Oleg Volobuev was a Soviet ice hockey forward and Master of Sport of the USSR who played for Sibir Novosibirsk, Traktor Chelyabinsk and Avangard Omsk in the 1980s and early 1990s, and who later became a logistics executive in Moscow and a writer of short stories. He died suddenly on 29 October 2026, aged 60.
He was born Oleg Aleksandrovich Volobuev on 12 June 1966 in Tetyukhe, the town in Primorsky Krai now called Dalnegorsk, in the Russian Far East. He lived there until the seventh grade and trained at the local children's hockey school, before being selected for the specialist hockey class of Sibir Novosibirsk, where his coaches were Viktor Zvonaryov and Aleksandr Adamenko.
He made his senior debut in the 1981 to 1982 season for Mashinostroitel Novosibirsk, scoring 20 goals for the club between 1982 and 1985. For Sibir he played 135 matches and scored 26 goals across spells from 1983 to 1985 and again in 1988 and 1989, including two appearances in the top Soviet league in 1983 to 1984. He then spent two seasons in the top league with Traktor Chelyabinsk from 1985 to 1987, played briefly for Metallurg Chelyabinsk in 1988, and finished his playing career with Avangard Omsk, where he played 115 matches in the 1989 to 1990 and 1990 to 1991 seasons and scored 59 points, 44 goals and 15 assists, wearing number 31.
After hockey he earned two higher technical degrees and lived for a time in Hungary. He returned to Russia in 2004 and served on contract in Chechnya in 2004 and 2005. In 2007 he moved to Moscow and worked in transport, latterly as director of a warehouse and transport logistics department. He also completed the Higher Literary Courses at the Gorky Literary Institute and wrote short stories.
Avangard Omsk announced his death on 30 October 2026, saying he had died suddenly the previous day in his 61st year, and expressed its condolences to his family and friends. The cause of death was not made public.
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