Viktors Hatuļevs (russian: Ви́ктор Ви́кторович Ха́тулев, ''Viktor Viktorovich Khatulev''; 17 February 1955 – 7 October 1994) was a Soviet Latvian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

and

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who played for Dinamo Riga in the

Soviet Hockey League The Soviet Hockey Championship (russian: Чемпионат СССР по хоккею) was the highest level ice hockey league in the Soviet Union, running from 1946 to 1992. Before the 1940s the game of ice hockey was not cultivated in Russia, i ...

. He was the first

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

player drafted in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) Amateur Draft but never played for a North American team.

Playing career

Hatuļevs played for Dinamo Riga in the 1970s. In Latvia, then a part of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, ice hockey was the number one sport. Riga's Dinamo, under Viktor Tikhonov, rocketed into the big league and competed with

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

teams as an equal. Hatuļevs played in the first World Junior Championships in Leningrad and second World Junior Championships in Winnipeg and Brandon, Manitoba. The two unofficial tournaments helped set the stage for the first official World Juniors in 1977. He was the best player in the World Youth hockey championship in 1974/75, and in 1973/74 he was the best goal scorer. At age of 20, Hatuļevs became the first Soviet-born and trained player ever drafted by an NHL team. The

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Wells ...

made the historic selection at the

1975 NHL Amateur Draft The 1975 NHL Amateur Draft was the 13th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Philadelphia Flyers made the most noise at the draft, trading Bill Clement, Don McLean, and t ...

in the ninth round, 160th overall, even though there was no chance of getting him out of the USSR. Hatuļevs was also selected by the

Cleveland Crusaders The Cleveland Crusaders were a professional ice hockey team from Cleveland. They played in the World Hockey Association from 1972 to 1976. Their home ice was the Cleveland Arena from 1972 to 1974, and the Richfield Coliseum from 1974 to 1976. T ...

in the ninth round, 116th overall, of the 1975 WHA Amateur Draft. But instead of being allowed to play in North America, he was banned for life in 1979 for hitting a referee during a fight with another player, though the ban was later lifted and he returned to hockey after one year. Hatuļevs himself learned that he had been drafted only in 1978. He also played 6 games for Team USSR in 1977-1978 in the Izvestia Cup in Moscow. He turned down an offer to move to Moscow and play for the USSR Central Red Army hockey club, instead preferring to remain in his native

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. (It should be mentioned that in Soviet times most of the best players were transferred to the Central Red Army club.) In 1981 Hatuļevs was banned for life from the Soviet Hockey League.

Banishment and death

After he was banned for life from the Soviet Hockey League in 1981, Hatuļevs became a taxi driver. He later worked in a warehouse and struggled with alcoholism. Hatuļevs was found dead in the street in mysterious circumstances at age 39 on 7 October 1994.

Awards

*World Junior Championships — Gold (

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

) (Unofficial Tournament) *World Junior Championships Points Leader (1974) *World Junior Championships — Gold (

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

) (Unofficial Tournament) *World Junior Championships Best Forward (1975) *World Junior Championships All-Star First Team (1975)

Career statistics

''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes;''

Super Series statistics

The

Super Series The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception ...

were exhibition games between an NHL team and Soviet teams (usually a club from the

Soviet Championship League The Soviet Hockey Championship (russian: Чемпионат СССР по хоккею) was the highest level ice hockey league in the Soviet Union, running from 1946 to 1992. Before the 1940s the game of ice hockey was not cultivated in Russia, i ...

). Khatulev competed in one such series.

External links

*
Victor Khatulev - Player Profile on Arthur Chidlovski site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatulevs, Viktors 1955 births 1994 deaths Cleveland Crusaders draft picks Dinamo Riga players Latvian ice hockey left wingers Philadelphia Flyers draft picks Soviet ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Riga