Valeri Kharlamov

Kharlamov was born in Moscow to Boris and Begoñita Kharlamov. Boris was a mechanic at a factory, Kommunar, while Begoñita 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). Boris 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 eight years old, Kharlamov moved to Spain with his mother, though they both returned to the Soviet Union after several months. ==Playing career==

Soviet League Kharlamov successfully tried-out for CSKA Moscow when he was 12, and joined their sports school. He joined the senior team for the 1967–68 season, and made his debut with CSKA on 22 October 1967 against HC Sibir. However, Anatoly Tarasov, the coach of the team, felt Kharlamov was not good enough for the team, so after 15 matches with CSKA he sent Kharlamov to join Zvezda Chebarkul, who played in the third division. He would lead the team in scoring with 34 goals in 32 games. The following season Kharlamov was brought back to CSKA full-time. In 42 games he scored 37 goals and had 12 assists and finished third in the league in scoring with 49 points; it was during a match in October 1968 that he was first put on a line with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov; the three of them would play together for the next years both with CSKA and internationally, forming one of the most famous lines in hockey history. In the off-season he and his linemates Petrov and Mikhailov were awarded the title of Merited Master of Sport in recognition of winning an international tournament (which would become the Izvestia Cup). Kharlamov scored a further 33 goals in 1969–70, and had placed fifth overall in points with 43, as CSKA won the league championship once again. He led the league in scoring for the first time in 1970–71, with 40 goals, and finished second overall in scoring with 52, and CSKA repeated as champions. Although Kharlamov never played in North America, he was drafted by the Calgary Broncos of the World Hockey Association, along with Soviet teammates Petrov and Alexander Maltsev in early 1972. ==International play==

World Championships Kharlamov's career in Soviet hockey was well established by the time he came to greater attention through his play in international hockey. His first tournament for the Soviet Union was the 1969 World Championship, where he helped the team capture the gold medal. Kharlamov was a fixture on the Soviet national team roster for the next decade. He played in eleven World Championships in total, capturing 8 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze. He was named to the tournament All-Star team four times (1971, 1972, 1973 and 1976). In the first game of the series, the Soviet Union stunned Canada with a 7–3 victory. Kharlamov scored two goals on Ken Dryden during the second period, and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Clarke would similarly admit to the act, later saying "If I hadn't learned to lay on a two-hander once in a while, I'd never have left Flin Flon." As for Kharlamov himself, he had little doubt that an attempt had been made to limit his effectiveness, "I'm convinced that Bobby Clarke was given the job of taking me out of the game." Two years later Kharlamov was in the Soviet lineup again during the 1974 Summit Series, playing against the best Canadian players from the World Hockey Association. The Soviets were victorious in this series, with four wins, one loss and three ties. Kharlamov scored two goals and added six assists in the series. According to his mother-in-law, Kharlamov had been planning to announce his retirement after playing in the 1981 tournament. ==Death==

Kharlamov was still active with CSKA when he was killed in a car crash on 27 August 1981. Prior to the crash, Kharlamov had been informed that he would not be a member of the Soviet team playing in the 1981 Canada Cup. Coach Viktor Tikhonov said that Kharlamov was left off the team over concerns about his conditioning. 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." ==Legacy==

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. Ilya Kovalchuk usually wears #17 in honor of Kharlamov in club competitions, his father's favorite player. In his memory, Sovetsky Sport newspaper 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. 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. One of the divisions in the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League is named in his honor as well. In 2013, director Nikolay Lebedev released the biopic Legend No. 17, with Danila Kozlovsky portraying Kharlamov for most of the film. The movie has been described as a personal favorite of Vladimir Putin. Kharlamov was posthumously inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 1998. 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. 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. ==Playing style==

Small in stature (he was measured as and during the Summit Series), Kharlamov was a gifted offensive player. 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." 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. He was very popular with his fans and teammates. ==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. ==Career statistics==

Regular season International ==Awards and honours==

Soviet Union and Russia International ==References==