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CSKA Moscow Signs 51-Year-Old Fetisov

Injury-stricken ice hockey club CSKA Moscow have signed former NHL star and current club president Vyacheslav Fetisov, a spokesperson for the team said on Thursday.

Two-time Olympic champion Fetisov, 51, last played a professional game on June 11, 1998, at the age of 40. He will become the oldest player to compete at the top level of Russian hockey.

Fetisov will play for the team in a competitive game against SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League on Friday, the team's coach, Sergei Nemchinov, said. The league later confirmed that Fetisov was eligible for Friday's game.

"We urgently need one more defender after Denis Kulyash was injured," Nemchinov said. "Fetisov practices constantly and has agreed to help the team. We just need to settle some legal procedures."

"I think Fetisov is the one who can make the players pluck up their spirit," Nemchinov said.

Fetisov, who spent much of his career in the United States, is also a member of the Russian Senate.

It was not clear if Fetisov was expected to play for the rest of the season. In the NHL, Gordie Howe played an entire season for the Hartford Whalers at the age of 51, scoring 15 goals and making 26 assists.

(AP/RIA-Novosti)

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