Karandin officiated 876 games within the
Soviet Union ice hockey championships. He refereed matches in the Soviet Union for 26 seasons from 1961 to 1987, was named to the top ten list of the best Soviet Union referees 23 times, and refereed international matches from 1966 to 1987. He officiated at the
1972 Winter Olympics, the
1984 Winter Olympics, and six
Ice Hockey World Championships in
1970,
1973,
1983,
1985,
1986, and
1987. Overall, he officiated 268 international games, which also included two
IIHF World U20 Championships, and one
IIHF World U18 Championship. He officiated the 1969 Soviet hockey championship game between
HC CSKA Moscow and
HC Spartak Moscow, where he disallowed a goal by CSKA at the end of the second period because the official timekeeper's watch had expired, although the scoreboard had one second remaining. CSKA coach
Anatoly Tarasov delayed resuming the match for 40 minutes in protest, before an eventual 3–1 loss to Spartak. In the Super Series '76, Karandin stated that he was "urgently summoned to Moscow to apply for a Canadian
travel visa", and that Soviet administrators quickly excused him from domestic duties to travel abroad. He expressed gratefulness to Canadians for the opportunity which changed his destiny. He officiated the 28 December 1975 victory by CSKA over the
New York Rangers, and received praise from
Phil Esposito. He was a linesman in the CSKA New Year's Eve match versus the
Montreal Canadiens, and the
1976 Philadelphia Flyers–Red Army game. During the series, Karandin earned $10,000, but experienced difficulties when transferring the money back to the Soviet Union. ==Administration career==