Nikolai Drozdetsky is a legend of domestic hockey. This striker in his career has won many club and international tournaments. Nikolai has come a long way from a boy from a working-class family to the main star of the USSR hockey team.
The beginning of the sports path
Nikolai Drozdetsky was born in the city of Kolpino on June 14, 1957. As a child, he was an athletic child. Nikolai played hockey and football in the Smena courtyard team. In 1971, his team became the first in the Golden Puck tournament. Drozdetsky made a great contribution to the success of the team.
Victory in the tournament allowed the Smena team to participate in the final competitions in Novokuznetsk. There, a modest team from the city of Kolpino won bronze medals. All coaches noted the technical skills of the young hockey player. He was the clear leader of that team. That is why he was invited to the sports club "Izhorets". There, Nikolai Drozdetsky began to train a well-known hockey player Anatoly Gorelov in the past.
In the new club, the level of training of children was higher than in the yard team. But despite this, Nikolai was also the main scorer of the club. Kolpino hockey players in the season 1971-1972 won the championship of Leningrad. This was the first victory in the history of the youth team from the city of Kolpino.
The beginning of a professional career
In 1975, our hero was invited to the USSR youth hockey team to participate in the World Cup. At that tournament, our hero played as a defender. His defense partner was then still unknown to anyone Vyacheslav Fetisov. At that tournament, our team won gold medals. Immediately after the winning championship, Drozdetsky was invited to the SKA main team.
Already in September, his first game as part of the new club took place. The hockey player immediately became the main star of the team. Fans watched his game with great enthusiasm. In 1976, hockey player Nikolai Drozdetsky again performed in the USSR international tournament. Only now for the youth team. They managed to repeat the success of the junior team. Nikolay was again an indispensable player during the matches.
Transition to CSKA
Hockey player Nikolai Drozdetsky by that time became one of the brightest strikers of the USSR. Therefore, in 1979, he moved to the legendary CSKA club at that time . His teammates were stars such as: Kharlamov, Tretyak, Fetisov, Petrov, Mikhailov and many other famous players. Nikolay was not lost among such an abundance of strong players. He regularly came out in the starting lineup and scored goals. In this Moscow club, he played from 1979 to 1987. During this time, Drozdetsky together with CSKA Moscow won the national championship seven times and the European champions cup eight times.
Speeches for the main team of the USSR
The debut of Nikolai Vladimirovich Drozdetsky for the main team took place in a friendly match against Finland. Then he successfully played for the international team at the Swedish Cup. Our team won this prestigious tournament, and Drozdetsky became the top scorer in its results. Within a year, our team wins the World Cup. Nikolay became one of the few who won this tournament as part of national teams of all ages.
In 1981, this legendary striker helped his home team win the Canada Cup for the first time. The following year, the hockey player became a two-time world champion. For his great contribution to the victory of the national team, Nikolai Drozdetsky was awarded the title "Honored Master of Sports". In the same year, he and his team won gold at the Olympics in Sarajevo. After this victory, significant for Soviet sport, he was awarded a government award - the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
The legendary striker spent his last match for the national team in 1985 at the World Cup in Prague. There, our team became the bronze medalist of the competition. In total, Nikolai Drozdetsky played 109 matches for the national team, in which he scored 64 goals.
last years of life
Since 1989, our hero began to play for the Swedish club Boros. Local spectators specially came to hockey to admire the legendary Soviet athlete. In 1994, doctors diagnosed him with diabetes. Despite the disease, Drozdetsky continued to play. Doctors claimed that they have a lot of players with such pathology in the league. In 1995, the illustrious hockey player came home to stay with his mother. In a dream, a coma came from which he could not be deduced. The cause of the death of Nikolai Drozdetsky, of course, is his illness, which he was previously diagnosed with.
N. Drozdetsky forever inscribed his name in the history of Soviet sports. This legendary striker over the years of his career has won a large number of trophies. Drozdetsky always remembered his hometown. Even at the peak of his career, he visited children from the Izhorets hockey club. In 1991, he revived the yard team "Change". After the death of Nikolai Vladimirovich, the school was named in his honor. This hockey player is a real hero of the city of Kolpino. All the children from this city want to be like their idol.