Tikhonov, Viktor Vasilyevich

Tikhonov, Viktor Vasilyevich,

1930–2014, Soviet and Russian ice hockey player and coach, b. Moscow. As a defenseman (1949–63), he won four national championships (1951–54) with the Soviet air force team (VVS Moscow) and Dynamo Moscow. After serving as an assistant coach (1964–68) for Dynamo Moscow and head coach (1968–77) for Dinamo Riga, he became head coach (1977–94) of the Soviet (after 1991, Russian) national team and head coach (1977–96) of CSKA Moscow, the Soviet (later Russian) army team. An authoritarian coach and relentless disciplinarian, he won 12 consecutive league championships (1978–89) with CSKA Moscow and three Olympic gold medals (1984, 1988, 1992) and eight world championships with the national team.