A true genius in his field, multiple champion, virtuoso on ice and just a good, purposeful person Igor Larionov became a real hockey legend. “To describe Igor is the same as trying to explain the brightness of the sun with a candle flame,” his contemporaries said about him.
The first love of hockey
Igor Nikolaevich Larionov was born on December 3, 1960 in the city of Voznesensk, in which the main attraction of that time was the Khimik hockey club. Seven-year-old Igor was instilled with a passion for hockey by his older brother Eugene, who was a member of this club. The enviable enthusiasm and enthusiasm with which Zhenya was engaged in hockey could not help developing a passionate love for this sport in Igor's young receptive heart. He was so carried away by hockey that, in the absence of his brother, he took his skates and rushed into the yard, where he rode for hours on ice.
The older brother, seeing Igor’s deep passion, took his younger brother to the hockey club. Trained the guys then Vyacheslav Odinokov, who became his first teacher.
Hockey sports youth
Hockey became for the future champion his life, goal, meaning. Although, despite this, the hockey player did not abandon his studies at school, justifying himself by the lack of time. Parents demanded high academic performance, and their son tried not to disappoint - the only bad mark could be that which was put for frequent passes due to constant trips to the games. The boy was curious enough to combine both school and hockey.
Igor Larionov received his first recognition at the Golden Puck tournament, which was held in his hometown. The talents of the leading striker were noticed by coach Nikolai Epstein, who himself, already a master of sports, at that time could not miss the potential of a sixteen-year-old hockey player, and was not slow to take him into an adult team. It was he who helped Igor to reveal all his abilities and gave him a ticket to professional sports.
Athlete's determination and personality
Possessing a peculiar manner of playing peculiar only to him, Igor was quite content with the combination tactics that the Chemist preferred. He loved the quick movements, suddenness and offensive actions inherent in her. Therefore, Igor Larionov, the hockey player whose photo you see in the article, quickly won the sympathy of the audience who loved his special approach to this sport.
His personality, according to some, was explained by a serious passion for other sports: volleyball, basketball and a special love for football. It is difficult to describe the whole gamut of feelings and emotions that seventeen-year-old Igor Larionov survived after his first match at the USSR Championship and a goal that the hockey player scored by Vladimir Myshkin himself.
The first hard steps to fame
Soon, such famous clubs as Dynamo, CSKA and Spartak began to pay attention to him. The athlete categorically did not want to go to CSKA: he was not satisfied with the peculiar methodology of coach Viktor Tikhonov, which was based on strict discipline and the same inhuman training methods that not everyone could withstand. Later, he will describe it in full detail in the magazine "Spark", writing the article as a letter of appeal to the coach.
As always, life decided in its own way: in order to avoid military service, Igor, after playing three seasons in Khimik, had to leave his native team with his coach Nikolai Epstein and go to Tikhonov in CSKA. Hockey player's fears were not in vain. His life under the "sensitive" leadership of Tikhonov turned into a semblance of a maximum security prison: almost all prohibitions, constant separation from his family, heavy, unbearable loads. The reason was the idea of the “iron” coach to create an unbeatable five, which would not stand a single gate.
As part of CSKA, Igor Larionov was the unchanging champion, and in the 1980s he began to play as the center forward in the legendary five: V. Fetisov, V. Krutov, S. Makarov, A. Kasatonov. Having won 9 seasons with CSKA, the champion scored 204 goals, and in 69 international matches, 27 goals and 38 assists. The talented and famous Larionov for his unusual specifics of the game was nicknamed the "professor" and recognized as the best hockey player.
Unfortunately, because of the unwillingness to put up with Tikhonov’s tactics, the young champion was deprived of visits for a year. At this time, the hockey player met his future wife - the famous skater Elena Batalova, with whom in the future he had two daughters and one son.
Big changes
After the conflict with Tikhonov, Larionov Igor got blood and then obtained permission to go abroad to exchange sportsmen in Vancouver. There, having received the long-awaited freedom and instantly won the love of fans, he became the best hockey player in the Vancouver Canucks club. Having played three fruitful seasons, Igor Larionov moved to Switzerland and became a member of the Lugano club, in which he scored 13 goals in 32 matches. Later, as part of the “Russian five” of the Russian players, created by coach Scotty Bowman in Detroit, he won victory after victory with them.
The last club in the career of the famous hockey player was the New Jersey Devils. Having played in it not very successfully, Igor Larionov, whose photo you see in the article, left the sport in 2004 at the age of 44, having spent the last match in Moscow.
Life outside of sports
Today, Igor Larionov, the master of sports, is a hockey agent helping young beginner athletes in North America. Living in Switzerland, he was seriously interested in winemaking, which resulted in his own winery, opened by him in California.