Ice hockey forward Vladimir Krutov, a star forward for the Soviet team at three Olympic Games, has died at the age of 52.

      On Monday, Krutov was admitted to hospital in Moscow with abdominal bleeding and placed in intensive care. He has been in a grave condition for all three days.

      Vladimir Krutov was born in Moscow and started his career in a factorial hockey team "Meteor", later he was invited to CSKA Moscow and played as a forward in 1977-1989 years. During that time he took part in 439 games and scored 288 goals.

      Both in CSKA and in the USSR legendary hockey team Krutov played in a celebrated group of five, together with Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Vyacheslav Fetisov and Aleksei Kasatonov. 

      He scored the opening goal before the United States rallied to beat the Soviet team 4-3 in the so-called Miracle on Ice at the 1980 Olympics, and won gold at the 1984 and 1988 Games.

      After 12 years with CSKA Moscow, he played one season in the NHL for the Vancouver Canucks in 1989-90, notching up 11 goals and 23 assists in 61 games. Then Krutov worked as a coach, in particular, trained CSKA hockey team in 2001-2002. 

       In 2010 Vladimir Krutov was included to the International Hockey Federation's Hall of Fame.

      Vladimir Krutov tribute - best moments

Sources: Lenta.ru RIA Novosti Image: internovosti.ru