Boris Kulagin

Who is Boris Kulagin?

Konstantinov "Boris" Kulagin was a Russian ice hockey player and coach. Kulagin was one of the first players in the Soviet Union to play organized ice hockey in the 1940s. Prior to this time Kulagin played bandy or "Russian hockey". Kulagin would later coach teams in the Soviet Union, eventually becoming national team coach in the 1970s.

Kulagin was born in Barnaul in the Siberia district of the Soviet Union. In 1930, along with his family, Kulagin moved to Moscow, where his father was stationed in the military. In 1936, Kulagin was enrolled in hockey lessons, joining the hockey division of the Moscow Dynamo sports society. Kulagin continued to play ball hockey until the 1940s, when the Soviet Union Central Committee ordered the conversion of organized play into ice hockey, then considered "Canadian hockey". Kulagin disliked the transition from bandy but was bound to the change to remain in the profession. After a few seasons of Soviet ice hockey playing Canadian rules, Kulagin suffered a career-ending leg injury and transitioned into coaching. During the 1950s, Kulagin ran sports programs in Orenburg.