“This boy, as a gift of fate, has no weaknesses, he is phenomenal, he has a fantastic stick,” Sergei Gimaev, a well-known hockey coach and expert, awarded 16-year-old Sergey Samsonov with such epithets.
It is no secret that young advances often receive such advances. But only a few manage to realize their full potential. One of them is the Russian hockey player Samsonov Sergey Viktorovich.
The first steps
Much in the sports career of Sergei Samsonov happened, rather, contrary to any specific patterns. Sergey was born on October 27, 1978 in Moscow. The capital city provided a wide selection of different sports clubs and sections. However, at first, Sergei’s parents did not even think of giving their child to the sport. But, as they say: "There would be no happiness, but misfortune helped." On the recommendation of doctors, after suffering pneumonia, the decision to send the child to sports was the most correct. Moreover, at first the question of serious sports was not raised. Sergey made the first steps in hockey Samsonov at the Dynamo sports school. However, two years later, at the insistence of his father, the guy moved to an army school. At the age of fourteen, fate threw Samsonov into the hockey junior league in Germany, where he loudly declared himself, having scored 200 goals in a season.
Career in Russia
Russian hockey fans discovered Samsonov on November 14, 1994. A friendly match was held in Luzhniki between CSKA and the Russian Stars team, which included such masters as Fetisov, Makarov, Fedorov, Larionov and many others. Sergey Samsonov is a hockey player who played under the fortieth number, but his surname did not even appear in the program for the match. Fans had to guess that for a nimble kid, over and over again, he was straining the defense of hockey stars. In that game, Sergey was marked by an abandoned puck. This was followed by a tour with the CSKA youth team in North America. CSKA played thirty matches, winning twenty-two of them. The lion's share of the pucks came from two hockey players: Sergei Samsonov and Andrei Petrunin. Against the backdrop of such a successful game, an invitation to the junior national team of Russia to participate in the European Championship follows. Despite the team’s disastrous performance, Sergey Samsonov, the forward, was recognized as the best in the championship, and he ends up in the symbolic national team.
The season 1995-96, Sergei holds already in the rank of the main player of CSKA. Twenty-one abandoned puck and the prize of the best rookie of the season somewhat brightened the generally unsuccessful performance of the army club.
Departure overseas
Even at that moment it was clear that a talented young man would not stay in Russia for long. The only question that arose for the fans was what method of departure Sergey Samsonov would choose. Civilized, waiting for a draft, or directly signing a contract through an agent? Fate herself pushed Sergei to choose the second option. At that time in Russia, constant court proceedings were going on around CSKA. The option of creating an alternative club was seriously discussed. The legendary Viktor Tikhonov survived from the team . In this situation, Samsonov decides to move to North America to the Vipers IHL club. And already in the first season at Vipers Sergey helped his team win the Turner Cup. It is worth noting that this was the only victory of Vipers in the history of the club. Sergey Samsonov is a hockey player who, according to the results of the season, was recognized as the best rookie in the IHL league.
NHL debut
After the 1997 season, it became clear that Samsonov outgrew the level of IHL. In the 1997 draft, he was selected under number eight by the NHL Boston Bruins. At first, the skeptical predictions of some experts who justified the fact that according to their anthropometric data (Sergey’s height was only 174 cm) were justified, Samsonov would find it difficult to play in the strongest hockey league in the world. The first twenty-five games in the NHL brought the following statistical results: 3 goals, 9 assists and a terrifying indicator of utility - 10. But, as it turned out, a lot depended on the partners in the game three. With the transfer to the link to Ellison and Christ, Sergey’s affairs improved. Samsonov began to regularly score and assist partners. As a result, at the end of the season Sergey wins the Calder Trophy - a prize awarded to the best newcomer of the season in the NHL.
Career in the NHL
In total, Boston Bruins Sergey Samsonov spent eight seasons. In March 2006, the club management decides to sell it to the Edmonton Oilers, the NHL mid-club. And suddenly, with the advent of Sergei, the oil industry changed. Having issued a winning streak at the finish of the regular season, Edmonton is in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There miracles continue: Samsonov's team unexpectedly reaches the finals, where in the seven-match confrontation inferior to hockey players from Carolina.
Samsonov has 15 points. It would seem that Sergey’s career is going up sharply, but the subsequent transition to Montreal, for a large salary, erases all hopes. Sergey was never able to fully fit into the Montreal game model. A disastrous season followed, followed by an exchange at Chicago, where the situation worsened. Zero abandoned goals in twenty-four games - and the Chicago leadership sends the once formidable striker to the farm club, at the same time exposing him to the rejection draft.
It would seem that the dream of big hockey can be tied. But another chance was given to Samsonov by the leaders of Carolina Hurricanes, who signed a three-year contract with Sergey. In Carolina, viewers fragmentarily saw Samsonov, whom they managed to fall in love with over the years spent in the NHL. However, the age and consequences of the injuries did not allow Sergei to fully realize his playing potential. And in 2011, Sergey Samsonov ends his career as a professional hockey player. Currently, he continues to work in the club system from Carolina, performing scout duties.
Here is such a sporting fate for one of the most prominent representatives of hockey Russia in the 90s. With its ups and downs, successes and failures ...