Home > Hockey > Hockey Hall of Famers > Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak

Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak

NHL, the National Hockey League is a premier professional North American Sports League played in indoor stadiums. It’s separated in two conferences, each consisting of three divisions of the ice hockey teams. The league was founded in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec and it is has 30 teams out of which 24 teams are located in U.S. and 6 in Canada. They have a standard season and playoffs leading to the Stanley Cup, which is the NHL Championship final.

Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak is a well known hockey player who was inducted in the hall of fame in 1989. He was born on 25th April, 1952 in Moscow, Russia. He played in 16 international seasons from 1969 to 1985. Behind his extraordinary 1.78 goals against average in 98 international games, the Soviets won Olympic gold medals in 1972, 1976 and 1984. In the minds of hockey fans around the world, the name Vladislav Tretiak is so closely associated with goaltending quality that it is hard to visualize that prior to 1972, the Soviet superstar was totally unfamiliar to the North American sporting public. Canadian hockey scouts sent him away as a weak bond in the Soviet defense prior to the Canada USSR, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics series in 1972 and called him contradictory.

Apart from the shining in international championship play, Tretiak even usually stimulated himself to play his best throughout the exhibition games against the NHL teams. In a game in opposition to the Montreal Canadiens on New Year's Eve in 1975, one that a lot of hockey fans believe the best goaltending show of all time. Tretiak held the Habs to a 3-3 tie in spite of being outshot with 38-13. He was the MVP, Most Valuable Player of the 1981 Canada Cup and led the vaunted USSR to their initial victory, and the next year became another standout series of games on the Soviet All-Stars tour of North America, the highlight of which was his of 5-0 shutout of those same Canadiens in the Forum.

As a superb goalie, sports ambassador and teacher of both pros and children, Vladislav Tretiak defined all three roles in his long career in hockey. Coaching had always been part of Tretiak's post playing plans.

Back to Hockey Hall of Famers