Yuri Leonov is a legendary hockey player who played for Dynamo Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Avangard, winner of the Golden Slam. Now he continues to work as a coaching position, prepares KHL teams.
The biography of Yuri Leonov is a rare example of dedication and loyalty to one cause. Even in his youth, he chose his path and, despite the changes in life and difficulties, remains faithful to her today. Even injuries did not prevent him from winning championships - he never let his team down.
Youth and the first team
Yuri was born on April 28, 1963 in Ust-Kamenogorsk, a town in the south-east of Kazakhstan. He started playing hockey at the same time he entered the first grade - at the age of 7. He was very lucky with a coach, who turned out to be Yuri Pavlovich Tarkhov. Many excellent athletes have been formed under his leadership. In the same team with Yura Leonov, the basics of hockey were mastered by the center forward Alexander Dmitriev and Igor Belyaevsky. Of course, the boys dreamed of getting into the legendary club "Torpedo", and fought for the victory on the ice without discounts and flaws, playing for their favorite team.
After graduating from the Youth Sports School, 17-year-old Yuri Leonov managed to get into "Enbek". In the 80s, the alma-Ata club consisted of the pupils of "Torpedo", talented and hard-working. The club was headed by Yuri Baulina, who soon led the guys from the second union league to the first. Young Leonov possessed excellent inclinations and attacking skills. He perfectly saw the field, accurately and imperceptibly made strokes, knew how to remove the opponent so that there was nothing to complain about. For 3 seasons, he scored 110 goals - a solid number for a young athlete.
Transfer to Dynamo Moscow
Yuri Leonov made a big step forward when he moved to the famous Moscow Dynamo in 1983. A year later, he was invited to the USSR national team, where he successfully debuted as a striker. In 1985, he injured his hand and the first world championship in which he managed to show his game took place in 1990. Yuri brought the team gold medals. This season has become a landmark for the blue and white - for the first time in many years they ousted CSKA and won the USSR championship.
Yuri Leonov played for Dynamo for 11 seasons, playing 409 matches and becoming truly famous. He won 8 medals of the USSR and Russian championships, and also scored 128 goals:
- 2 gold;
- 4 silver
- 2 bronzes.
Yuri Leonov devoted all his time to training, at each game he gave all the best. The natural result of his efforts were awards. In 1995 he received the Golden Helmet as the best hockey player in the championship, and the next 1996 he won the Golden Stick.
Yuri was often invited to the USSR national team, where he made a significant contribution to the history of victories. Leonov played 32 matches, scoring 5 goals. He played 10 more games for the Russian national team. The talented striker three times received the prizes of the Izvestia newspaper as the winner of the tournament, his career as an athlete was crowned with the title of world champion in 1990. With his participation, the second national team of the USSR twice became the winner of tournaments, receiving the prestigious prize of the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper.
Foreign "tour"
In the difficult 90s, Yuri Leonov, like many, tried to start a career abroad. In 1991 he started playing for the Swiss club Ambri-Piotta. As part of this team, he scored 52 goals. Yuri was invited by the Norwegian club Storhamar Dragons, for which 37 goals were scored. During these years he became the champion of Norway twice - in 1997 and 2000. Then there was the Slovenian club Triglav (37 hits in the goal), the Italian Milan Devils.
The times of the nineties were controversial. Leonov did not spend all these years abroad. In 1993 he returned to Dynamo again and played for the national team. In 1999 he played 16 matches for the Avangard team, receiving a total of 18 penalty minutes. In the same season, he took third place on the podium of the 1999 Continental Cup.
Yuri Leonov finished his sports career again in Russia in 2002. He did not leave the sport - he switched to coaching.
On coaching
From 2002 to 2005, Yuri Leonov was a coach at the sports school of his native Dynamo. In 2005 he received the title of Honored Master of Sports of Russia. The following year, in November, he transferred to SKA St. Petersburg, and then became an assistant at Barry Smith's headquarters. This is a well-known American hockey manager, formerly a coach, who was invited to work in the Northern capital in those years.
In 2008, Yuri Vladimirovich in August became the head coach of the hockey club of the Navy of St. Petersburg and remained so until June 2012. The club successfully played in the Higher Hockey League. Then Leonov worked for two years at Vityaz Podolsk, which played in the KHL, and in 2014 moved to Amur (Khabarovsk, KHL).
The Continental Hockey League is the pinnacle of coaching recognition. The league was created in 2008, initially it included 24 clubs. The main prize of the KHL tournament is the Gagarin Cup. It brings together teams from almost a dozen countries:
- Russia;
- Belarus;
- Latvia;
- Kazakhstan;
- China;
- Slovenia;
- Finland.
Journalists do not know anything about the coach's personal life. He willingly comments on games, gives interviews at press conferences, but speaks only about the work of the players, about the goals scored, about the prospects of the teams. The pupil of the "old school" never shares intimate details of his own life and does not talk about his family.
Achievements of Yuri Vladimirovich Leonov
- 1990 World Champion
- Three-time winner of tournaments for the prizes of the Izvestia newspaper - 1984, 1994, 1995.
- Third medalist of the 1997 Karjala Cup
- USSR Champion 1990, 1991
- Silver medalist of the USSR Championship 1985, 1986, 1987
- Bronze medalist of the 1988 USSR Championship
- Silver medalist of the Russian Championship (MHL) 1996
- JHL Cup Winner 1996
- 1983 Spengler Cup Winner
- Three-time Berlin Cup Winner 1986, 1987, 1996
- Finalist of the European Cup 1991
- Finalist of the Euroleague 1998
- Winner of the 1996 Golden Stick Prize
- Winner of the Golden Helmet 1995
- Champion of Norway 1997, 2000
