Hockey player Alexander Popov, whose biography, sports career and personal life are presented in this article, is an attacker of Moscow CSKA and the Russian team. He became the world champion, the owner of the European Cup and the Continent Cup.
Biographical data
The future famous hockey player Alexander Popov was born in August 1980 in Angarsk (Irkutsk Region). Here his first steps in sports took place.
He got into hockey completely by accident. When Alexander was 7 years old, the teacher took his class to show various sports clubs. Popov, passing the stadium, drew attention to the boys playing with the ball, and decided to play football. Parents supported the choice of a son. But, a month later, he returned from training in hockey uniform. It turned out that the team was engaged on the street until there was ice. And so Alexander Popov became a hockey player.
The first steps in hockey
As part of the Angara youth team, the young striker, led by the first coach Viktor Sayutin, began to show good striking abilities. In 1995 he became the silver medalist of the Russian championship. He began to be invited to various clubs, but Popov refused.
After graduating from the youth sports school, 17-year-old Alexander began playing in the main team of the local Yermak team. But the level of the young striker was much higher than local hockey. In 1998, hockey player Alexander Popov (player photo can be seen below) decides to move - he becomes a player in the Omsk “Vanguard”.
18 seasons of fidelity
In the debut championship, the attacker practically did not play. He went on the ice only in 4 matches of the regular championship of the RSL, and again in the playoff series. In the 1999/00 season, the game statistics of the hockey player Alexander Popov improved slightly: he played 22 matches, in which he scored 4 assists.
Over the next two years, the attacker won a place in the main composition of the “Vanguard”. In 71 matches, he scored 28 (10 + 18) points.
After almost completely missing the 2002/03 season due to injury, Alexander Popov again began to regularly go on the ice as part of the Omsk team. His 18 (9 + 9) points in the regular season helped “Vanguard” to win the title of RSL champion in 2004.
The next season, Popov received the first international award. As part of the Omsk, he became the owner of the European Cup. Two years later, he almost repeated this achievement, reaching the final of the European Cup.
After the reorganization in 2008 of the RSL in the KHL, hockey player Alexander Popov set his performance record. In 56 matches of the regular season, the striker scored 14 goals and gave 26 assists.
In 2011, Alexander Popov signed another contract with Avangard. He continued to be a core player and one of the real leaders of the Omsk team.
In 2013, Popov again renewed the contract with Vanguard, and in the 2014/15 season he improved his striking record. In 55 matches of the KHL regular season, he scored 15 goals and 19 assists. In addition, in February 2015, the striker held his 900th match for the Omsk team.
The following season, due to disagreements between the hockey player Alexander Popov and the Avangard coaching staff, he was allocated relatively little playing time. The attacker went on ice in only 22 games of the KHL regular season.
On July 23, 2016, Alexander Popov broke off the contract with Avangard. As part of the Omsk club, he spent an incredible amount of time - 18 seasons. During this period, the attacker set records for the number of matches held (900), as well as the number of points scored (422).
Moving to Moscow
Two days after leaving Avangard, hockey player Alexander Popov signed a two-year contract with CSKA Moscow. In the “army” in the 2016/17 season, the striker played 51 games, scored 13 goals and helped his teammates excel 20 times.
Together with CSKA, he became the owner of the Continent Cup - a trophy received by the team that won the KHL regular season.
Team appearances
Hockey player Alexander Popov began to be involved in the Russian national team in 2004. He made his debut for the national team striker at the Moscow stage of Euro Hockey. In two fights, he scored a goal, and one of them became victorious.
In 2006, he again appeared in the Russian national team in the Czech Republic at the Ceske Poistovny Cup. Popov scored one goal in three fights, and his team became the best in this competition. Despite a good game, Alexander stopped calling for the national team and missed four world championships.
In 2012, a new mentor to the Russian team Zinetula Bilyaletdinov called Popov to the national team and put him on the first link with star central striker Evgeni Malkin, as well as with Avangard partner Alexander Perezhogin. This trio became the most productive at the world championship in Finland and Sweden.
At the stage of the group stage, Alexander Popov first threw the puck into the goal of Latvia, and then scored 4 (1 + 3) points in a duel with the Swedes. In the match against Italy, he again scored a goal. In the playoff series, Popov also scored points: he scored 1 goal and assisted teammates 3 times. Following the results of the tournament, Alexander became the second most successful in the Russian team.
In 2014, Popov entered the list of players of the national team for participation in the Olympic Games in Sochi. He took part in all 5 matches of the tournament that failed for the Russian national team, but could not distinguish himself with productive actions.
