Blinov Viktor, Soviet hockey player

Viktor Nikolayevich Blinov is a Soviet hockey player. He was born on 01/09/1945, died on July 9, 1968. What are the meager numbers. What a short life. But how brightly it was necessary to live it and leave its mark in history, so that 50 years after your death, grateful fans remembered you!

Carier start

Blinov Victor was born in the year of the Great Victory - 1945th. In Omsk, where the family of the future hockey player lived, the first sports steps were taken. Next to the house was the ice rink of the Dynamo stadium, where he and his friends spent all their free time.

Omsk Spartak

At the age of 16, in 1961, he was accepted into the hockey team of Omsk "Spartak". A year later Victor Blinov made his debut in an adult team of masters, in a match against one of the leaders of Soviet hockey - the Moscow "Dynamo". In that match, the daring hosts managed to take away points from Muscovites, finishing the match in a draw. Fast, powerful, powerful defender, he immediately attracted the attention of specialists. Especially remembered the incredible strength of the throw on the opponent's ranks gifted defender of the "Omsk". The first puck in the USSR ice hockey championship Blinov was able to throw in the eighth match, leveling the score in the game against the Novokuznetsk Metallurg. "Omsk" won in that game with a score of 3: 1. This season the young defender played for the club only 10 matches, but in the next two years he becomes an indispensable player of the team. Victor, speaking for Omsk "Spartacus", managed to excel in 80 games 13 times. At the end of the season in 1964, he became the owner of the honorary title "Master of Sports of the USSR." Rumors about a Siberian nugget are spreading all over the country. A young hockey player receives an invitation to the Moscow "Spartak"

Moscow "Spartacus"

At that time, the legend of Russian sports - Vsevolod Bobrov coached the "red-white". In a team for which such hockey stars as the Mayorov brothers, Viktor Singer, Vyacheslav Starshinov, then the young defender did not get lost. Fans walked in crowds to the stadium to look at the rising star of hockey. Not recognizing the authorities, he threw pucks to the famous goalkeepers. Under his power receptions were the stars of domestic hockey. In the first match for the new club Blinov Victor opened the account for his abandoned puck. In the first year of playing for "Spartacus" he scored 5 times. In the second season already 7 times grieved goalkeepers rivals. Triumphal for him and the team was in 1967. The club won the gold medals of the USSR hockey championship, and Victor became the best scoring defender of the country. That season, a pair of defenders of the Moscow "Spartak" - Alexei Makarov and Viktor Blinov - struck the entire hockey world of the Soviet Union with its over-performance. Each of them scored 17 goals to the opponents' goal, thus dividing the title of "best attacking defender". It was the defender of the new formation, combining the qualities of the ideal player of the future: strong, tough, perfectly skating and possessing a crazy cast. Three times in the "Spartacus" Victor Blinov - hockey player of the new generation - became a silver medalist of the USSR championship. For 4 years, which led him to fate, he played for Moscow "Spartak" 141 match and scored 36 goals.

USSR national team

His team debuted at the age of nineteen, in a match against the Canadian team. With the ancestors of hockey, he met 11 times from 32 matches played for the national team of the USSR. In all the games in the form of a national team, he scored 10 goals. The World Hockey Championship and Olympic Games in 1968 became the apogee of his career. In the match against the Swedish national team (3: 2), at the Olympics, the young defender, having thrown himself and making the assists, was one of the best on the court. In total in that tournament Victor Blinov scored 4 goals in 7 games. It should be noted that before the start of the tournament, the Western media, recognizing the strength of the USSR national team, still gave the Canadians the victory in their forecasts. And in vain: the USSR team wins the Olympic Games and the World Hockey Championship in 1968, beating Canada in the decisive match with a score of 5: 0.

Rest, which killed the young defender

Upon returning home after such a successful performance all hockey players of the team were awarded the title of "Honored Master of Sports of the USSR." So, by the age of twenty-three, Viktor has become the owner of all the highest hockey world and national awards. He is at the peak of his popularity. It seemed that the player has a star future. Going on vacation in the summer of 1968 to his homeland in Omsk, Victor dreams of a good rest from a difficult season. A few people knew about how the rising star of Soviet hockey rested. In Soviet times it was not customary to take rubbish out of the hut. Therefore, many fans and could not imagine that their idol had long been addicted to the bottle. According to friends of the hockey player, to this addictive habit he was accustomed to his father, who, working as a shoemaker, sent his teenage son to a store for vodka daily. Whole and completely giving himself to the site, he and outside the hockey rink on vacation relaxed in full. A few weeks of constant drinking with fellow countrymen did their job. He had a heart attack. They did not summon the ambulance, and nobody knew about it when Blinov returned to Moscow.

Death of the Olympic champion

Returning to Moscow in early July , Viktor undergoes medical examination. Perhaps he would do a cardiogram of the heart, the doctors would find the disease. But the defender, apparently fearing that he could be excluded from the team, did not. Even the healthiest body when combining sports and drinking alcohol will fail. On that fateful day, July 9, 1968, in training, unable to withstand physical exertion, the heart of a young and bright player stopped forever. With his selfless game, completely giving his strength for the good of the team, he earned the love and respect of the fans.

The tournament of the memory of Viktor Blinov

In Omsk, in the homeland of the Olympic champion, since 1987, the pre-season tournament of the memory of V. Blinov has been held annually. In honor of the hockey star, a sports and concert complex in the city of Omsk is named. At the entrance to the complex there is a monument to the athlete. Viktor Nikolayevich Blinov is included in the Hall of Fame of Russian hockey. One of the most gifted defenders of Soviet hockey at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow is buried.