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#5 Alexander Ragulin
Alexander Ragulin was teamed with Alexander Gusev along the blueline. The two teamed up to score the
game tying goal in game 5, on the way to a 5-4 Soviet victory.
STATISTICS
Pos. GP G A P PIM
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Alexander Ragulin D 6 0 1 1 4
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Career Biography
"Sasha" Ragulin was the tower of strength
on the Soviet squads in the 1960's and early 70's.
He was 6'1" and a very solid 225 Ibs. He patrolled the blueline with reckless abandon. He was born in Moscow on May 5,1941, and grew up with his two brothers Anton and Michael who both went on to play hockey in the Soviet second division. Ragulin played both soccer and hockey as a kid on his school team. He started his hockey career seriously when he was 14-years old in 1955. At that time he played for a fabrics team named "Kautchuk" out of Voskresensk. Between 1957 and 1962 Ragulin played for the Khimik Voskresensk team that has developed many Russian star players over the years. In 1962 he moved back to Moscow where he played for the Red Army team CSKA. He would play there until his retirement in 1973.
Ragulin was the perfect defenseman for the NHL. He was big and very strong, as
well as very good at moving out opposing forwards from the slot. When Ragulin
put that "bear hug" around a player it wasn't much anybody could do.
His weakness was his skating but he made up for that with very good positional
play. He had a heavy shot but it was primarily his defensive play that was his
strength. Ragulin was often portrayed as a caricature in Soviet newspapers.
Often as a fortress, as someone who was "impossible to destroy". He
was very seldom in the penalty box despite his physical play. " The coaches gave me the unenviable task of
covering Phil Esposito. He was a different kind of centre for me - very big,
very strong, always in the slot. Ours was a battle of two huge bears. He was one of the great defensemen of European hockey in his era. Ragulin was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1997. Alexander Ragulin passed away November 17th, 2004
Career Statistics Born: 5/5/1941, Moscow, USSR
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