Hockey Magnitogorsk was destroying everyone.
The Russian hockey of the end of 90th — the beginning of 00th pieces specific, but in the own way fine.
The champion then changed almost every year — there was a roundabout of 5-6 regular favorites, which for the tournament for 18 clubs is really cool competition. At the same time, teams like Severstal or Kuzni, which were seriously fighting for medals, took off from time to time. SKA and CSKA were closer in level to the outsiders.
Players were still rushing across the ocean and to Europe, but not so much. In Moscow's Dynamo and regional top clubs, the contracts of the best players confidently went in the direction of hundreds of thousands and even a million dollars — the salaries for Russia at that time were crazy. There were also stars, but without super league PR and at a minimum of broadcasts they remained cult only in regions: in Omsk worshiped three ZaProS (Zatonsky — Prokopyev — Sushinsky), in “Magnitogorsk” there were brothers Koreshkovs, in “Dynamo” speed of all was destroyed by Alexander “Harley” Kharitonov, in Kazan burned Chupin and Kvartalnov. Even the Perm “Hammer” had Gulavtsev, who knocked out about a point for the game. The logic was simple: whoever was in the national team was the star.
But one bundle really could frighten children before going to bed (unless they are from Magnitogorsk): Andrey Razin and Alexander Goltz nicknamed “One and a goal”. They did not notice the opponent's defense:
“Metallurg wasn't just a machine, but a machine: two Euroleague wins, two championships in Russia, silver and two bronzes. Apart from Koreshkovs, Gomolyako, Guzmanov, Karpov, Borodulin, Kalyuzhny, Osipov and Popov, who were crazy at the time, played in the attack. Razin remembered that under Belousov the team played according to the Brazilian system, scoring as long as we wanted. The stamp, of course, is broken, but very similar to the truth.
It was in this competition that Razin and Goltz managed to win a place in the top 6, got into the national team and became the stars of the Zero League.
In “Magnitogorsk” they came at different times: Goltz, the pupil of “Tractor”, couldn't get into a basis of the native club, and together with Boris Tortunov in 1992 they had to ask Valeriy Belousov who then coached Chelyabinsk to join the regional team. Razin is a Togliatti, but at the age of 20 he did not have a permanent place in the base of “Lada”; there was a real chance that he would quit hockey and go to work at the factory. In 1994 “Magnitogorsk” has arrived at friendly matches in Togliatti, Razin has approached to coach Valeriy Postnikov and has asked: “Do we need central ones? The brazen guy was invited to the show.
“I remember waiting for some bus in the rain, I was on a train... Business trip too nowhere. Get on top of it was one percent. But I got out! Although I wasn't up to 24 years of age above the fourth level,” Razin recalled in an interview with Sport-Express. He still guesses how much it cost “Magnitogorsk”: “Lada” wanted 5 thousand dollars, “Metallurgist” was ready to pay 2.5 — but still the transition took place.
Razin and Goltz though were considered as good players, but stars of “Magnitogorsk” long time were not — even in 25 years Andrey carried clubs as one of the youngest, 26-year-old Goltz helped in general for the same reason.
And if it weren't for the more authoritative players, there wouldn't have been in the history of Russian hockey and the “One and a Goal” bundle. In the course of the first season Razin's new team could have been expelled for snapping at Postnikov — he was even sent to pack. The young player was defended by team captain Mikhail Borodulin.
Both of them had enough minuses: Andriy had low starting speed, mediocre skating, Oleksandr had a bad back and couldn't really click — a trouble for the striker. As a result, both became stars only through labor.
In the first season for “Magnitogorsk” Razin scored 25 (11 +14) points in 49 games, Goltz — 23 (11 +12) in 45 — it seems that decent results, but of the main strikers were less than only Dmitry Voronezhev (9 +7). All the others scored more, and the Shafranov's top three — E. Koreshkov — A. Koreshkov took the prize “Three strikers”, knocking out a total of 86 pucks. In the next six years players of “Magnitogorsk” will take it three more times, but there will be no Razina or Goltz in triples. This is another reminder of the team they had to make their way through.
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