When Pasha turned five, his mother Tatyana took him to a sports section that the boy, despite his young age, dreamed about in a grown-up, conscious way. The passion for sports ran in the family: his father Vladimir was a Master of Sports in swimming and a participant in three Olympics, and his younger brother Valery, following Pavel, was sent to a hockey school.
At first, the future star had big problems with equipment - he was so small that he had to practice in figure skates, as hockey skates in his size were not available at all. In addition, there were hour-long trips by public transport to training sessions. But nothing could cool Bure's ardor - he continued to train with great persistence.
Naturally, his talent and diligence did not go unnoticed, and already in 1988 Pavel (when he was not yet even 17!) made his debut in what was then the strongest team of the USSR, from which the national team of the great and mighty was mostly composed. The match between CSKA and Dynamo ended with a score of 3:4, and although the army team lost, Bure opened his scoring account in his very first game. Having just stepped onto the ice as part of the fourth line, he scored a historic puck with his first shot at the 4th minute of the meeting.
A little later, the legendary Viktor Tikhonov made another important decision - he combined Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov, and Alexander Mogilny into one line. And already in 1989 they were invited to participate in the World Junior Championship. And Bure's very first appearance as part of the national team became golden for Pavel, and in addition, the young army player was recognized as the best forward with a result of eight goals, six assists (14 points) in seven games.
A fantastic start to his career: in the 88/89 season Bure was the best rookie, in the 89/90 season he won gold with the junior team and the title of world champion with the main national team, in 1990/91 - silver in the junior team and bronze in the senior national team at the World Championship. At 19, Pavel achieved everything a Soviet hockey player could dream of at that time - he played in the top five of the national team, was a Honored Master of Sports and a world champion. There was only one "unexplored wonder" left - the overseas NHL.
Oddly enough, it was the national team leadership that pushed him to make such a serious decision as moving from the USSR to Canada. In August 1991, the players were given the following condition - everyone had to sign new contracts with certain clubs. But Pavel's agreement with CSKA had expired back in the spring, however, according to that same contract, the hockey player could stay with the army team for another year, which he, in principle, intended to do. But when Bure began to be persuaded, voluntarily and compulsorily, to sign a contract not for one year but for three, he refused.
It was impossible to force the player to stay in CSKA, since he had already been demobilized from the army, and perhaps only for that reason neither the USSR Hockey Federation nor his former club could apply sanctions to the "rebel". As a result, in the fourth round of the 1989 draft, the young promising forward was selected by the Vancouver Canucks, for whom he subsequently played for eight years.
Later, answering questions about his first steps in the NHL, Bure invariably noted the enormous support from his more experienced comrade Igor Larionov and his parents, who followed their son across the ocean.
His debut match in the new team was the game against the Winnipeg Jets. "I was incredibly nervous that evening," Pavel later shared. "And what else can you expect from a yesterday's boy stepping onto the ice in front of a 20,000-strong audience? But as soon as I stepped onto the ice, my inner uncertainty vanished without a trace and I played in my usual manner. And to this day, every time I step onto the ice has a similar effect - everything except the game fades into the background and exists as if in a different dimension. It is not surprising that I consider the match against Winnipeg to be one of the most important in my career, because the question was a matter of life and death - sink or swim. A lot depends on how the debut game goes. If the impression of your play is not great, you can sit on the bench for a long time, which can be a knockout blow for a young hockey player."
In his first NHL season, Pavel played 65 games and scored 34 goals in the regular championship plus six in the playoffs. In the following season, his numbers became even more impressive (60 goals in 83 games and 110 points using the "goal + assist" system), and no one doubted that the Canucks' acquisition was worth the dividends invested in him. Pavel became the recognized leader of the team, and only a miracle prevented Vancouver from winning the Stanley Cup in 1994 - only in the seventh game did the New York Rangers manage to snatch victory from the Canadians. After that, Bure literally became an idol for the fans of the Land of the Maple Leaf. No one received so many images on the front pages of various publications - from hockey guides and sports newspapers to the yellow press - that year.
The 16th game of the 1995/96 season became fateful for the Russian Rocket - it was then, in a collision with Chicago player Steve Smith, that Pavel suffered a severe knee injury - all (!) of Bure's knee ligaments were torn. Such injuries cost many athletes their careers, and few believed that Pavel would at least be able to return to the ice, let alone put up the same numbers. Despite everything, Pavel, who was greatly helped at that time by his father - he developed a special recovery program - trained purposefully, and already in the 96/97 season he took to the ice again. Perhaps his play was no longer so dazzling, but everyone understood that Bure was capable of regaining his former form. The following season, Pavel, even alongside the legendary Mark Messier, could not lead his club to the playoffs, but overall he played the championship well, thanks to which he managed to regain confidence in his own abilities.
Besides the NHL, Pavel did not forget about the national team either. "If the coach thinks that I can help the team at the Olympics in Nagano," Bure said in 1998, "I will definitely accept his invitation. Only unsatisfactory physical condition can stop me. I will do my best to make the Russian national team remind the whole planet who is who in world hockey."
At the Games, Pavel outshone everyone except, perhaps, the unbeatable goaltender of the Czech national team, Dominik Hasek. Bure became the top scorer, scoring nine goals in six games. Moreover, in the semifinal match against the Finns, Pavel found the opponent's net five times, something no one had ever done in the history of the Olympics. With this achievement, the forward even made it into the Guinness Book of Records.
In the summer of 1998, Bure finally decided to sever all ties with his former club and, not without resistance from the latter, moved to the Florida Panthers. The team's play immediately took on a new pattern, and the Russian Rocket once again confirmed the validity of his nickname, scoring 13 goals and adding three assists in 11 games. But now Pavel was troubled by recurrences of old injuries, and at times this prevented him from seeing what had been started at the beginning of the season through to a victorious end.
Along with the popularity of the elder Bure in the USA, Canada, and other countries, Pavel's income also grew - for the remainder of the 1999 season alone he was paid $3 million. And before the contract expired in 2004, his wallet was promised another $47.5 million. Bure became not only famous but also rich.
After the incredible rise of the Panthers came an unpleasant decline. Problems also began for the Russian national team - at the world championship held in 2000 in St. Petersburg, the hosts took the worst place in their history - 11th. Troubles poured in one after another, and old injuries interfered with playing.
Pavel now fills forced breaks in his performances with active charitable work and participation in Russia's social life. Remembering his own problems with equipment early in his career, Bure helps young athletes by taking one of the hockey sports schools under his wing. Now he can often be seen on various television channels, where he communicates with journalists and viewers not without pleasure, as well as in music videos, where he played the role of a romantic hero.
But still, it seems, everyone is just waiting for the return of a truly great athlete to the big ice. Only then will the Russian Rocket be truly realized. Old injuries serve as an obstacle to this, but Pavel has more than once proven that insurmountable obstacles do not exist for him.