Sergej Zholtok | Photo: Minnesota Wild
Yesterday, one of Latvia’s best ice hockey players, Sergej Žoltoks, would have turned 50 years old. Unfortunately, for 19 years we have been forced to say and write “palikta” instead of “palika”. Just as we can only guess how his career would develop and what he would do now that it was over.
There are very good hockey players who do not talk to the press and generally try to avoid any communication outside the hockey field. I myself have not seen a single game of Zholtok, because at that time I was in primary school and I was not interested in hockey yet. However, all his coaches, former teammates and journalists remember that Sergey was always kind, positive and very responsive. Never complained about anything, which probably played a role.
Sergej Zholtok would have turned 50 today! We remember you, Seryozha ???????????? pic.twitter.com/vLqDnADXCx
— LV Hockey Federation (@lhf_lv) December 2, 2022
In 1992, Žoltoks became the eighth NHL hockey player drafted from Latvia – he was selected in the third round with the overall number 55 by the Boston Bruins. At that time, the 19-year-old striker attracted the attention of scouts with his performance in the U20 World Championship, first in the USSR, and later as part of the CIS national team. After the draft, the hockey player went to North America, where he played for 12 seasons.
The first season was mostly spent in the AHL, however, he managed one game in the NHL to catch. In the world’s strongest league, Zholtok made his debut on April 8, 1993 against the Quebec “Nordiques”, marking himself with an assist and utility +1. It is interesting that Zholtoks scored his first NHL goal To Arthur Irbe against the San Jose Sharks, it happened in November 1993. The Boston stage cannot really be called successful, because only 25 matches have been played in this organization in three seasons.
Zoltok’s first goal in the NHL
After restarting his North American career in the International Hockey League (IHL), Zholtok moved to the Ottawa Senators and the 1996/1997 season could be called the first full-fledged NHL. 57 games in the main tournament and 28 (12+16) points, as well as his debut in the Stanley Cup and seven matches in the “play-off” tournament. In the continuation of his career, the hockey player joined Montreal “Canadiens”, 1999/2000. having one of the brightest seasons in his NHL career, scoring 26 (!) goals. The Latvian hockey player played in the same team, but sometimes in the same shift, with the current president of the Lithuanian Hockey Federation Dainu Zubru.
Žoltok’s real success story became the transition to the Minnesota Wild, where the striker of the Latvian national team became one of the leaders of the attack. The forward’s first season with more than 40 points, with 16 goals and 26 assists, as well as his first conference finals for the Wild, coming back from 1-3 twice in the playoffs.
In the next, last NHL season of his career, the Wild lost hopes of qualifying for the playoffs some time before the end of the regular season, as a result of which he was traded to the Nashville Predators. The team left the Stanley Cup in the first round, and Zholtok scored his last goal in the world’s strongest league as a “Predator” hockey player.
Zholtok’s last goals NHL
In 2004, Žoltoks played a powerful world championship, scoring five (3+2) points in seven games, but Latvia, led by Kurt Lindström, reached the quarterfinals of the WC for the first time in the team’s history. Due to forced circumstances, the striker remained in Latvia – the NHL was locked out, and he decided to start the 2004/2005 season as a member of “Rīga 2000”. The team played in the open championship of Belarus, and it was in the capital of the neighboring country that Zholtok’s life ended.
In November of the same year, “Riga 2000” visited Minsk. “Five minutes before the end of the third period, Sergej approached the bench of the Riga players, he was very pale and asked for help. The residents of Riga did not have a doctor with them, so I got involved,” recalls Vasiliy Taran, a doctor from the local “Dinamo”. At the end of the game, Zholtok was taken to one of the corridors of the arena. The fight for his life lasted for more than an hour, but the doctors did not manage to save the attacker.
Looking at Zoltok’s numbers in the NHL, they seem incredible – 588 games in the main tournament, 111 goals, 147 assists. It seems that since the death of Sergej, no striker has appeared in Latvia who could be called a “new Zholtok”. But it probably wouldn’t be possible either, because he was the only and quite unique hockey player who definitely deserves a separate chapter in the history books of Latvian hockey.
Sergey Zholtok’s numbers in the NHL regular season:
Games: 588
Gate: 111
Assists: 147
Sergey Zholtok’s Stanley Cup numbers
Games: 45
Gate: 4
Assists: 14
