Alfred Iosifovich Kuchevsky (; 17 May 1931 – 15 May 2000) was a Soviet professional

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 ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. He played for the HC

Krylya Sovetov Moscow HC Krylya Sovetov (; ''Soviet Wings'') is a professional ice hockey team based in Moscow, Russia. The team played in the top divisions of Soviet and Russian hockey. In 2008, the team was expelled from the Soviet Wings Sport Palace and a new t ...

of the

Soviet Championship League 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. Foll ...

and represented the

Soviet Union national ice hockey team The Soviet national ice hockey team was the national men's ice hockey team of the Soviet Union. From 1954 to 1991, the team won at least one medal each year at either the Ice Hockey World Championships or the Olympic hockey tournament. After ...

in international competitions. He was Olympic champion in 1956, won an Olympic bronze medal in 1960, was world champion in 1954, and won silver medals at the world championships in 1955 and 1958.

Biography

Kuchevsky was born on 17 May 1931 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 ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. His father worked as Director of the Krylya Sovetov Stadium near the metro station Semyonovskaya. He attended Moscow School No. 429. While playing for the Krylya Sovetov Moscow in 1949–61, he won the USSR Cup in 1951, was a runner-up twice (1952, 1954), and became the national ice hockey champion in 1957, earning silver three times (1955, 1956, 1958), and bronze five times (1950, 1951, 1954, 1959, 1960). He played 240 matches at the USSR championships, scored 37 goals. After finishing his career as player, he worked at the Krylya Sovetov Moscow until 1972, starting as an assistant coach at his hockey club for four seasons, then managing a

sports school A sports school () is a type of educational institution for children that originated in the Soviet Union. Sports schools were the basis of the powerful system of physical culture (fitness) and sports education in the USSR and the Eastern Bloc, pa ...

. At one time, he served as a hockey referee and sports journalist. Following his complete retirement from hockey, he was responsible for organizing the first sports lotteries in the Soviet Union. In 1954, he was awarded the title Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in ice hockey, which holders are unofficially known as inductees of the

Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. He was awarded the

Medal "For Labour Valour" The Medal "For Labour Valour" () was a civilian labour award of the Soviet Union bestowed to especially deserving workers to recognise and honour dedicated and valorous labour or significant contributions in the fields of science, culture or t ...

in 1957, and the

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts have been aimed at ...

in 1996. On 15 May 2000, he died in Moscow and later was buried at the

Troyekurovskoye Cemetery The Troyekurovo Cemetery (), alternatively known as ''Novo-Kuntsevo Cemetery'' (), is a cemetery in Moscow, Russia. The cemetery is located in the former village of Troyekurovo on the western edge of Moscow, which derives its name from the Troye ...

. In 2011, Alfred Kuchevsky was posthumously inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame (IJSHOF) () is the international hall of fame for Jewish athletes and special contributors to the world of sport. The purpose of the IJSHOF is to honor Jewish individuals, worldwide, who have accompli ...

References

External links

* *
Alfred Kuchevsky
at Hockey CCCP International {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuchevsky, Alfred 1931 births 2000 deaths Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Ice hockey players at the 1956 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1960 Winter Olympics International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees Krylya Sovetov Moscow players Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic ice hockey players for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in ice hockey Soviet ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey people from Moscow Jewish Russian sportspeople

Biography

See also

References

External links