Helmuts Balderis-Sildedzis (born 31 July 1952) is a former

Soviet 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 ...

and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n professional

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 ...

player. He played on the

right wing Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

and participated at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

, where the Soviet team unexpectedly lost to the United States. He played part of a single season in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

after being drafted in 1989 by the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

, becoming the oldest player to be drafted by an NHL team at the age of 36. In 1998, he was inducted into International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

Playing career

Balderis played in the Soviet Hockey League for

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

(1969–1977, 1980–1985) and

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

(1977–80), having been transferred to the latter as a precondition for being accepted in the Soviet national team. He was the leading scorer in the 1977 and 1984 seasons, winning the Player of the Year award in 1977. He was the best player of the

Latvian SSR The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Also known as the Latvian SSR, or Latvia) was a Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republic of the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1941, and then from 1944 until 1990. The Soviet occupation of the Bal ...

in the 1970s and 1980s and the most prolific scorer from the republic, tallying 333 goals in Soviet league play. Balderis played for the Soviet national team at multiple tournaments, winning the silver medal at the

and gold medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. Overall, Balderis played in five World Championships (1976–1979, 1983),

1976 Canada Cup The 1976 Canada Cup was an international ice hockey tournament held September 2 to 15, 1976, in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Quebec City in Canada as well as in Philadelphia, in the United States. It was the first of five Canada Cup ...

and 1980 Winter Olympics. He was named Best Forward in the 1977 World Championships. Balderis was not selected for the USSR's 1984 Olympic team and played in only one major international tournament after he left CSKA Moscow to go back to play for Dinamo Riga in 1980. In 1985, Balderis retired and became a coach in Japan. He returned in 1989, when Soviet players were allowed to play in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

. Balderis was drafted by the

, playing 26 games and scoring 3 goals with 6 assists. He became the oldest player drafted by an NHL team (36) and the oldest player to score his first goal (37). He retired again after one season in Minnesota, but came out of retirement for the second time when

regained its independence. Balderis played several games for the newly recreated Latvian national team (in 1992), serving as its captain and scoring 2 goals. He later coached the team and served as its general manager. As of 2017, he serves as a board member of the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation.

Awards

* Soviet league First All-Star Team (1977) * Izvestia Trophy (Soviet League Top Scorer) (1977, 1983) *Soviet League Player of the Year (1977) *World Championships All-Star Team (1977) *Named Best Forward at the World Championships (1977) *Leading Scorer of the Latvian League (1993) *In 1998, he was inducted into International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
Helmut Balderis at Team CCCP International

Helmūts Balderis-Sildedzis at The Latvian Olympic Committee

Helmuts Balderis at The Russian Ice Hockey Federation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balderis, Helmuts 1952 births Living people Dinamo Riga players Dynamo Sports Club sportspeople HC CSKA Moscow players Ice hockey players at the 1980 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Latvian ice hockey right wingers Minnesota North Stars draft picks Minnesota North Stars players Olympic ice hockey players for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for the Soviet Union Soviet expatriate ice hockey players Soviet expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ice hockey people from Riga Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples