World Championship gold: check. Stanley Cup: check. Olympic gold: check. Pavel Datsyuk is all smile, and the newest Triple Gold Club member! Photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
First Russian/Soviet member since 2000
By virtue of winning gold in PyeongChang, Russian forward Pavel Datsyuk is the newest member of the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club. He is the 28th player so honoured.
Datsyuk won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008, and he won World Championship gold with Russia in 2012. And now he won Olympic gold with the Olympic Athletes from Russia in an overtime win in the final against Germany.
"I’ve not even thought about the Triple Gold Club yet," he said after the game. "But when it sinks in, I guess I’ll need a new dream to shoot for because all my dreams have come true."
Additioanlly, Datsyuk has won Olympic bronze (2002), World Championship silver (2010) and bronze (2005, 2016) and played in the World Cup twice (2004, 2016).
Russia had six previous TGC members, including Valeri Kamenski, Alexei Gusarov, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Alexander Mogilny, and Vladimir Malahkov. Datsyuk is the first Russian to join since Malakhov & Mogilny in 2000 after winning the Cup with the Dallas Stars.