Mikhail Maltsev hockey. Maltsev likes to think

Childhood and family of Alexander Maltsev

The famous hockey player was born in the village of Setkovtsy, located less than twenty kilometers from Kirovo-Chepetsk. Both Alexander’s father and mother are from this village. Today, however, the village no longer exists. The family had many children. Sasha’s mother did not work, she ran the house, looked after the children, and cultivated the garden. Their father worked as a mechanic and was their only breadwinner.

In 1952, the family moved to Kirovo-Chepetsk. There was a large plant there, where my father went to work. He worked in a workshop with the most harmful conditions (a workshop with mercury) for the sake of an increased salary. Money was always tight. The mother washed the entrances for additional income; her children often helped her with this.

Sasha absorbed his father’s modesty and hard work. From his mother he inherited liveliness, mobility and empathy. Since childhood, he was thrifty and knew how to value work. The boys of his yard also had a great influence on him. Together they played volleyball, football and hockey.

He first tried homemade skates at the age of six. His father made them for him. These were runners that were worn on felt boots. The guys in the yard were clearing the area and carrying buckets of water from the house to fill it. They could play hockey until eleven in the evening. At the age of ten, the future hockey player was also interested in football, and was even the captain of the city team. In those years, many boys dreamed of the Trud children's football school.

Maltsev's first steps in sports

Despite his passion for sports, Maltsev studied very well, not considering that sports could be the reason for an unfinished assignment. He was an excellent student in several classes.

When Sasha was about to enroll in the hockey section, his mother was against it, asking her son why he needed all this. However, he showed firmness, declaring that he would still play.

Alexander was not accepted into the hockey section right away; the reason was the boy’s short stature. But thanks to unprecedented persistence, coach Nikolai Polyakov was forced to take him to the Khimik children's team.

USSR national team Alexander Maltsev

By the age of fifteen, hockey was already in first place for the boy, displacing football and other hobbies. The successes were obvious. In the region there was fame about him as an unusual player. He always strived to play in a team where the guys were two or three years older, and asked the coaches about this. Such a game strengthened the athlete. Sometimes mother and father also came to cheer for their son.

Often after his training, he would also stay for training with older guys; he would not leave the rink for a long time even after all training had ended, practicing his shot for hours.

The beginning of the career of hockey player Alexander Maltsev

Nikolai Epstein was the first to notice him. The young athlete was then only seventeen, and he played at Olimpia (formerly Khimik). The coach wanted to invite the boy to his team, but did not advertise it yet. He took him to Sweden to see what international competitions were like. There his team competed for the Aherne Cup.

Around the same time, Viktor Tikhonov noticed him and immediately called him to Dynamo. In 1969, as part of the national team, he went to score goals at the Olympics, where he was able to show himself as the top scorer. A year passed, and at the World Championships the talented guy became the best striker on the planet. He managed to score fifteen goals.

The athlete had incredible speed and could easily bypass anyone. The ability to quietly send the puck into the goal made Alexander very dangerous for any goalie. Everyone was talking about his sharp wrist shot, which no one could repeat.

Maltsev's game in big hockey

Sasha, unlike many young athletes, having moved to the “adult” level, did not play worse. Coming out with the team for the first time against the Canadians, he scored a goal, and later, together with the country’s main team, he collected all the gold in the world.

All goalkeepers were afraid of him, as he could always outwit them with his invisible deception movements and signature throw. Alexander was a real virtuoso. With incredible speed, technique and leadership qualities, he became an indispensable player. The athlete played in different combinations of attacking threes.

The hockey player managed to break many records during his sports career. He participated in 319 matches. He scored 211 goals for the USSR national team. Such records have not yet been broken by anyone. At that time it was believed that the Union team was half Maltsev.

The decline of the career of hockey player Alexander Maltsev

In the early eighties, Alexander scored fewer goals; for the most part, he passed passes, acting as a dispatcher. This did not make it any easier for the opponents to play against Dynamo; as soon as the hockey star appeared on the field, the number of goals scored immediately increased. He made such passes that it was simply impossible not to score.

In 1984, the athlete’s farewell match took place. The national team defeated the European team. The score was 7:3. Six years later, he played several matches as part of the Hungarian team Ujpest.

Personal life, Alexander Maltsev now

Maltsev was talented not only in hockey, he played excellent basketball, tennis and football. He would have made an excellent football player, as Konstantin Beskov said.

A street in his hometown was named after Maltsev, and the Ice Palace, which opened in 2011, was named in his honor. In 2009, a commemorative coin was issued with the image of the unsurpassed hockey player.

Since 2010, Alexander Maltsev has taken the position of adviser to the president of OHC Dynamo; he is also a member of the board of trustees of his native club.

Last season. Alexander Maltsev

Maltsev was a close friend of another equally famous and talented hockey player - Valery Kharlamov. Even before each started a family, they communicated a lot, and at competitions they stayed in the same room. Together they collected records during the Soviet years and vacationed together.

The tragic death of Valery in a car accident, which happened in 1981, broke Alexander. He could not attend the funeral, since at that time he was with the national team in Canada, the coaches did not let him go. Later he said that he never had a friend like Kharlamov again.

Maltsev is married. Susanna Maltseva - teacher. In 1974, a small son appeared in the family, who was named after his father. When Maltsev got an apartment in Moscow, it immediately became known to many hockey players, since the athlete was famous for his hospitality; there were always many guests in the house.

Lone heroes always inspire admiration. Even without decent support, they boldly go against fate, setting themselves and implementing the most ambitious plans. Alexander Maltsev was such a hockey player. The only thing that the most skillful forward could not do in his great career was to lead Dynamo Moscow to victory in the USSR Championship, but even without it, Alexander Nikolaevich forever wrote his name in golden letters in the history of hockey.

Maltsev Alexander Nikolaevich

Born 04/20/1949

Career:

Dynamo Moscow (1967-1984; 529 matches, 329 goals).

Team Achievements:

Olympic champion 1972, 1976.
Silver medalist at the 1980 Olympic Games.
World champion 1969-1971, 1973-1975, 1978, 1981, 1983.
European Champion 1969, 1970, 1973-1975, 1978, 1981, 1983.
Silver medalist at the 1972 and 1976 World Championships.
Bronze medalist at the 1977 World Championships.
Silver medalist of the USSR championships in 1971, 1972, 1977-1980.
Bronze medalist of the USSR championships 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1981-1983.
Winner of the USSR Cup 1972, 1976.

Personal achievements:

Best striker of the World and European Championships 1970, 1972, 1981.
The best hockey player of the USSR in 1972.
The absolute record holder of the USSR national team in matches (319) and goals scored (212).

Kirovo-Chepetsk-Voskresensk-Moscow

Maltsev was born in Kirovo-Chepetsk. It was there that the young striker began his career. But Alexander was not allowed to stay long at the local Olympia. Known for his insight, Nikolai Semenovich Epstein saw in Sasha Maltsev the qualities inherent in a great player, and invited him to his team at Khimik in Voskresensk.

After the debutant played well in the international tour of the Resurrectionists, people started talking about the talented young man. Epstein understood that such a diamond needed to be cut in the capital, and let Maltsev polish his skills at Dynamo Moscow.

Right off the bat

Perhaps Maltsev was even lucky that he did not end up at CSKA at such an early age under the gaze of dictator Tarasov. Dynamo head coach Arkady Ivanovich Chernyshev was the opposite of Anatoly Vladimirovich. Gentle in character, Chernyshev immediately warmed to Alexander and subsequently forgave the team leader for many offenses off the ice.

And on the ice the young forward was inimitable. The leader of the blue and white 60s, Vladimir Yurzinov, was not as bright as before the attack of appendicitis, and the Muscovites did not see other players of this caliber. Everything changed with the advent of Alexander.

Dynamo played the first matches of the 1967/1968 season – Maltsev’s debut in the blue and white uniform – away. All the more surprising was the fact that yesterday’s debutant returned from Dynamo’s away tour as the team’s first scorer. The fans came to the first home match of the championship with curiosity.

Since then, they went not just to hockey, but “to Maltsev.” The presence of Alexander in the match lineup is a guarantee of spectacle. Early Maltsev is a top-class sniper. Breathtaking skating, excellent speed, precise wrist shot - everything was there under the new Dynamo leader.

To put it mildly, Maltsev did not get lost in the USSR national team either, quickly bursting into it, having undergone training in the junior team. At his second World Championship, Alexander becomes the best sniper and, as one would expect, is recognized as the best forward of the tournament. The continuation of the scoring extravaganza is not long in coming - at every tournament, defending the colors of his country, the Dynamo player is among the best.

True, each rule is usually characterized by its exception, which for Alexander was the legendary 1972 Super Series against Canadian professionals. The fact is that instead of the grueling training camp that preceded the battle with the Canadians, Maltsev rested in Sochi. It is logical to assume that the striker’s physical condition left much to be desired.

It would seem that the player has committed a complete offense, after which a natural punishment should follow. But Maltsev was forgiven. By the time he was twenty-three years old, he had become untouchable. However, the lack of a functional base took its toll - Alexander was never able to score during the entire series. But even after such a fiasco, the Canadians did not lose faith in the Dynamo Moscow phenomenon. And you can understand them - outwardly, Maltsev’s actions looked impeccable, but the puck did not obey.

National team record holder and Dynamo's lone hero

To Alexander’s credit, such embarrassments did not happen to him again. Moreover, Maltsev went down in history as the national team’s record holder for matches played for it and for goals scored in its composition. And all this took place against the backdrop of another record - during his performances for the national team, Alexander appeared in sixty-eight attacking triples!

Meanwhile, Maltsev, almost single-handedly, was dragging on Dynamo, which had become his home. But Dynamo had a real problem in those years - sometimes they lost “their” white and blue points in fights with outsiders and strong middle peasants. The team did not have the safety margin so necessary for justified claims to gold medals and the same powerful trio as the army trio - -. And when Alexander was injured, the entire system of play of the blue and whites collapsed.

Alexander Maltsev - Dynamo leader

Injuries and age deprived Maltsev of the main trump card of his youth - speed. From a sniper, Alexander retrained as an assistant. Fortunately, his gaming thinking was developed at the highest level. How much trouble did the Maltsev-Pervukhin pairing cause for Dynamo's opponents - Alexander waited for the defender to connect to the far post, and when Vasily got into a killer position, he supplied him with a well-calibrated pass, after which it was more difficult to miss than to score. Maltsev was a universal player - he could play both a center forward and a winger with equal success.

Friendship with Kharlamov

Without exception, all his colleagues spoke flatteringly about Alexander. Of course, he had the chance to play with almost every one of them either in the national team or in Dynamo. Maltsev was especially friends with Valery Kharlamov. Standing out from the rest on the ice, they found a common language in everyday life.

How do you like this story - on September 18, 1973, CSKA and Dynamo met in a head-to-head confrontation. The army team starts more than confidently - during the meeting they lead 6:1, but Dynamo gradually come to their senses and eventually reduce the match to a draw - 7:7. Alexander Maltsev scores a hat-trick, and the next day... gets married. The witness at the wedding was yesterday's enemy, but in life his best friend Valery Kharlamov...

Maltsev became the best forward of the 1981 World Championship, preparing for the Canada Cup, but on August 27, terrible news came - Valery Kharlamov crashed to death. The loss of his best friend could not but affect Alexandra. He, of course, played a little more than two more seasons, but from the moment of Valery’s death his career began to approach its natural finish, which came in 1984.

Phenomenon

There were no people indifferent to the game of Alexander Nikolaevich Maltsev. Dynamo fans idolized him, fans of other teams feared and respected him, and his colleagues treated him with marked warmth and sincere admiration.

Even the master of the coaching department of the Soviet Union, Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov, known for his despotic character, called Maltsev “the Yesenin of Russian hockey.” The legendary mentor was right - you couldn’t say anything better about the iconic forward of Dynamo Moscow and the USSR national team.

Young hockey player Mikhail Maltsev joined SKA quite recently. Mikhail told Piterstory what it was like to go on the ice with world hockey stars, explained how important it is to listen to the coach, and shared his love for St. Petersburg.

— Your first match as part of SKA was against Lada. What are your impressions of the game?

- I only played for a minute. Came out at the end of the third period. There is screaming and noise all around. I didn’t really understand anything, I even felt dizzy. I forgot how to play hockey. Then I managed to get myself together. It’s good that I trained with the team earlier, and mentally it was easier for me.

— Did you manage to make friends with any of the guys?

— Now I communicate more with young guys. It's somehow easier with them. But experienced players support me. After every game they say what should have been done, where to pass. Between periods, seasoned hockey players constantly give advice. In general, I consider myself lucky. My favorite hockey player is Pavel Datsyuk (Editor's note - SKA captain), I play on the same team with him. He is an experienced player, the best center in the world in my opinion. He can lead the team, score goals, encourages us and motivates us, gives advice in training and games. As a person, Datsyuk is very modest. He has always been modest. It's an honor to play with such a great hockey player.

There is screaming and noise all around. I didn’t really understand anything, I even felt dizzy.

— You have already played several matches with SKA. One of them was with Metallurg from Magnitogorsk. Magnitogorsk is SKA's main rival. What do you remember about this game?

— The team was difficult, and the fight was stubborn. We walked evenly. In the end, they were able to snatch victory only in overtime. The other teams that SKA played with were not so strong. In the match with Magnitka, I already played more and was in the top five, and not a substitute, as in the first game.

— Do you think SKA will be able to repeat the success of last year and win the Gagarin Cup again? After all, they believe that a season after a victory is unlucky.

- Not necessarily unlucky. There are many examples of teams becoming champions several years in a row. Everything is possible. I think to win we need to work even better. The composition is different now. People also want to win a trophy. They want to repeat their success. So the team is motivated and everyone plays only to win.

— Why did you choose a sport like hockey?

— My parents took me to the section. There was a choice between hockey and volleyball. Probably, the choice of hockey was the decision of the parents. I don’t remember - I was only three years old. I think they chose hockey because I was a very active child. And I became a striker by the decision of my coach. He thought that this role was suitable for me.

In general, I consider myself lucky. My favorite hockey player is Pavel Datsyuk, I play on the same team with him.

— What qualities should a striker have?

— The striker must score, especially the winger. I'm a center forward. The central player must help the defenders and attack. He is responsible for all five. This is a versatile player. If we talk about my personal qualities, I think that what helped me become a professional hockey player was the ability to listen to the coach and competently follow his advice. Well, of course, it couldn’t be done without hard work. I would advise beginning players to listen to the coach and follow his advice in detail. Today's SKA coach Oleg Znarok can yell at any player. It doesn't matter to him whether it's a star or not. A coach should be strict - that's normal.

— You are a native Petersburger. What are your favorite places in our city?

— I once played in Peterhof and studied there from first to ninth grade, so I really like it there. Nice streets, fountains, parks. In a word, calm and beautiful. Although I like St. Petersburg itself with its everyday bustle. I like to walk around the center, look at the bridges, I like the Kazan and St. Isaac's Cathedrals, the Bronze Horseman. I like St. Petersburg ice. Especially in the Jubilee and Ice Palace. Although my favorite ice is still Canadian. There's a smaller box and you don't need to run around much.

I like to walk around the center, look at the bridges, I like the Kazan and St. Isaac's Cathedrals, the Bronze Horseman.

- How do you spend your free time?

— I have little free time. Games happen every other day, you constantly prepare for them. There are no regular days off. When there is a home series, of course, you get half a day free. I'm already used to this schedule. All my friends are on my team. So everything is fine. If I have free time, I go out to eat with friends or to the cinema. Nothing special. Ordinary human joys. I rarely communicate with new people. If I have to meet new people, I don’t tell them that I’m a hockey player. Otherwise conversations will begin for several hours.

— The contract with SKA is not eternal. If you need to move to another city to play for another team in the future, will you be ready for this?

- It doesn't scare me. Hockey is my job. So I'll take the move normally. Of course, it will be difficult, but I am ready for it.

The beginning of the 70s became a new stage of development for Soviet hockey. Special attention began to be paid to this sport. It was concluded that hockey needs a strong theoretical basis. The consequence of this was a scientific and well-founded approach to training professional players, which yielded results. The Soviet Union managed to raise a generation of the greatest athletes. One of the representatives of that galaxy was Alexander Nikolaevich Maltsev, a hockey player whose biography included a large number of victories and records.

Childhood and parents

Nikolai Mikhailovich and Anastasia Stepanovna Maltsev - Alexander's parents - were from the village of Setkovtsy. This area is no longer on maps, but when it existed it was located 20 kilometers from the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk. The Maltsev family had many children. Anastasia Stepanovna took care of the housework, working in the garden and raising children. And Nikolai Mikhailovich was a mechanic.

On April 20, 1949, a joyful event occurred in the family - a son, Alexander, was born. After 3 years they moved to Kirovo-Chepetsk. This city can be considered native to Maltsev.

The family was experiencing financial difficulties. My father even went to work in a hazardous production workshop in order to have additional pay “for harmfulness.” Mom worked part-time cleaning entrances. Children often helped her with this. Since childhood, Alexander Maltsev knew what work was and how money was earned.

Introduction to skating

Maltsev became acquainted with skates at the age of 6 years. The family did not have money to buy sports equipment. Therefore, my father made runners and attached them to felt boots. This is how Maltsev got skates. In order to ride on them, the children themselves cleared the snow and carried water in buckets to fill the skating rink.

First steps in hockey

Alexander Maltsev studied very well at school. And when he told his parents that he was going to enroll in the hockey section, his mother protested. The concept “Maltsev is a hockey player” couldn’t fit into her head. But Alexander showed perseverance and received permission from his parents to take classes. Here another obstacle awaited Maltsev. Due to his short stature, he was refused by the coach of the Khimik children's team, Polyakov. Having once again shown perseverance, Alexander received a place on the team.

At the age of 15, hockey crowded out all other hobbies from the life of the young hockey player. This is how the first sporting successes began to appear. Maltsev is a hockey player who was distinguished by his originality and great talent. Alexander asked the coach to let him play on a team of older guys. Maltsev was not lost against the background of older guys, and such a game only benefited him. Alexander Nikolaevich was always the first to arrive at training and the last to leave. This approach and attitude helped him subsequently achieve high sporting heights.

Professional career

Maltsev is a hockey player who, at the age of 17, attracted the attention of the coach of Voskresensk Khimik and the USSR youth team Nikolai Epstein. Then Alexander played in his hometown of Kirovo-Chepetsk in the Olimpia team. Epstein wanted to bring the young striker to Khimik, but kept it secret. To begin with, he invited the young Maltsev to Sweden to play for the youth team at the Achern Cup.

In parallel with Epstein, the coach of Dynamo Moscow, Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov, began to keep an eye on Maltsev. The latter did not delay, and in 1967 ensured the hockey player’s transfer from Olimpia to Dynamo. Moving to Moscow became the main event in Maltsev’s life. He will spend his entire career at Dynamo. The following year he made his debut for the USSR national team. And at the 1970 Olympics, Maltsev was a hockey player who set a performance record for that tournament: 15 goals and 6 assists. While playing for the national team, Alexander Nikolaevich received the title of best player at the World Championship many times. For such high achievements, Maltsev received the nickname “Grandmaster”, so well, in chess, was he able to read and play the game. Maltsev is a USSR hockey player, the likes of whom sports history has never known. He set a national team record: 212 goals in 319 matches.

End of career

Like any athlete, Alexander Maltsev began to lose performance with age. Its decline occurred in the early 80s. Every year the great record holder began to score less. However, Dynamo Moscow has not lost in quality. Great experience and skill allowed Maltsev to become an unsurpassed assistant. Alexander Nikolaevich, like a grandmaster, led his teammates to strike, passing passes against the opponent’s defense.

In 1984, the farewell match of hockey player Maltsev took place. A meeting was organized between the national teams of the Soviet Union and Europe. The meeting ended with a score of 7:3 in favor of Maltsev’s team.

Friendship with Valery Kharlamov

Alexander Maltsev’s best friend was another equally famous hockey player - Valery Kharlamov. They met in their youth, playing for the national team. At training camps and competitions they stayed in the same room, communicated a lot in everyday life, and had common interests and hobbies.

In 1981, a tragic event happened. Valery dies in a car accident. For Maltsev, the death of his best friend was a heavy blow. It became doubly difficult after Alexander was unable to attend the funeral. The USSR national team was at the training camp in Canada at that time. And along with her, Maltsev is a leading hockey player and record holder.

Personal life

Despite the fact that Alexander Maltsev is a hockey player, his family turned out to be strong and friendly. Alexander met his wife Susanna in 1972 on the Odessa beach. On September 19, 1973, the couple got married. The witnesses were Susanna's friend and, of course, Maltsev's best friend Valery Kharlamov. On the same day, the Moscow derby “CSKA” - “Dynamo” took place. In the morning the registry office, and in the evening the witness and groom went out onto the ice. A year later, the young couple had a son, Alexander, named after his father. In general, Maltsev is a hockey player whose personal life has been very successful.

Sports achivments

Assessing the sporting achievements of Alexander Maltsev, he can safely be called an outstanding hockey player who has achieved incredible heights in prestigious hockey tournaments - the World Championship and the Olympic Games.

The Soviet hockey player became the world champion 9 times. The first series of championships was 1969-1971, the second - 1973-1975. In subsequent years, he failed to become a champion several times in a row. But the following gold awards were separated from each other by a short period of time: 1978, 1981, 1983. The brilliant striker still has silver medals from the 1972 and 1976 World Cup, as well as bronze from the 1977 tournament.

Maltsev became an Olympic champion at the 1972 and 1976 tournaments. In 1980, the athlete won the prestigious To all this, it is worth adding the multiple title of the best striker in the world and Europe.

The only fly in the ointment that Alexander Maltsev got was the lack of the USSR championship.

Non-sports awards

During his career, in addition to a large number of sporting achievements and medals, Alexander Maltsev also received non-sports awards. In 1969, he received the first medal "For Labor Valor". And in 1972 I received a second one just like it. In 1976 he was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor. Two years later he received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In 1981, Maltsev was awarded. After finishing his career, 15 years later, in 1996 he was awarded. In the new millennium, Maltsev, the hockey player whose photo you see in the article, did not remain forgotten. In 2011, he was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree. In 2013, he received the President of the Russian Federation.

Forward Mikhail Maltsev was named the best rookie of the week in the KHL. Recognition is common for the league, but not for St. Petersburg hockey, whose student achieved this for the first time in many years. Let's try to tell you more about this 19-year-old hockey player.

PHOTO by Alexander DEMYANCHUK/TASS

Just a few years ago, young players in the KHL, brought up by St. Petersburg, had to be looked for in the daylight. There was no point in doing this in SKA itself - the competition was too high and the level of home-grown performers was low. The first sign was Peterhof hockey graduate Alexander Barabanov, and for a long time there was no continuation. And this season it broke through: first Andrey Altybarmakyan, now Mikhail Maltsev. And both, I must say, look good among adults at 19.

However, you need to understand: if not for the rule according to which clubs must declare at least two “limiters” for the match (during the current season these are players born no later than 1998), both St. Petersburg residents would hardly have appeared on the ice. In KHL clubs, where everything is focused on results, it is not customary to trust young people voluntarily.

Maltsev comes from the same sports school “SKA-Peterhof” as Barabanov; they have a common coach, Mikhail Kalinin, who has many good St. Petersburg hockey players.

The fact that a big player is growing in St. Petersburg has been whispered on the sidelines for several years now. Moreover, the phrase “big player” was used in every sense: firstly, promising, secondly, tall and powerful. Now Mikhail’s height is 191 cm, weight is 93 kg. And this, as you understand, is not the limit for a 19-year-old guy. And a big, skating, and even technical center forward - such players are worth their weight in gold throughout world hockey.

The center needs to run less and think more. “I’ve loved thinking since childhood,” laughs Mikhail, whose idols include the Slovenian Anze Kopitan, the Canadian Sidney Crosby and the Russian Pavel Datsyuk, with whom he is now teammates. They even have the same numbers on their backs, only in the opposite order: Datsyuk has “13”, Maltsev has “31”.

By the way, I played under number 13 at SKA-Neva,” Maltsev smiles. - And since the 31st, I’ve been going on the ice since childhood. I am not superstitious, but I would like the number “3” to be present in the number.

At the NHL draft, however, there were no threes; Maltseva was selected by New Jersey in the fourth round, 102nd overall, a year ago. A little low, but understandable: the season before the draft, Mikhail spent the season on the scandalous Russian junior team, which, for the sake of teamwork as a club, was entered into the MHL championship, but ultimately missed out on the junior world championship due to problematic doping tests. As a result, the junior club project was closed, and Maltsev, who became the third scorer of that team, returned to St. Petersburg.

At the age of 18, he ended up at SKA-Neva with Pyotr Vorobyov, who loves and knows how to work with young people, although Maltsev’s preseason began in the main team with Oleg Znark.

Pyotr Ilyich’s workload was even stronger than Oleg Valerievich’s! - Mikhail then surprised with revelations. - Six hours of ice, before that another hour in the gym. So I was lucky that I worked with the foundation for a month. The guys at Neva were simply “killed.”

This summer, Maltsev also trained with the first team, but he started the season two floors below, in the MHL, hardly suspecting that the day after the match with the Nizhny Novgorod “Chaika” he would make his debut in the KHL. It was a match with Lada, in which Mikhail appeared on the ice when the outcome of the meeting was already clear - 3:1, having played a total of 84 seconds.

I remember when I went on the ice, I didn’t understand anything at all - where I was, what I should do,” the young striker then laughed. - But the guys supported me, I played more or less without mistakes.

Already in the next game, against Avtomobilist, the 19-year-old forward spent almost 11 minutes on the ice, and against Traktor - all 14. Moreover, during these matches, Maltsev appeared not only in the fourth line, where coaches usually plug young people. When Jarno Koskiranta was injured, Mikhail found himself in the second three, surrounded by two Sergeys - Kalinin and Shirokov.

Misha played great - he didn’t get lost, went into the fight, kept the puck - which is what a young hockey player should do, - Alexander Barabanov praised his fellow countryman.

In the match against Avangard, Maltsev, in particular, showed a unique percentage of faceoffs won - nine out of ten, and two days later he scored his first point in the KHL, taking part in the humiliation of Ugra (9:1) with an assist, and also scoring this meeting, one of the best indicators of usefulness in the team is “plus 3”.

However, you need to understand that a good start in the KHL does not guarantee anything in the future. During the course of the current season, Maltsev will more than once go down to farm teams in order to digest the lessons of the KHL and, having drawn certain conclusions from them, return back. For young players to take a step forward, they often need to take two steps back.

Of course, the most common question asked to Mikhail: isn’t a person with such hockey data and surname a relative of “that same Maltsev,” Alexander Nikolaevich Maltsev, the legendary Dynamo player, one of the best center forwards in the history of hockey?

It should be noted that there have been a lot of Maltsevs in Russian hockey in recent years. In addition to Mikhail, these are Artem, Gleb, two Dmitrys, as well as Maxim, who also performs at SKA-Neva. They all answer this question with an embarrassed smile: “No, they are not relatives, but they would really like to get closer to his grandmaster level of understanding of hockey.”