Former Ukrainian national team goaltender Yuri Shundrov passed away on Friday, 27 July, in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. He was 62.

Shundrov originally came from Penza in Russia. He was part of the Soviet U20 national team that won gold at the then-unofficial World Junior Championship in 1976. After four seasons in the second Soviet league he moved one tier up to Sokil Kyiv in 1978. He spent 16 years with the club, won a bronze medal in the Soviet league and later Ukrainian championships with the team.

After two seasons at Khimik Voskresensk in Russia in the early ‘90s he returned to Sokil Kyiv in 1994 and joined the Ukrainian national team after the break-up of the Soviet Union. He played in four World Championship events, first two in the C-Pool. In 1997 the team earned promotion and one year later also won the B-Pool with Shundrov named best goaltender of the tournament. In 1999 Shundrov was back at the international top level as a 42-year-old and played games at the top-level 1999 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. In total he played 23 national teams in the net for Ukraine.

After ending his career in 2000, he worked as a goaltending coach for the Ukrainian national team as well as in the KHL for Metallurg Magnitogorsk, CSKA Moscow and until last year at HK Sochi.