Born in Krasnodar to Armenian parents, Grigory Mkrtychan was the top Soviet goaltender in the early 1950s, until his place was taken over byNikolay Puchkov. Besides his Olympic gold, Mkrtychan won World Championship titles in 1954 and 1956, was a runner-up in 1955, and was European Champion from 1954-56. Mkrtychan played on eight Soviet Championship teams. After his sporting career Mkrtychan was a head coach of Lokomotiv Moskva from 1960-62. He later worked in various positions with Soviet and Russian Committees for Physical Culture and Sports, for the Russian Hockey Federation, and with various Russian hockey leagues as a referee and official.