Mikhail Vasiliev only made it to the Winter Olympic Games once, but once he got there, he made it count. The Russian forward won a gold medal at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, as Russia rebounded from its stunning loss to the USA four years earlier in Lake Placid to once again reign as Olympic champions.
Vasiliev, who died recently at the age of 64, was also an IIHF World Championship winner in 1983. On international ice, he also captured silver (1987) and bronze (1985) medals at the World Championships. He was part of the Russian squad that finished third in the 1984 Canada Cup final. He was a European champion in 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1987.
On the club level, Vasilev played with CSKA Moscow from 1981 through 1988, where he was an eight-time Soviet champion. He also won eight European Cup titles. Vasiliev also played for Torpedo Yaroslavl in the Soviet League, in Denmark with Radovre IK, and in Italy for HC Selva, AS Varese, EV Bozen 84, and HC Bolzano.
Following his playing days, Vasiliev coached HC Bolzano.
Larionov and Vasiliev were close friends
Vasiliev and Hockey Hall of Famer and Russian hockey icon Igor Larionov were close friends. Vasiliev served on Larionov's staff as an assistant coach while Larionov was coaching Torpedo in the KHL.
Larionov was at Vasiliev's bedside as his former teammate fought his final battle with the cancer that claimed his life.
"I spent the last few days with him in the hospital in Moscow," Larionov told Russian news agency Tass. "He is a graduate of our army hockey school, a great man in every way. A coach, a hard worker and an incredible hockey player. But above all, he is an incredible person.
"He fought lung cancer for five years and fought to the end. It was clear that he was fading before our eyes, but he fought until the end."