Valery Konsantinovich Belousov (russian: Валерий Константинович Белоусов; December 17, 1948 – April 16, 2015) was a Russian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

coach and player.

Playing career

Belousov began playing hockey on a local Novouralsk team Kedr in 1964. In 1967 he was transferred to

Sputnik Nizhny Tagil Sputnik Nizhny Tagil is an ice hockey team in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. They play in the VHL, the second level of Russian ice hockey. The club was formerly affiliated with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. Achievements * Pervaya Liga The All-Russian Ho ...

ultimately making his way to

Traktor Chelyabinsk Traktor Chelyabinsk, also known as Traktor (russian: Трактор), is a professional ice hockey team based in Chelyabinsk, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Eastern Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). ...

, Ural's premier hockey team, in 1971. During his 418-game stint in Chelyabinsk Belousov advanced with his team to the 1973 USSR Cup finals and was a bronze medalist in 1977 as part of the squad. Despite being one of the top snipers of the Soviet Championship he had a modest career on the Soviet national team where he spent only 8 games scoring a single goal. He spent 1982—1984 seasons in Oji Seishi Tomakomai of the

Japan Ice Hockey League The Japan Ice Hockey League (JIHL) (日本アイスホッケーリーグ) was an annual ice hockey league that began in 1966 and ended in 2004 when it was replaced by Asia League Ice Hockey. Only Japanese teams competed in the JIHL. Baseball an ...

winning the Japanese championship twice. Belousov finished his career playing for

Metallurg Magnitogorsk Metallurg Magnitogorsk (russian: Металлург Магнитогорск) is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League. They ...

, then a de facto farm team of Traktor, retiring as a player in 1987.

Coaching career

Belousov returned to Chelyabinsk in 1987 as an assistant coach. He replaced Gennadi Tsygurov as the head coach in 1990 and eventually led the team to its first bronze medals since the late 70s. In 1995 he was invited back to Magnitogorsk as an assist coach to Valery Postnikov and then replaced him as the head coach in 1996. Helmed by Belousov

achieved its biggest success with two

Russian Superleague The Russian Superleague (russian: Чемпионат России Суперлига, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was consi ...

championships and the 2000

IIHF Super Cup The IIHF Super Cup was an ice hockey event played between each winner of the two main European club tournaments of the previous season. In 1997 it was played between the champion of the European Hockey League and the champion of the IIHF European ...

. In the 2003-04 season he took over Avangard Omsk and headed the team to its first ever champion title winning in the finals over his former team Metallurg. A year later Belousov's Avangard also won the 2005 IIHF European Champions Cup. But after several not so stellar seasons Belousov was fired of his job along with his entire coaching stuff. During the 2008—2010 seasons Belousov tried to recapture his success with

. But despite advancing to the 2008 Victoria Cup with

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

and 2009 Champions Hockey League Finals with

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

Belousov's team lost both games. In October 2010 he returned to

for the first time in 15 years leading the team from the bottom of the season table to the 2013 Gagarin Cup Final. He died of cardiopulmonary failure on April 16, 2015.RIP Valery Belousov
/ref>

Career statistics

Coaching record

References

External links

* *

a
sports.ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belousov, Valery 1948 births 2015 deaths Honoured Coaches of Russia Metallurg Magnitogorsk players Oji Eagles players People from Novouralsk Russian ice hockey coaches Russian ice hockey right wingers Sputnik Nizhny Tagil players Traktor Chelyabinsk players Sportspeople from Sverdlovsk Oblast Soviet ice hockey right wingers Soviet expatriates in Japan