Ottawa Senator's Anton Volchenkov and His Hockey Career

Anton Volchenkov has hockey running through his blood. Anton Volchenkov was born in Moscow, Russia on February 25, 1982, making him twenty-seven years old. Volchenkov is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs 235 pounds. Anton Volchenkov plays defense and was voted the number five best defensemen by Hockey News in 2007. As mentioned before, Anton Volchenkov is not the first hockey player of his family. His father, Alexei Volchenkov played hockey for the Red Army Hockey Team. His father was part of the Red Army Hockey Team and was a part of the Super Series in 1975. The Super Series were a series of games between Russian and NHL teams from the that took place for more than ten years and were purely for exhibition purposes. The Russians won all but two games against the NHL. His father was also a defenseman.

Anton Volchenkov was drafted to the NHL in 2000 by the Ottawa Senators, 21st overall. Although he was drafted, Anton Volchenkov remained in his home country to play hockey. In the 2001-2002 season, Volchenkov played with the Krylja Sovetov in the RSL (Russia Super League). The RSL is the most competitive league of hockey in Russia and the second best hockey league in the world, right after the NHL. After that season, Anton Volchenkov moved to America and played with the Ottawa Senators for the 2002-2003 season. He played 57 games with the Senators and managed to rack up more penalty minutes than points. The 2003-2004 season, Anton Volchenkov remained with the Ottawa Senators, but only played 19 games with them the entire season.

Instead of going back to his home country, as many of the foreign NHL players did during the 2004-2005 season, Anton Volchenkov played in the AHL (American Hockey League) during the NHL Lockout. He played with the Binghampton Senators in almost every single game and scored 45 points, which is the most points he has ever scored in one season as of now, and is quite good, especially for a defenseman. When the NHL lockout ended, Anton Volchenkov went back to the Ottawa Senators for the 2005-2006 season, in which he played almost all of the regular season games. Anton Volchenkov has been with the Ottawa Senators since then and is a regular player.

In addition to his pro hockey career, Anton Volchenkov has also represented Russia in hockey events. In 2001, he was the Captain of the Russian World Junior Hockey Team and scored the winning goal in a game against Team Canada and Team Russia won the gold medal. Volchenkov also played for Russia in the 2006 Winter Olympics. In 2008 and 2009, Anton Volchenkov again represented Russia when he played in IIHF World Championship, where Team Russia took home the gold medals both years.

ref-www.nhl.com