Alexander Chernykh is a Soviet hockey player who played as a striker. Star of the Resurrection "Chemist" and Olympic champion Calgary. He was expected in the NHL. Chernykh's grandiose sports career was prevented by an accident, after which he never returned to the ice as a player.
Biography: childhood and adolescence
Alexander Alexandrovich Chernykh was born on September 12, 1965 in Voskresensk near Moscow. He lived next door to Igor Larionov, Alexander Smirnov, Valery Kamensky and Andrey Lomakin. With them, Chernykh poured the ice rink in the yard and drove the puck, went to training and subsequently played for one club, and with some also for the national team.
Alexander came to hockey when he was eight years old. At that time in Voskresensk the SDYUSHOR was popular at the local club "Chemist". The parents brought the Chernykh to it. His first coaches were Vasily Boykov and Alexander Bobkov. Alexander did not immediately get involved in the training process and even wanted to quit this business, if not for the support of the coaches. In his words, it is Bobkov's merit that he became a hockey player. Soon Chernykh began to show good results.
Among his first high-profile victories was the triumph of the Sunday children's team in the traditional tournament of young hockey players "Golden Puck", the final of which was held in Chelyabinsk. Then Alexander was 11 years old. The impressions of the first "gold" were not limited to the presentation of medals and the Cup. The guys were invited to the Central Committee of the Komsomol, and then they organized a meeting with famous athletes, artists and cosmonauts, among whom were Alexei Leonov, Valery Muratov. In an interview, Alexander recalled that then he was overwhelmed with vivid impressions and he even began to dream of astronautics. However, he soon stopped dreaming and plunged headlong into training on the ice.
From the age of 15, Chernykh played for the USSR junior national team. He played with guys who were a year or two older. Even then, Alexander attracted the attention of specialists and received invitations to various clubs.
At the age of 16, he became the bronze medalist of the European Youth Championship. The then coach of the local "Chemist" Vladimir Vasiliev, who played a significant role in the development of Chernykh as a hockey player, felt that the young athlete was going to be lured away. In order not to lose a promising player, he began to attract Alexander to the games for the main team of "Chemist", despite his young age. His debut took place in the 1981/1982 season. Chernykh played his first match against Sokol Kiev and immediately scored. In the Resurrection "Chemist" Alexander played until 1985.
From a promising player, Chernykh quickly turned into the leader of Khimik. In 1983, during the draft, the New Jersey Devils drew attention to him. However, Alexander will never be able to play in the NHL.
As part of the youth team, Chernykh won:
- European Championship "bronze" (1982)
- "Gold" European Championship (1983);
- two "gold" World Cup (1983, 1984);
- The bronze medal of the World Cup (1985).
After school, Alexander became a student at the Institute of Physical Culture (now the Moscow State Academy of Physical Culture), like many Khimik hockey players. So that promising players did not end up in the army and did not lose two years, the club, after training, formalized them as employees of rural schools. It was like a legal reprieve from the army.
When Chernykh entered the third year, the institute was suddenly deprived of the right to grant such a reprieve. The coach of "Chemist" Vasiliev assisted that Alexander was taken to the Tver club SKA MVO. He was a member of the so-called physical culture and sports organization of the Armed Forces of the USSR, along with CSKA, CSK VVS and others. In Tver, Chernykh spent the entire season, during which he managed to score 29 goals. Thus, he attracted the attention of Viktor Tikhonov, who at that time coached CSKA and the national team.
Career
In 1985 Chernykh moved from Tver to Moscow. As part of the "army", he lost the whole season. He went on the ice in one triple with Valery Kamensky and Nikolai Drozdetsky. Then he lacked stability: he played an excellent match, then a failure. On his account there were only three goals and three assists. Hockey players with such indicators were not kept in the best club in the country for a long time, especially since there was no shortage of personnel at that time. Chernykh began to sit on the bench more and more often. Then he decided to return to SKA MVO again, where he spent another season.
In Tver, Chernykh “played out” and in 1987 received a call-up to the national team, which came as a complete surprise to him. By that time, he was taking part in the hockey tournament “Izvestia Prize” and friendly matches in Switzerland. In the same year, Chernykh again became a player for Khimik, although he was called by many of the capital's clubs, including Dynamo and Spartak. However, he decided to return to his native land. The coach of "Khimik" Vasiliev created a trio of Kvartalny - Chernykh - Vostrikov, which scored to any opponent in the national championship, without exception. Of course, Tikhonov drew attention to the guys and called all three to the national team.
The 1988 Olympics became the first "adult" tournament of international importance for the Blacks. And then he flew overseas for the first time. In the Olympic games, Chernykh played in conjunction with Mogilny and Lomakin. The "gold" brought from those Games will be the highest achievement in Alexander's career.
After the Olympics in Calgary, Chernykh took part in a number of competitions. There was only a year left before the ill-fated accident. During this time, Chernykh won:
- "Gold" European Championship;
- World Cup gold;
- "Silver" in the championship of the Union as part of "Chemist".
The accident and life after
In May 1989, Chernykh got into an accident. Returning by car from his sister's wedding, he crashes into a lamp post and is seriously injured. Alexander received a severe head injury with partial paralysis, and his wife suffered a compression fracture of the spine.
The consequences of the accident did not allow Black to return to the ice as a player. He received a second group of disabilities and for some time deleted hockey from his life. Soon Alexander began to work at Chemist as a children's coach.
Personal life
Alexander Chernykh got married early. Already at the age of 20, his son Dmitry was born, who followed in his father's footsteps and became a hockey player. The marriage soon fell apart. The reason for the divorce is banal - they did not agree with the characters. Chernykh then met another woman, was in a relationship with her for a long time, but did not officially marry. Lives in his native Voskresensk.
