The Workhorse. Andrei Kudinov Turns 55

Forwards like him aren`t typically included in symbolic teams. There`s no special award category for the classic workhorse, or even `laborer,` of the game.

All the attention goes to the stars, the goal scorers, the snipers – those who are always in the spotlight, who deliver results. This is how perception works, and it`s understandable; it`s an age-old rule we didn`t invent and won`t change. But where would the greats be without those who do the `dirty work,` who labor tirelessly from start to finish, cleaning up mistakes and creating the most favorable conditions for their teammates? Typically, such players care little about status or popularity; the respect of their teammates and fans is enough.

Andrei Kudinov was highly respected. He didn`t score prolifically, nor was he the primary play organizer, despite being a center forward by position. He wasn`t a standout passer, and you couldn`t call him a purely defensive center either. But he could be described as being responsible for everything happening on the ice. His style was to be wherever he was needed most, in both offense and defense, covering weak spots, engaging in battles when necessary, disrupting dangerous counterattacks, fighting in the corners, setting up partners for breakthroughs, or working in the most dangerous area, the crease.

Kudinov didn`t often take center stage as a finisher. He always had teammates in his line who did – one Sergei Gomolyako alone was formidable, and Igor Varitsky was an excellent sniper. With this line, in which he played his last game for Traktor before heading overseas in the autumn of 1993, they won the `Three Bombers` award, reuniting later in Magnitogorsk. Later, Valery Karpov, another former Traktor player, replaced Varitsky in the line, and this trio continued to largely define the game of Metallurg during the golden Belousov era. But I don`t recall a single instance where Andrei Kudinov was singled out, even just based on the results of a particular match.

Once, Valery Belousov didn`t exactly rebuke me for this, but he made me think. It was an ordinary game; Magnitka won it toughly, starting slowly and with difficulty (as captain Mikhail Borodulin used to say, `our bones are old`). The decisive goals for the home team were scored by the leaders, whom I predictably included in the three stars. Konstantinych [Belousov`s patronymic] asked who I had chosen, didn`t object, but added that the best player of the game was Andrei Kudinov: `He was ready from the first seconds, unlike most of our other players. Yes, he didn`t have a goal or an assist. But when the whole team wasn`t playing well, Andrei did his job at a very high level – he broke up two dangerous attacks from the opponent, made several hits, didn`t lose a single battle, participated in a goal combination at an early stage after winning the puck – and generally, if you look closely, he never plays below his level.`

Belousov was, of course, right. But who would have understood me if I had highlighted Andrei Kudinov instead of Evgeny Koreshkov or Sergei Gomolyako? A whole galaxy of talented forwards from Magnitka in the second half of the 90s was always in focus, but this didn`t apply to Andrei precisely because he didn`t play flashy, didn`t dazzle, didn`t grab attention. However, if I had listened more carefully to Belousov`s words, I would have realized sooner that the team`s stability was largely ensured by Andrei Kudinov. Yes, his role wasn`t the main one, but it was necessary and very important.

When, after the triumphant three-year period, Belousov initiated a fundamental squad restructuring in 2000 and parted ways with a dozen stars, including those he had started with at Traktor as head coach, he kept Andrei Kudinov in the lineup. He wasn`t afraid to lose a star who had lost motivation, even though parting was painful – but he didn`t want to, and couldn`t, part with Kudinov.

In 2001, Metallurg, having lost almost half of its 1999 golden roster, won its second championship. The last goal of the season in Omsk in the decisive match was scored by Sergei Osipov, shooting the puck into the opponent`s empty net from behind the goal line with 17 seconds left on the siren. The assist came from Andrei Kudinov, who had thrown himself down in defense.

…The highly talented generation of Chelyabinsk hockey players who emerged in the late 80s and early 90s was the last large output from the famous and arguably the best school in the country, Traktor. Of course, the school produced excellent players in all subsequent years, and there were entire strong graduating classes, but back then, players from at least three graduating years came up to the main team, enough to form an entire squad. The time for them to fully make their mark wasn`t the best, but the foundation was so strong that Traktor lasted for another three or four years. These years also coincided with Valery Belousov`s debut as head coach, which largely determined his future path and the path of his young players.

Andrei Kudinov was in hockey from the age of six, following the example of his father, who played at a decent level. At the hockey school, he was coached by Valery Ryakin and Traktor legend Nikolai Bets. The team of players born in 1970 won the RSFSR championship two years in a row and became USSR champions among youths in 1985; Andrei Kudinov was a significant forward on that team. Breaking into Traktor`s main team at 17 was unrealistic due to an overproduction of talent, so Kudinov and his peers, including Sergei Gomolyako, Andrei Sapozhnikov, Sergei Tertychny, and others, transitioned into adult hockey with Chelyabinsk Metallurg. From there, he was drafted into the army; he had to serve for about a month in a real military unit before ending up in SKA Sverdlovsk, where he truly understood that he could continue to grow.

By the time he returned to Traktor, he was already a fully formed forward, but it took at least a year and a half for him and the team to reach leading positions. He didn`t have constant linemates for a long time; in the first games after his return, his fourth line with Ivanov and Shadrin only stood out significantly once – in a victorious match against Dinamo Minsk, the line scored three goals, one of which, his debut goal for Traktor, was scored by Kudinov. Combinations with Ravil Gusmanov, Igor Varitsky, and Sergei Gomolyako also didn`t form immediately; everything happened gradually, as did his transition to the center forward position. When everything settled down more or less, both Traktor, which became the bronze medalist of the first International Hockey League championship, and Andrei Kudinov, who became the team`s second leading playmaker in the 1992-1993 season (Igor Fedulov had 25 assists, Kudinov had 24), surged.

He had already played about fifteen matches for the Olympic national team, but didn`t make it to Albertville 1992 due to his young age, and he wasn`t among the five Chelyabinsk players who won the World Championship in 1993; Boris Mikhailov preferred other candidates. It`s quite likely that if Andrei Kudinov had stayed in Russia for another season or two, he would have played in the World Championship, but the power center forward was already in the sights of the New York Rangers, and Kudinov didn`t delay his departure. He didn`t get lost in the Rangers` farm club, playing two seasons at a high level, but he was never called up to the main team. He was patient and hardworking, but apparently, more was expected of him than he could give. His third season in Binghamton was his last overseas; it was time to return – but not to his native Traktor, which was already struggling, but to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, under Belousov`s wing.

Many Chelyabinsk fans still cannot forgive Magnitka for `ruining` Traktor, but it didn`t start with the players or the coach – Valery Belousov left when he got tired of knocking on a brick wall, and leaders gravitated to him from various places, including from overseas, to have a chance to realize their potential – they had already sensed that such an opportunity might come once in a lifetime. Not all of them were washed-up veterans, but they had never tasted big victories – in Magnitogorsk, such a prospect opened up. That is, it was practically an ideal situation for Gomolyako, Karpov, Gusmanov, and, of course, for Kudinov, who fit perfectly into this process, becoming its cornerstone. Because he was a solid and exceptionally reliable player, which any coach values. The fact that this `assembled team` didn`t turn into a `gang` is thanks not only to the club management and coaching staff but also to players like Andrei Kudinov.

Magnitka in the late 90s and early 2000s etched its name into the history of Russian hockey precisely because there were no unmotivated people there – I`m talking about the strongest motivation: the internal one. When dreams were realized, the spark began to fade, but this doesn`t apply to Andrei Kudinov; he would have continued to maintain his level. But four surgeries on one knee were too much, and he could no longer work as intensely as he had before. And at Magnitka, it was impossible to do otherwise.

When he finally left professional hockey, he asked one of Traktor`s managers if they needed young coaching staff. He was told they weren`t needed yet. He had to go into business, but hockey eventually drew him back. He returned gradually and thoroughly, eventually heading the hockey school of his native club. Kudinov worked as director for three years, `ensuring the training process for young players, passing on experience to both coaches and players.` He had big plans connected with the upcoming opening of the Olympic Training Center, but precisely at that moment, `to achieve ambitious goals,` `the decision was made to change the leadership of the Traktor hockey school.`

Perhaps Andrei Viktorovich Kudinov`s work style was considered outdated. But his principles were, and remain, simple: `In hockey, I find concepts like sloppiness and irresponsibility unacceptable… Only discipline and hard work can unleash talent. These are the qualities I have always valued in people.`