Valeri Kharlamov Valeri Borisovich Kharlamov ( January 14 , 1948 - August 27 , 1981 ) was a star ice hockey player from the Soviet Union and is considered one of their greatest players . He died in a car accident . He was voted one of six players to the International Ice Hockey Federation ' s ( IIHF ) Team of the Century in a poll conducted by a group of 56 experts from 16 countries . . Playing career . Born in Moscow , Soviet Union ( now Russia ) , Valery Kharlamov , despite being relatively small in size , is regarded by many as one of the greatest masters of the game . He combined speed , rapid acceleration , and superb stick handling ability together with creative and unpredictable moves that kept the opposition perpetually off balance . Kharlamov began systematic training to play hockey at age 14 , when he was admitted to the Children and Youth Sports School of CSKA on Leningradsky Prospekt , where his first trainers were Vitaly Erfilov and Andrei Starovoitov . At the age of twenty he was invited to the Soviet Union ' s national team to compete on the world stage . In 1971 , playing in the Soviet Union Elite League for CSKA Moscow , his goal scoring earned him his first " Best Sniper Award " and he was voted to the national All Star team . The following year , Kharlamov gained international recognition when he led his national team to the Gold Medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics . He capped off the remarkable season by winning the scoring competition and being given the first of his two consecutive Soviet Union MVP Awards . Summit Series . However , it was during the 1972 Summit Series that Valery Kharlamov , along with teammate Vladislav Tretiak , became the star of the hockey world . At Montreal , Canada , in game one of the eight game international series against the best professionals from Canada , a virtually unknown Kharlamov astonished Canadian fans and their star hockey team with his explosive speed , agility , and goal scoring prowess . Kharlamov was voted the game ' s MVP after he scored two goals while leading his team to an upset victory that shook the foundations of Canadian professional ice hockey to the core . Kharlamov was also the most penalized Soviet player in the series , his minutes exceeded only by Canadians Bobby Clarke and J . P . Parisé , who had an altercation with an official . In game six of the fiercely fought series , the Canada ' s Bobby Clarke , of the Philadelphia Flyers , slashed Kharlamov on his left ankle , causing a fracture . Although Kharlamov bravely continued in game six , he was unable to play in game seven and was ineffective in the final game . Some observers say that this injury was a crucial incident which turned the tide of the series in Canada ' s favour as they entered it three games to one in the series . Commentators believed that constant slashing of Kharlamov was in order to neutralize his goal scoring threat . Years later , John Ferguson , Sr . , an assistant coach with Team Canada , was quoted as saying " I called Clarke over to the bench , looked over at Kharlamov and said , ' I think he needs a tap on the ankle . ' I didn ' t think twice about it . It was Us versus Them . And Kharlamov was killing us . I mean , somebody had to do it . " By the end of the series , National Hockey League scouts were drooling at the thought of recruiting Kharlamov , but during this Cold War era , no Soviet Union player was allowed to leave the country . The respect for Kharlamov ' s skills was so high that at the time many Canadian children named him as one of their favorite players , and in the Soviet Union he was a national hero and an inspiration for youngsters playing the game . Later career and death . In 1973 , playing with the CSKA team of the Soviet Union ' s premier league , Kharlamov remained a star and was a key part of the Soviet national team that won the World Championship for the next three years . At the 1976 Winter Olympics , he scored the game winning goal in the final game to earn his second Olympic gold medal . During the 1975 - 76 USSR Red Army ice hockey tour of North America , while playing against the Philadelphia Flyers in a memorable exhibition game , Kharlamov was knocked out by a hard hit from the Flyers ' Ed Van Impe , causing his teammates to leave the ice in protest . Later that spring , he was seriously injured in a car accident and for a time , his hockey career seemed in doubt . He was unable to play in the 1976 Canada Cup and , though he recovered sufficiently to return to the Soviet national team in the coming years , he was never again the player he once had been . He was a part of the Soviet Union team that lost to the " Miracle on Ice " U . S . team in the medal round at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid , but won the silver medal . In August 1981 , another automobile accident took his life at the age of thirty - three . Valery Kharlamov is interred in the Novokuntsevskoe Cemetery in Moscow . In 1998 , Valery Kharlamov was posthumously inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation ( IIHF ) Hall of Fame . In November 2005 , he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame along with Cam Neely and former Hockey Canada president Murray Costello . Each year , the Kharlamov Trophy is awarded to the best Russian NHL player as voted by all Russian NHL players . The Kontinental Hockey League has a division bearing his name . Awards . Career highlights - team : Career highlights - personal :