Sergei Bobrovsky is a Russian hockey goalkeeper who currently defends the colors of the National Hockey League club Columbus Blue Jackets. The goalkeeper is the first and so far the only player from the post-Soviet space who has ever received the prize for the best goalkeeper in the NHL.
Sergey was born and raised in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region. Because hometown Since Sergei is one of the largest coal mining centers in Russia, most residents are directly related to the mining profession. Sergei’s father also did this hard work, and his mother worked at a metallurgical plant - the second most important industry in the town.
It is likely that Seryozha would have followed in the footsteps of his parents, like most of the children in these places, but it so happened that from a very young age the boy showed incredible activity and restlessness.
It was pointless to send such a boy to a regular secondary school, so Bobrovsky was enrolled in an educational institution with a sports bias. And there the boy was assigned to the “hockey class”, which, by the way, was previously graduated from stars domestic sports Dmitry Orlov and Sergei Zinoviev. This is how the hockey biography of Sergei Bobrovsky began by chance.
Young hockey player quickly mastered the skill of ice skating and began to show leadership qualities from the first days of classes. Initially, the hockey player wanted to be a striker, but fate turned out differently. One day, the school team's main goalkeeper was injured, and the coach chose Bobrovsky as his replacement, as the tallest and most agile. It is interesting that on the opposite path, from goalkeepers to forwards, another famous hockey player Russian national team - .
Hockey
Being a student of his native Novokuznetsk Metallurg, Sergei Bobrovsky made his debut for this club. The hockey player first appeared on the ice for the main team at the age of 18, and a year later he often appeared from the first minutes of the match. True, the hockey player’s undertakings coincided with the financial and sports regression of the club. The team had one of the weakest defenses in the League, which, however, helped the young goalkeeper gain the necessary experience. Sergei was even invited to the Russian Super League star match.
At the end of the contract with Metallurg, Bobrovsky leaves for America and enters into an agreement with the famous NHL club Philadelphia Flyers. The coach of this team was going to send the young Russian goalkeeper on loan, but in the training camp Sergei managed to surprise the coach and take the place of the second goalkeeper after Michael Leighton.
Also due to Leighton's injury, Bobrovsky came out in the first game of the season and helped the club win on the road in Pittsburgh. Sergei continued to start and became the revelation of the championship, he was named best newcomer autumn. Despite the phenomenal success of the goalkeeper, the management of the Philadelphia Flyers invited another goalkeeper - the star Russian Ilya Bryzgalov, who in the new championship became the main character in the Flyers' goal.
Of course, the young hockey player was not happy about constantly sitting “on the bank” and the following summer he moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets. By the way, during a break in the NHL, Sergei came to Russia and played for the St. Petersburg club SKA in order to stay in shape. The Jackets are a weaker team than hockey club from Philadelphia. Therefore, at the beginning of the season, the Columbus Blue Jackets settled at the bottom of the standings. The goal was more often defended by the former keeper, Canadian Steve Mason.
When the place at the last line was entrusted to Bobrovsky, he caught the courage and issued a record undefeated streak for this club. By the end of the championship, Columbus rose to standings, but never made it to the playoffs. However, at the end of the season, Sergei Bobrovsky was unanimously named the best goaltender in the NHL and received the Vezina Trophy. For the first time in the history of the American Hockey League, the title of best goalkeeper went to a Russian. Bobrovsky still defends the goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets and is considered the main player.
Russian national team
Sergei Bobrovsky made his debut for the Russian national team in 2014 at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Debut game against American team was a failure for the goalkeeper - the Russians lost in shootouts, and Sergei missed a lot of goals in these one-on-one matches.
The hockey player played the next two games “to zero”: he did not miss a single goal during the match, but the Russian team took only fifth place at the home Olympics. The main goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov made too many mistakes.
Therefore, at the World Championships in Belarus, Bobrovsky was already considered as the main gatekeeper. Sergei kept two clean sheets and helped the Russians win in eight matches. As a result, Russian hockey players became champions, and Sergei was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. In addition, experts were impressed by the statistics of the Russian hockey player, and this year the sports community noted that Sergei Bobrovsky had the best reliability coefficient of the World Cup and the best percentage of saved shots of the World Cup.
At the same time, the athlete today is not distinguished by outstanding physical characteristics, and earned such a title only with his own hockey talent. Sergei Bobrovsky's height is the average for a hockey player - 186 cm, weight - 90 kg.
The following year in the Czech Republic, Bobrovsky again became the main character at the gates of the national team and deserved silver award competitions. In the final, Russia lost to the Canadians, who brought one of the strongest squads to the tournament in recent years.
Personal life
At the Sheregesh ski resort, Sergei Bobrovsky met Olga Dorokhova, and soon the young people realized that they could not live without each other. When did Sergei transfer to the American hockey league, I wanted to take Olga with me, but the girl was denied a US visa. She had to fly to Canada, where Bobrovsky came to “date” his beloved.
When the hockey star got tired of such traveling, Sergei proposed to Olya, and in 2011 the lovers got married. The wedding, which was attended only by parents on both sides, took place in Russia, but the hockey player lives with his wife in America.
It's funny that Sergei is a passionate opponent social networks. The hockey player has repeatedly stated that he has not created a single personal page on the Internet. But at the same time, under the name of Sergei Bobrovsky, a verified account is maintained in “ Instagram", which has 40 thousand subscribers.
Sergei Bobrovsky now
In 2016, Sergei Bobrovsky played goalkeeper at home championship peace. Sergei immediately got a place in the main team. The hosts of the championship took only third place, but, nevertheless, Bobrovsky received another personal achievement. The Russian goalkeeper was recognized best player match against the US team, which was for third place in the championship. The match ended with a score of 7:2.
In the same year, Sergei Bobrovsky became a participant in the World Cup. The hockey player acted as the team's main goalkeeper in four championship matches in which the team participated. In the semi-finals Russian team lost to Team Canada.
Today Russian goalkeeper continues training and regularly goes on the ice. After championships and cups in which he played for the Russian national team, Sergei Bobrovsky returned to the team for which he plays in the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team's striker said in an interview that he was glad that Columbus had such a goalkeeper. And this is not the solidarity of Russian hockey players; the reliability of the goalkeeper is confirmed by the facts. For example, in a match against the New York Islanders in the 2017 season, Bobrovsky stopped 21 of 25 shots.
In 2017, Sergei Bobrovsky took eighth place in the ranking compiled by Forbes magazine based on the income of Russian celebrities. Today the hockey player's income is $8.5 million.
Awards
- 2008 - bronze medalist at the World Youth Championship
- 2010 - silver medalist of the MHL
- 2013 – holder of the honorary badge “For services to the city of Novokuznetsk”
- 2013 - Vezina Trophy winner
- 2014 - world champion
- 2014 - Best Goalkeeper of the World Cup
- 2014 – Knight of the Order of Honor Order of Honor for winning the 2014 World Championship as a member of the Russian national ice hockey team
- 2014 – Knight of the Order of Honor of Kuzbass for skill and professionalism in sports activities
- 2014 – holder of the honorary title “Honored Master of Sports of Russia”
- 2015 - silver medalist at the World Championships
- 2016 - bronze medalist at the World Championships
- 2017 - Vezina Trophy winner
Sergei Bobrovsky became the first Russian hockey player to be awarded high award NHL Vezina Trophy. Many of the sporting feats of one of the best goalkeepers of the World Cup are inspired by Sergei Bobrovsky's wife Olga, who always worries about him in the stands of the stadiums where matches with his team are taking place. Sergey comes from Russian club"Metallurgist", in the nursery sports school whom he took his first steps in hockey.
Sergei Bobrovsky and Olga Dorokhova, love story
They met at the Shereshgesh ski resort and immediately liked each other. Mutual sympathy soon grew into a stronger feeling, and the lovers decided to be together. Since then, rest on ski resorts became one of the Bobrovskys’ favorites, because it was there that their family began.
However, at first it was not always possible for Olga and Sergei to be constantly together - before the wedding, the hockey player’s future wife could not obtain an American visa, and they could only meet in Canada, in the cities where Bobrovsky’s Philadelphia Flyers team played.
In the photo - Sergei Bobrovsky with his wife Olga
To eliminate such difficulties from their personal lives, Bobrovsky and Dorokhova decided to get married quickly, and got married in August 2016. The ceremony took place in Russia in the presence of only the closest friends and relatives.
Having become Sergei’s wife, Olga could freely go with him everywhere, and they no longer have to be apart for a long time.
Olga took upon herself all the everyday problems, but she would like to realize herself in something else and be not just the wife of Sergei Bobrovsky, but also a self-sufficient person who has a favorite business.
Olga and Sergei do not have children yet, but they do not exclude the possibility that their family will grow in the near future.
Brief biography of Sergei Bobrovsky
Sergei Bobrovsky was born in Novokuznetsk into a working-class family - his father was a miner, and his mother worked at a metallurgical plant.
In the photo - the parents of Sergei Bobrovsky
He went to study not in a regular school, but in a school with a sports bias, where he ended up in the “hockey class”, in which from the very beginning Sergei began to show excellent results. After graduating from school, he continued to play hockey in the Novokuznetsk club “Metallurg” and at the age of eighteen he made his first appearance in the main team.
The debut turned out to be very successful and in subsequent seasons his skill only grew. After the end of his contract with Metallurg, Sergei Bobrovsky moved to the NHL team Philadelphia Flyers, whose coach was initially going to loan him out, but after watching Sergei play in the training squad, he made him the second goalkeeper in the main team.
Two years later, Bobrovsky moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets and soon became the team's first goalkeeper. His game was so successful that very soon the Russian goalkeeper began to be called a real hockey star.
With his excellent play, Sergei helped the team rise in the standings and at the end of the season was named the best goalkeeper in the NHL.
During the break of the NHL championship, Sergei Bobrovsky played for St. Petersburg SKA, and this helped him stay in shape. Since 2014, Bobrovsky has been called up to the Russian hockey team, for the first time for which he played at the Olympics in Sochi, but the debut was a failure - Bobrovsky missed many goals and the team lost to the Americans in shootouts. But the Russian goalkeeper played the next two games brilliantly, without missing a single goal.
Bobrovsky also played “dry” matches at the championship in Belarus, which helped the Russians become champions, and Sergei was recognized as the best goalkeeper of the tournament. According to experts, Bobrovsky has the best percentage of reflected shots of the World Championship and the highest reliability coefficient.
Sergei was born in the large industrial city of Novokuznetsk. He was brought up in a simple, working-class family, where his father was a miner and his mother a metallurgist. Hyperactive Sergei did not sit still for a second, he was constantly in a hurry somewhere, coming up with something.
To tame their son’s activity, his parents enrolled him in a specialized school with a sports focus. There he was assigned to a class where they trained hockey players.
Bobrovsky quickly mastered skating, confidently stayed on the ice and clearly followed all the instructions of the coach. At first he played as a striker, but due to an injury to the team's goalkeeper, there was a rotation and he was put in the frame. The tallest, most resilient and fastest player lived up to his mentor’s hopes.
Debut of professional hockey career
At the age of 18, Sergei began performing in the main team of the local HC Metallurg. From the first games the guy demonstrated high level skill, but due to the financial difficulties of the club, his efforts were not enough.
The club's defensive line was one of the weakest in the Super League. This was to the benefit of the novice athlete, as he was able to gain experience.
Thanks to his fierce desire to win and leadership qualities, he was selected to participate in the Super League All-Star match.
After the end of the 2009-2010 season at Metallurg, Bobrovsky received an offer from the NHL club Philadelphia Flyers. He signed a contract with him for three years. Active, talented hockey player summer training camps managed to surprise the team's head coach, who decided not to hesitate and appointed Sergei as the second goalkeeper. This was a rare occurrence for such young players. So, the Russian pushed Brian Boucher himself.
Just before the opening of the season, Philadelphia's main goalkeeper gets injured and is sent to the bench. Lucky Bobrovsky now took his place and opened the “pilots” season with a hot victory.
Sports experts described Sergei as the opening of the championship. Of the nine matches played, seven were victorious. A few months after the start of the NHL, the guy topped the list of top goalkeepers in the league, was recognized as the best debutant.
The next season, an unpleasant surprise awaited Sergei: the management of the Philadelphia Flyers HC signed a multimillion-dollar contract with another Russian goalkeeper Ilya Bryzgalov. This meant that the advantage in the frame would be given to his compatriot. And so it happened, Bobrovsky played only 4 games out of 14 matches.
In order not to sit uselessly on the bench and not lose sports uniform, Sergei agreed to a transfer to the Columbus Blue Jackets team. The choice turned out to be unjustified, because the composition there was frankly weak, the team did not rise up the standings, sitting in last place.
In between games in the NHL, Bobrovsky flew to his homeland, where he played for the army team. Towards the end of the season, Sergei caught the wave and brought his Columbus Blue Jackets team out of the list of outsiders. For which he received a significant prize - the Vezina Trophy, and with it the title of best goalkeeper in the NHL.
In 2014, Bobrovsky took part in the Olympic Games, which were held in his homeland in Sochi. In the first game for the Russian national team, Sergei did not perform very well and missed a lot of goals. Subsequent games were a little better, the hockey player did not miss any more goals, but the team did not score. As a result, the Russian team took fifth place.
Interesting notes:
At the World Championships in Minsk, Bobrovsky was announced as the main goalkeeper. The guy selflessly defended the goal, not allowing the opponent to even get close to it. This attitude helped the Russian team get gold, and Sergei the title of “Best Goalkeeper”.
Happy husband
Unlike most Russian hockey players playing in the NHL, Bobrovsky does not advertise or promote himself, exposing his personal life.
Sergei is married to a Russian girl, Olga Dorokhova, whom he met at a ski resort.
They dated for several years, but the guy got tired of the constant flights from Russia to America.
Sergei proposed marriage to Olga, and in 2011 they legalized their relationship. The wedding was modest; among the guests there were only parents on both sides. Now the couple lives happily in America.
A student of Novokuznetsk Metallurg. He made his debut for the main team at the age of 18, playing several matches in the 2006/2007 season. The following season, he began to play much more often at the club’s base, and Metallurg’s regression continued. Defending the outsider's goal was a difficult task, but it allowed the goalkeeper to quickly gain experience - Bobrovsky was invited to the all-star match of the Russian Super League. He played for Metallurg until the end of the 2009/2010 season, when his contract expired. On May 6, 2010, the undrafted hockey player signed a three-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, which previous season lost its main goalkeeper Ray Emery due to an injury incompatible with hockey. In the summer training camp, the young goalkeeper liked the coach of the “pilots” Peter Laviolette, and Bobrovsky began to be considered as a second goalkeeper, who had previously been considered Brian Boucher. On the eve of the start of the season, the club's main goalkeeper Michael Leighton was seriously injured, and Bobrovsky took to the ice in the opening match. His team won in Pittsburgh, and Bobrovsky became the youngest Flyers goalie to open the season and the first since 2004 to win his debut for the Philadelphia Flyers. At the start of the season, Bobrovsky became the revelation of the championship and won 7 of the first nine matches. With his 11th win in 14 games, Bobrovsky led the list of NHL goaltenders in wins. In November he was recognized as the best newcomer of the month. In his debut season, the rookie goaltender scored 28 wins in the regular season, and, to the displeasure of Philadelphia fans, was announced as the team's starting goalie for the playoffs. However, there he played only the first and last matches of his team, who finished the performance after the second round.
In the summer, Ilya Bryzgalov came to Philadelphia. A multimillion-dollar contract was signed with him (the general manager had to get rid of several highly paid players), which indicated a bet on the newcomer as the first goalkeeper. At the beginning of October 2011, Leighton went to the farm club, leaving two goalkeepers in the main team - Bryzgalov and Bobrovsky. Of the club's first 14 matches of the season, Bobrovsky replaced his compatriot in four.
In early November 2011, information appeared about interest in him from the Columbus Blue Jackets. On June 22, 2012, he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for two second- and fourth-round picks in the 2013 draft and one fourth-round pick in the 2014 draft.
In January 2015, Columbus extended the contract with Bobrovsky until the end of the 2018/2019 season for $29.7 million.
National team career
Bobrovsky was a backup to his peer Semyon Varlamov at the 2006 World Junior Championships, where the Russian team came fifth. In late summer 2007, the 2007 Super Series, a remake of the 1972 Super Series, began. In confrontation youth teams Russia and Canada were defeated by the Russians, Bobrovsky played in half of the matches. At the 2008 World Youth Championship, Bobrovsky was the main goalkeeper of the national team and won with it bronze medals. Before the 2010 World Championship, Vyacheslav Bykov began the training camp without NHL players and hockey players who continued to fight for the Gagarin Cup. Among these reserves, Bobrovsky was called up, who played in the match with Italy (3:3), but in final composition was not included in the national team for the World Championships in Germany.
In 2012, during the NHL lockout, Sergei, being a SKA player, played for the Russian national team at the Karjala Cup. Before the 2013 World Championship, most Russian NHL goalkeepers were unavailable for invitation due to the unsuccessful performance of their clubs. Although Bobrovsky spent the season much more successfully than the others (as confirmed by the Vezina Trophy Sergei received at the end of the season), Ilya Bryzgalov and Semyon Varlamov were called up to the national team. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov said that Bobrovsky was not invited due to fatigue, but the goalkeeper rejected this argument.
On January 7, 2014, Bobrovsky joined the Russian national team for the 2014 Winter Olympics. In the second match of the Russians against the US team, Bobrovsky made his debut for the main Russian team at major tournaments. The meeting ended with the victory of the Americans in the Semyon Varlamov series. The World Cup Directorate noted Sergei’s game, recognizing him best goalkeeper tournament
Bobrovsky was the main goalkeeper of the national team at the next World Cup in 2015 in the Czech Republic. At this tournament Sergei was especially successful semi-final match against the US team, in which he stopped all 35 shots, allowing the Russian team to reach the final for the second tournament in a row. Bobrovsky was recognized as the best player of the Russian national team in this match, as well as earlier in the victorious quarterfinals against the Swedes (5:3). However, in the final, Sergei missed six goals from Canada, to which the Russians responded only with a goal from Evgeni Malkin. Thus, Bobrovsky became silver medalist World Championship.
In 2016, he was the main goalkeeper of the Russian national team at the home World Championship, where the hosts took third place. Bobrovsky was recognized as the best player of the match for third place against the US team (7:2).
In the same year, he participated in the World Cup, where he was the main goalkeeper of the team in all four matches, including the lost semi-final against the Canadian team.
