Vladislav Tretiak

Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM (Владислав Александрович Третьяк; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team.

Although Tretiak did not play his first hockey game until the age of eleven (1963), he was well known in the USSR by 1971 (aged 19), when he was named to the Soviet Ice Hockey League's First All-Star Team, while playing for the powerhouse Red Army team, CSKA Moscow.

He also played well in the 1972 Winter Olympics, in which the Soviets took the gold medal.

Tretiak became internationally famous after his outstanding performance in the Summit Series in 1972, when he helped surprise the world, including the Canadian team, en route to a narrow loss to the Canadians.

A famous story was told of how Canadian scouts seriously underestimated his ability prior to the series; they witnessed him let in eight goals on a particular night, not knowing that he had been married the previous evening (and most of the team had been in attendance).

Of the entire Soviet roster, Canadian players and fans held Tretiak in the highest regard and respect and Tretiak was one of the most famous players of the Series along with Phil Esposito, Paul Henderson, Alexandr Iakushev and Valeri Kharlamov.

Dryden had been one of Team Canada's goaltenders during the 1972 Summit Series, opposite Tretiak.

During the 1976 Super Series, Tretiak put on a dominant performance against the Montreal Canadiens, holding them to a 3–3 tie despite his team being outshot 38–13.

Tretiak went on to star for the Soviet Union, helping them win gold medals in the 1976 Winter Olympics, and again winning gold in the 1984 Winter Olympics and the 1981 Canada Cup.

Tretiak also back-stopped the Soviets to ten IIHF World Championships victories and nine in the IIHF European Championships.

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, a USSR team loss to team USA in a medal round game denied Tretiak a chance at another gold.

The Soviet team won silver, as they had the second-highest number of points in the tournament..

As a result of Tretiak's stellar performance, many NHL teams wanted to draft him – Montreal ultimately did, in 1983 – and Tretiak was willing, but the Soviet government did not let him leave.

Though he was only 32 in 1984 and still capable of playing top-level hockey, Tretiak retired.

It is said that he wanted to spend more time with his family and asked the national team coach Viktor Tikhonov for a training regime, in which he could live at home and come to the training camp before games.

Since the rest of the team spent most of their time away from home in the training camp, Tikhonov refused.

This move by Tikhonov contributed to Tretiak's decision to retire.

Tretiak retired in 1984, following a 2–0 victory over Czechoslovakia.

He was awarded Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1984).

In 1987 Tretiak wrote an autobiography, Tretiak, The Legend.

He was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1989, the first Soviet player to be honored.

In 1990, Mike Keenan hired Tretiak as a goaltender coach for the Chicago Blackhawks, which allowed him to coach goaltenders such as Ed Belfour, Dominik Hašek, and Jocelyn Thibault.

Keenan was so impressed with Tretiak's abilities in practice that he suggested the 38-year-old might still be able to play in the NHL.

Tretiak said that coaching was the next best thing to playing in the NHL.

After leaving the Blackhawks, Belfour wore uniform number 20 as a tribute to Tretiak.

Numerous other goalies, including Evgeni Nabokov, also wore number 20 as a tribute to Tretiak.

He was inducted into the inaugural class of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Hall of Fame in 1997.

Considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the sport, he was voted one of six players to the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team in a poll conducted by a group of 56 experts from 16 countries.

In 2000, he was voted 'Best Russian Hockey Player' of the 20th century.

He was a vital cog for some of the most dominant hockey teams in history and is now considered one of hockey's greatest ambassadors.

Tretiak was elected to the State Duma as a member of the United Russia party in December 2003, representing the Saratov constituency.

Tretiak was one of the guests who spoke at the ceremony during which the Montreal Canadiens retired the jersey number of Ken Dryden on 29 January 2007.

He is the current president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia and was the general manager of the Russian 2010 Winter Olympic team.

Tretiak grew up in the USSR.

His parents are from Dmitrovsky District.

His father served 37 years as a military pilot, and his mother was a physical education teacher.

Although he initially followed his brother as a swimmer, as a child Tretiak excelled at many sports, and is remembered for his ambition to master all of them.

However, like many children of his generation, he loved hockey, and at age 11 entered the Children and Youth Sports School of the Central Sports Club of the Army (known by its abbreviation CSKA).

His first trainer was Vitaly Erfilov.

He began playing goaltender when he saw that no one else had the desire or courage to play the position.