He shoots, he scores! Putin takes to the ice rink to show off his hockey skills (but it doesn't look like there was much opposition) 
 
 Russian president took to the ice at All-Russia Festival of Night Hockey League in Sochi wearing number 11 shirt 
 
 
 
 He missed several goals - and sporting celebrities nudged in the puck for him instead - until he finally scored 
 
 Putin often does macho publicity stunts and has shot a whale, hugged a polar bear and ridden a horse topless 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 He's the president who has ridden a horse topless, hugged a polar bear and 'found' (fake) Greek vases while scuba-diving. 
 
 Now Vladimir Putin is at it again - playing ice hockey with sporting legends in front of thousands of apparently adoring fans. 
 
 But the Russian premier, 61, was not without a little help - he missed several goals by a whisker, leaving his celebrity teammates to give the puck a gentle nudge in the right direction, before finally hitting home on his own. 
 
 Scroll down for video 
 
 
 
 Sports star: Vladimir Putin triumphed in a game of ice hockey in Sochi 
 
 First attempt: The Russian president takes a shot at the goal (left) – but it bounces away. A team-mate to the left of the net (right), catches the rebounding puck and taps it into the goal. Putin is said to have scored five assists 
 
 
 
 Bold attempt: On his next attack (left), Putin flicks the puck towards the net… but he puck clatters against the crossbar of the goal (right) without going in 
 
 
 
 Deadly approach: Putin flies down the middle of the rink (left), and takes another shot at goal - and scores when the puck smashes into the back of the net (right) 
 
 
 
 Sporting the number 11 jersey, Putin returned to the Winter Olympics host city of Sochi today for the All-Russia Festival of Night Hockey League. 
 
 Joining the 'NHL Stars' team, the premier took a break from crisis talks with the West about his annexing of Crimea to play alongside retired former Soviet hockey legends, including Vyacheslav Fetisov and Pavel Bure. 
 
 At least two of his team-mates were Olympic medal winners, including Aleksey Kasatonov, who won two golds for the Soviet Union in 1984 and 1988, and Valery Kamensky, who also took gold in 1988. 
 
 His opponents, meanwhile, were reportedly amateurs. 
 
 
 
 Even so, the 62-year-old premier's teammates were apparently eager to help him. In at least two attempts, Putin just missed the goal, but the puck went in after a gentle tap from another player. 
 
 And in one sequence, shown on the state-linked English-language channel RT, the premier eventually scored, to the delight of the crowd. 
 
 
 
 Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and the head of Tatarstan Republic, Rustam Minnikhanov, were both at the festival for the league, which was created in December 2011. 
 
 
 
 It began as a casual event for over-40s but has grown and this year was attended by 108 teams including from 11 other countries. 
 
 
 
 Putin took part in a gala match between amateur hockey players in a successful games for the Russians - who topped the table ahead of Norway, Canada and the USA with 33 medals. 
 
 Sadly for Putin, however, his side was knocked out by Finland at the quarter-final stage. 
 
 But the upbeat president reportedly told the crowd: 'There are no winners or losers here. This is a friendly game. 
 
 'It’s a show and everyone enjoyed it. All this [the Night Hockey League] was invented to give an additional boost to the development of sports and physical culture.' 
 
 Victorious: A proud-looking Putin bumps fists with his amateur rivals 
 
 Adoration: He was also seen shaking hands with ecstatic members of the crowd 
 
 According to state broadcaster The Voice of Russia, the President 'netted six goals and five assists'. 
 
 The bold claims are, as yet, not fully confirmed. 
 
 It is the latest in a long line of macho publicity stunts by the Russian president, who last took to the ice in January, shortly before the Winter Olympics in Sochi. 
 
 On a horse: The Russian president was pictured in this macho pose while travelling the Siberian mountains in 2007 
 
 Stunts: Putin has also been seen plucking (fake) ancient vases from the deeps (left in 2011) and presiding over a tranquilised polar bear (right in 2010) 
 
 
 
 He has previously cuddled a tame snow leopard and a tranquilised polar bear, and shot harmless crossbow darts at a whale as part of scientific research. 
 
 One more bizarre report last year suggested he was inviting the boy band Boyz II Men to a Moscow gig - to boost the country's birth rate. 
 
 
 
 And in 2011, a spokesman was forced to admit that a scuba-diving exhibition in which he 'found' the remarkably intact remains of two 1,500-year-old Greek vases was staged. ||||| Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has been forced to deny that the 62-year-old president is in poor health after a string of meetings were cancelled and the Kremlin published old photographs to claim work was proceeding as usual. 
 
 Concerns over Putin’s well-being were first raised earlier this week when he postponed a trip to Kazakhstan for talks with the country’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko. A source in the Kazakh government told Reuters that the visit was cancelled because Putin had fallen ill. 
 
 Putin has not been seen in public since a meeting and press conference with the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, on 5 March, where he appeared healthy. 
 
 “There’s no need to worry, everything is fine,” Peskov told the radio station Ekho Moskvy when asked about the leader’s health. He said Putin was “constantly in meetings, but they are not all public”, adding that the business at hand was “very stressful” because of the crises he was dealing with. 
 
 Asked if the president’s handshake was still firm, Peskov said his grip was strong enough to “break hands”. 
 
 In his 15 years at the helm, Putin has built up an image as a vigorous leader and active sportsman with numerous shirtless photo-ops, as well as publicity stunts involving martial arts, exotic animals and hunting and fishing. 
 
 The Russian president was due to talk with officials from Georgia’s breakaway republic of South Ossetia on Wednesday, but the meeting was reportedly cancelled at the last minute. He also failed to attend an annual meeting with officers of the Federal Security Service on Thursday, although Peskov said he hadn’t been planning to attend this year. Sources close to the Kremlin reportedly told RBK newspaper that the governor of the Yamal-Nenets region hadn’t met Putin on Tuesday, even though the presidential website said he had. 
 
 As in Soviet times, periodic scares about the Russian national leader’s health have become common, in no small part due to the secrecy kept over Putin’s personal life. 
 
 After he was seen limping and cancelled several foreign trips in 2012, it was rumoured he had suffered an injury serious enough to prohibit long flights. Russian media reported he had hurt his back flying with migrating Siberian cranes in a motorised deltaplane, but Peskov said the president, a judo black-belt and hockey fan, had suffered a “normal sports injury”. 
 
 In 2010, Putin showed up at a press conference in Ukraine with heavy makeup covering what appeared to be dark bruising around his left eye. Afterwards, Peskov claimed his unusual appearance was the fault of poor lighting, but many speculated that it was the result of a Botox injection gone wrong. Russian media quoted plastic surgeons saying Putin had likely had Botox injections and other operations on his face, which has grown remarkably smooth in recent years. 
 
 The Kremlin has seemingly gone to great lengths to cover up any signs Putin could be ailing. The presidential website published a photograph and transcript of Putin’s meeting in the Kremlin with the head of the Karelia region on Wednesday, even though the meeting had taken place on 4 March, according to a local news outlet and an RBK source. Peskov insisted to RBK that they had met on the day in question, but another Karelian news site reported that couldn’t be true because the governor had been in Karelia that day at a session of the regional government. 
 
 In addition, a photograph of Putin giving flowers to the mothers of famous athletes, musicians and actors in the Kremlin that was published on International Women’s Day on 8 March was actually taken three days earlier, one of the women told RBK.
– What's a newly divorced Russian strongman to do when most of the world wants to throttle him and he's getting no respect from his own supporters? Play a little hockey, that's what. And pretty badly, reports the Week in a look at Vladimir Putin's foray onto the ice yesterday at something called the "All-Russia Festival of Amateur Teams of the Night Hockey League" in Sochi. Even with a less-than-motivated opposition goalie and near-assists from NHL players, Putin choked several times. Yet somehow, reports the Daily Mail via the Voice of Russia, Putin managed to score six times and had five assists. Despite his, er, heroics, Putin's team eventually lost, but no hard feelings, says the president: "There are no winners or losers here. This is a friendly game." Click for the Week's GIF of Putin attempting to put his helmet on—backward.