Vladislav Tretiak

Hockey Hall of Fame, 1989
Tretiak in May 2008
Born	(1952-04-25) 25 April 1952 (age 64) Orudyevo, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position	Goaltender
Caught	Left
Played for	CSKA Moscow
National team	Soviet Union
NHL Draft	138th overall, 1983 Montreal Canadiens
Playing career	1968–1984
Medal record Men's ice hockey Representing Soviet Union Olympic Games 1972 Sapporo Team 1976 Innsbruck Team 1984 Sarajevo Team 1980 Lake Placid Team World Championships 1970 Sweden Team 1971 Switzerland Team 1973 Soviet Union Team 1974 Finland Team 1975 West Germany Team 1978 Czechoslovakia Team 1979 Soviet Union Team 1981 Sweden Team 1982 Finland Team 1983 West Germany Team 1972 Czechoslovakia Team 1976 Poland Team 1977 Austria Team NHL Challenge Cup 1979 New York City Team Canada Cup 1981 Canada Team

Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, MSM (Russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович Третья́к, IPA: [trʲɪˈtʲjak]; born 25 April 1952) is a former goaltender for the Soviet Union national ice hockey team. Considered to be one of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the sport, he was voted one of six players to the International Ice Hockey Federation's (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team in a poll conducted by a group of 56 experts from 16 countries. He is the current president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia and was the general manager of the Russian 2010 Winter Olympic team.

Tretiak grew up in a Ukrainian family, with his parents being from Sumy, Ukraine. His father served 37 years as a military pilot, and his mother was a physical education teacher. Although he initially followed his brother as a swimmer, as a child Tretiak was known to excel at many sports, and is remembered for his ambition to master all of them. However, like many children of his generation, he loved hockey, and at age 11 entered the Children and Youth Sports School of the Central Sports Club of the Army (known by its abbreviation CSKA). His first trainer was Vitaly Erfilov. He began playing goaltender when he saw that no one else had the desire or courage to play the position.

Despite Tretiak not playing his first hockey game until the age of eleven (1963), he was well known in the USSR by 1971 (aged 19), when he was named to the Soviet Ice Hockey League's First All-Star Team, while playing for the powerhouse Red Army team, CSKA Moscow. He also played well in the 1972 Winter Olympics, in which the Soviets took the gold medal.