Biography of Kravchuk Igor

He was born on September 13 in Ufa, the Soviet and Russian hockey player, a defender, two -time Olympic champion, the first Russian participant in the Stanley Cup final, a pupil of the Ufa hockey school Salavat Yulaev. The young athlete came to the SE CHILDSENTS School - at 10 years old. However, due to the efforts and zealous classes in training under the leadership of the famous children's coach Vladimir Vorobyov, he soon overtook his peers in the development of hockey skill and, already at the age of 16, fell into the team of Bashkir hockey craftsmen.

Also, a great influence on the formation of Kravchuk, as an athlete and personality, was exerted by his class teacher Tatyana Lygina, who, among other things, being a teacher of English, conveyed good knowledge of the subject, then useful to the hockey player in the foreign stage of his career. In the year, Kravchuk, as part of the USSR national team, went to his first large international tournament - the youth world championship held in Canada.

The first five in the team was completely compiled from the pupils of Ufa hockey Nikitin- Kravchuk, Nikonov-Semak-Khaidarov. As a result, the young Soviet athletes in the final defeated Canadians with an account Club Kravchuk's Career, after successful performances in the national team, also went upward. After four seasons, in Salavat Yulaev in the year, Kravchuk was invited to the leading hockey club of the USSR - CSKA, as part of which he twice became the champion of the country, once - the owner of the Cup of the country and won the European Champions Cup for the army in the national championship, scored 14 goals, made 28 programs.

In total, in the Championships of the USSR in the Premier League he played the game, scored 21 goals, made 35 programs. Playing the army, led by the legendary Viktor Tikhonov, the defender from Ufa received a strong place in the national team. As part of the national team, Kravchuk won two Olympic gold - at the winter games in the Canadian Kalgary and in the French Albervile, Kravchuk later repeated the achievement of other world stars of Hockey - Vladislav Tretyak and Irji Holik - by the number of Olympic awards won, winning silver at the Olympiad in Nagano and Salt Lake Siti.

Games defender attracted the attention of scouts from the clubs of the National Hockey League. As a result, almost immediately after the end of the Olympic tournament, Kravchuk was in the ranks of Chicago Blackhox. He played his first NHL match on the day of signing the first contract - February 27, scoring his first goal that evening. Later, together with the team, led by Mike Kinan, the defender reached the Stanley Cup final, in which his club lost to a more star Pittsburgh Penguins.

And again, Kravchuk entered his name in history, becoming the first Russian legionnaire to play in the Stanley Cup final. In total, in a overseas career, Kravchuk played in six different teams, having ended his career as a player at 38 in the Florida Panthers club in the year. In the year he took part in the match of the NHL stars. The opinion of the former partner in the national team and the Moscow CSKA was shared by the two -time Olympic champion Vyacheslav Bykov, who spoke about Kravchuk’s strong playful qualities.

He made a very good name at the expense of his game and human qualities, for many years he performed in the NHL. As a person, he is very pleasant, calm, balanced. We were friends both on ice and families: we had a good company - Igor Kravchuk, Volodya Konstantinov, Valera Kamensky and I, ”said Bykov. It is invisible to ice, but for the player his role is a good quality.

It was extremely difficult to beat him. In constructively, he was a very useful player. "After the end of the gaming career, Kravchuk remained in hockey.

With the years, he was the main scout of the Russian national team in North America. Game career:.