He played for Dynamo six seasons with a high of 11 goals and 18 points in 1987-88. For the 1989-90 season Borschevsky became a member of Spartak Moscow where he took on a much greater offensive role. He set a Russian League high of 42 points during his first season with Spartak and his goal totals jumped to 17, 19 and then 22 in 1991-92.
He also competed for the Unified Team of former Soviet states at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, scoring seven goals and nine points in eight games for third in team scoring as the Unified Team won the gold medal.
Three months later Borschevsky took part in the World Championships for the Confederation of Independent States, again another team made up of former Soviet states during the unsettled time of the break up of the Soviet Union.
The rise in his offensive game, as well as his performance on the world stage at the Olympics, led to his being drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 1992 NHL Entry Draft.
He introduced himself to the NHL in 1992-93 with 34 goals and 74 points in 78 games (good for second place on the Maple Leafs in scoring), as well as scoring the Game 7 overtime goal in Toronto's playoff series against the Detroit Red Wings.
Two seasons later with the NHL on strike, Borschevsky returned to Spartak during the work stoppage before returning to the Maple Leafs when the league restarted in early 1995. After being limited to 19 games due to injuries, the Maple Leafs traded Borschevsky to the Calgary Flames, his third team of the season.
The following season he signed with the Dallas Stars as a free agent, but once more injuries limited him to just 12 games. Once recovered, Borschevsky joined the Cologne Sharks of the German DEL. While he only played in eight regular season games, he was a playoff contributor as the Sharks captured the DEL playoff championship.
Borschevsky returned to Spartak for the 1996-97 season and put the injuries behind him as he captured the Russian Super League scoring championship with 44 points in 42 games. He returned to Spartak for one final season before retiring at the end of the 1997-98 season.
He played 15 seasons, four in the NHL, scoring 49 goals and 122 points. Additionally he won a Russian Super League scoring title and gold medals at both the World Juniors and the Olympics.
Today's featured jersey is a 1991-92 Spartak Moscow Nikolai Borschevsky jersey. Spartak was founded in 1946 and won the Soviet League championship four times between 1962 and 1976 as well as the Spengler Cup five times between 1980 and 1990. The club was also Soviet League runners up 11 times.
Today's video highlight is Borschevsky's overtime series winner in 1993 against the Red Wings and his eloquent interview following the game.
Here is a look at Borschevky's time with Toronto from a broadcast from the Atlant Moscow club he later became head coach of.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We welcome and encourage genuine comments and corrections from our readers. Please no spam. It will not be approved and never seen.