Takin' a T/O With BT: Igor Larionov and The Game We Never Knew

It's unfortunate that, while we have the NHL in North America and there is no doubt that it's the greatest hockey league in the world, we miss all that goes on over seas, only to rely on a few press clippings.

This past weekend, the Kontinental Hockey League just held their All-Star game, and like many wish it was in the NHL, the game was held outdoors.

Red Square was the locale, and while the 2,500 fans that came out were just a fraction of the droves that attended the Bridgestone Winter Classic a few weeks ago, it still sounded as if it were a fairly exciting game.

The English branch of the KHL's website has a photo gallery, and the pictures really tell the story of an enjoyable matchup that, because it was an All-Star game, was fun on all levels.

While Wrigley Field is also full of history, you also get a feel for some of Russia's beautiful scenery and storied history that's housed in Red Square with these galleries, and sitting amongst the historic and beautiful buildings could have only added to aura of this All-Star game.

But because of the distance, those of us in North America missed out on all the finer points of Team Yashin taking on Team Jagr this past weekend, and the scoring dominance of Pavel Brendl, Marcel Hossa, and Oleg Saprykin (I'm not sure if this was supposed to be sarcastic).

But while this All-Star game was a big deal simply for Russia and the KHL, there was another during the locked-out season of 2004/05 that would've meant so much more to so many more.

Igor Larionov was one of the greatest Russian Hockey players in the country's history. His popularity in Russia rivaled that of Wayne Gretzky in Canada and his multiple gold medals at International competitions such as the Olympics, Canada Cups, World Championships, and World Junior competitions is legendary.

Larionov also won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, which undoubtedly helped his selection as a Hockey Hall of Fame inductee in 2008.

But Larionov sponsored one event that captured all of this and added the final exclamation point to his storied career.

Like every great player he went out on his terms and on his turf.

This was just a little bit different though.

Let's face it: No one was doing much of anything in the locked-out 2004/05 season. Some players were over playing in Europe, while others were staying at home in North America in hopes the lockout would end.

Larionov had no need to worry about job security though. With the end of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Larionov's career also ended, although it was hard to fathom "The Professor" ever retiring.

But Larionov decided that his last NHL game wouldn't be his last game. His last game would in fact be on December 13th, 2004 in Moscow's Luzhniki arena, and it'd be a game pitting World All Stars against Russian All Stars.

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