Viktor Tikhonov (ice hockey b. 1988)
Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov (Russian Виктор Васильевич Тихонов; born 12 May 1988 in Riga, Latvian SSR ) is a Russian ice hockey player who is under contract with SKA St. Petersburg in the Kontinental Hockey League since October 2011. He plays at the position of right winger. He is the grandson of the famous coach Viktor Tikhonov Hockey same name.
Career
Tikhonov learned to play hockey in his childhood, which he spent partly in North America due to the profession of his father Vasily Tikhonov. There he played between 1993 and 1995, when his father worked as an assistant coach for the San Jose Sharks, for a youth team in Santa Clara. More coach stations his father took him to Kansas City and Kentucky, before returning to Europe together. After another station in Sweden he changed back into the Russian homeland, where Tikhonov eventually played at junior level of HK CSKA Moscow.
His first stop in the professional sector was in season 2004/ 05, the second team of the army HK clubs CSKA Moscow, with which he ran aground in the third highest Russian league. In the course of the season 2005/ 06 he moved to HK Dmitrov in the Wysschaja League, the second highest Russian league. There he recorded 14 points in 36 games. For the following season, he joined Severstal Cherepovets in the Super League, the former top division of the country. He played in only four games this season for the first team, but was in the summer, during the Super Series 2007 after the first four games of the series re-nominated as the Russians had to complain many injuries and also in the games had more than disappointed. In the 2007 /08 season Tikhonov belonged to the tribe of Severstal squads and was called to the end of 2007, the levy of the junior national team for the U20 World Youth Championship. There he won the bronze medal and was named Best Forward of the tournament. In the course of the Super League season he scored in 43 matches twelve points scorer, so he was among the most improved young players in the league. In the NHL Entry Draft in 2008, he was finally selected by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round to 28th overall position after he was already available but remained unnoticed in the drafts of 2006 and 2007. In order to secure the rights to Tikhonov, the Coyotes had previously issued two draft picks of the second round to the Anaheim Ducks, who until then had held the rights of the 28 picks. Already on July 1, brought him the Coyotes to contract signature. Through convincing performances in training camp, Tikhonov was able to prevail in autumn 2008 in the main squad of Phoenix.
In the weak team, the Phoenix Coyotes, the striker completed during the 2008/09 season 61 games in which he recorded 18 points. Only in January he fell due to a hand injury from ten games. After a coaching change at the Coyotes had been completed in the fall of 2009, Tikhonov was sent together with Kyle Turris before the start of the 2009/ 10 to the Springfield Falcons, the farm team of the Coyotes in the American Hockey League. There he spent the first two months of the football year before he was loaned to his former club Severstal Cherepovets of the Kontinental Hockey League. For the 2010/11 season he returned to North America, but played exclusively for the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL. In October 2011, he was obliged by the SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
Awards and achievements
- 2008 bronze medal at the U20 World Junior Championships
- 2008 Best striker in the U20 World Junior Championships
- 2008 All- Star team the U20 World Youth Championship
- 2013 KHL striker of March
- 2013 All- Star team of the KHL
Career Stats
Internationally
Represented Russia at:
- Super Series 2007
- U20 Junior World Championship 2008
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )