Vladislav TRETYAK

Vladislav Tretyak may well be the greatest goalie to ever play ice hockey. Tretyak played his entire career, 1969-84, with one club – CSKA Moskva, winning 13 Soviet titles (1970-73, 1975, 1977-84), a record he shares with Viktor Kuzkin. He also won fourteen European Champions Cup titles (1969-74, 1976, 1978-84), which is also a record. Tretyak was selected as the MVP of the Soviet Championships five times (1974-76, 1981, 1983).

Internationally Tretyak starred for the Soviet Union during the legendary 1972 Summit Series against the NHL All-Stars, after first playing internationally for the USSR in 1970, and he led the Soviets to Olympic gold in 1972 and 1976. In 1980, Tretyak was pulled from the nets after the first period of their Olympic match with the United States, and the USA went on to defeat the Soviets in that game and win a gold medal. Tretyak himself stated afterwards that substituting Vladimir Myshkin for him cost the Soviets a seventh consecutive Olympic gold, insinuating that he would not have let in the goals that Myshkin allowed, but he would eventually win his third Olympic gold in 1984. Tretyak won 10 World Championships titles (1970, 1971, 1973-75, 1978-83) and eight European Championships titles (1970, 1973-75, 1979-83), and was named as the best goaltender at the 1974, 1979, 1981 and 1983 World Championships. Tretyak also took part in the 1974 Summit Series, won the 1979 Challenge Cup between the Soviet Union and NHL All-Stars, and won a gold at the 1981 Canada Cup and bronze at the 1976 Canada Cup.

In 1983 Tretyak was drafted by the Montréal Canadiens but he was never allowed to play, as the Soviet authorities blocked the move. This was also the primary reason why Tretyak retired from hockey in 1984 at the age of 32. After his retirement Tretyak worked as an official with CSKA Moskva until he was hired by the Chicago Black Hawks as a goalie coach in 1990, which has allowed him to coach some of the top goalies of the past 15 years, such as Ed Belfour, Dominik Hašek, Jocelyn Thibault, and Martin Brodeur. From 1998-2002 Tretyak also worked as a coach with the Russian national team. In 2000 he worked as a special advisor to the Russian president on sports questions and in 2003 he was selected to the Russian State Duma. He is currently the chairman of the State Duma Committee of Physical Culture, Sport, and Youth. In 2006 Tretyak was selected as the president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989, the first Soviet player to be so honored and the first to be inducted without having played a game in the NHL. In 1997 he was also inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.