Played with the soul / day

Simple and fearless

The legendary hockey player grew up in Jugla, Juglina Street. Since there were very few children’s team in Latvia at that time, when the young man was taken to the RVR specialized hockey school at the Daugava Stadium, he initially had to play at the age of coaching Karl Ran and Janis Kupčs for a year and two older guys. « Father had an old Zaporozhyer, and with it, Victor was driving for training. We spent all his spare time at the Daugava Stadium – we came soon before training and went away later, » remembers Hatuleva’s longtime friend Aivars Meisters. He says that a colleague was already massive in height, but it didn’t seem great to the others on the pitch. « Victor broke out with his simplicity, he was not afraid of, he had no cunning. He was more of a player with his soul, a sincere. The skill appeared later when progress was made. » Significantly, part of his childhood in Jugla and the legendary striker Helmut Balder was later training at the RVR school, but he does not remember Hatulev from youth age. « We lived next to me in a high -rise house, he in a private home, » says Balder, saying that for the first time Hatuļeva has met Riga Dynamo Master team. « He was a strong shot, and the skating skill was not a whack, a big height, a massive. »

Initially, Hatulev played as an attacker, and just at the time of junior age, the first twice at the then unofficial World U20 Championship took place. In the first tournament in 1973 and 1974, in Leningrad, with nine (3 + 6) points, Hatulev became the second top scorer in the championship. A year later, the competition took place in the US and Canada and the USSR team won the second gold, but Hatulev was named the best striker of the championship. « We had to be the best, the superior of the head, » Balder tells how much chances of Latvian hockey players were in the USSR national team. He had triumphed in the European U19 Championship in 1971. It was named the Finnish Pek Rautakallio, who coached the renewed Riga for many decades later Dynamo the team.