Double Olympic champion Boris Maireov in a chat with , he recalled how familiar he became with NHL legend Bobby Hull.
Monday, we learned of the death of Bobby Hull. He was 84 years old. Hull spent 20 seasons in the NHL, winning the Stanley Cup with Chicago. In 2017, the NHL named him one of the league’s top 100 players of all time.
– In the 60s, people like Hull or Richard were like demi-gods for us. NHL hockey seemed like something supernatural, remembers Mayorov. – There were only six teams, which were incredibly difficult to integrate. We played a lot with Team Canada at the time, there were great players there, like goalkeeper Seth Martin. And we couldn’t understand how such a cool goalie couldn’t break into the NHL? What is the skill of those who play it? Naturally, in 1972, we got to know each other better. It turned out that the same people play in the NHL, just like us. Our team was then also above all European teams.
“Did you know Hull personally?”
We even had a drink together. It happened when the WHA was created overseas, some NHL stars were drawn there, and now Hull was playing in Winnipeg. And then I was responsible for the second national team of the USSR, and we flew to a number of friendly matches with the WHA teams. I remember we beat Winnipeg and after the game we had an impromptu banquet in our room. How Bobby Hull ended up on it, I still don’t know. But we drank until late at night, dispersed only around three o’clock in the morning. And Hull, a very decent alcoholic, told us he had a game in Houston that day and at eight o’clock in the morning a plane to the game. A day later, we remembered it and we talked: “How is he going to play in such a state? If he drank all night and in the evening there was a match? We open the newspaper, Winnipeg won, Hull scored three goals. That’s the kind of player he was! I offer my condolences to his son, who has also become a very famous hockey player. Hull and I are the same age. I’m 38, Bobby – 39th… It was huge in hockey. No one will dispute that.
Bobby Hull won the Canada Cup in 1976, appeared in the Super Series in 1974 and was named an NHL All-Star 12 times between 1960 and 1972. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1980.
Source : MatchTV
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