In world hockey, you can rarely find a player performing for a long time as part of only his own club. But Potapov Aleksey is a hockey player who is included in this number, for the past 10 years being a hockey player in Nizhny Novgorod “Torpedo”.
Carier start
Potapov Alexey Vladimirovich was born on March 2, 1989 in the city of Gorky - now Nizhny Novgorod. From early childhood, his parents took him to the hockey games of the local “Torpedo”, instilling in his child a love of the game. As a result, from the age of 6 Alexei began to go to the sports section. However, he did not immediately plunge into hockey. After graduation, the young athlete faced the question of a choice - a sport or a university? Having discussed the situation with relatives, and also having weighed both sides, Alexey Potapov decided to become a professional on ice.
Attempts to play in the KHL
As a result, at 18, Potapov began his career in his native Torpedo, most of the time playing for the farm club. The debut in the Russian Super League for Alexey took place in the 2007/08 season - the player was announced four times for the match, but he failed to mark himself with productive actions. A year later, the coaches again entrusted the striker a little time in the elite division of the competition, but following the results of 6 meetings, the score for “Torpedo” Potapov could not open.
In 2009, the striker, despite a small number of matches in the KHL, received a call to the youth world championship. As part of the Russian national team, the hockey player took part in 6 matches of the world championship, scoring two points and becoming the bronze winner of the tournament. In the same year, the club’s coaching staff began to trust the young talent, and then, having received a chance in 17 meetings, Alexey opened an account for his goals in the Continental Hockey League. Nevertheless, most of the time the player played for the youth team - “The Seagull”. In the MHL, Potapov was highly successful, having scored 33 productive points that year.
A year later, he began the season at Seagull, but the coaching staff decided to raise the level of the game for a promising foster child and transferred him to Sarov, who played in the Higher Hockey League. In the farm club, Alexey Potapov did not get lost and, regularly going out on the ice and gaining points, soon returned for a while to the main squad of “Torpedo”, which at the end of the championship extended the contract with the Russian player. In 2011, the forward accounted for 4 points in KHL matches.
Game as a basis
Every year, Alexey Potapov increasingly went beyond the basic structure of the Nizhny Novgorod club, being also attracted to games in the VHL. For “Torpedo” the striker played with varying success - a powerful and confident game of the hockey player upset the coaches with low performance. Nevertheless, even the annual “business trips” in HC “Sarov” did not stop Potapov on the way to his cherished goal.
As a result, the Russian’s dream came true in the 2012/13 season - despite only one puck in 19 KHL meetings, this year was the last for the player to play in two leagues. In 2013, Alexey Potapov played 30 matches for Torpedo, having received the status of an alternative team captain. The next season, the striker began to demonstrate the qualities of a goalkeeper, showing the best result in the KHL in his career, gaining 10 points.
The championship of 2015 for Alexei became no less important in his career. Together with reaching the semifinals of the playoffs at the end of the season before the start of the regular championship, Potapov officially became the captain of the Nizhny Novgorod club. This trust of the coaches and teammates inspired a native of Nizhny Novgorod, and this season following the results of 53 meetings on the account of Alexei 17 points that helped “Torpedo” to break into the playoffs. And now the coaching staff is counting on the experience and authority of Potapov in the battle for the Gagarin Cup.
Personal life
For several years, Alexey Potapov has been walking through life, not alone, but with his wife Irina. The couple met by chance - the future wife of the hockey player made a mistake in the number, after which the young began to meet. Shortly after the wedding, the couple had children, and now the Russian, in his spare time from training, seeks to be in the family circle.