Sergei Aleksandrovich Mylnikov (russian: Сергей Александрович Мыльников; 6 October 1958 – 20 June 2017) was a Soviet and Russian
ice hockey goaltender and coach who competed in the
Soviet Hockey League,
National Hockey League, and the
Swedish Division 2 between 1977 and 1995.
He was the first Soviet goaltender to play in the National Hockey League. He mostly played for
Traktor Chelyabinsk (1976–80, 1983–89), and also briefly for
SKA Leningrad
The Hockey Club SKA (russian: Спортивный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members o ...
(1980–82), the
Quebec Nordiques (1989–90),
Torpedo Yaroslavl
Hockey Club Lokomotiv (russian: ХК Локомотив, en, Locomotive HC), also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) ...
(1991–93) and
Skedvi/Säter IF
Skedvi/Säter Ishockeyförening ('' en, Skedvi/Säter Ice Hockey Club'', abbreviated Skedvi/Säter IF) is a Swedish ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines a ...
(1993–95). He was a member of the
Soviet national team, winning a gold medal at the
1988 Winter Olympics
The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts ...
and at the
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
and
1990 IIHF World Championships. He was named to the Soviet All-Star team in 1988 and inducted into the
Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985. Mylnikov helped the
Soviet junior team to back-to-back junior world championships in 1977 and 1978. He was also the starting Soviet goaltender at the
Canada Cup in 1987.
Playing career
Mylnikov took up hockey at the age of 6, encouraged by his father, and took up goaltender position because of his relatively small stature. His international debut was delayed by a strong competition from multiple gifted Soviet goaltenders, including
Vladislav Tretiak and
Vladimir Myshkin. Mylnikov finished his career with Säter IF in Sweden in 1995, and remained there as the head coach for two seasons (1995–97). After that he trained several Russian clubs in 1997–2012. He also continued playing masters hockey until 2010, when he had a major heart surgery. He died in 2017 at the age of 58,
and was survived by sons Dmitri and Sergei Jr., a brother, and a nephew – all of whom were ice hockey goaltenders.
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Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
International
References
External links
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1958 births
2017 deaths
Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
Ice hockey players at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players
Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for the Soviet Union
Olympic ice hockey players for the Soviet Union
Olympic medalists in ice hockey
Quebec Nordiques draft picks
Quebec Nordiques players
Russian ice hockey goaltenders
SKA Saint Petersburg players
Soviet expatriate sportspeople in Canada
Soviet expatriate ice hockey players
Soviet ice hockey goaltenders
Ice hockey people from Chelyabinsk
Traktor Chelyabinsk players
Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR
Expatriate ice hockey players in Canada
Expatriate ice hockey players in Hungary
Expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden
Russian expatriate ice hockey people
Russian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
Russian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary
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