Vladislav Tretiak

At 71 years old, Vladislav Tretiak has this physical status:

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM (born 25 April 1952), is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union's national ice hockey team.

In a survey conducted by a group of 56 experts from 16 countries, he was voted one of six players to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team, one of the best goaltenders in the history of the sport.

He is the current president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation of Russia and the team's general manager.

Early years

In the USSR, Tretiak grew up. His parents are from the Dmitrovsky District. His father served 37 years as a military pilot and his mother was a physical education instructor. Despite the fact that he started following his brother as a boy, Tretiak excelled at several sports as a youth and is remembered for his determination to conquer all of them. However, he loved hockey as a youth and joined the Central Sports Club of the Army at age 11, and the Army's Children and Youth Sports School was introduced (known by the abbreviation CSKA). Vitaly Erfilov, his first trainer, was him. He began playing goaltender after finding that no one else had the desire or courage to play the position.

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International playing career

Although Tretiak did not play his first hockey game in the United States until the age of 11 (1963), he was well known in the Soviet Union by 1971 (aged 19), when he was selected to the Soviet Ice Hockey League's First All-Star Team, CSKA Moscow. He also did well in the 1972 Winter Olympics, in which the Soviets claimed gold medals.

Tretiak made international news after his outstanding contribution in the Summit Series in 1972, when he shocked the world, including the Canadian team, en route to a narrow loss to the Canadians. An interesting tale was told of how Canadian scouts seriously underestimated his potential prior to the series; they saw him score eight goals on a particular night, not knowing that he had been married the night before (and most of the team was present). Tretiak was one of the most well-known players of the series, alongside Phil Esposito, Paul Henderson, Alexandr Iakushev, and Valeri Kharlamov, among the entire Soviet roster's major players and followers, and fans regarded him with the greatest reverence and admiration. Many NHL clubs wanted to draft him, as a result of Tretiak's stellar work, but the Soviet government refused to let him leave, but Tretiak did not allow him to leave.

Tretiak put on a dominating show against the Montreal Canadiens during the 1976 Super Series, limiting them to a 3-3 draw despite his team being outshot 38–13.

Tretiak continued to act for the Soviet Union, helping them win gold medals in the 1976 Winter Olympics and gold in the 1984 Winter Olympics and the 1981 Canada Cup. In the IIHF European Championships, Tretiak defeated the Soviets by ten IIHF World Championships victories and nine others.

In the 1980 Winter Olympics, a USSR team lost to Team USA in a medal round match, costing Tretiak a chance of winning another gold. The Soviet team secured silver after winning the second most points in the tournament.

Tretiak retired after being just 32 years old in 1984 and still capable of playing top-level hockey. He wanted to spend more time with his family and requested national team coach Viktor Tikhonov for a preparation scheme, in which he could live at home and attend the training camp before games. Tikhonov declined since the majority of the team spent the majority of their time away from home in the training camp. Tikhonov's move was instrumental in Tretiak's decision to resign.

Career statistics

The Super Series featured exhibition games between an NHL team and Soviet teams (usually a club from the Soviet Championship League). In three separate series, Tretiak has competed.

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