Yuri Karandin

Yury Pavlovich Karandin (; born 22 March 1937) is a Russian retired ice hockey referee, and an active ice hockey administrator as of 2018.

Karandin officiated for 26 seasons in the Soviet Union, and was selected by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to referee games at two Winter Olympic Games, and six Ice Hockey World Championships. He became the first Soviet referee chosen to officiate matches involving players from the National Hockey League, when assigned to the first Super Series. He later refereed at two Canada Cup events, and became president of the Siberia–Far East branch of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia. In 2004, he was inducted into both the IIHF Hall of Fame, and the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame.

Early life Karandin was born 22 March 1937, in Novosibirsk. Before becoming a referee, he played for HC Dynamo Novosibirsk. He refereed matches in the Soviet Union for 26 seasons from 1961 to 1987, was named to the top ten list of the best Soviet Union referees 23 times, and refereed international matches from 1966 to 1987. He officiated at the 1972 Winter Olympics, the 1984 Winter Olympics, and six Ice Hockey World Championships in 1970, 1973, 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1987. Overall, he officiated 268 international games, which also included two IIHF World U20 Championships, and one IIHF World U18 Championship. He officiated the 1969 Soviet hockey championship game between HC CSKA Moscow and HC Spartak Moscow, where he disallowed a goal by CSKA at the end of the second period because the official timekeeper's watch had expired, although the scoreboard had one second remaining. CSKA coach Anatoly Tarasov delayed resuming the match for 40 minutes in protest, before an eventual 3–1 loss to Spartak. and is also a member of the national federation's executive committee. He also wants to make improvements to the Ice Sports Palace Sibir in Novosibirsk, which is too old for the modern standards of hosting an Ice Hockey World Championship. He was honored by the IIHF during the 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships. He also refereed a hockey legends game during the 2004 event, featuring former star players from Russia, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In 2014, he attended the opening of the Russian Hockey Hall of Fame museum in Moscow. In July 2018, Karandin was appointed an honorary vice-president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia.