08/20/2006

Hollywood ending for Igor Larionov

Ex-Wing star's final hockey game chronicled on film

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Former Detroit Red Wing and hockey great Igor Larionov, left, and film director John Quigley give their salutations to 11-month-old twins Mia and Eva Brenner Saturday afternoon at Best Buy in Traverse City.

TRAVERSE CITY — Igor Larionov's hair is a little speckled with gray, but the 45-year-old former Detroit Red Wings star looks remarkably like he could still play.

Larionov was in Traverse City on Saturday to autograph copies of the "Farewell From Moscow — The Igor Larionov Farewell Game" DVD at Best Buy, as well as participate in Dave Lewis' hockey camp.

Eligible for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame next year, Larionov said proceeds from the DVD's sale will go to his charity to help Russian children purchase hockey equipment.

Along with former Detroit Red Wing Slava Fetisov, Larionov was a leader in getting Russian players the freedom to play in the NHL.

"Right now, we've got democracy in full swing," Larionov said. "Some things are still the same as before, but players have the freedom to travel and see other countries. When I was there, we weren't allowed to travel."

Before coming to play in the NHL, Larionov's only experiences outside Russia were for the national teams he played for. And even then, players were on a very tight leash.

Larionov centered the infamous KLM line — considered by many in hockey to be the greatest single forward line in the game's history — with Vladimir Krutov on his left and Sergei Makarov on the right wing.

"Everything is different with the North American lifestyle," Larionov said. "In the Soviet Union, everything was decided for you by the coach, but here you can do whatever you want to do."

That new sudden freedom evidently didn't mesh too well with Krutov, who quickly became out-of-shape and only lasted one year in the NHL. Makarov, on the other hand, had 384 points in 424 NHL games, with one of his two 30-goal season coming when he and Larionov were reunited with San Jose in the 1993-94 season. They contributed to the Sharks shocking the NHL by upsetting the Red Wings in the playoffs.

Larionov played 921 NHL games in 14 seasons, an astonishing number considering he was 29 by the time he left Russia.

When Larionov came to Detroit in 1996, the Winged Wheel was in full revolution and the Wings won three Stanley Cups, including back-to-back titles in 1997 and '98, then another in 2002, all with Larionov and a team with a heavy Russian influence.

"Detroit is a real hockey town," Larionov said. "They've got so much tradition and great fans. Finally in '97 the Cup came back to Detroit where it belongs.

"When a million people showed up for the parade, they showed how much they love hockey."

When the Wings ended decades of frustration by winning the Cup in '97, captain Steve Yzerman took the first trip around the ice with the Stanley Cup, then handed it Larionov, who took his celebratory lap and passed it off to Fetisov.

"We never planned that," Larionov said. "You've got an agreement — you do those things spontaneously. Me and Slava were the oldest guys on the team. It was great for Steve to do that."

In 2002, Larionov was the oldest player in the league and scored 43 points in 70 games. "The Professor" became the oldest player in NHL history to score a Stanley Cup Final goal when he notched one versus Carolina. He also scored on a back-hander in the third overtime of Game 3 that gave the Wings control of the series. In Game 5, his pass to Tomas Holmstrom set up the Cup-clinching goal.

Larionov played on the dominant Russian teams in the 1980s that won Olympic gold twice, and he and Krutov just missed being on the 1980 team that lost to the United States in the gold medal game in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Larionov said the coach, Viktor Tikhonov, said he wanted more mature players, and Larionov was only 19 at the time.

The DVD not only includes the entire game — featuring dozens of NHL All-Stars from the Dec. 13, 2004 contest — but footage before and after the game, extended interviews with NHL stars and follows Larionov through the entire weekend of the game.

"The material on the DVD is very rare and hard to get," Larionov said. "Not everybody can see that. It's a very unique piece of work."

The film's director, John Quigley, won an award for best director of a documentary from the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.

"We went out there not knowing what we were going to get," said Quigley, who came along with Larionov to TC. "We shot this because of the who's who that flew into Russia for the game at a time when it wasn't necessarily good to be in Russia. It was only a couple months after the big school shooting."

The game went off without a hitch — with former linemates Krutov and Makarov coaching Larionov's team — and the DVD was released in March of this year.

The line for Larionov's autograph wound around in Best Buy as some fans came right when the store opened to get the first crack at a signed DVD.

"We got here before 9 (a.m.) because we didn't realize they didn't open until 10," said Traverse City resident Brian Hart, who was first in line.