Николай Борщевский

Позиция - правый крайний нападающий
Дата рождения - 12 января 1965 года
Место рождения - г. Томск, Россия
Рост - 175 см
Вес - 81 кг
Драфт - выбран 77-м в 1992 году командой "Торонто Мэйпл Лифз"
Обмены - 6 апреля 1995 года обменён из Торонто в Калгари на право выбора в шестом раунде драфта. Имея статус свободного агента, 13 сентября 1995 года подписал контракт с "Даллас Старс"

В 1983-89 играл за московское "Динамо", с 1989 по 1992 в "Спартаке" (Москва). Лучший сезон в 1991-92 гг - забил 25 голов и сделал 14 передач в 40 играх. В 1996 году вернулся в Россию, в московский "Спартак". В чемпионате 1996-97 гг показал лучший результат в чемпионате России по количеству передач - 29 и по количеству результативных очков - 44 (в 42 играх). В 1997-98 гг, в своем последне сезоне в карьере, набрал 27 очков (10+17) в 46 матчах за московский клуб. 

Олимпийский чемпион 1992 года. В девяти играх того турнира за объединённую сборную забросил пять шайб и сделал одну голевую передачу. Играл за сборную России на чемпионате мира 1992 года (1+3 в 6 матчах). 

В составе юниорской сборной СССР стал чемпионом мира среди молодёжи в 1984 году. Набрав 13 очков (6+7) в 7 сыгранных матчах, попал в символическую сборную "Всех Звёзд" того чемпионата. Годом ранее попал в символическую сборную чемпионата Европы среди юниоров до 18 лет. 

В 2009 году стал главным тренером подмосковного "Атланта" в КХЛ. 
 

Пресса: 28 августа 2015 года. Николай Борщевский: С разрывом селезенки отыграл три смены // Спорт день за днем.

ВИДЕО ►1993 год. Решюащий гол Борщевского в овертайме седьмого матча серии плэй-офф "Детройт" - "Торонто" ►1995 год. Потасовки с участием Борщевского в матче "Даллас" - "Сан Хосе" Матч за матчем Статистика Николая Борщевского ● сезон 1992-93 ● сезон 1993-94 ● сезон 1994-95 ● сезон 1995-96 ● общая ФОТО-АРХИВ

ПРЕССА:
9 апреля 1995 года. 
Borschevsky leaves with sense of loss, betrayal // Toronto Star

There was no hero's welcome when he arrived, no hero's sendoff when he left.

Certainly, there were heroics between those times. Just not enough of them to keep the littlest Leaf in Toronto.

Yet even after it was made abundantly clear that Nikolai Borschevsky was no longer needed or wanted by the club - he began his Leaf season on the No. 1 line and ended it idle in the press box - he still found it a wrenching, emotional experience to leave the city.

Stoicism is the expected response when a player is traded; take the news like a man, then get out of town. On the surface, that's usually the case, even when an athlete is pleased with the transaction.

But the human factor remains an invisible yet undeniable element in the bottom-line business of player transactions. A sense of loss and betrayal is common, especially when an athlete is traded for the first time. And so it was with Borschevsky.

The Russian's circumstances were vastly different from many of those moved before Friday's trading deadline because his three-year NHL career has been fueled by fear - a practical, rational and understandable fear borne of his age, size and culture.

Borschevsky was 27 when he entered the NHL in 1992 as the fourth-round pick of the Maple Leafs. At that point, he already had one full hockey career behind him after nearly a decade in the Russian elite league.

He feared that, at his age, he didn't have the luxury of youth - like a Drake Berehowsky, for instance - to earn too many second chances. He feared that his poor English would impede his relationship with his teammates and, more important, coach Pat Burns.

Well aware of Don Cherry's anti-European rants on Saturday nights, the winger out of Moscow feared that Canadians would not like him, his wife or their small children. After nearly bleeding to death on the Leaf bench when his spleen was ruptured in '93, Borschevsky feared how difficult returning to the Leaf lineup - and full strength - would be. And during the lockout, hearing the clock ticking on his career, he feared the league-ordered shutdown might squeeze his NHL stay short.

Instead of being consumed by those fears, however, he tried to counter them.

Borschevsky was impressive in his rookie season, a speedy blond pinball bouncing off big guys and squirting through holes often enough to score 34 goals and assist on 40 others. He also scored the most significant Maple Leaf goal in nearly two decades with his Game 7 overtime winner against Detroit - playing with a painful cracked right orbital bone - in the first round of the playoffs, ultimately sparking a new era of Leaf respectability.

He studied English at odd hours under the patient tutelage of friend, now agent, Anna Goruveyn, to improve himself. When erroneous rumors surfaced two years ago that Russians weren't paying Canadian taxes, an angry Borschevsky sought out local journalists to correct the gossip. He also planted business roots in the community, opening a hockey school last summer in Toronto.

Borschevsky worked hard at rehab after losing his destroyed spleen in emergency surgery and, during the lockout, he returned to former club Moscow Spartak to increase his chances with the Leafs.

But none of that was enough.

His production fell off after the spleen injury and continued to plummet when this season resumed. Borschevsky didn't help his cause by pouting in the locker room, an unnecessary and unprofessional distraction around a team. Still, it must be hard to be the life of the party when you know the club's trying to get rid of you.

Borschevsky is hoping his luck will change in Calgary. Besides helping the Flames, it's the best way to take the edge off his hurt.

18 января 1995 года. 
Speed Borschevsky's top ally `There are so many big guys, I have to be fast' // "Toronto Star"

His straight, blond bangs spray from beneath his helmet, the red practice jersey hangs closer to his knees than his hips and even Doug Gilmour appears hulking beside him.

At times, Nikolai Borschevsky looks more like the Boy at Leaf Camp than a contributing member of the club's No. 1 line.

But appearances can be deceiving. And the 30-year-old Russian has proven that cliche to be true time and again during his three seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Small (5-foot-9, 170 pounds) but speedy, Borschevsky, who scored 34 goals his rookie season, has maintained his spot with Gilmour and Dave Andreychuk after the 105-day lockout and during the controlled coaching panic of adjusting to a 48-game NHL schedule.

Part of the reason Borschevsky feels he was able to pick up where he left off last September is due to a conditioning stint he had with his former club - Moscow Spartak - during the stalled collective bargaining talks.

``I didn't know how long the lockout was going to be and for me, it's very important that I have some hard practices and games to stay in condition. That's why I went to Moscow,'' Borschevsky said after a hearty two hours of practice and scrimmaging yesterday at the Gardens.

``I need lots of conditioning to (play against) big defencemen, there are so many big defencemen in the NHL, so I must have good speed and good stickhandling,'' he continued in his improving English. ``I think (Vancouver Canucks' star) Pavel Bure is not a very big guy but he has lots of speed, good hands and he is very smart.

``So speed against big guys is very important.''

Leaf coach Pat Burns said like the other three Leafs who played competitive hockey during the lockout - Mats Sundin, Kenny Jonsson and Doug Gilmour - an edge was evident in Borschevsky during the mini-camp.

``We see it in Kenny Jonsson and Mats Sundin, who played on a regular basis, even Dougie playing in Switzerland, the short time he spent there was a short time that he was working (in real games) - it wasn't a short time playing shinny,'' Burns said. ``The same for Nikolai.''

Borschevsky played eight games for Spartak and another six games with a touring reunion of stars from the former Soviet Union, including Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Nemchinov, Vitali Prokhorov, Alexei Kovalev and Valeri Zelepukin.

Still, the trip overseas was not a free ride for Borschevsky. He said reports that Spartak paid him the equivalent of $300 a month were untrue. He said the club covered only his insurance and his plane tickets. Borschevsky paid for his wife and two children to accompany him and covered all the family's expenses himself.

Though he looks fragile, Borschevsky is surprisingly hardy. He knows he's doomed to get clunked in games - he was dumped a couple of times in practice yesterday - but he can bounce right back.

Indeed, during his debut year (after nearly a decade in the elite Russian league), Borschevsky collected 74 points from 34 goals and 40 assists in 1992-93 for the Leafs. He also played the '93 playoffs with a cracked right orbital bone, scoring an unforgettable Game 7 overtime winner in the first round against Detroit.

He had emergency surgery in November, 1993 to remove his spleen (destroyed by a routine Florida Panther hit) and played only 45 games, scoring 14 goals and 20 assists.

This year, Borschevsky hopes this season will be short but sweet.

``I've played with Doug and Dave a long time now and I know them well, we work well together,'' he said. ``I am very excited to get the season started.''

11 декабря 1993 года. 
Borschevsky's brush with death Speedy diagnosis of ruptured spleen helped save Maple Leaf winger's life // "Toronto Star"

 NONE OF THE 15,728 fans packed into Maple Leaf Gardens on Nov. 3 knew that as Nikolai Borschevsky sat quietly on the Toronto bench, he was bleeding to death.

Neither did Borschevsky.

The gritty little winger thought the sudden sharp pain he felt was from a cracked rib, courtesy of a routine first-period check from Florida Panther Bill Lindsay. The ache didn't abate during the first intermission but Borschevsky returned to the ice anyway.

He played two more anemic shifts before he realized something was wrong. Very wrong. And it wasn't his ribs.

His head was spinning, the pain had intensified and he felt like his energy was draining away - which it was, literally. What Borschevsky didn't know was that his spleen had been badly ruptured and blood was pumping, furiously and dangerously, into his abdomen.

Until now, not many knew just how close Borschevsky came to dying.

"It was a life-and-death situation, that's not an exaggeration," said Leaf physician Michael Clarfield. "If Nikolai had gotten on the plane to Detroit that night (for a game against the Red Wings the next evening), he wouldn't be alive today."

Thanks to quick work by the Leafs medical staff, he obviously survived. But the seriousness of the situation was deliberately kept quiet, said Clarfield, until Borschevsky had sufficient time to recover from the emergency operation to remove his destroyed spleen, an organ that helps the body fight infection.

And his recovery to date has been remarkable. Five weeks after the surgery, the 28-year-old Russian is now back on skates, in full equipment, rebuilding his strength after losing more than half the blood in his body from the injury.

"His progress has been steady, there have been no setbacks and he's been excellent to work with," said Leafs head trainer Chris Broadhurst. "The biggest thing after losing that much blood is regaining his stamina - losing all that hemoglobin means the oxygen isn't being carried throughout the body the way it was.

"So we're going to be careful in bringing him back; we don't want Nikolai back for two games, then have him sit out for two or three because he's tired. We want him back when he's fit enough to play the rest of the season."

Borschevsky hopes to be in coach Pat Burns's lineup soon after Christmas, which is likely, but there's no specific date for his return. Until then, he remains restless.

"For more than half my life, my life has been nothing but hockey," said Borschevsky, through translator and friend Anna Goruveyn. "It is very frustrating not playing.

"I don't know how to describe it other than I don't feel comfortable. There's no sense of belonging or that I'm doing something useful. It's difficult to watch your team because you feel helpless, you can't assist them with anything."

Still, sitting out seven or eight weeks is a small price to pay, considering what the grim alternative might have been. Had Clarfield and Dr. Darrell Ogilvie-Harris not suspected a spleen injury so fast, had Leaf surgical consultant Dr. Raymond Mathews not been at the Gardens that night by sheer coincidence, had Broadhurst not ignored Borschevsky's insistence that he wasn't hurt, had the Leaf not been in such top physical condition . . .

Borschevsky complained of dizziness after the hit. Clarfield and Ogilvie-Harris initially watched for a possible head injury since the winger has a history of them from his playing days in the former Soviet Union. But by the second period, they suspected something else.

"He just didn't look right," Clarfield said. "So we checked him out and saw that his blood pressure was down and his heart rate was going up - that's a sign of internal bleeding somewhere."

They paged Mathews who, unbeknownst to the doctors, was sitting in the Gardens blues watching the game. Mathews darted to the dressing room, confirmed their suspicions and rushed a deteriorating Borschevsky to Toronto Western by ambulance. He was admitted around 11 p.m., tests were conducted and he was on the operating table two hours later.

"There were two to four litres of blood in his abdomen when we operated on him - and that's a lot," said Mathews, who said Borschevsky's spleen was so severely damaged it looked like those he'd seen in car accident victims.

"He had lost so much blood that if it had been anyone else, we would have been transfusing them. But we didn't do that at all with Nikolai because he was an athlete and we felt his regenerative mechanism would be prompt. And it has been. He should recover from this completely."

Borschevsky said everything happened so quickly that night - the hit, feeling ill, the surgery - that it didn't strike him until later that he'd had a brush with death.

"Dr. Mathews saved my life," said Borschevsky, shyly. "After the operation, I talked to people about what had happened, so I realized after the fact how serious it was. I give a big thank you to Dr. Mathews and the Leaf doctors and trainers."

While the freak hit has caused Borschevsky so much anxiety, the reaction from his teammates and the public has overwhelmed him.

"I was really touched that Mike Foligno (traded to Florida while Borschevsky was in hospital) found the time to come and say goodbye to me, that was really nice," said Borschevsky, who has been helping wife Lena look after sons Valery, who turns three on Dec. 27, and Nikolai, three months.

"When somebody goes through hard times and other people show respect, concern, compassion and wish you well, it's very touching. A big thank you to everybody."

Сентябрь 1998. 33-х летний ветеран, поигравший в свою время в нескольких командах НХЛ, нападающий Николай Борщевский не смог пробиться в основной состав "Торонто Мэйпл Лифз", где он играл в предсезонных играх. Россиянин забросил одну шайбу и сделал три результативных передачи в трёх сыгранных матчах. "Он показал, что может играть на уровне НХЛ, но просто никто не сыграл хуже и не отдал ему своего места в команде," - сказал тренер "Майпл Лифз" Пэт Квин. Почти наверняка можно ожидать  появление Николая в ИХЛ. . . 

18 октября 2005 года. 
Борщевский начинает работу в России матчем со "Спартаком" // "Спорт-Экспресс"

Вчера после своего первого матча в роли главного тренера "Локомотива-2" в родном для него дворце спорта "Сокольники" Николай Борщевский дал интервью корреспонденту "СЭ".

НЕУДАЧНЫЙ ДЕБЮТ НЕ СМУТИЛ

- Что и говорить, непривычно находиться здесь в качестве гостя, - признался Борщевский. - Не думал, не гадал, что именно тут пройдет мой тренерский дебют. Но так сложилось. Что поделаешь, в жизни всякие сюрпризы случаются...

- В том числе и неприятные. А поражение в первом же матче, скорее всего, относится именно к таким. Можно ли говорить о разочаровании?
- Радости уж точно не испытываю. Проигрывать не любил никогда, к этому и ребят приучить хочу. Пока серьезных выводов из поражения не делаю и никого персонально ругать не стану. Скажу только, что "Спартак" мне понравился. Дебют не удался, но ничего страшного в этом не вижу.

- В суперлиге сейчас только два главных тренера не старше 45 лет. Какую-то тенденцию в этом видите?
- Мне трудно судить, ведь я слишком много времени не был в России. Надо присмотреться, и тогда, думаю, смогу ответить на ваш вопрос.

- А в Канаде как в этом плане?
- На возраст тренеров внимания не обращал. К тому же я варился больше в юниорском хоккее, а не в НХЛ и не вникал во многие детали. Мне ближе других клубов был "Торонто", а там Куинн тренирует, которого молодым никто ведь не назовет. И Робинсона, возглавляющего "Нью-Джерси", тоже.

Я - МАКСИМАЛИСТ, НО ВСЕМУ СВОЕ ВРЕМЯ

- Приняв предложение работать в первой лиге, вы наверняка собираетесь не ограничиваться этим, а со временем возглавить клуб суперлиги?
- Считаю себя по натуре максималистом и, конечно же, хочу расти. Но никогда далеко не загадываю. Сегодня думаю только о "Локомотиве-2".

- Игровая карьера у вас получилась завидная. Но все же не столь впечатляющая, как ожидалось...
- Действительно, в юношеском, молодежном возрасте я забивал довольно много, всегда был на виду, и мне прочили место в первой сборной в ближайшее время. Однако путь в главную команду страны оказался длинным. Естественно, я все время задавался вопросом: почему? И пришел к выводу, что "Динамо" со своим силовым стилем - не моя команда, в ней я не могу полностью раскрыться. Тогда и решил перейти в "Спартак", где упор всегда делался на хитрость, комбинационность. Уверен, что поступил правильно. Ведь только после этого я заиграл по-настоящему, поверил, что ничему не разучился, а такие мысли нет-нет да приходили в голову. И все свои лучшие сезоны я провел именно после перехода в "Спартак".

- "Динамо" вы отдали 6 лет. Выходит, эти годы прошли зря?
- Ни в коем случае. Играть, тренироваться рядом с такими звездами, как Александр Мальцев, Валерий Васильев, - уже счастье. А первыми моими партнерами по тройке были Володя Голиков и Володя Семенов, у которых я многому научился. В "Динамо" набрался опыта, и без того багажа, что там получил, не было бы прогресса потом.

- А не обидно, что ушли из "Динамо" как раз перед тем сезоном, в котором бело-голубые после 36-летнего перерыва стали чемпионами страны и еще три года удерживали этот титул, тем более что завоевать золотую медаль вместе со "Спартаком" вам так и не удалось?
- Отсутствие в своей коллекции такой медали считаю, конечно же, минусом. Но досады, что разминулся с ней, нет. Вместе со "Спартаком" я завоевал две награды - серебряную и бронзовую и знаю, что они мои по праву, а это очень важно. Лучше серебро, но то, в которое ты внес немалый вклад, чем золото, завоеванное в основном усилиями других людей.

ВЕРИЛ, ЧТО В НХЛ НЕ ЗАТЕРЯЮСЬ

- Когда вы отправлялись за океан, многие не верили, что со своими небольшими габаритами вам удастся себя проявить.
- Мне об этом часто говорили, и я благодарен тем, кто искренне хотел дать добрый совет. Но в своих силах был уверен - 27 уже к тому времени исполнилось. Сложившийся человек, ситуацию оценивал трезво. Действительно, тенденция была такова, что предпочтение отдавалось крупным игрокам, их в основном и выбирали на драфте под первыми номерами. Хоккеистам с моими габаритами нелегко в жесткой игре, но ведь не только в НХЛ - во всем мире так. И что тогда делать - бросать любимое занятие? Зачем, если можно брать верх за счет других качеств - маневренности, хорошего катания, голевого чутья? Считаю, мне удалось это доказать.

Первый же мой сезон в "Торонто" сложился успешно - я забросил 36 шайб, сделал 47 результативных передач, а команда после долгого перерыва добралась до полуфинала Кубка Стэнли. Все шло как нельзя лучше, и, может быть, я еще долго там играл бы. Но, начиная со второго сезона, меня стали преследовать серьезные травмы, и все в карьере как бы повернулось в обратную сторону.

- После одной из травм - разрыва селезенки - стоял даже вопрос о досрочном уходе из хоккея?
- Было такое. Много я за то время передумал и решил, что в принципе могу еще поиграть, а желание-то было огромным.

- Но ведь и риск немалый?
- В общем-то да. Но я считал, что самое страшное позади. Ведь правильный диагноз мне не сразу поставили, и я успел много крови потерять. Хорошо, что вовремя рядом оказался врач, которого просто пригласили на хоккей. Он и определил разрыв селезенки, а потом делал мне операцию. После такого ничего уже бояться не будешь.

Вот только в клубе на меня после травмы с опаской смотрели. И особенно, как я понял, не хотели видеть у себя - мало ли, мол, что случится. Но я все же поиграл еще - и в НХЛ, и в России. А теперь вот снова свою страну как бы заново познаю...

Сергей ЧУЕВ