I’ve had this great 9.5×12″ photo for quite a few years, with what I think is Jean Beliveau’s personal handwriting at the bottom of it as a bonus. There is also what appears to be Russian writing in pencil on the back.
Big Jean sits in the stands at Luzhniki in Moscow in 1972, flanked by two Soviet stars, Valeri Kharlamov and Vladimir Vikulov.
You know who Kharlamov was, but Vikulov was also a dandy and the one who took the ceremonial faceoff against Phil Esposito before game one in Montreal.
During one of my trips to Russia I was told that Vikulov had a tremendously difficult personal life after retiring from hockey, and this once-skilled right winger who played in six of the eight Summit games, (notching two goals and one assist), passed away on August 9, 2013 at the age of 67.