Alexander Nikolaevich Galchenyuk (born July 28, 1967) is a Belarusian former professional ice hockey player who participated in the 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001 IIHF World Championships as a member of the Belarus men's national ice hockey team.
Galchenyuk was employed as an assistant coach with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League where he coached his son, Alex Galchenyuk, who was selected by the Montreal Canadiens third overall at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
Professional career
Galchenyuk began playing top-level professional hockey with HC Dynamo Moscow during the 1985-86 season, staying with this team until the end of the 1991-92 season. He then travelled to the United States where he played the 1992–93 and 1993-94 seasons with the Milwaukee Admirals in the International Hockey League (IHL). Galchenyuk started the 1995-96 season in Germany playing elite level hockey in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) with Eisbären Berlin, but returned to the United States before the season's end to join the Madison Monsters of the Colonial Hockey League (CoHL). Midway through the season, he was signed by the Michigan K-Wings of the IHL, where he remained for the following season and a half.
Galchenyuk returned to Europe for the 1998–99 season where he played nine more seasons in various the European leagues including the Russian Superleague where he played with Avangard Omsk and SKA Saint Petersburg. After spending 21 seasons as a professional ice hockey player, Galchenyuk retired following the 2006-07 season.
International play
Soviet Union
At the age of 19, Galchenyuk was selected to represent the Soviet Union at the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships where he played 13 games and scored 5 points before the Soviet team was disqualified from the tournament following an on-ice brawl with the Canadian Team. He was also selected to play with the senior Soviet Union team that competed for the 1991 Canada Cup.
Belarus
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Galchenyuk went on to represent Belarus in international tournaments. As a member of the Belarus men's national ice hockey team, Galchenyuk competed in four consecutive Ice Hockey World Championships, from 1998–2001, during which he scored a total of 26 points in 24 IIHF World Championship games. He also competed with Team Belarus at the 1998 Winter Olympics.