Vladislav Tretyak has taken part in the ceremony of the retiring of Viktor Konovalenko's number

On the 16th of February in Nizhny Novgorod, a special ceremony was held to retire legendary Torpedo and USSR goaltender Viktor Konovalenko's number 20. 

Coming up soon on Saturday, it will mark 20 years since Viktor's death. Before Tuesday's ceremony, Russian Ice Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretyak paid a visit to Viktor's grave, and before the KHL Torpedo - Severstal match Vladislav spoke along with Viktor's daughter Olga:

- On behalf of the federation and of millions of fans, I want to thank Nizhny Novgorod for bringing up such an ice hockey legend. In 1970 and 1971, I was Viktor's back-up for the Soviet national team. When playing for CSKA I had the number 20, and when in the national team, Viktor, who had that same number, said to me: "Vladislav, you will play in this team for a long time, take my number 20". I want to say thank you to this person for giving me that number, and I played for the USSR fifteen years with the number 20. We have large traditions: we will always remember our legends who have given so much to the players playing nowadays. 

Russian Ice Hockey Federation