Valeri Kharlamov

Begoñita, who was born Carmen Orive Abad, was Basque and originally from Bilbao, Spain, but moved to the Soviet Union in 1937 as a child refugee from the Spanish Civil War (see Niños de Rusia).

Kharlamov's parents were factory workers from Moscow.

He was named after Valery Chkalov, a pioneering Soviet pilot.

He also had a younger sister, Tatiana.

Valeri Borisovich Kharlamov (Вале́рий Бори́сович Харла́мов, ; 14 January 1948 – 27 August 1981) was a Soviet ice hockey forward who played for CSKA Moscow in the Soviet League from 1967 until his death in 1981.

In 1956, when he was 8-years-old, Kharlamov moved to Spain with his mother, though they both returned to the Soviet Union after several months.

Due to his mother's heritage, Kharlamov would be nicknamed "The Spaniard" throughout his career.

At age 5, Kharlamov first started to skate, fastening his father's blades onto his own shoes.

He was trained by Boris, who had played hockey himself.

However, Kharlamov, who enjoyed playing football as well, was quite sickly as a youth; in 1961 he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever and doctors ordered him to cease any physical activity, and spent several months in hospital, though he ultimately recovered with no apparent cause nor lingering effects.

Kharlamov successfully tried-out for CSKA Moscow when he was 12, and joined their sports school.

He joined the senior team for the 1967–68 season, and made his debut with CSKA on 22 October 1967 against HC Sibir.

However Anatoly Tarasov, the coach of the team, felt Kharlamov was not good enough for the team so after 15 matches with CSKA sent Kharlamov to join Zvezda Chebarkul, who played in the third division.

He would lead the team in scoring with 34 goals in 32 games.

The following season Kharlamov was brought back to CSKA full-time.

In 42 games he scored 37 goals and had 12 assists and finished third in the league in scoring with 49 points; it was during a match in October 1968 that he was first put on a line with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov; The three of them would play together for the next several years both with CSKA and internationally, forming one of the most famous lines in hockey history.

In the off-season he and his linemates Petrov and Mikhailov were awarded the title of Merited Master of Sport in recognition of winning an international tournament (which would become the Izvestia Cup. Kharlamov scored a further 33 goals in 1969–70, and had placed fifth overall in points with 43, as CSKA won the league championship. He led the league in scoring for the first time in 1970–71 with 40 goals and finished second overall in scoring with 52, and CSKA repeated as champions.

His first tournament for the Soviet Union was the 1969 World Championship, where he helped the team capture the gold medal.

Kharlamov was a fixture on the Soviet national team roster for the next decade.

He played in eleven World Championships in total, capturing 8 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.

He was named to the tournament All-Star team four times (1971, 1972, 1973, and 1976).

He played a total of 105 games in the World Championships, scoring 74 goals and adding 82 assists (156 points).

Although small in stature, Kharlamov was a speedy, intelligent, skilled and dominant player, being named the Soviet Championship League most valuable player in 1972 and 1973.

An offensive player, who was considered very creative on the ice, he also led the league in scoring in 1972.

He was also a gifted skater who was able to make plays at top speed.

Kharlamov was considered one of the best players of his era, as well as one of the greatest players of all time.

In international play, Kharlamov represented the Soviet Union at 11 World Championships, winning 8 gold medals, 2 silvers and 1 bronze.

He participated in three Olympics, 1972, 1976 and 1980, finishing with two gold medals and one silver, and participated in the 1972 Summit Series against Canada.

He spent most of his career playing on a line with Vladimir Petrov and Boris Mikhailov, and this trio is considered one of the best in the history of ice hockey.

Although Kharlamov never played in North America, he was drafted by the Calgary Broncos of the World Hockey Association, along with Soviet teammates Petrov and Alexander Maltsev in early 1972.

Kharlamov's career in Soviet hockey was well established by the time he came to greater attention through his play in international hockey.

As World Championships were commonly played in Europe, and National Hockey League (NHL) players were not allowed to participate in the Olympics either, Kharlamov and his teammates were still a somewhat unknown quantity when the 1972 Summit Series was played.

The eight game series, with four games played in Canada, and four in the Soviet Union was one of the first opportunities for the two countries to put their best hockey players against each other.

Most pundits thought Canada would win convincingly.

Kharlamov was killed in a car accident in 1981.

After his death, Kharlamov was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame and was selected as one of the forwards on the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team.

The Kharlamov Trophy is presented annually to the best Russian hockey player in the NHL, as chosen by his peers.

The Kharlamov Cup is presented to the champion of the Minor Hockey League playoffs, and the Kontinental Hockey League named one of their four divisions after him.

Kharlamov was born in Moscow to Boris and Begonita Kharlamov.

Boris was a mechanic at a factory, Kommunar, while Begonita worked with Aeroflot.