Double winner of the Gagarin Cup, striker world champion 2014 Viktor Tikhonov announced his retirement at the age of 34.
— When I was three years old, my grandfather gave me my first skates. From that moment, I fell in love with hockey. Since then I have lived and breathed the game. Even now my love for the game has remained unchanged, but after 17 years of playing hockey my body can no longer handle the stress and demands of professional sports. . There comes a time in every athlete’s life when you have to make the difficult decision to end your career. And for me that time has also come – time to hang up the skates. It was an amazing trip. Of course, this would not have been possible without the help and support of my family, who for the past two seasons, due to circumstances, could not be with me.
A special thank you to everyone who helped recover from many injuries. Rehabilitation and emotional support are worth a lot. I was blessed with great coaches and teammates who helped me grow as a player and as a person during that time. A huge thank you also to the hockey community and fans. That stadium roar and your pure emotions are priceless! Thanks to you, hockey is the most exciting sport in the stands and on the ice. I will miss this energizing and unforgettable atmosphere.
More than anything in my life, I will miss the “elbow feeling” of my comrades, with whom we shared the joys of our victories and the sorrows of defeats. I can’t imagine my life outside of a hockey friendly family; without multiple trips across a huge country, without endless conversations in the locker room, without camaraderie. Before saying goodbye, I want to say thank you to Ufa and Salavat Yulaev. Last season was the most exciting of my career. The atmosphere in the arena and in the team was really incredible. These memories will always be with me, ”reads the message on the page of the wife of hockey player Evgenia Tikhonova on social networks.
In the KHL, Tikhonov played for Severstal, SKA, Ak Bars and Salavat Yulaev. In total, the striker has 535 league matches in which he scored 265 (138+127) points. The hockey player is a two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup. In the NHL, Tikhonov played for Arizona and Chicago.
Source : MatchTV
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