Vitali Samoilov , Vitālijs Samoilovs in Latvian (born April 19, 1962 in Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

, Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

) is a retired professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player who played in the Soviet Hockey League

Soviet Hockey League

The Soviet Championship was the highest level ice hockey league in the Soviet Union, running from 1946 to 1992. Before the 1940s the game of ice hockey was not cultivated in Russia, instead the more popular form of hockey was bandy, with history of the game in Russia dating several centuries into...

. He played for Dynamo Riga and Sokol Kiev.

The best season of his career was 1987-88, in which he made the Soviet National Team. He was the third-string goaltender at the 1987 Canada Cup

1987 Canada Cup

The 1987 Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament held from August 28 to September 15, 1987. The finals took place in Montreal on September 11 and Hamilton, Ontario, on September 13 and September 15, and were won by Team Canada....

 and didn't appear in any games. He did, however, play in one game for the gold-medal-winning Soviet team at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Ice hockey at the 1988 Winter Olympics

At the 1988 Winter Olympics one ice hockey event was held, men's ice hockey. Games were played at the Olympic Saddledome, the Stampede Corral, and Father David Bauer Olympic Arena in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.Source:* Gold - * Silver -...

. Also that season, he backstopped Riga to a surprising second-place finish in the Championship League.

The following year, however, an injury caused him to lose his starting job in Riga to upstart Arturs Irbe

Arturs Irbe

Artūrs Irbe is a former Soviet and Latvian professional ice hockey goaltender. He has played in the National Hockey League for the San Jose Sharks, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets. He served as the goaltending coach for the Washington Capitals...

and he never again regained his top form.