Viktor Tikhonov

Viktor Vasilyevich Tikhonov (Russian Виктор Васильевич Тихонов; born June 4, 1930 in Moscow, Russian SFSR ) is a Russian ice hockey coach and players and was considered the best coach in the world.

Career

He began his career as a hockey player with CSKA Moscow, but at age 30 he finished it and turned to the trainer to work. He began in the youth team of Dynamo Moscow and after eight years, he took the ice hockey team of the Daugava Riga as head coach. With them, he managed to rise from the third division in the elite league of the former Soviet Union.

In 1976 he moved to CSKA Moscow and won with them until 1989, thirteen championship titles in the Soviet Hockey League and 13 in the European Cup title. At the same time he was coach of the Soviet national team ( the so-called Sbornaja ) and a colonel in the Red Army. Due to its merciless training methods and almost dictatorial hardness he won in 1981 with this team of eight world titles, three Olympic gold medals, ten European Championship title and the Canada Cup. His greatest defeat was probably the match against the USA at the Olympic Winter Games in 1980, which lost the Soviet national team 4-3. This rousing match went down in history as Hockey Miracle on Ice.

By its first series, which came into use in both CSKA Moscow and in the national team, he had probably the best European block of five who has ever played hockey shaped. Behind the so-called KLM series, consisting of Sergei Makarov, Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov, stood the two defenders and Vyacheslav Fetisov Alexei Kassatonow.

Early 1990s, the political situation changed dramatically in the former Soviet Union. The players, it was now possible to play in the NHL. The training system of Tikhonov broke because players fought back.

At the Olympic Games in 1994 Tikhonov was the last time coach of the Sbornaja since this was only fourth and he had to go then. Even with CSKA Moscow, he was released in 1996. He also had at the Ice Hockey World Championship for Men 2004 again a brief comeback in the gang of the Russian national ice hockey team. Due to the bad result ( 10th place) but he was deposed again, even at CSKA.

In 1998 he was honored with induction into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Sporting successes

Quotes by Tikhonov

From the legendary Tikhonov sentence is: " A player who is not willing to constantly improve and not every game, no matter how unimportant, wants to win, will never be a big one! "