Vitali Samoilov
Vitālijs Samoilovs (Russian Виталий Анатольевич Самойлов / Vitaly Anatoljevich Samoilov, born April 19, 1962 in Riga, Latvian SSR ) is a former Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender, who won the gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games in 1988 with the Soviet national team.
Career
Vitālijs Samoilovs began his career with Dinamo Riga in the 1980s and was first-choice goalkeeper of the club, who belonged to the Wysschaja League, the highest Hockey class of the Soviet Union. In the U18 European Championships he won the gold medal and was named the best goalkeeper. Two years later, he took part with the Soviet U-20 selection at the Junior World Championship, where the team finished fourth.
The best season of his career was the 1987/88 season, when he was appointed the first time for a major tournament in the Soviet national team. Previously, he had given his international debut in a game against Czechoslovakia on 1 November 1986. At the Canada Cup in 1987, he was the third-choice goalkeeper Sbornaja and therefore was not in the tournament are used. At the Olympic Winter Games 1988, he came into a game used and won with the USSR Selection the gold medal. At the end of the season he was with Dinamo surprisingly Soviet runner-up.
On May 20, 1988 he played his last match, he stood at a total of ten international matches between the posts. During the 1988/89 season he was struggling with an injury and lost his place in the emerging Artūrs Irbe. Therefore, he moved in 1989 within the Game class to HK Sokol Kiev, for which he was active until 1991. Until the mid- 1990s, he was still in the Latvian Hockey League active before he ended his career for good. Overall, he was at 231 games in the league in Wysschaja goal.