Igor Stelnov

Igor Stelnov started his hockey career with the CSKA Moskva junior team. In 1981 he was promoted to the seniors and he played with CSKA Moskva until 1991. He then played one season in Khimik Voskresensk, then spent a few years in various European clubs without much success and ended his career again with CSKA Moskva in 1996-1998. Stelnov was first selected for the Soviet Union national team to play at the 1984 Olympics. The selection of a young defender surprised many Soviet hockey experts as Soviet Union had many excellent and very experienced defenders at that time, like Slava Fetisov, Aleksey Kasatonov, Vasily Pervukhin, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov and Sergey Starikov. In addition to his two Olympic gold medals, Stelnov also won World Championships gold in 1986 and silver in 1987 and European Championships gold in 1986 and 1987. He also won the Canada Cup (precursor of the World Cup) in 1987 and was Soviet Champion from 1982-1989. After his playing career Stelnov worked as a coach with Hockey Club MVD. Igor Stelnov died of a heart attack after a long illness being, aged only 47-years-old.