married. He and his wife Ilona, have two daughters, Valeria and Alisa. Valeria is in marketing and Alisa is a model. Alisa is currently married to hockey player Artemi Panarin. Oleg first saw his wife in the stands at a hockey game. She was not a sports fan, but came out to support her friends. Seeing her again at a post match celebration, at a local restaurant, Oleg worked up the courage to approach her. They have been together ever since. In the attic of their house, Ilona has put together something of a museum of hockey memorabilia. Among other items, it holds Znarok's ever growing collection of medals, awards and jerseys. One such item is an NHL contract that Oleg was given to sign by the Boston Bruins, untranslated. As Oleg did not speak English and had no one nearby to translate it for him, he turned it down when he thought the dollar amount was too low. It was only a decade later that he found out that the numbers written down, the only part he could understand, were for a monthly salary and not a yearly one. Playing career Znarok started his ice hockey career at Traktor Chelyabinsk, making his debut in the 1979–80 season. Over the next few years he made intermittent appearances with the top team and played 18 games during the 1981–82 season. Although not productive at the senior level as a teenager, his first career goal came against the legendary Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak. From 1983 until 1991, he represented Dinamo Riga, where he became a top level player and an all-time club legend. The 1984–85 season saw Znarok's breakout with 27 points in 52 games. He scored 14 goals and 13 assists, after putting up only 3 assists in 30 games, the previous season. In 1987–88 season, he led his team to a second-place finish in the Soviet Championship League's playoffs, losing 3–1 to CSKA Moscow in the final. The 1990–91 season was Znarok's best individual season, putting up 51 points in 44 games scoring 24 goals, 27 assists. In total, he amassed 221 points over 361 games in the Soviet league. Scoring 101 goals and 120 assists. In the 1991–92 season he played 6 games with the Maine Mariners of the American Hockey League (AHL), scoring 3 goals and 1 assist. Znarok had a two-game (1 goal, 1 assist) outing in