--- title: Vladimir Putin on Ice: President Plays Hockey, Propaganda Ensues? description: Russia's president hits the ice in a bizarre video showcasing his amateur hockey skills canonical: https://time.com/95533/vladimir-putin-hockey/ author: Nolan Feeney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-11T20:42:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:35.674Z og:title: Vladimir Putin on Ice: President Plays Hockey, Propaganda Ensues? og:description: Russia's president hits the ice in a bizarre video showcasing his amateur hockey skills og:url: https://time.com/95533/vladimir-putin-hockey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vladimir Putin on Ice: President Plays Hockey, Propaganda Ensues? twitter:description: Russia's president hits the ice in a bizarre video showcasing his amateur hockey skills twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Putin Play Hockey and Score a Suspicious Number of Goals  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney May 11, 2014 8:42 PM UTC  by [Nolan Feeney](https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney May 11, 2014 8:42 PM UTC Vladimir Putin can add [unlikely hockey star](http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/05/vladimir-putin-scores-six-goals-in-amateur-hockey-game/362045/) to his list of accomplishments, alongside being the President of Russia and an [oft-shirtless](http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/16-homoerotic-photos-of-vladimir-putin) friend to the [animal kingdom](http://vladimirputinwithanimals.tumblr.com/). Putin scored six goals and got five assists during an exhibition amateur hockey game in Sochi on Saturday, helping his team claim victory with a ludicrous final score of 21-4\. As [The Wire notes](http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/05/vladimir-putin-scores-six-goals-in-amateur-hockey-game/362045/), it doesn’t look like the other team was trying very hard to keep Putin from tearing up the ice. The event — which began with a moment of silence for pro-Russian insurgents killed the day before in Ukraine — was part of Russia’s Night Hockey League, a group that helps get ice time for players who have to work during the day. \[[_The Wire_](http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/05/vladimir-putin-scores-six-goals-in-amateur-hockey-game/362045/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/95533/vladimir-putin-hockey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/95533/vladimir-putin-hockey/"},"headline":"Watch Putin Play Hockey and Score a Suspicious Number of Goals","datePublished":"2014-05-11T20:42:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:35.674Z","description":"Russia's president hits the ice in a video showcasing his amateur hockey skills","url":"https://time.com/95533/vladimir-putin-hockey/","keywords":["Newsfeed","russia","WTF","Vladimir Putin","Viral video"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/95533/vladimir-putin-hockey/","name":"Watch Putin Play Hockey and Score a Suspicious Number of Goals"}}]}] ```