. After that, Fetisov quit the NHL. However, he was not left without work.
Before the Olympics in Salt Lake City, Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich was offered to become the general manager and coach of the Russian national team. Fetisov, who was an indisputable authority for Russian NHL players, managed to gather almost all the stars on the team, with the exception of the usual refuseniks Sergei Zubov and Alexander Mogilny.
That team took bronze medals, but won, in fact, one serious match at the tournament - against the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals. The Russians defeated Belarus in the group and playoffs, which took fourth place but conceded 39 goals in six matches, and also drew the match with the Americans.
Return
Fetisov played his last match in his career 11 years after its completion. In December 2009, almost all of CSKA’s defenders broke down, and in one of the interviews, the club’s general manager Sergei Nemchinov seemed to jokingly say that the “red-blues” would include Fetisov for the match with SKA. There was a very high degree of truth in the joke. The 51-year-old defender played eight minutes, earned a minus for usefulness, and CSKA lost 2:3. But the PR move turned out to be just great. Fetisov's return became an event that was discussed throughout the hockey world.
Fetisov played for CSKA in the KHL match. Photo by ITAR-TASS
Achievements of Vyacheslav Fetisov
Olympic champion 1984, 1988
Olympic silver medalist 1980
2002 Olympic bronze medalist as coach
World champion 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990
Silver medalist at the 1987 World Championships
Bronze medalist at the World Championships 1977, 1985, 1991
Multiple European champion
USSR Champion 1975, 1977-1989
Winner of the USSR Cup 1977, 1979, 1988
Multiple European Cup winner
Stanley Cup Winner 1997, 1998
Stanley Cup winner as coach 2000
Winner of the Canada Cup 1981
IIHF Hall of Fame Member
Member of the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame
Member of the Triple Gold Club
Entered the symbolic team of the century "Centennial All-Star Team" of the International Ice Hockey Federation
Statistics in foreign clubs
1989 – 1995 New Jersey 138 (20+118) points
1995 – 1998 Detroit 118 (18+100)
The famous Russian hockey player, who will turn 44 years old tomorrow, is offered to head the Ministry of Sports in Russia, and in America to become the head coach of one of the NHL teams
10 facts from the life of the legendary captain of the USSR national hockey team
The name of Vyacheslav Fetisov is known to everyone who is familiar with the word hockey. During his playing career, the legendary captain of the USSR national team became the owner of all the most significant titles in this sport. He was the pride of Soviet hockey, one of the first domestic players to go to the NHL and proved that not only Canadians and Americans can be real stars of the strongest league in the world. Now Fetisov is one of the most respected people in the hockey world, both in Russia and in America.
From the “FACTS” dossier
Vyacheslav Fetisov. Born April 20, 1958. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, defender. In 1975-1989 he played for CSKA Moscow. Champion of the USSR 1975, 1977-1989, silver medalist of the USSR Championship 1976. He played 478 matches in the USSR championships and scored 153 goals. Winner of the USSR Cup 1977, 1979, 1988. In 1989-1994 he played for the NHL club New Jersey Devils, and in 1994-1998 - for the Detroit Red Wings. He played 546 matches in the NHL championships and scored 36 goals. Winner of the Stanley Cup in 1997 and 1998, finalist in 1995. World champion 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990, silver medalist in 1987, bronze medalist in 1977, 1985, 1991. Olympic champion in 1984 and 1988, silver medalist at the 1980 Olympics. Winner of the Canada Cup-81.
At the age of 30, Fetisov had to prove his genius in the NHL
1. In the 80s, the first five of CSKA and the USSR national team, in which Larionov, Makarov, Krutov, Kasatonov and Fetisov played, were undoubtedly the best in Europe. Largely thanks to these hockey players, the Soviet Union national team dominated the ice rinks of the world. Fetisov himself was repeatedly recognized as the best hockey player in the USSR and Europe. He participated in 113 official matches of the USSR national team, in which he scored 42 goals - a fantastic result for a defender! However, when Fetisov entered the NHL at the age of 30, he had to re-prove his hockey genius. In the New Jersey Devils, Vyacheslav for a long time was not able to show the game that was expected of him. One day, a Russian reporter was photographing Fetisov in the locker room. After this, his comrades teased Vyacheslav for a long time: “It turns out we have stars on our team!” And only when he got to the Detroit Red Wings did he start playing the hockey he was used to. In Detroit, a new, essentially new birth of Vyacheslav Fetisov as a hockey player took place. He was already 35 years old then. Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman was not afraid to gather Russian players in one line - Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov. In this Russian five - the first in the history of the NHL - Fetisov was what he was used to being - the leader of the team.
2. During the Soviet Union, Vyacheslav Fetisov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and two Orders of the Badge of Honor. For high sporting achievements at the XV Winter Olympic Games, Fetisov was awarded the Order of Lenin, later, after the end of his farewell match, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree, and the most important sports award in the world - the Olympic Order. But the brightest - in the literal sense of the word - reward appeared in Vyacheslav's sky: an unnamed asteroid was named after him.
3. Fetisov was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame. Of the representatives of the Soviet hockey school, only coach Anatoly Tarasov and goalkeeper Vladislav Tretyak are “present” there. “I won all the hockey trophies in the world and now that I have been recognized in the NHL, I think that my career has really been a success,” noted Vyacheslav Fetisov after the ceremony of “registration” in the Hall of Fame. “Our Slava has been inducted into the Hall of Fame!” - Russian newspapers were full of similar headlines.
Fetisov “recaptured” the wife of the famous football player Vagiz Khidiatullin
4. Vyacheslav Fetisov fell in love with Lada literally at first sight. “I have never seen such a beautiful girl,” he admitted after his first meeting with the wife of the famous football player, Spartak Moscow and USSR national team player Vagiz Khidiatullin. Actually, Vyacheslav was invited to visit to introduce Lada’s friend, but he didn’t take his eyes off Khidiatullina all evening. Then Fetisov simply did not let Lada pass for a long time - he picked her up at work, waited for her on the street. In the end, his persistence paid off. Lada, despite all the protests of her family and friends, decided to leave Khidiatullin and moved in with Fetisov. As a child, she did gymnastics - first sports, then artistic, but did not achieve serious success in big-time sports. Lada was more attracted to the work of a fashion model; she played in the theater and acted in films.
5. Vyacheslav and Lada could not get married for a long time. The first time, when a wedding dress and suit had already been purchased, limousines were ordered and a restaurant hall at the Metropol Hotel was rented, CSKA head coach Viktor Tikhonov did not let the team go to the celebration. When the Fetisovs submitted an application to the registry office for the second time, Vyacheslav’s grandmother died. And then his younger brother died, and the wedding had to be postponed again. The Fetisovs had to wait even longer for the birth of a child in their family. For seven years, Lada was treated for infertility. In the Soviet Union, doctors claimed that she would not be able to give birth. Fortunately, doctors in the USA had a different opinion, and Nastya Fetisova was born. In 1997, Nastya won the title of Miss American Princess.
6. Vyacheslav and Lada lived in a one-room Moscow apartment. Having moved to New Jersey, the Fetisovs quickly found themselves a luxurious home: four bedrooms, a huge kitchen, four toilets, three showers, two baths, a large veranda, and a two-car garage. Next to the house is a real sports club with a swimming pool, tennis courts, billiards and a sauna.
7. Recently, information has appeared in the press about Fetisov’s affair with singer Lyubov Isaeva. She claims that she met with the famous hockey player and is even raising his daughter Masha. “Before the birth of his daughter, Slava assured that he would take care of the child who would bear his last name. And, indeed, at first Vyacheslav took care of his illegitimate daughter: when she was born, he sent so many children's clothes, toys, pacifiers and bottles that they were enough for two years. Then he met with Masha four more times. Called a lot more often. And he did not forget to send money and parcels for his daughter with the opportunity from distant America. But lately Fetisov has forgotten about the child,” Lyubov Isaeva told reporters. According to her, Fetisov never promised to marry her. From the very first meetings, he explained to the girl that he had already given his word to someone else. And she can’t refuse him - “after all, he took Lada away from her husband.”
Isaeva even filed a lawsuit against Fetisov. Vyacheslav had to hire experienced lawyers. He stated that he did not know either Isaeva herself or her daughter Masha. The case was heard in the Krasnopresnensky Court of Moscow, which ruled in favor of Fetisov. Vyacheslav refused to take an analysis, as a result of which he could prove or disprove his paternity.
Fetisov became the head coach of the Russian Olympic team largely thanks to Vladimir Putin
8. On June 13, 1997, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Vladimir Konstantinov and Detroit massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov were in a terrible car accident. This happened six days after the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, the main trophy of professional hockey overseas. The limousine they rented crashed into a tree at a speed of 75 km per hour. Fetisov was lucky - he escaped with only a severe bruise to the chest. Mnatsakanov died in hospital, and Konstantinov was in a coma for several months. Then he began to gradually come to his senses, his speech and memory were restored, but Vladimir moves only in a wheelchair. The driver Richard Gnida was found to be at fault for the accident because he lost control. As it turned out later, Gnida was drunk. In addition, he used drugs. In addition, six months before this terrible incident, the police took away his license. This accident left no one indifferent in the United States. Thousands of Americans, even those who were not at all interested in hockey, expressed their condolences and sympathies to the victims. And when Fetisov returned to the ice, he was greeted as a national hero.
It must be said that car accidents haunt a hockey player throughout his life. In 1985, 20-year-old forward Anatoly Fetisov died (while driving his car, he crashed into a lamp post at an army sports complex) - Vyacheslav's brother. Anatoly was one of the best players at the 1985 European Junior Championships, and on the ice, they say, he was in no way inferior to his older brother. The reasons for his death remain unclear. Some Soviet newspapers wrote that Vyacheslav was also in the car at the time of the accident. He grieved the death of his brother and never talked about the details of that tragedy.
One day, a car driven by a 19-year-old girl crashed into Lada Fetisova’s car. And if it weren’t for the reliable Mercedes, something irreparable would have happened. In Moscow, Slava did not allow his wife to drive, saying: “A woman driving is worse than a drunken fascist in a tank.” But in America, a car has become a necessity - from the Fetisovs’ house to the nearest store it’s a forty-minute walk.
9. In the USA, Fetisov immediately realized that the money he earned was best invested in some business. Moreover, his first contract was more than modest compared to recognized NHL stars. Soon Vyacheslav opened his own gourmet food store. However, the store did not bring the expected profits. Then he decided to start producing vitamin preparations based on Canadian ginseng. Together with Pavel Bure, he bought a farm in Canada where ginseng is grown, and a small plant for its processing. The drugs manufactured at their enterprise were successfully sold in the USA, Canada and Russia. At the same time, Fetisov personally advertised his products, for which he received the nickname Mister Ginseng.
10. The appointment of Vyacheslav Fetisov as head coach of the Russian national team before the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City came as a complete surprise to many. Fetisov won a Stanley Cup when he was New Jersey's second coach, but he never worked as a head coach. They say that the appointment of Fetisov as the coach of the Russian Olympic team is the wish of Vladimir Putin himself. And a little later, Vyacheslav learned that he, like the entire coaching staff, had been fired from New Jersey.
Fetisov had a conflict with the current president of the Russian Hockey Federation, Steblin. Once Vyacheslav admitted: “Ten years ago, Steblin chose me as his enemy, and imagine his state when, after all the delays, he finally had to sign a contract with me.” After the Russians lost in the semi-finals of the Olympics, television cameras captured Steblin’s joyful face. “Throughout the entire Games we felt Steblin’s pressure. After the match with the Americans, he told both journalists and specialists that, in his opinion, the refereeing was excellent! All night long, together with our “illegal” - the national team’s television cameraman, who was denied accreditation by the Russian Hockey Federation, I edited the video recording, choosing moments of unfair refereeing, and when in the morning, before the match with the Belarusians, I showed the film to Steblin, he said: “Yes, mistakes were. And serious." After the end of the Olympic Games, Steblin naturally attributed all the blame for the defeat to Fetisov. Nevertheless, Vladimir Putin did not change his attitude towards Vyacheslav. The President of Russia called Fetisov directly into the locker room before the semi-final match and wished him good luck. Then he congratulated us on the bronze medals. And when he hosted the Olympians at his residence, he noted the performance of the hockey players. Fetisov had a personal forty-minute conversation with Putin. Perhaps it was after the conversation with the president that Fetisov had a desire to return to his homeland. Now he is the number one contender for the post of chairman of the State Sports Committee of Russia and literally one of these days could receive a ministerial portfolio. Fetisov also has worthy offers from the NHL. The management of the New Jersey Devils invited him to continue working at the club, and one of the American teams dreams of seeing Fetisov as a head coach.
Vyacheslav Fetisov – Sergei Starikov, “New Jersey”. Season 1989/1990
The largest transfer in Devils history before signing a 15-year contract with Kovalchuk. Only the devil knows how much strength and patience Lamoriello needed to get the best defenseman in Europe at that time out of CSKA, but Fetisov still ended up in the NHL. And along with him, Sergei Starikov went to the outsiders of the Patrick division, whose future in the army club was predetermined after scandalous materials in the press. “I didn’t know who Starikov was, but Fetisov called him a good defender, so we took Sergei to us,” admitted the Devils general manager.
They became famous without playing even one shift for New Jersey. Sports Illustrated magazine put their photo on the cover, and the club press release, diluted with stories about how Soviet athletes could breathe freely on American soil, was published by thousands of publications. Things didn't go so smoothly on the site. And although Fetisov scored his first goal in the NHL in the match where he was paired with a compatriot, for the most part they played in different combinations: Slava with the Canadian Driver, and Sergei with whomever it took. In December 1989, the Devils refused Starikov’s services. Statistics showed that he had not adapted to the North American style (15 matches, 0+1, “minus 8”), journalists noted the player’s excess weight, who had gained 10 kilograms in a few months, and Sergei himself believed that the whole point was Kasatonov, who was called to take his place.
“Perhaps he did not have real support from his wife, family, and he himself could not overcome himself. Suddenly the Starikovs are wildly celebrating Sergei’s birthday, but in America birthdays are not celebrated en masse. But they invite the whole team home, where the waiters are in white gloves, where there are fountains from cups, barrels of beer, dozens of bottles of alcohol. Almost immediately after this, Sergei was sent to the mining league. Maybe they thought that he came to the USA to relax, and not to “plow” - this is Fetisov’s version from his book “Overtime”.
The most titled
Vyacheslav Fetisov – Alexey Kasatonov, “New Jersey”. Season 1989/90 – 1992/93
Two Olympics won, a dozen victories in the USSR championships, the Canada Cup and half a dozen gold medals from the world championships - no other NHL club had such an eminent pair of defensemen. Igor Larionov, having learned about Sergei Makarov’s transfer to San Jose in 1993, was terribly happy, because he had a chance to play with his former teammate from the USSR national team. Fetisov and Kasatonov were not at all impressed by the prospect of another unification. When the Devils announced the signing of their third defenseman of the season from CSKA, Vyacheslav did not hide his disappointment: “I’m not happy with this. Now we have a good team, a great atmosphere in the team.” But, of course, they couldn’t help but put them together.
The results of both New Jersey and Fetisov himself predictably went uphill with the advent of Kasatonov, although relations between the players remained tense. Due to problems that began in Moscow, they did not communicate in the locker room and at club banquets, and did not congratulate each other on scoring goals. Reporters relished the details of their conflict, discussing Kasatonov’s “black diary,” in which he allegedly recorded all of Fetisov’s steps while he was playing for CSKA and spied for Viktor Tikhonov.
“Of course, I couldn’t help but think about trust, because we were paired again, and he could set me up in the game. Suppose I went to the gate out of old memory, what if he doesn’t back me up? However, this happened several times,” Fetisov said. The army couple looked decent in the regular season, but in the playoffs they were always weird. In 1990, their mistakes in the decisive match led to the Devils' defeat to Washington, and in 1991 they failed to end the series with Pittsburgh. Their tandem broke up in June 1993, when Anaheim took Kasatonov from the waiver draft.
The most unfortunate
Sergei Bautin - Igor Ulanov, Winnipeg. Season 1992/93
There were so many Russians in the Jets in the early 90s that they simply couldn’t help but cross paths on the same team. But if Davydov and Zhamnov played with each other for a relatively long time and quite successfully, then John Paddock’s experiment with two Russian defenders in one pair did not succeed and was completed after several matches. Bautin did better with Teppo Numminen, and when he and Ulanov went out together, it became a little hot at the Winnipeg goal. Fans of the team still consider this combination to be one of the worst in the history of the Jets, although 20 years have passed since then.
Most successful
Vyacheslav Fetisov - Vladimir Konstantinov, Detroit. Season 1994/95 – 96/97
In Detroit, both had time to work with Larry Murphy, Paul Coffey and Nicklas Lidstrom, but it was playing with each other (as well as other members of the Russian Five) that they achieved their best results. Fetisov scored 42 points at the age of 38, Konstantinov was a real contender for the Norris Trophy, and the Red Wings set an NHL record for most wins in the regular season and won the Stanley Cup. Broad-shouldered and powerful like a tank, Vladimir ran forward great and protected his partner, who was experiencing yet another youth, and Fetisov reciprocated, enjoying his usual combination game.
They played their last match together on July 7, 1997, the day when Detroit completed the final playoff series with Philadelphia, and on the 13th, Konstantinov’s sports career was interrupted by a car accident. The next year, the Red Wings would win another Stanley Cup, and they would feature the Russian pair of defensemen Fetisov and Dmitry Mironov.
The unluckiest
Sergei Zubov - Sergei Gusev, Dallas. Season 1998/99
The two Sergei looked great in the Stars training camp in September 1998, scoring points and playing reliably on the first defensive pairing. They could have started the season with this lineup, but a week before the start of the regular season, Darryl Sidor, who was on strike, reached an agreement with Dallas and automatically received a place next to Zubov. Gusev was sent to the farm club, and when he returned, he almost never went on the ice with his namesake.
The toughest
Dmitry Yushkevich – Daniil Markov/Alexander Karpovtsev “Toronto”. Season 1998/99 – 2000/01
And one, and the second, and the third could attack any opponent or play against him so tightly that he disappeared from sight for the entire match. Markov and Yushkevich had a great series with the Flyers in 1999, shutting down the mighty Leclerc, and often played together in subsequent seasons. Karpovtsev and Markov were allowed to kill time in the minority, and the players, nicknamed “kamikazes” for their fearlessness, coped with this task. Yushkevich and Karpovtsev appeared together when it was necessary to “throw a jacket” on a high-speed sniper like Bure or Selanne.
The most difficult to pronounce
Sergei Vyshedkevich - Andrey Skopintsev, Atlanta. Season-2000/01
Thrashers coach Curt Frazier looked at this combination only in the preseason, for which the commentators of Atlanta matches are grateful to him to this day.
The longest running
Alexey Zhitnik - Dmitry Kalinin, Buffalo. Season 2000/01 – 2003/04
Zhitnik, who spent 28-30 minutes per match, managed to play not only with Kalinin, but also with Patrick and Shmeglik, but over time it was Dmitry who became his permanent partner. They went out and killed the minority, and realized the majority, defending against the strongest attacking opponents. After the lockout, Zhitnik left Buffalo for the Islanders, and the two never played together again.
The most unlucky-2
Darius Kasparaitis - Vladimir Malakhov, Rangers. Season 2002/03
Islanders head coach Al Arbor almost didn't use Malakhov and Kasparaitis together when they played for the Islanders, but the 2002-03 Rangers staff thought that some good could come out of this pairing. According to Brian Trottier, the tough and agile Kasparaitis was supposed to complement the creator Malakhov, and both looked decent in the preseason. But as soon as the official matches began, they started making mistakes, there were deletions and, as a result, defeats for the Rangers.
The pair were untenable either when playing in equal numbers or in the minority, where Darius is usually good. After five meetings, their total usefulness indicator was equal to “minus 7”, after which Trottier realized: either he was making changes in the composition, or changes would occur in the coaching position of the New Yorkers.
The most recent
Alexey Emelin - Andrey Markov, Montreal. Season 2011/12 – 2012/13
It was clear that they would play together after signing a contract with Emelin, but due to Markov’s injury, it was only possible to see this couple together in March 2012. The beginning was sad - one could not keep up with the other, and the other was constantly losing position - but their second season was much more successful. It’s a pity that Emelin is now injured. This well-matched pair would definitely come in handy in Sochi.
Olympic
Fyodor Tyutin - Nikita Nikitin, Columbus. Season 2011/12 – 2012/13
Both are on the extended list of the Russian national team, so why not? On the Blue Jackets, they often play side by side, they are trusted on the power play and don't skimp on playing time. Nikitin and Tyutin have not impressed at the last two World Championships, but they have not yet been on the national team together.
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