Aleksey Nikiforov (born 27 April 1957) is a Lithuanian

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

coach and former player for

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga () is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a D ...

. He is the father of Quad City Storm winger Vladimir Nikiforov. He resides on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

and coaches in

Hauppauge, New York Hauppauge ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the towns of Islip and Smithtown in western Suffolk County, New York, on Long Island. Its population in 2022 was estimated at 20,401 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite the offici ...

Early life

Nikiforov was born in 1957 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Lithuania, to a military family. They later relocated to

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Latvia, and there he started playing ice hockey around the age of 7. Nikiforov's first ice hockey stick "consisted of two broken pieces his father scavenged from a local rink and screwed, then taped together." His skates "were bought by his mother on the Soviet Union's black market." During his time in Riga, Nikiforov played for

from the peewee age bracket up to the elite level. He eventually made the junior national team and played briefly at a professional level before recognizing that his future lay in coaching.

Coaching career

In 1980, Nikiforov moved back to Vilnius and took up a coaching position in the town of

Elektrėnai Elektrėnai () is a city of about 11,000 inhabitants in Vilnius County, Lithuania; since 2000 it has been the capital of the Elektrėnai Municipality. It is situated between the two largest cities in Lithuania – Vilnius and Kaunas. History His ...

. During his time coaching in Lithuania, he was instrumental in the development of

Dainius Zubrus Dainius Gintas Zubrus (born June 16, 1978) is a Lithuanian former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL), the first Lithuanian to have played 1,000 games in the NHL. Drafted 15th overall in the 1996 NHL ...

and

Darius Kasparaitis Darius Kasparaitis (born October 16, 1972) 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 Yo ...

, who would go on to play in the NHL. In 1987, Nikiforov was invited to attend a coaching development program in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, which was led by ice hockey legend Anatoly Tarasov. By 1991, Nikiforov had immigrated to the United States, settling on Long Island with his wife, while his parents cared for his two young children in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. He took construction work in Manhattan, until a short coaching stint with

Roger Neilson Roger Paul Neilson, (June 16, 1934 – June 21, 2003) was a Canadian professional ice hockey coach, most notably in the NHL, where he served with eight teams. Known as Captain Video because of his technological contributions to the game, he is ...

of the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. The Rangers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team plays ...

, after which he was offered a position at the Rinx, a large recreation complex on

in the town of Hauppague, New York, by Gerry Hart, a former player for the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

. He was initially employed as a handy man but eventually given the chance to run clinics for students on the ice each morning. At the Rinx, Nikiforov coached a number of teams, including the PAL Jr. Islanders 16U AAA team and the New York Bobcats of the Atlantic Junior Hockey League. Nikiforov's work at PAL Ice Hockey included a stint as the skills and development coach for the organization. Nikiforov also runs ice hockey camp and clinics at the Rinx. Although much of his time since the 1980s has been spent in the United States, Nikiforov has frequently returned to Lithuania, and in 2017 and 2018 he was the head coach of the Lithuanian U18 National Team and the head coach of the U20 National Team in 2019.

Notable students

Over the years, Nikiforov has coached a number of notable ice hockey players:

References

External links

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Coaching profile
at Elite Prospects {{DEFAULTSORT:Nikiforov, Aleksey 1957 births Living people Dinamo Riga players Lithuanian ice hockey defencemen People from Elektrėnai Sportspeople from Vilnius County Soviet ice hockey defencemen Soviet ice hockey coaches Lithuanian emigrants to the United States Ice hockey coaches from New York (state)