Anatoli Vasilievich Firsov (; 1 February 1941 – 24 July 2000) was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

left wing and center, who competed internationally for the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In the

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

, he won the scoring title four times and was named the best forward three times. He was also named the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

in the Soviet hockey league three times. Between 1964 and 1972, Firsov played 166 games for the national team. He scored 134 goals, and won three Olympic and eight world titles. Firsov played in

HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a professional ice hockey club based in Moscow, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is referred to in the West as "Central R ...

. He eventually would become one of the best forwards in Soviet hockey. Despite this he would not participate in the 1972 Summit Series against Canada. Many believe this was a result of

Anatoli Tarasov Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov (; 10 December 1918 – 23 June 1995) was a Russian ice hockey player and coach (sports), coach. Tarasov is considered "the father of Russian ice hockey" and established the Soviet Union national ice hockey team, So ...

's exclusion from the coaching staff. In 1972, while still playing for CSKA Moscow, Firsov began working as an assistant coach for the club. Between 1976 and 77 he was the head coach of the Soviet junior team, which won a bronze medal at the 1977 World Championship. From 1977 and until his death he worked as a children's hockey coach. In 1989, Firsov was elected to the Congress of People's Deputies, running on a policy of improving health conditions and sporting facilities. In 1998, he was inducted to the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

. Firsov died in 2000 at the age of 59.

Early life

Firsov was born and raised in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

on February 1, 1941. The family consisted of three children. When Firsov was only one month old, his father was killed in action during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and thus, he was raised by a single mother. Growing up, Firsov's family experienced economic hardship. His mother worked at a kindergarten which was not a well paying job. Initially, Firsov did not play

. Instead, he played

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

which was more popular than ice hockey at the time in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The two sports share many similarities. One of the biggest differences between bandy and ice hockey is that the former uses a ball while the latter uses a puck. Firsov first played bandy as a member of his backyard team. He was initially slotted in as a

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

, a position that was usually reserved for undersized kids and kids with no equipment. During the summer, Firsov would play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

which helped keep him in shape all year long. Due to the lack of money in the family, Firsov had to make his own stick and skates. His stick consisted of a shaft carved from a

cherry tree A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The name ...

and the blade of his stick was made from

shaft bow A shaft bow is an element of horse harness that is attached to the front of the shafts of a horse-drawn vehicle and joins them by arching high above the neck of the horse. Use of the shaft bow is widespread in the area east of the Baltic Sea (R ...

s which he acquired by stealing from horse yards at night. The sticks broke easily and Firsov had to make new ones regularly. Meanwhile, his skates were composed of a boot with a blade laced at the bottom with a string. Despite these setbacks, Firsov quickly became considered as one of the best young talents. At around 11 years old, he was playing against 16 year olds and at around 12 years old, he was playing against men that had served in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. It was not until Firsov was around 15 years old, that he learned about ice hockey. Firsov had a little difficulty with the different equipment at the beginning. Bandy sticks had a smaller blade compared to hockey sticks and Firsov felt that the larger blade interfered a little. However, Firsov credits the larger bandy fields for strengthening his endurance as he had to skate longer distances because bandy fields would be approximately 100m in length compared to hockey's 60m in length.

Awards

* Soviet MVP: 1968, 1969, and 1971 * Soviet scoring champion: 1966 * Soviet goal-scoring leader: 1966 *

scoring leader: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971 *

goal-scoring leader: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971 *

best forward: 1967, 1968, 1971 *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(1972) * two Orders of the Badge of Honor (1965 and 1968) * Inducted into the

in 1998

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Anatoli Firsov at CCCP International
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Firsov, Anatoli 1941 births 2000 deaths Communist Party of the Soviet Union members HC CSKA Moscow players HC Spartak Moscow players Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Ice hockey players at the 1964 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1968 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1972 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Winter Olympics Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union Olympic ice hockey players for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in ice hockey Ice hockey people from Moscow Soviet ice hockey left wingers