Russian and Soviet hockey player Oleg PetrovHe began his career in the late eighties, having won many trophies in more than twenty years and played in the strongest clubs of the planet. He won the silver medals of the USSR championship, took part in winning the Montreal Canadiens Stanley Cup, won the Gagarin Cup with Ak Bars. Professional attitude and love of hockey allowed him to play at the highest level for a very long time, he ended his professional career at the age of forty-two.
Soldier
Oleg Petrov, whose biography will be toldbelow, was born in Moscow in 1971. Hockey then had wide popularity in the capital, in the winter time all the sites were occupied by boys, and Oleg became one of the many who from the age of seven began to engage in the hockey section. The idol of the young athlete was the legendary Valery Kharlamov, whose games Oleg Petrov never tried to miss.
He was brought up in the CSKA system and, gradually passing through all the youth and youth teams, has grown to the core team.
For the main command of the army he made his debut in 1989year and spent three full seasons. In the last USSR championship, the hockey player has already played in the second section of CSKA, along with Igor Chibirev and Sergei Vostrikov. Oleg Petrov at the junction of eras managed to become a prize-winner of the Soviet championship, winning silver medals with CSKA, after which the question arose: what to do next?
Hockey at that time was rapidly losing popularity, there were many problems in people's lives, and the CSKA forward did not hesitate for a minute when he received an offer from overseas.
Difficult debut
In 1991, the NHL club "Montreal Canadiens" choseOleg Petrov in the draft number 127, and in the summer of 1992 a former soldier arrived in Canada. The newcomer played several matches for the main team, but most of the time he spent at the farm club "Montreal Canadiens", who played in the AHL.
В общей сложности он сыграл девять матчей в regular season and one playoff game. That season, the Canadian club won the Stanley Cup, but the name Petrov was not engraved on the trophy due to the small number of matches. Nevertheless, Oleg Petrov, whose photos have already embellished Canadian newspapers, was included in the official list of the club winners.
The second season, the attacker also started in“Fredericton”, however, during the season he was called into the main team due to injury of Brian Bellows. Petrov was identified in the second link of the attack, where he played with Kirk Muller and Gilbert Dionn. For the remaining games of the season, Oleg was able to score 27 points, scoring 15 goals and distributing 12 assists.
Swiss League Superstar
Beginning of the season 1994/1995 Russian forwardfrankly failed. Having played only twelve matches, he was again returned to the AHL, where he played the rest of the season. However, the Montreal Canadiens coach continued to count on a talented striker, he was offered a new one-year contract. However, the Stanley Cup 1995/1996 also did not work for Oleg Petrov. He played a little, almost did not score and was invisible on the court.
Ради того, чтобы перезагрузить свою карьеру и feel reassured again, the ex-soldier accepted the offer of the Ambri Piotta Swiss club and left the NHL. The former CSKA partner Igor Chibirev already played here, and Dmitry Kvartalnov supplemented the company of Russian hockey players. In addition, the head coach of the club was the authoritative Alexander Yakushev, who created a very efficient team from the middle club, fighting for the main awards of the Swiss championship.
At the usual large venues Oleg Petrov againbroke out and began to score in almost every match. In the first season, he scored 56 points, scoring 24 goals and distributing 32 assists. In the 1997/1998 season, the forward became the league's top scorer with an impressive 93 points.
From Switzerland to Canada and back
Impressed by the game of Petrov in Europe, bosses“Montreal Canadiens” offered him to come back, and in 1999, the rehabilitating striker again became an NHL player. By that time, he had already mastered in North America, played more confidently and was of great importance for the team.
His style of play was not particularly spectacular, he did notHe had a particularly powerful cast and scored a little from long and medium distances. However, Oleg Petrov was a very sharp and fast hockey player, he was great on the ice, and he scored his goals in a fight at the front of the goal, scratching out rebounds and stuffing on the penny. Therefore, the lion's share of the goals of the hockey player were labor, working pucks, scored by the fight and lightning reaction.
Oleg played for Montreal until 2003, then in his career there was a season for Nashville Predators, after which he returned to his beloved Switzerland.
Return to Russia
The last years of his career, Oleg Petrov decidedspend at home and at the age of 36 became a player of the Kazan "Ak Bars". He was in the shadow of the star of Zaripov, but he played very useful and made a huge contribution to the victory of Ak Bars in the first Gagarin Cup.
Farewell to veteran hockey dragged onfor a long time, he terrified his goalkeepers until 2013, having managed to take the Western Conference Cup with Atlanta, played for Spartak, Lokomotiv and ended his career in 2013 at the age of 42.
