He was a legend of Soviet hockey, the most titled coach in the world, who led our country to resounding victories, making Soviet hockey fans forget about the existence of second place. In the West, he was called the creator of the “Red Machine”, that is, the Soviet Union national hockey team, which no team in the world could defeat for many years. Soviet fans adored him, hockey players were afraid of his strictness, journalists mercilessly criticized him, and there were reasons for that. But be that as it may, now the last decades of the twentieth century in hockey are called “the era of Viktor Tikhonov”. He was born in 1930 in a family of simple factory workers. Since childhood, he loved hockey and played for the local team. After being drafted into the army, where his skills were immediately appreciated, he was accepted to the Air Force hockey team of the Moscow Military District, for which he played for five years, then for ten years he was a defender for Moscow Dynamo. As a player, Viktor Tikhonov won four gold medals in the USSR Championships as part of the VVS team and one as part of Dynamo, and became a Master of Sports of the USSR at the age of twenty. Viktor Tikhonov began his youth coaching career in 1964, first with Moscow and then with Riga Dynamo. After moving to Latvia, the Riga Dynamo team began winning one championship after another, showing outstanding results. Having appreciated Viktor Tikhonov’s merits, he was offered to return to Moscow and appointed head coach of the CSKA team and the USSR national team. He led the Soviet team to victories in thirteen consecutive Soviet Championships, from 1977 to 1989, and to thirteen European Cup titles, from 1978 to 1990. Under his leadership, the Soviet Union national team won the Olympic Games three times. He remained as the country’s head coach even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, first heading the CIS national team, then Russia. Coach of the Soviet Union national hockey team Viktor Tikhonov Viktor Tikhonov’s professional sports career was like a meteoric rise, followed by the entire hockey world. Some admired these achievements, some envied him, some openly disliked him for his demanding and harsh treatment of players. Some even accused Tikhonov of destroying Soviet hockey with his methods. But the team’s victories followed one after another, and even ill-wishers were forced to agree that he was irreplaceable at the 1980 Olympics, the Soviet Union absolutely dominated world hockey, and no one doubted the victory of the USSR team. During the decisive match with the US team, Tikhonov unexpectedly put Vladimir Myshkin in goal instead of Vladislav Tretiak and the team. lost the “gold” Even the Americans called their victory a “miracle on ice”, and Soviet fans were outraged and demanded the resignation of the coach. There were also quarrels among the specialists, many began to pay attention to other mistakes of Tikhonov. In the process of preparing the team, he often mixed up the team roster, relying on athletes who were not in peak form. Viktor Tikhonov had a difficult character, he was too demanding of himself and his athletes, forcing them to run; do intense exercises in the gym in the heat and maintain impeccable discipline. Ten months a year, his team was away from home, if there were no games, there were training camps. When one of the hockey players suggested that he missed his family, Tikhonov. – snapped: “If you miss him, call me. He himself lived only for hockey and demanded the same from his players. He did not care about anyone’s problems and everyday affairs. They said that once he did not let defenseman Sergei Starikov go to visit his son in the hospital before going to a match. He asked in surprise: “Are you a doctor? Will you be able to help him?” Another time, he did not want to let Andrei Khomutov go to his father’s funeral because there was a game the next day. The hockey players defended their teammate as a team. This attitude caused many problems and conflicts between the hockey players who were against the coach. In the late 80s, Vyacheslav Fetisov scandalously called Tikhonov a dictator who had raised the team as “ice robots”. Alexander Maltsev never forgave Tikhonov until the very end of his life, considering him guilty of the death of his friend Valery Kharlamov. After all, the tragedy on the track near Solnechnogorsk occurred just when Kharlamov was supposed to play at the Canada Cup, but the coach suspended him from this trip, taking the younger Krutov instead. Kharlamov was very worried about this. Maltsev believed that if Tikhonov had not made this “screw” and taken him to Canada as part of the national team, the legendary hockey player would be alive. “I would have beaten him for this,” Maltsev said when they talked about Tikhonov’s merits. And these merits really were. It was under Tikhonov that many “stars” of Soviet hockey were born. Many innovations are associated with his name: fast play, tough style, dividing hockey players into four fives, which significantly increased the pace of the game. But there were also reproaches against him. The famous hockey player Yuri Lebedev said that because of Tikhonov, many hockey clubs in Russia, from which he lured the best players, actually fell apart. He was accused of ruthlessly parting with worthy players, finding their replacements among younger and more promising hockey players. He really took difficult steps when it was necessary, without unnecessary sentimentality sending legendary players he trained into retirement, trusting the young and strong. Maybe that is why no coach in the world still has such an abundance of titles and a list of high-profile victories. who had Viktor Tikhonov He died at 85 years old due to heart problems, and managed to see the game of his grandson and namesake Viktor Tikhonov, who followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and became a famous hockey player.
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