Viacheslav Alexandrovich "Slava" Fetisov is a Russian former professional ice hockey defenceman and a coach and political and sports figure. He played for HC CSKA Moscow for 13 seasons before joining the National Hockey League (NHL), where he played with the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings. With the Wings, he won back-to-back Stanley Cups and was part of the team's Russian Five unit. After retiring from his playing career, he became the assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils. Having a very successful four years, he helped get the team to two Stanley Cup finals and one Stanley Cup victory. In addition to that, he won two Olympic gold medals and seven world championships. His Stanley Cup wins, Olympic gold medals, and World Championship wins make him a member of his sport's prestigious Triple Gold Club.
Alexei Vyacheslavovich Kovalev is a Russian professional ice hockey coach, executive and former professional player. He is currently serving as the assistant coach for HC Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Valeri Borisovich Kharlamov was a Soviet ice hockey forward who played for CSKA Moscow in the Soviet League from 1967 until his death in 1981. Although small in stature, Kharlamov was a speedy, intelligent, skilled and dominant player, being named the Soviet Championship League most valuable player in 1972 and 1973. An offensive player, who was considered very creative on the ice, he also led the league in scoring in 1972. He was also a gifted skater who was able to make plays at top speed. Kharlamov was considered one of the best players of his era, as well as one of the greatest players of all time.
Darius Kasparaitis is a Lithuanian-American former professional ice hockey defenceman. He mainly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Avalanche, and New York Rangers. He is a four-time Olympian and three-time medalist, winning one gold medal, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. He received the title of Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1992 and was inducted into the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame in 2016. His 28 career Olympic games is a record among Russian national team's players.
Lawrence Thomas Murphy is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played over 20 years in the National Hockey League, suiting up for the Los Angeles Kings, Washington Capitals, Minnesota North Stars, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Detroit Red Wings.
Vsevolod Mikhailovich Bobrov was a Soviet athlete, who excelled in football, bandy and ice hockey. He is considered one of the best Soviets ever in each of those sports.
Anatoly Vladimirovich Tarasov was a Soviet ice hockey player and coach. Tarasov is considered "the father of Russian ice hockey" and established the Soviet Union national team as "the dominant force in international competition". He was one of the first Russians to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1974 in the builders category. He was inducted into the inaugural class of the IIHF Hall of Fame in 1997.
Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin is a Russian professional ice hockey centre and alternate captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Geno", Malkin began his career with his hometown club Metallurg Magnitogorsk, playing for their junior and senior teams. He was then selected second overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins, though an international transfer dispute delayed the start of his NHL career until 2006.
HC CSKA Moscow is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. The club is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is referred to in the West as "Central Red Army" or the "Red Army Team" for its affiliation with the Soviet Army, known as the Red Army until 1946, and the Russian Armed Forces. CSKA won more Soviet championships and European cups than any other team in history. It is owned by Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, which is in turn majority-owned by the Russian government.
The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception was in 1983, when the Soviet National Team represented the Soviet Union. A total of 18 series were held; the Soviet teams won 14 and the NHL won 2, with the remaining two series tied. 98 games were played across the 18 series, with Soviet teams posting an overall record of 55–33–10.
Super Series '76 was the first of the "Super Series" ice hockey exhibitions, which saw club teams from Soviet Championship League touring North America to play against teams from the National Hockey League (NHL). The games were played in late December 1975 through the early part of January 1976, in the middle of the regular schedules of the NHL and Soviet league.
The Russian Penguins were a professional touring Russian ice hockey club that competed in the 1993–94 IHL season, playing one game against each of the 13 teams involved in the regular IHL season. The results of the games played by the Russian Penguins counted in the standings for that season. The Penguins finished with a record of 2 wins, 9 losses, and 2 overtime losses earning them 6 points.
Professional ice hockey (hockey) is the competition of ice hockey in which participants are paid to play. Professional competition began in North America in the United States—in Pennsylvania and Michigan—and in Canada around 1900. Professional ice hockey expanded across Canada and the United States and eventually to many other countries. There are major leagues around the world, including the National Hockey League in North America, the Kontinental Hockey League in Europe and Asia, and the Swedish Hockey League in Europe, as well as minor leagues such as the American Hockey League and ECHL in North America, and the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey in Canada. High-level professional hockey is also present in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Finland and Switzerland; professional hockey is also played in many other countries, as diverse as Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Austria, Australia and Japan. The major professional women's league is the Professional Women's Hockey League, which began play in 2024.
The Soviet Hockey Championship was the highest level ice hockey league in the Soviet Union, running from 1946 to 1992. Before the 1940s the game of ice hockey was not cultivated in Russia, instead the more popular form of hockey was bandy. Following the dissolution of the USSR, the league was temporarily renamed the CIS Championship in 1992. This organization was the direct predecessor of the International Hockey League, and subsequent Russian Superleague (RSL) and current Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Adolph Frank "Aggie" Kukulowicz was a Canadian professional ice hockey player and Russian-language interpreter. He played four games in the National Hockey League for the New York Rangers, then played 12 combined seasons in the minor leagues and senior ice hockey leagues. He won two Turner Cup championships with the St. Paul Saints in the International Hockey League, and was a 1964 Allan Cup champion with the Winnipeg Maroons. He was fluent in Russian and Polish, had a brief coaching career with GKS Katowice in Poland, and later worked as a European scout for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Gabe Polsky is an American film director, writer and producer.
Red Army is a 2014 American-Russian documentary film directed, produced, and written by Gabe Polsky, executive produced by Jerry Weintraub and Werner Herzog. It premiered at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was released in limited theaters by Sony Pictures Classics on January 23, 2015. The film tells the story of the Soviet Union national ice hockey team through the eyes of team captain Slava Fetisov, in particular the famed 1990s five-man unit known as The Russian Five.
The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci and co-written by David Schneider and Ian Martin with Peter Fellows. Based on the French graphic novel La Mort de Staline (2010–2012), the film depicts the internal social and political power struggle among the members of Council of Ministers following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953. The French-British-Belgian co-production stars an ensemble cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Dermot Crowley, Paul Chahidi, Adrian McLoughlin, Paul Whitehouse, and Jeffrey Tambor.
Vsevolod Vladimirovich Kukushkin is a Russian journalist, writer and ice hockey administrator. He has written for Komsomolskaya Pravda, TASS, RIA Novosti and Sport Express. He traveled with the Soviet Union national ice hockey team as both a journalist and translator, and reported on ice hockey at the Olympic Games, the Ice Hockey World Championships and Canada Cup tournaments. His other work includes published books and television screenplays. As an ice hockey administrator he sat on International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) committees, and acted as a press secretary for the Russian Superleague and its successor the Kontinental Hockey League. He received the Paul Loicq Award in 2000 from the IIHF for contributions to international ice hockey.
