Biography – From the Urals to the VHL

[Bojovnik 487]

Yaroslav Bogatyrev - Biography

 

Few people outside of Russia could point out the Urals Mountains on a map. The long, thin mountain range that winds through central Russia demarcating the continental border between Europe and Asia has a significant place in Russian history. Dating back to the Imperial Russian days, it marked the end of Russia and the beginning of Siberia, a place that was often associated with exile labour and prisoners.

 

The Urals has a proud place in Russian history though. The gentle slopes of the Ural Mountains are home to a wealth of mineral resources that have been harnessed since the eighteenth century. All across a region the size of present-day Poland, hundreds of metalworking plants were established in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cast iron ore turned into cast iron. High-grade iron ore was turned into iron sheets and exported westwards. Did you know that iron from the Urals is actually featured in the British Houses of Parliament?

 

In the Soviet times, many of the more rural factory towns were closed, and production was centralized in some of the region’s largest, most advanced ironworks. This is where Nizhnii Tagil. What was once the crown of the Demidov family empire in the nineteenth century was repurposed by the Soviet government and turned into a sprawling town that could live on more than just the factory.

 

 

Nizhnii Tagil is a rather unforgiving place. The climate is harsh. The winters are long, dry, and cold, with the mercury often dropping below -30 Celsius. Summers are relentlessly hot as well. Tough people come from here.

 

It’s difficult to call the Urals a hockey hotbed, despite the harsh climate. The region’s only great team can be considered to be Metallurg Magnitogorsk, although this city, another factory town, is hundreds of kilometres away from Nizhnii Tagil. It’s not hard to see why. Many of the best Russian players from the northern Urals first move southwards, to the larger population centres of Ekaterinburg or Magnitogorsk. From there, the best move to Moscow or St. Petersburg. It’s how it’s always been.

 

Yaroslav Bogatyrev followed a similar trajectory. He was born into a family of a railway worker and an elementary school teacher. The Bogatyrev family had little connection with hockey, except that his father was an avid watcher of the late-Soviet teams featuring Kharlamov, Krutov, Maltsev, etc. Pytor Bogatyrev never played professionally, but he loved the game, and pushed his son to play at any given opportunity.

 

Yaroslav was always a big kid. His frame topped out at 6’6’’, and he was always an imposing physical specimen among his peers as a child. With a frame that size, many expected Bogatyrev to become the next great Russian defenceman. We’re not talking about someone of the skill of Fetisov, but instead the brawn, bravery, and hard-nosed skill of Alexander Ragulin.

 

At school, Yaroslav did enough to get by, as his mind was always on the rink. Of course, he learned how to recite Pushkin. He studied the works of Tolstoy. But his mathematics and English-language fell by the wayside. At school, he would draw up plays in his head, analyze his past games. He was only interested in anything and everything to do with hockey.

 

Hockey took Yaroslav to many places across Russia. From Nizhnii Tagil he moved to Magnitogorsk. From Magnitogorsk he would move to Moscow. Life in the Russian capital was tough for a boy from the provinces. Moscow is an all-consuming metropolis, and a far cry from life in small-town Russia, if we can even call Nizhnii Tagil a small town.

 

Yaroslav’s parents were unable to make the move to Moscow with him as a 15-year old. They were required to work. Yaroslav would stay in the team camp, living in dormitories with his fellow migrants. Life in a hockey dormitory wasn’t all sugar, as the typical Russian proverb goes. Disagreements often broke out, possessions were stolen. However, Yaroslav was able to tough it out knowing that the greater goal lay ahead.

 

When he turned 18, Yaroslav moved out of the team dormitory. He began playing for professional sides, and impressing greatly. This salary allowed Yaroslav to bring his parents out of Nizhnii Tagil and relocate them to Moscow.

 

This coincided with some of Yaroslav’s best form in the Russian Vysshaya Hokkeynaya Liga, highlighting the importance of a strong family environment. Of course, as his mother would always say, “how can you play well if you haven’t had cabbage soup for lunch.” And before you turn your nose, cabbage soup is fantastic.

 

Bogatyrev’s professional hockey career has seen him leave Russia, perhaps for the foreseeable future. He’s now spent time in Texas, Germany, and Seattle. However, no place will ever be able to replicate his love for his home town. It may be grey, it may be cold, but it’s his home. His Nihznii Tagil.

 

[Daniel Janser 1,981]

what does it say about me when I first read from the Urinals? Probably getting old, that's what...

 

Great write up Bojo.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Daniel Janser