Ask people about Viacheslav Fetisov and one memory invariably pops to the forefront.
"I'll always remember him in that [Team] Russia uniform with the lettering across his chest and holding some sort of trophy over his head at the end of some tournament," said Tommy Albelin, the New Jersey Devils' defenseman.
It's a common enough memory, for sure. Fetisov, perhaps the greatest defenseman of his generation, has won more trophies than even he can remember.
As captain of the juggernaut Red Army teams of the 1980s, Fetisov knew nothing but winning throughout his career.
His CSKA team won 12 national titles during his tenure. He won seven World Championships and two Olympic golds with the national team. He has been named to All-star teams at every level, has been voted best defenseman in nearly every tournament he has competed in, and has been named his country's best player three times and European Player of the Year three times.
2001 Hall of Fame Inductions
Editor's note: There's nothing more self-fulfilling to a hockey player than to be elected to the Hall of Fame. On Monday November 12, Four new members, Viacheslav Fetisov, Mike Gartner, Dale Hawerchuk and Jari Kurri, will be inducted into the Hall in the Player Category. Pittsburgh Penguin GM, Craig Patrick, will also enter the Hall, as he will be honored in the Builder Category.
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Fetisov also has been awarded the Olympic Order Medal, the International Olympic Committee's highest honor, as well as the Soviet "Honored Masters of Sport" Award, his country's most prestigious athletic achievement. He was recently named as the general manager for Russia's entry in the 2002 Olympic ice hockey tournament, the popular choice of players who grew up idolizing him.
With a resume like that, it really comes as no surprise that Fetisov is a prominent members of the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2001, joining Mike Gartner, Jari Kurri, Dale Hawerchuk and Craig Patrick as the latest additions to the sport's shrine of legends.
Still, Fetisov admitted to some shock about his selection to the Hall.
"I just couldn't believe it when they called me," said Fetisov, 43. "It's a great honor and stuff like that. You play all your life to get the recognition and, I mean, it feels great, a great honor. Especially being Russian-born hockey player and spending most of the best years back in Europe. It's a great honor to be in same category as other legends."
To talk to those who have played against him, it is of little surprise that Fetisov belongs with the game's elite.
"He was always a tough competitor because he had great size, he had great vision of the ice and he always made solid plays," said fellow inductee Gartner. "Very, very seldom did you ever see him make a bad play and he was a guy that was a lot like Denis Potvin in that he could kind of do it all."
Hawerchuk, who made his living trying to make defenseman look silly, agreed.
?That guy was like the Rock of Gibraltar back there," he said. "He was also good offensively, but defensively he was like a mountain back there in his own end. He was a tough opponent who was difficult to play against. He was the cornerstone of that Red Army team.
Fetisov was a mountain in his own end. At 6-foot-1, 215 pounds during his playing career, Fetisov was among the biggest and best-conditioned hockey players in the world. He was always willing to take a hit to make a breakout pass. It was that ability to start the breakout that made him so dangerous on the international ice surface. But it was the willingness to absorb punishment to make a play, a trait he would again need when he made the transition to the NHL, which set him apart from others and earned the grudging admiration of even the bitterest rivals.
"I appreciate a great player when I see him," said Larry Robinson, a Hall of Fame defenseman who now serves as Fetisov's boss on the New Jersey Devils' coaching staff. "We certainly played against each other enough in the international arena for me to realize the type of player he was. When you played against him, no one thing stood out. I think that is what made him so good, he did everything well.
"Maybe the biggest thing that stood out was he never came of the ice. You'd be playing against him and you would look out there and there he would be. It seemed like he was always out there."
That, Fetisov says, is because he has been driven to succeed since his earliest competitions. He has always been willing to push himself that extra mile to come out on top.
"To be a hockey player, you try to win every possible tournament you play," he said. Every possible game at every level -- junior until, name it. Every possible tournament I played, I got championships, gold medal, whatever."
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In addition to his astounding international achievements, Fetisov also has the Stanley Cup, winning two NHL titles as a player with Detroit and another as an assistant coach with the Devils.
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He also has the Stanley Cup, winning two NHL titles as a player with Detroit and another as an assistant coach with the Devils. He admits now that he stayed around the National Hockey League as 40 approached to win the Cup. That dream was realized in 1997 when Detroit took the first of back-to-back Cups.
"I try to stay as long as I need to win the Stanley Cup," Fetisov said. "I grew up in different atmosphere. For me, it was dream to play [in] Olympics and World Championships. I did that, I achieved that and a came here for a new level of competition.
"The best players from around the world started arriving here and it gave the game a whole new perspective. Time was running away, especially being traded and being in Finals [in 1995], playing against Devils and losing. I just tell myself, you just have to stay long enough to win it."
As much as the induction is about Fetisov's on-ice achievements, it is also about the dignity and class he exhibited in becoming one of the game's all-time greats.
Fetisov has always been a man of principle. He broke the barrier that held back Soviet players from competing in the NHL when he joined the Devils in 1989. But he did not defect, he did not run away under the cover of night. He waited for the proper clearances from his government and persevered in a battle that had beaten down others before him.
Upon arriving in North America, he battled again to eradicate the preconceived notions about Soviets that made him an outcast and a target wherever he played. Again, he won.
Fetisov treasures those victories as much as any trophy or award in his overflowing trophy case.
"It was not easy, it sounds easy, but you always have to fight for everything and I fought for everything I have in hockey," said Fetisov. "I also won the biggest fight away from hockey. That was the fight against communism, the fight for freedom of choices.
"I won that fight, but it was not easy. I was all alone, I was not allowed to do anything and I kept battling until I won. I had a big name, which hockey gave me, and that was all. It was probably the hardest fight of my life, but I won. I think winning that battle has opened the door for many European players, especially Russians. "
And, it, along with some indelible hockey memories created by Fetisov, has opened the doors of the Hockey Hall of Fame to the deserving Russian legend.
