Future Soviet sports star Vsevolod Bobrov was born on December 1, 1922. He grew up in the town of Sestroretsk at the Gulf of Finland and spent his spare time playing soccer and bandy – a hockey-like game on ice with a ball instead of a puck and with 10 skaters per team. The talented youngster drew some attention, despite being a bit overshadowed by his older brother Vladimir. Having graduated from school (1937), Vsevolod learned to become a toolmaker. In his spare time he kept playing and he worked his way up to the top teams of the Leningrad area championships.
Then came the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. With Leningrad under direct threat, the Soviet government decided to relocate an important armament plant from the endangered city to the safety of far-away Siberia. One of the workers at the plant was Vsevolod's father. The Bobrov family moved 1,600 miles to Omsk. In order to lift the spirits of the population during the war, sports kept being played and Vsevolod Bobrov soon became the talk of town in Omsk. His ability to walk through an entire defence on his own made him a star on the local bandy rinks.
Vsevolod Bobrov
Vsevolod Bobrov's second birthday came in August 1942. He was drafted into the Soviet Army and lined up together with other recruits – about to be sent to the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest engagements of WWII with more than 1 million casualities on the Soviet side. But Vsevolod was lucky. The Army captain who inspected the recruits was Dmitri Boginov from Leningrad. Four years older than Bobrov, he happened to have played soccer and bandy with him back home. When his eyes were wandering over the list, they stumbled upon the familiar name Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov. Boginov paused. He made up his mind and decided to spare the talented youngster that he knew in person. Boginov assigned him to the Military Academy. Instead of seeing combat, Bobrov spent the next two years receiving training as a junior officer and playing soccer and bandy for the Academy team in Omsk. His brother Vladimir Bobrov was not as lucky: fighting on the Western front, he was wounded several times and had to give up his own athletic ambitions.
Dmitri Boginov
In 1944, Vsevolod Bobrov moved to Moscow and joined the Central Sports Club of the Army (back then named CDKA, later CSKA Moscow). He became one of the leading players right away and stood out on both the soccer pitch and the bandy rink. And when Canadian hockey was introduced after the war, Bobrov became the Soviet Union's brightest star in this new game – so bright that the USSR delayed its entry to the World Ice Hockey Championship for a year when Bobrov was out with a knee injury in 1953.
Having finally retired from active playing in 1957, Bobrov later returned to hockey as a coach with Spartak Moscow (1964-1967) and the Soviet national team (1972-1974). He remains one of the most celebrated athletes in Russian history. His career and maybe life, however, could have ended in August 1942 if not for Dmitri Boginov. The latter, on his part, turned to Canadian hockey too and became a respected coach with Torpedo Gorky (Nizhni Novgorod) and Dinamo Kiev in the 1950s and 1960s.
Posted on Behind the Boards (SIHR Blog).
Then came the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. With Leningrad under direct threat, the Soviet government decided to relocate an important armament plant from the endangered city to the safety of far-away Siberia. One of the workers at the plant was Vsevolod's father. The Bobrov family moved 1,600 miles to Omsk. In order to lift the spirits of the population during the war, sports kept being played and Vsevolod Bobrov soon became the talk of town in Omsk. His ability to walk through an entire defence on his own made him a star on the local bandy rinks.
Vsevolod Bobrov
Vsevolod Bobrov's second birthday came in August 1942. He was drafted into the Soviet Army and lined up together with other recruits – about to be sent to the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest engagements of WWII with more than 1 million casualities on the Soviet side. But Vsevolod was lucky. The Army captain who inspected the recruits was Dmitri Boginov from Leningrad. Four years older than Bobrov, he happened to have played soccer and bandy with him back home. When his eyes were wandering over the list, they stumbled upon the familiar name Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov. Boginov paused. He made up his mind and decided to spare the talented youngster that he knew in person. Boginov assigned him to the Military Academy. Instead of seeing combat, Bobrov spent the next two years receiving training as a junior officer and playing soccer and bandy for the Academy team in Omsk. His brother Vladimir Bobrov was not as lucky: fighting on the Western front, he was wounded several times and had to give up his own athletic ambitions.
Dmitri Boginov
In 1944, Vsevolod Bobrov moved to Moscow and joined the Central Sports Club of the Army (back then named CDKA, later CSKA Moscow). He became one of the leading players right away and stood out on both the soccer pitch and the bandy rink. And when Canadian hockey was introduced after the war, Bobrov became the Soviet Union's brightest star in this new game – so bright that the USSR delayed its entry to the World Ice Hockey Championship for a year when Bobrov was out with a knee injury in 1953.
Having finally retired from active playing in 1957, Bobrov later returned to hockey as a coach with Spartak Moscow (1964-1967) and the Soviet national team (1972-1974). He remains one of the most celebrated athletes in Russian history. His career and maybe life, however, could have ended in August 1942 if not for Dmitri Boginov. The latter, on his part, turned to Canadian hockey too and became a respected coach with Torpedo Gorky (Nizhni Novgorod) and Dinamo Kiev in the 1950s and 1960s.
Posted on Behind the Boards (SIHR Blog).
