Viktor Vasilyevich Nikiforov

Viktor Nikiforov
Date of birth	December 4, 1931
place of birth	Moscow , Russian SFSR
date of death	March 4th 1989
Place of death	Moscow , Russian SFSR
position	center
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
until 1951	HK Spartak Moscow
1951	HK CSKA Moscow
1951-1953	ODO Novosibirsk
1953-1955	Dynamo Novosibirsk
1955-1957	HK Dynamo Moscow
1957-1960	HK Spartak Moscow

Viktor Wassiljewitsch Nikiforow ( Russian Виктор Васильевич Никифоров ; born December 4, 1931 in Moscow , Russian SFSR ; † March 4, 1989 ibid) was a Russian ice hockey player and coach .

Career

Viktor Nikiforov began his career in 1945 in the offspring of HK Spartak Moscow . At the age of 18 he made his debut for the club's men's team, for which he played until 1951. Then he came to ODO Novosibirsk via HK CSKA Moscow , and later to their local rivals Dynamo Novosibirsk . There he developed into a crowd favorite, especially because of his outstanding passing game and surprising solo runs. In the season 1953/54 he joined with Dynamo in the first league, the then Klass A , on. In the following season he scored ten goals, making it Novosibirsk's top scorer. These achievements helped him to return to Moscow, where he played for HK Dynamo Moscow until 1957 .

With Dynamo, Nikiforov took third place in the championship in 1956 and reached the final of the USSR Cup. Nikiforov contributed seven goals to these successes, so that he was appointed to the squad for the 1956 Winter Olympics. At the age of 24 he was the second youngest player there.

1957 Nikiforow returned to his first club, Spartak, for which he played until the end of his career. Due to many injuries, he played only a few games, so he scored only three goals in the 1958/59 season. Therefore, in 1960, at the age of 29, he decided to end his career. In total, he scored 75 goals in 121 games in the Soviet league .

After the end of his career, he worked as an ice hockey coach and was transferred to the then second division Metallurg Novokuznetsk for alcohol abuse .

International

Viktor Nikiforov was appointed to the Soviet national ice hockey team in 1955 . On December 8, 1955, he was in a game against Sweden for the first time for the Sbornaja on the ice. His international career was crowned with a gold medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics . On January 29, 1956, he played his last international match, which was also the Olympic final, as he was banned from the national team due to his alcoholism. For the national team, he scored 4 goals in 9 international matches.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} bestpeopleofrussia.ru, Биография Виктор Никифоров
2. ↑ oneworkgallery.ru, Никифоров Виктор ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ ^{a b} kuzrab.ru, Михаил Гомберг - человек, который оживил сказку

Web links

• Viktor Nikiforow at chidlovski.net (engl.)
• Viktor Nikiforov in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )