Konstantin Loktev

Konstantin Loktev started to play hockey in 1952 in Dynamo Moskva, but soon in 1953 he switched to ODO Leningrad. He played there one season and since 1954 until his retirement from hockey in 1966 he played with CSKA Moskva. With CSKA Moskva, Loktev won nine Soviet Championships titles (1955, 1956, 1958-61, 1963-66) and was the leading goal scorer of the Soviet Championships with Viktor Yakushev in 1959 with 21 goals. Internationally Loktev played with the Soviet national team from 1956-66, being capped 113 times and scoring 83 goals. Playing together with his teammates from CSKA Moskva Veniamin Aleksandrov and Aleksandr Almetov, Loktev formed one of the best lines in the Soviet hockey history and they were primarily behind the Soviet success in the early 1960s, as they scored more than 250 goals in about 100 matches. With the Soviet national team, Loktev won a gold and bronze at the Olympics, was a three-time World Champion (1964-66) and won three silvers (1957-59) and two bronzes (1960-61) at the World Championships. He was the most successful player in the 1957 World Championships with 18 points (11 goals, 7 assists) and was named the best forward at the 1966 World Championships. Loktev won six European Championships titles (1958-60, 1964-66) and was a runner-up in 1957 and 1961. After his playing career, Loktev had a long and successful career as an ice hockey coach. He started coaching in 1968 with the Soviet Defence Ministry team and in 1970 was selected to be the head coach of CSKA Moskva. Except for a short spell coaching Partizan Belgrade in 1974, he coached CSKA Moskva until 1977 and won two Soviet Championships titles with them (1975, 1977). From 1976-77 he also worked with the Soviet national team and won the 1976 Winter Olympic gold and 1977 World Championship bronze. He then worked as a head coach of Legia Warszawa in 1978-80, CSKA Sofia in 1981-82 and SKA Novosibirsk in 1983. In 1993-94 Konstantin Loktev was a vice-president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. Loktev was inducted to the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2007.