Nikolay Puchkov

Nikolay Puchkov started his career with Dynamo Moskva in 1947, switching to VVS Moskva in 1949 and with that club he won three Soviet titles from 1950 to 1953. In 1953 Puchkov joined CSKA Moskva, playing for them for the next nine seasons, and winning six Soviet Championships titles. He ended his sporting career in 1962-63, playing with the SKA Leningrad team. Puchkov was first selected to the Soviet hockey team in 1954 and he soon rose to become the top Soviet goaltender. Besides his Olympic gold and bronze, Puchkov played on World Championship teams in 1954 and 1956, was a runner-up in 1955, 1957-59, and added a bronze in 1960, being named the top goaltender at the 1959 World Championships. He also won European Championships in 1954-56 and 1958-60.

After his sporting career ended Puchkov worked as a head coach of SKA Leningrad for the next 17 years. In the 1970s he was a coach of the Soviet national team along with Vsevolod Bobrov, leading them to a World Championships silver in 1972. From 1980 to 1990 Puchkov was a head coach of Izhorets Leningrad. From 1990 to 2002 Puchkov worked as a coach in various Swedish and Finnish clubs and he ended his coaching career in 2002-2003 with SKA St. Petersburg.

According to his wife, Nikolai went on foot on August 8, 2005 to pick up a cassette player from the garage, which was about a 15-minute walk from their apartment. Near his home, Puchkov began to feel unwell. Puchkov fell and hit the back of his head on the ground. The ambulance crew called to the scene could only pronounce the man dead.