Veniamin Aleksandrov

Throughout his career, from 1955-69 Veniamin Aleksandrov played with one club – CSKA Moskva. He won ten Soviet Championships with them (1956, 1958-61, 1963-66 and 1968) and was the best goalscorer at the 1963 Soviet Championships with 53 goals, which is still the record for the most goals scored in one season at the Soviet or Russian Championships. Internationally, Aleksandrov had a very long career with the Soviet national team from 1956-68. He played 161 games and scored 119 goals for the Soviet Union. Playing together with his teammates from CSKA Moskva, Aleksandr Almetov and Konstantin Loktev, Aleksandrov formed one of the best lines in Soviet hockey history and they were primarily behind the Soviet success of the early 1960s, as they scored more than 250 goals in about 100 matches. With the Soviet national team, Aleksandrov won two golds and a bronze at the Winter Olympics, was World Champion six times (1963-68) and won three silvers (1957-59) and two bronzes (1960-61) in the World Championships. He was the most successful player at the 1966 World Championships with 17 points (9 goals, 8 assists). Aleksandrov also won nine European Championships titles (1958-60, 1963-68) and was twice a runner-up (1957, 1961). After his career ended, Aleksandrov worked as a head coach at SKA Leningrad in 1973-74. Veniamin Aleksandrov was selected to the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2007. His son Igor is married to Vsevolod Bobrov’s daughter.