• photo by Craig Melvin

Viacheslav Fetisov Before the NHL became the world’s most global league, the legendary Russian defenseman risked everything to lead the way

     It’s an overcast mid-February weekday afternoon and a group of old friends are dressing after playing a friendly exhibition hockey game at Chelsea Piers in New York City. There was a time when a scrimmage between a team of USA players and their Russian counterparts would be at the center of the world’s sports and political discourse.
    But today, as many of the retired players unlace their skates amid the unmistakable sweat-filled scent of a post-game locker room, they are no longer strangers. In fact, many were National Hockey League teammates for years.
     In the corner of the Russian room, a 54-year-old defenseman with one of the greatest resumes in hockey history revels in the post-game cool down and briefly relaxes with a cold beer.
     Viacheslav Fetisov, known as Slava by friends and teammates, enjoyed the battle once more. His hair is a little grayer; he moves a bit more slowly, but you can still see the smooth strides and the fierce determination in his eyes as he glides across the ice.
     Though three decades have passed, Fetisov remembers all too well the coldest days of the Cold War. He was a pup on the Central Red Army team thought by many to be one of the greatest hockey teams of all time. The team featured several future Hall of Fame players such as legendary goaltender Vladislav Tretiak, skilled left wing sniper Valeri Kharlamov and right wing Boris Mikhailov, the team’s captain. Fetisov would go on to be one of the best of them all.
     It was 33 years ago when the seemingly unbeatable Soviet squad lost to Team USA at the 1980 Olympics, now known as the “Miracle on Ice.”
     “I was just 21 and it was a very good learning experience,” Fetisov remembers. “I learned the hard way—we all did—to never underestimate an opponent.”
     After those Olympic Games, the hockey world changed forever. Soviet players, long thought to be among the best in the world, wanted to prove it in the NHL. Fetisov constantly petitioned the Soviet government for the opportunity to play in the world’s greatest league. In 1989, the government finally relented, allowing Fetisov to lead a group of eight Soviet players to join NHL teams, provided they would continue to represent the Soviet Union in international play.
     “I can say I was the first Soviet to be let in,” Fetisov says. “Finally the Communists gave up and I had my contract in the NHL. But when I came to New York, I still felt there was discrimination for some reason but I never would get angry or anything. I just wanted to play.
     Fetisov—a two-time Olympic champion and 10-time European champion—was still an NHL rookie at age 31. And not just any rookie, but one from a country many Americans still distrusted.
     “I was a national hero back home,” Fetisov says, “but I when I had the chance to defect, I had to take it. My first years in New Jersey (with the Devils), the Cold War was still on. Maybe they thought I was a Soviet major or something. People didn’t try to understand what I went through to get here, what I endured. Even in the dressing room, it was hard.”
     Slowly, it became apparent through his dynamic play that Fetisov was a player whose skill was too great to ignore. Political tensions began to lessen. More Russian players joined the NHL.
     After several successful seasons with the Devils, Fetisov was traded to the Detroit Red Wings and became part of the defensive backbone that led the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup victories in 1997 and 1998.
     “The whole experience of playing for the Red Wings in Hockeytown for Scotty Bowman was my proudest moment in the NHL,” Fetisov says. “I have unforgettable memories playing in Detroit and winning the Stanley Cup twice.”
     When his playing career was over, Fetisov was welcomed back with open arms as an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils, where he won a third Stanley Cup in 2000.
     “The Devils are a special organization,” he says. “They gave me the chance to come over (to the US). Then to win another Stanley Cup as a coach. It was incredible.”
     Today, Fetisov serves as the head of the Russian Federal Agency for Sport, Physical Education and Tourism. To this day, he continues to be an ambassador for his sport and his country.
     We take for granted how easy it is for a Russian or European player to come to the United States to show the world their skills and earn a lucrative living.
     But if not for players like Fetisov, once a member of the Central Red Army team and a sworn enemy of U.S. players, to be brave enough to stand by the courage of his convictions, to leave his home and everything he knew as a national hero, we may never have seen so many great players in their prime in North America.
     “Here in New York, I look around and see the skyline around me and it is still surreal,” Fetisov says. “My daughter was born here in New York. I was skating in Central Park recently and it still amazes me that I am here. While I was growing up in Russia, I never could have imagined this.”