Early this week the hockey world lost two of the greatest coaches who've ever coached.
Viktor Tikhonov
Before becoming a coach, Tikhonov did play as a defenseman in Russia. He played with VVS Moscow and Dynamo Moscow, winning 4 championships during his playing career.
As a head coach, Tikhonov started with Dinamo Riga in Latvia before eventually becoming the bench boss for CSKA Moscow and the Soviet national coach. On a domestic level, he won 12 straight titles (1978-1989). It will be his international career that will he will be lauded for. Tikhonov would win Olympic Gold three times (1984, 1988, 1992) and silver once (1980), the 1981 Canada Cup, and numerous World Championships (eight in total).
For a better understanding of Tikhonov's contributions and his coaching style, check out Dmitry Chesnokov's piece over at Puck Daddy.
Rest in peace, Viktor Tikhonov
Pat Quinn
As a player, Quinn had a respectable career. He played in 606 NHL games between the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Atlanta Flames, racking up a stats line of 18-113-131 with 950 PIMs as a defenseman. Probably his most memorable moment was when he leveled Bobby Orr.
It was as a coach that Quinn became more known. In his first full season (he had a half-season before) as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers he took them all the way to the Final. After a couple more seasons with the Flyer and an unsuccessful stint with the Kings, Quinn would go on to coach (and manage) the Canucks. It was there that he started to build them into contenders. He was responsible for drafting Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure, and lead them to a Final appearance in 1994. Quinn also pulled off one the greatest steals in NHL history, trading Alex Stojanov for Markus Naslund. Quinn would again pull double duty for the Leafs in the late 90's-early 2000's. It became a common occurrence to see his Leaf teams make the second round of the playoffs every year (only once pre-[full season] lockout did Quinn's Leafs get eliminated in the first round). He was fired after the 2005-06 season - the only one of his Leafs tenure that didn't result in a playoff appearance. His last season as an NHL head coach was during the 2009-10 season with the Oilers. As an NHL head coach, Quinn won the Jack Adams twice (1980 with the Flyers, 1992 with the Canucks).
While he did not win the big one as an NHL coach, Quinn did collect hardware on the international stage. He coached Team Canada to Olympic Gold (2002), the World Cup (2004), U-18 Gold (2008) and U-20 Gold (2009).
For their part, the Canucks and Leafs both honoured Quinn with pre-game videos and patches (Leafs on their jerseys, Canucks with decals on their helmet).
Rest in peace, Pat Quinn.
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