Viktor Sergeyevich Konovalenko (; 11 March 1938 – 20 February 1996) was a Soviet

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 ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as goalie or netminder) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their own team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays ...

. He led the Soviet team to the Olympics gold medals in 1964 and 1968, to the

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

title in 1963–1968, 1970 and 1971, and to the European title in 1963–68 and 1970. He was named the

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

in the Soviet league in 1970. Konovalenko played his entire career from 1956 to 1972 for Torpedo Gorky (now

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod () is a professional ice hockey club in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The team's home arena is Trade Union Sport Palace. The team used to play it ...

); he never won a national title, and once placed second (in 1961). As a goaltender of the Soviet team he replaced

Nikolai Puchkov Nikolai Georgiyevich Puchkov (, 30 January 1930 – 8 August 2005) was a Russian ice hockey goaltender. He was part of the Soviet teams that won two Olympic and seven world championship medals between 1954 and 1960, including three gold medals. H ...

, and in 1971, he was succeeded by

Vladislav Tretiak Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak State Duma, MP ( rus, links=no, Владислав Александрович Третьяк, p=trʲɪˈtʲjak; born 25 April 1952) is a Russian former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. ...

. In retirement he worked as a goaltender coach with Torpedo Gorky and later became director of the Torpedo Gorky sports arena, which was renamed to the Konovalenko Sports Palace after his death. Konovalenko was posthumously inducted into the

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

in 2007.

References

External links

*
Viktor Konovalenko at CCCP International
{{DEFAULTSORT:Konovalenko, Viktor 1938 births 1996 deaths Ice hockey people from Nizhny Novgorod Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Ice hockey players at the 1964 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 1968 Winter Olympics IIHF Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union Olympic ice hockey players for the Soviet Union Olympic medalists in ice hockey Soviet ice hockey goaltenders Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod players