Sergei Vasilievich Pryakhin (sometimes Priakin; russian: Сергей Васильевич Пряхин; born December 7, 1963) is a Russian former

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 h ...

forward who played 20 seasons in several leagues. He is a former captain of

Krylya Sovetov Moscow HC Krylya Sovetov (russian: link=no, ХК Крылья Советов; ''Soviet Wings'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Moscow, Russia. The team played in the top divisions of Soviet and Russian hockey. In 2008, the team was expell ...

(Soviet Wings) of the Soviet League and was first Soviet hockey player given permission to play 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), and the second Soviet player to appear in an NHL game, following

Victor Nechayev Victor Nechayev (born January 28, 1955) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played three games for the Los Angeles Kings in the National Hockey League. He was the first player from the Soviet Union to play in the NHL, as well as ...

. He joined the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

in 1989 and played parts of three seasons in the NHL. Pryakhin returned to Europe in 1991 where he spent three seasons in Switzerland with Zürcher SC, then four in Finland with

Kiekko-Espoo Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish ice hockey club founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Mestis and the women's team plays in the Naisten Liiga. Kiekko-Espoo's junior teams play at national league levels in U16, U18 and U20 juniors. The ...

. He also played with the

Oji Eagles Red Eagles Hokkaido (レッドイーグルス北海道) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tomakomai city on Hokkaidō, Japan. They are members of the Asia League Ice Hockey. History The club was founded as the Oji Eagles in 1925. They h ...

in Japan for one year before returning to Kryla for a final season before retiring in 2000. Internationally, Pryakhin was a member of the Soviet national team. He appeared in two World Junior Championships and won a gold medal in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. He was a member of two

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

teams, winning a silver medal in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

and gold in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. Pryakhin was also a member of the second place Soviet team at the 1987 Canada Cup.

Playing career

Pryakhin's top level career began in 1980 when he appeared in one Soviet League for

(better known in North America as the Soviet Wings). He joined the team full-time in 1981–82 as a 17-year-old, appearing in 43 games for the Wings. Pryakhin's debut with the Soviet national team came the 1982 World Junior Hockey Championship in a fourth-place finish. He returned for the 1983 tournament and scored six points in seven games to help the Soviets win the gold medal. A mid-level player on both the Wings and the national team, Pryakhin's best seasons in the Soviet league came in 1983–84 when he scored 18 goals, and 1986–87 when he had 32 points. He ultimately rose to become captain of the Wings. He was a member of a Soviet squad that won a silver medal at the 1987 World Championship and finished as runners-up to Canada at the 1987 Canada Cup. The

(NHL)'s

, anticipating that it would be easier to convince the Soviet Hockey Federation to release a non-star member of their national team to play in North America, opted to select Pryakhin with the 252nd, and last, pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. The Soviets began negotiations with the Flames in February 1989, and he signed a contract with Calgary on March 29. He became the first Soviet player permitted by his national federation to play in the NHL. Pryakhin made his NHL debut on March 31 against the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

. He was the second Soviet player to appear in an NHL game, following

. Pryahkin appeared in the Flames' final two games of the regular season, and one game of the 1989 playoffs as the Flames went on to win the Stanley Cup. He did not play enough games or in the finals so his name was left off the Cup. Calgary did give Pryakhin a Stanley Cup ring, and included him on the team picture. Pryahkin scored his first NHL goal on October 10, 1989, against the New Jersey Devils. He appeared in 20 games with the Flames in 1989–90 and scored 2 goals and 4 points. He added 1 goal and 6 assists in 24 games in

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

and made appearances with the

Salt Lake Golden Eagles The Salt Lake Golden Eagles were a minor professional hockey team based in Salt Lake City from 1969 to 1994. History They played in the Western Hockey League from 1969 to 1974, the Central Hockey League from 1974 to 1984 and the International H ...

, Calgary's International Hockey League affiliate in both seasons. Internationally, Pryahkin appeared in three games and won a gold medal with the Soviet team at the 1990 World Championship. Returning to Europe in 1991–92, Pryahkin joined Zürcher SC of the Swiss top division. He was a member of the team for three seasons, splitting 1992–93 with Krylya Sovetov in his Russian home, before moving onto the Finnish

SM-liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

for four seasons with

. Pryahkin spent a season in Japan in 1998–99 before closing out his career with Krylya Sovetov in the Russian second division in 2000.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

*''Career statistics'':

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pryakhin, Sergei 1963 births Calgary Flames draft picks Calgary Flames players Espoo Blues players Krylya Sovetov Moscow players Living people Oji Eagles players Russian ice hockey right wingers Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) players Soviet expatriate ice hockey players Soviet expatriates in Canada Soviet ice hockey right wingers Ice hockey people from Moscow Stanley Cup champions ZSC Lions players