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Pelletier and Houda look back at
key performers from the Canada Cup/World Cup of
Hockey
Evgeny Belosheikin
Biography
Many will remember
Evgeny Belosheikin's performance in the 1987 Canada
Cup. It was the first time we got our first look at
the goalie that Soviets were raving about. The
21 year old Evgeny Belosheikin had emerged as the
heir to the great Vladislav Tretiak.. The Soviets
even had dubbed him "Evgeny the Great."
Belosheikin was
actually tutored by Tretiak on several occasions.
The youngster actually had a trait that Tretiak
never had - He was a confident, almost cocky person.
Tretiak always came across as nervous before games.
Born in the Sakhalin
Islands, Belosheikin started playing hockey, as a
defenseman, at the age of 4. When his family moved
to Leningrad 6 years later, he donned the goal pads.
He made his debut with
the Soviet National Team in the 1986 World
Championships, helping the Soviets win the gold
medal.
"Playing for the
National Team is a dream come true for me."
said Evgeny, who allowed only 8 goals in 5 games and
was viewed as brilliant.
Heading into the 1987
Canada Cup, the Soviets had expected Belosheikin to
be their number one goalie. He starred in the Elite
League, capturing the division championship. He also
was named the outstanding goaltender in the Calgary
Cup, just months before the Canada Cup.
However by the time the
Canada Cup rolled around, the Soviets opted to go
with Sergei Mylnikov as their starting goalie.
Evgeny wasn't playing well, with an 0-2-1 record and
4.00 GAA. Mylnikov on the other hand appeared in 6
games, going 5-1-0 with a 2.96 GAA.
In one of the more
curious moves in hockey history, the Russians
switched goalies during the Cup finals. Mylnikov won
the opening game of the best of three showdown, but
then Viktor Tikhonov switched to Belosheikin in game
2. Evgeny played really well, but lost in double
overtime 6-5. The loss forced a game 3.
You know the rest of
the story. Mylnikov returned to the nets for game 3.
Canada won the incredible game 3 with the famous
Gretzky to Lemieux goal with just over a minute
left.
Belosheikin, who would
uniquely fall to his knees and "rest" when
the puck was at the opposite end of the rink, lived
a very tragic life. He had constant battles with
alcohol and had many run-ins with Viktor Tikhonov.
His father was killed when Evgeny was young, and he
had trouble with his mother.
One of the most tragic
happenings in Belosheikin's life happened just a
couple months after the 1987 Canada Cup. Belosheikin
and national team defenseman Alexei Gusarov had been
on a heavy drinking party during a break from the
Soviet league. The two met up with some attractive
women and took them to Gusarov's apartment. The
following day they were both found unconscious, with
not a single thing of value was left in the
apartment. It's assumed that the women slipped
something into their drinks and then
"cleaned" the apartment.
The drug left
Belosheikin suffering from serious liver problems,
as well as color vision problems. The incident cost
Belosheikin his career, and eventually his life.
Belosheikin, who had reported to the Edmonton Oilers
training camp in 1993, committed suicide in the late
1990s.
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