Vladimir Trunov Biography

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CHILDHOOD

Vladimir Trunov was born in Kursk, Russia. He is the youngest brother of Trunov trio and since his first steps he has seemed to be pretty acrobatic and athletic. Growing up with the offensive minded brothers Vladimir liked to play in the net as he was not that good at stick handling and deking, nevertheless , he has been spending hours playing with brothers and using self-made pads made of moms ancient sofa pillows. He used old spare laces to tie pillows around his legs but it was not much of a help as his knees have been always having a huge pain after home games with brothers. During one of that games, Yaroslav Trunov in heat of a battle accidentally missed the ball and the stick hit Vladimir right into his head , close to his right eye. Since that time, there has always been a scar on his right eyelid. But that is just only a reminder to the opponents how fearless and brave this young man is.

Playing with brothers was a great way to train his reflexes, more over coaches say that Trunov might be the definition of new game style that nobody has seen yet. It combines butterfly and hybrid style and it fits pretty well with aggression and passion Trunov has. It is complicated to play in front of the net, as Trunov is way too active with the stick and he is not afraid of playing far from the net and getting into the contact with an opponent.

It was pretty obvious, that Vladimir will choose his brothers path and one day he will join the VHLM. During the offseasons, he joined russian hockey development program. Among former pro KHL goalies, Ryan Artyomov took part in the training process. It was implied, that the present star would give all his VHL experience to the future franchise player. It wouldn't be exaggeration to say that it was truly Vladimir's first on the ice friend.

Vladimir has never lifted the cup. One of the best players of his generation barely made the finals with his team. Biggest sharks of russian hockey tried to acquire Vladimir and they were ready to give him the biggest contract in hockey history for player who is under 16. He rejected everything and stayed loyal to his club, The Nightingale Kursk. It was also noted as a fear of doing some significant changes. Staying in the hometown was one of the reason why Trunov was off the draft charts a year before the draft and only after his debut in VHLM scouts recognised his limitless potential.

FIRST STEPS 

It was not a debatable thing what kind of sport Vladimir wanted to dedicate himself to. It has always been a hockey. He played for a local school team and junior club as well. When he grew up physically, at the age of 15, he was invited by seniors to take part in beer league. At this time, he was considered as the best goalie in the city. Also, he started playing against opponents that were older than him but it didn't bother Trunov's coaches. It is safe to say that Vladimir had no friendship with goalies among the clubs he played for. He has always been ahead of peers and they didn't like him for that. Always better, no matter what. Vladimir is not that educated as his older brother, Bogdan Trunov, he finished high school and entered the university but he has never shown interest to learning or reading. After finishing season 95 with 22 games played on loan in Halifax, Vladimir decided to come back home and continue studying. As soon as he was drafted, he left the city and bought a ticket to Ottawa without asking a piece of advice from parents. Bogdan Trunov, former Ottawa Lynx player and Continental Cup winner, was the only relative that knew everything. He helped his youngest brother to transfer the equipment and arranged the meeting with owner and general manager of Ottawa Lynx. It is hard to say , why Vladimir fell off on draft charts despite it is pretty clear from now he is the best player of this class. Some scouts suppose unfriendly behaviour and the lack of game experience in big junior leagues caused it. Vladimir had around 4-5 online interviews with VHLM teams and it was a shocking thing to see him being out of top-10, top-16, out of the second round, of the third one.... By that time, he had left the draft conference room. When Ottawa Lynx announced their 44th overall pick selection, Trunov was practicing alone at the ice rink. So you'll never find a photo with Trunov on the VHLM draft stage.

 

FUTURE RECORD BREAKER

Trunov's biggest goal is VHLM save percentage record. For a long time he was examining best VHLM goalies and especially ones who have set single season records. Statistics, metrics , schedule and play style. Everything matters when we talk about breaking the record. Pipo Poppa fairly holds the record for save percentage as a goalie with minimum 20 games played in a season. With .933 it seemed pretty untouchable goal, but not for Trunov. After 15 games, Vladimir had .951 but slowed down a bit and currently he has .927 which is pretty close and the whole community is wondering whether this young star can write down his name in the history. It would not be a surprise to see Xavier Boobery and Rayz Funk posters in Vladimir's childhood room. They are role models for every goalie and Vladimir might repeat their success in the near future.

 

IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING BETTER THAN SOMEONE ELSE, IT'S ABOUT BEING BETTER THAN YOU WERE THE DAY BEFORE.