Gorilla Crouch

Hells yes!

Official announcement:

TORONTO (June 17, 2008) — Bill Hay, Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors and Jim Gregory, Chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee, announced today that Glenn Anderson and Igor Larionov have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Player Category.
…
Igor Larionov was already one of the top hockey players in the world when he made his NHL debut in 1989 at the age of 29. A native of Voskresensk in the former USSR he won eight consecutive Russian League Championships with CSKA Moscow in the Soviet Elite League and won Player of the Year in 1988. A member of the Soviet National team he won two Olympic gold medals (1984 and 1988). Igor played for the Vancouver Canucks from 1989 to 1992, the San Jose Sharks from 1993 to 1995 and then Detroit Red Wings for eight seasons — including three Stanley Cup championships.

A year late probably makes it even sweeter for Igor Larionov, a man who was quite familiar with having to wait in order to make history. Just check out his Wikipedia page:

Along with Viacheslav Fetisov, he was instrumental in breaking the barrier that stopped Soviet players from joining the National Hockey League.
…
Like many Soviet players, Larionov chafed under the draconian coaching style of Viktor Tikhonov, who doubled as coach of CSKA and the Soviet national team. He’d been drafted by the Vancouver Canucks in 1985, but Tikhonov used his Communist Party connections to keep him from leaving until 1989. Larionov was particularly upset that Tikhonov kept his players confined to barracks for as much as 11 months a year even when they were married (CSKA was a functioning division of the Soviet Army). He told a Russian magazine that with the players being away from home for so long, “it is a wonder our wives manage to give birth.”[1]

Larionov eventually became the leader of the Soviet players’ efforts to win their freedom, leading Tikhonov to kick him off the Soviet national team under suspicion that he might defect to the West. Only the lobbying of Fetisov and other players brought Larionov back to the squad.

Larionov finally went to the NHL in 1989, along with many other Soviet players, including all four of his of this “Green Unit” mates. They were sold in order to infuse the cash-strapped Sovintersport (the governing body for sports in the former Soviet Union), which would draw a portion of the players’ salaries.

So it’s small wonder Larionov took the initial rejection last year from the Hall of Fame in stride:

“It’s not the end of the world, I can tell you that,” Larionov told The Canadian Press upon learning the news. “It’s OK with me. I’m absolutely not disappointed.

“Those are four great players [Ron Francis, Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis, and Mark Messier], and I just wish them all the best. It’s a good day for them and that’s fine.”

The Hall only inducts four people maximum each year and it just so happened that the competition during Larionov’s first year of eligibility was brutal. This year he goes in alongside former Edmonton Oiler Glenn Anderson, Ed Chynoweth who was a former WHL commissioner, and former NHL linesman Ray Scapinello.

One of the best passers in the
game with puck on his stick

For Red Wings fans there are two lasting moments for which Larionov will always be remembered. The first occurred in the 1990’s when Larionov was part of the Russian Five or Red Army unit that included Vyacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Fedorov, Slava Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov.


clockwise: Kozlov, Konstantinov, Fedorov, Fetisov, Larionov

The other will be Larionov’s goal in the third overtime in Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup finals against the Carolina Hurricanes. That was the game that turned the tide in the series, as the Wings would easily win the next two games to claim the championship. Here’s the clip:



Amongst those people congratulating Larionov you can see a young Pavel Datsyuk, who was a rookie on that 2002 team. So congratualtions to the Professor. Lift a glass of wine to toast the vintner on gaining hockey legend status. It’s a well-deserved honor, made even sweeter by coming a year after his first shot at entering the Hockey Hall of Fame.

UPDATE: Bill takes a break from vacation to offer up another of the professor’s highlights.

Hockey Hall of Fame Igor Larionov Red Wings

June 18th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

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