Darius Kasparaitis is a Lithuanian-Russian hockey player who has built a successful career as a defender. Its main difference is the aggressive style of play, which has become his hallmark in professional sports.
short biography
Darius Vladovich Kasparaitis, who was born on October 16, 1972 in the Lithuanian city of Elektrenai, is the world famous Soviet hockey player. At the age of eight, he first put on his skates and went on the ice. He liked to slide across the field. So the athlete became addicted to hockey. Until the age of sixteen, the athlete lived in Lithuania, then moved to Russia.
In 1988, the Moscow junior HC Dynamo took on a young and promising defender named Darius Kasparaitis, whose playing style was noticeably different from that of the rest of the players. During one of the competitions between the Lithuanian and Russian teams, the hockey player behaved quite aggressively. Despite the loss, he did not miss the opportunity to knock harder than one of his rivals. Coach of the Moscow club Valery Vasiliev was amazed at this style of play in defense and invited Darius to his team. Kasparaitis constantly tried to put cuffs on someone even during training, and when he succeeded, he felt tremendous pleasure. If other athletes sought to score the puck, then the main goal of Darius was to prevent the opponent from reaching the goal at all costs.
The first steps in the career of a defender
Darius Kasparaitis, whose height is 1 m 80 cm and weight 95 kg, has been a member of the Moscow club for five years. With Dynamo, he participated in the seasonal championships of the USSR. Also played in Russian tournaments. In 1992, the athlete became a member of the CIS youth hockey team at the Winter Olympics. The combined team won the tournament against Canada with a score of 3: 1. As a result of the 1992 Olympics, the hockey player Darius Kasparaitis became the champion and won the title of best defender. The athlete twice participated in the World Youth Championship as part of the Russian team.
In 1992, the NHL draft of the Lithuanian-Russian hockey player was spotted by the American professional team New York Islanders and received rights to it in the first round. For five years in a club from the USA, Darius spent 254 matches, scored 6 goals and received 478 penalties. For his aggressive playing style, Kasparaitis was nicknamed "Casper - Unfriendly Ghost." The so-called Lithuanian-Russian athlete was invented by Scott Stevens, a well-known American defender of the New Jersey Devils HC.
Three-time participant in the Olympic Games
At the age of 24, Darius was transferred to the Pittsburgh Penguins pension team, where he spent six seasons. The defender played 443 matches for this club. In 1998, a hockey player played for the Russian team at the Olympics in Japan, in Nagano. He and his team won a silver medal, losing first place to Czech athletes. And four years later he defended the Russian team at the Winter Olympic Games in the US state - Utah. In 2002, the Russian team managed to become a bronze medalist.
In the same year, the defender changed the Pittsburgh club to Colorado Elevance from the city of Denver. In the third American team, Darius Kasparaitis spent only 32 games for six months, and then, as a free agent, he signed an agreement with the New York Rangers. For this HC, the athlete played 217 matches, scored 6 goals, received 260 penalties. After two seasons, the hockey player left for the Russian team “Ak Bars”, where he stayed for 1 year, and returned to the “New York Rangers”.
At the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Darius Kasparaitis became the defender of the Russian team once again. The photo of the athlete at that time was already familiar to hockey fans from around the world. At the games in Italy, the defender failed to get a prize. The Russian team reached the semifinals, but was defeated by the Czech national team with a score of 0: 3.
He left to return again!
In 2007, Darius Kasparaitis is again in Russia. He joined the SKA team from St. Petersburg, in which he played in the Continental Hockey League in the 2009/2010 season. This turned out to be the final year for a defender career. He left professional sports and began to engage in coaching.
But suddenly in 2014, when the hockey player was already forty-two, he appeared at the Lithuanian championship as part of the Hockey Panks team. The defender fought with the club from the city in which he was born (Elektrenai). During the four-year break, Darius did not lose his physical form, but rather looked rested and full of energy. He currently plays for Hockey Panks and plans to join the Lithuanian national team at the 2018 Olympics.
Darius Kasparaitis is married, has five children. The athlete is proud of his awards, his collection of medals is hung in the kitchen. In 2002, he was included in the list of eight untouchable hockey players of the Olympic team, and in 2004 he was one of the highest paid athletes in the Russian Federation, his annual income was about $ 4.5 million.