A Hockey Legend: Viktor Tikhonov's Life in Pictures

Viktor Tikhonov played as a defenseman with the Team of the Soviet Air Forces in 1949-1953 and Dynamo Moscow in 1953-1963.

Above: Legendary hockey coach Victor Tikhonov during a match of stars on Red Square.

Tikhonov scored 35 goals in 296 games in the elite Soviet hockey league.

Above: Senior CSKA and Soviet national hockey team coach and Merited Coach of the USSR Viktor Tikhonov, center, during USSR Hockey Championship.

Tikhonov started his coaching career in 1962 when he became an assistant coach for Dynamo Moscow, then he took the position of the Head Coach for Dynamo Riga.

Above: Senior coach of the Soviet national team and CSKA Viktor Tikhonov (R) and forward of the Soviet national and CSKA teams Sergei Makarov.

In 1977, Tikhonov became the Head Coach for CSKA Moscow. As the CSKA coach, he won 13 straight Soviet titles (1978-1989), 14 European Cups and two USSR Cups.

Above: Head coach of the Soviet national hockey team Viktor Tikhonov, Merited Coach of the USSR, thanking his team for a good match.

In 1977, Tikhonov became the Head Coach for the Soviet national team which was the most dominant team worldwide, winning world cup eight times (1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990) and European cup (1978-1991).

Above: Viktor Tikhonov, right, and Vladimir Yurzinov, USSR ice-hockey team coaches, ponder upcoming match strategies

The national hockey team with Tikhonov netted three Olympic gold medals (1984, 1988 and 1992).

Above: Merited master of sports of the USSR, senior coach of the Soviet national ice hockey team Viktor Tikhonov (second left) gives an interview to sports journalists.

Tikhonov won the 1979 Challenge Cup with the national team.

Above: Players of the Soviet national hockey team, winners of the Izvestia Cup international hockey tournament. Center: head coach Vladimir Tikhonov.

Led by Tikhonov, the Soviet hockey team won the 1981 Canada Cup.

Above: CSKA Moscow ice-hockey team coach Viktor Tikhonov leads his players during a match.

In 1993-1994, Tikhonov was the Head Coach for the Russian Olympic hockey team. At the 1994 Olympic Games, Russia did not achieve medal standings for the first time in the history of national teams. Following that, Tikhonov left the position of the national team head coach. However, he remained the coach for CSKA until 1996.

Above: Viktor Tikhonov, coach of the Russian national ice hockey team, with his players during a Russia-Finland match of the Baltica Cup, the Luzhniki small ice arena.

In Summer 2003, Tikhonov was appointed the Head Coach for the Russian national team, but he left the position after the 2004 World Cup.

Above: President Vladimir Putin, member of the Russian national hockey team Viktor Tikhonov and his grandfather, Soviet hockey player and Merited Coach of the USSR Viktor Tikhonov (from R to L) at the reception devoted to the award ceremony on the team's victory in the 2014 world championship in Minsk, in the Grand Kremlin Palace

In 1998, Viktor Tikhonov was enshrined in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. His name is also in the Hall of Olympic Fame in Lausanne.

Above: Hockey coach Viktor Tikhonov, left, during the Olympic torch relay before a match of the regular championship of the Kontinental Hockey League, SKA St.Petersburg vs. CSKA Moscow.