Polina Bolgareva impress with a hat trick in her first ever top-level event game with the national team.
photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
Polina Bolgareva’s 23rd birthday promises to be a bit special. True, the party might not be the wildest of her life, since the big day on 6 February falls between games against the USA and Canada. But for the Team ROC forward, her Olympic debut is already turning into something spectacular.
Bolgareva emerged as the star of the show when a depleted Team ROC defeated Switzerland 5-2 in its opening game in Beijing. With six players in isolation, the stage was set for a new star to emerge – and the Dynamo-Neva forward rose to the occasion in style. Shrugging off a lack of ice time in the build-up (her team had just one chance to skate in Beijing before the puck dropped) Bolgareva put the Swiss to the sword. Helped by the partnerships she’s established with her Dynamo-Neva team-mates Fanuza Kadirova and Alexandra Vafina this season, she marked her first game at the Olympics with a hat trick.
A clinical start on the biggest stage suggests a lack of nerves, something that Bolgareva attributes to Russia’s team spirit. “It was our first game and, obviously, we were a bit nervous,” she said. “But we had a really lively bench today, everyone supported each other, and you can see that team spirit on the scoreboard.”
That spirit extends to the players the team announced to be in isolation but who are still seen very much as part of the team.
“We really miss the players who are in isolation,” Bolgareva added. “It was a tough game, we’re missing our leading players and we’re looking forward to having them back.”
Balashikha – Boston – Beijing
Bolgareva’s Olympic debut is the latest step on a journey that started in Balashikha and took in a spell in Boston before exploding onto the world stage in Beijing.
As a child, Bolgareva did gymnastics and track-and-field before friends of the family introduced her to hockey. Around that time, a new arena opened in her hometown of Balashikha, on the outskirts of Moscow. That arena was home to HC MVD, the club where Oleg Znarok began his coaching career, and also provided Bolgareva with a place to embark on serious hockey practice.
Next came the chance to cross the Atlantic. Despite the challenges of leaving home and family at a young age, Polina studied at one of Boston’s Catholic Schools and improved her hockey with the Boston Stars junior program. “Training was really interesting,” she recalled in an interview with Dynamo’s official website in 2019. “It was very different from back home. There was a real focus on technique and individual skill.” Despite being kept off the ice for a time due to poor grades while she struggled with schooling in a new language, she managed to progress on and off the ice, inspired by a level of competition in women’s hockey in the U.S. that wasn’t available in Russia at the time.
Raising her game at home
Now established in St. Petersburg, Bolgareva is a rising star in the Zhenskaya Khokkeinaya Liga, Russia’s Women’s Hockey League. She moved to Dynamo during the 2018/19 season, leaving SKIF Nizhni Novgorod, one of Russia’s strongest women’s teams, to take on a new challenge.
Since then, she and her club have progressed: in 2019/20, she led Dynamo in scoring, last season playing for the rebranded Dynamo-Neva under national team head coach Yevgeni Bobariko, she was second only to Fanuza Kadirova. Two All-Star calls came in those two campaigns. This season, with Dynamo looking good for a play-off spot, Bolgareva is again riding high in the scoring charts. She’s tied for team leadership with fellow Olympian Vafina, and her 27 points to date equal her most productive season. But the 27 points this term came in 20 games, with more to come after the Games; in 2016/17, her 27-point haul for SKIF took a full 36-game season.
Small wonder that Bobariko, coach for club and country, is impressed.
“Polina is a scorer, she scores a lot in our league,” he said after Friday’s win over the Swiss. “We know that she can take her chances. She got three today and we’re very happy for her and for the whole team. We showed our character [against Switzerland]. In difficult circumstances, we played some good hockey.”
Bolgareva emerged as the star of the show when a depleted Team ROC defeated Switzerland 5-2 in its opening game in Beijing. With six players in isolation, the stage was set for a new star to emerge – and the Dynamo-Neva forward rose to the occasion in style. Shrugging off a lack of ice time in the build-up (her team had just one chance to skate in Beijing before the puck dropped) Bolgareva put the Swiss to the sword. Helped by the partnerships she’s established with her Dynamo-Neva team-mates Fanuza Kadirova and Alexandra Vafina this season, she marked her first game at the Olympics with a hat trick.
A clinical start on the biggest stage suggests a lack of nerves, something that Bolgareva attributes to Russia’s team spirit. “It was our first game and, obviously, we were a bit nervous,” she said. “But we had a really lively bench today, everyone supported each other, and you can see that team spirit on the scoreboard.”
That spirit extends to the players the team announced to be in isolation but who are still seen very much as part of the team.
“We really miss the players who are in isolation,” Bolgareva added. “It was a tough game, we’re missing our leading players and we’re looking forward to having them back.”
Balashikha – Boston – Beijing
Bolgareva’s Olympic debut is the latest step on a journey that started in Balashikha and took in a spell in Boston before exploding onto the world stage in Beijing.
As a child, Bolgareva did gymnastics and track-and-field before friends of the family introduced her to hockey. Around that time, a new arena opened in her hometown of Balashikha, on the outskirts of Moscow. That arena was home to HC MVD, the club where Oleg Znarok began his coaching career, and also provided Bolgareva with a place to embark on serious hockey practice.
Next came the chance to cross the Atlantic. Despite the challenges of leaving home and family at a young age, Polina studied at one of Boston’s Catholic Schools and improved her hockey with the Boston Stars junior program. “Training was really interesting,” she recalled in an interview with Dynamo’s official website in 2019. “It was very different from back home. There was a real focus on technique and individual skill.” Despite being kept off the ice for a time due to poor grades while she struggled with schooling in a new language, she managed to progress on and off the ice, inspired by a level of competition in women’s hockey in the U.S. that wasn’t available in Russia at the time.
Raising her game at home
Now established in St. Petersburg, Bolgareva is a rising star in the Zhenskaya Khokkeinaya Liga, Russia’s Women’s Hockey League. She moved to Dynamo during the 2018/19 season, leaving SKIF Nizhni Novgorod, one of Russia’s strongest women’s teams, to take on a new challenge.
Since then, she and her club have progressed: in 2019/20, she led Dynamo in scoring, last season playing for the rebranded Dynamo-Neva under national team head coach Yevgeni Bobariko, she was second only to Fanuza Kadirova. Two All-Star calls came in those two campaigns. This season, with Dynamo looking good for a play-off spot, Bolgareva is again riding high in the scoring charts. She’s tied for team leadership with fellow Olympian Vafina, and her 27 points to date equal her most productive season. But the 27 points this term came in 20 games, with more to come after the Games; in 2016/17, her 27-point haul for SKIF took a full 36-game season.
Small wonder that Bobariko, coach for club and country, is impressed.
“Polina is a scorer, she scores a lot in our league,” he said after Friday’s win over the Swiss. “We know that she can take her chances. She got three today and we’re very happy for her and for the whole team. We showed our character [against Switzerland]. In difficult circumstances, we played some good hockey.”