Leningrad. 1976. Photo by Nikale1
Look at these two photos. This is the same man - just his photos are separated by 33 years. I think he was underestimated at his time, underachieved and almost forgotten as a player. The 1974 Soviet champion he never played on World championships or Olympic. But you, my friends and hockey experts supposed to know him - he was a member of 1974 Soviet team played against Team Canada (WHA). I can provide the date and place he was born, but it turns the question into joke for such experts as Arthur, David or Joe. So, enough, his name is...
Moscow. 2009
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Сергей Котов?
ReplyDeleteLike David said, I also think it's Sergey Kotov. At least, the guy on the photo looks like him and I can see the KC logo on the jersey. I am just not sure about the underachieve part... The Krylya Sovetov were really great in 1974 - won the national championship, their head coach Kulagin became the national team coach and he begin with heavy influx of the KC players - Sidelnikov, Shatalov, Lebedev, Anisin, Bodunov, Repnev, Klimov, Kotov, Glukhov, Kapustin S. and I. And this is just the Krylya part. How about Spartak, CSKA... It was very competitive...
ReplyDeleteHis linemates Kapustin has won everything, Repnev at least won 1974 World champ. Kotov - just nothing, never had a chance, been in my opinion same calibre player as Lebedev, Bodunov, Repnev, Anisin. Maybe loosing to Kapustin only...
ReplyDeleteSo, it is KOTOV :-)
ReplyDeleteI am not arguing. Dunno. I always felt sorry for Bodunov. They had a great line and Lebedev and Anisin got ZMS title and Bodunov was left with "international class" - that kinda hurts. The whole line was fantastic and kinda didn't reach their potential.
Igor' Kapustin came a little later. They had a very promising young line in Krylya for a while in the late 70s: I. Kapustin-Romashin-Tyumenev. Looked like might be a great line for many years to come. Unfortunately, didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteWhat's interesting about the Lebedev-Anisin-Bodunov line was that in the beginning Anisin and Bodunov were considered the two top players on the line. The two of them at times would be playing for the national team while Lebedev was left off. But over time, Lebedev proved to be the best of the three, played for the national team long after Anisin and Bodunov stopped being considered.
ReplyDelete