Korolev was also connected to both the Soviet Union national ice hockey team and the Soviet Union national junior ice hockey team. From 1964 to 1992, he was head of the research group for the national men's team, and contributed to the team winning seventeen Ice Hockey World Championships and seven Winter Olympic Games gold medals. At the end of his tenure, he was head coach of the national team from 1990 and 1992. At the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, the Soviet juniors had a bench-clearing brawl versus the Canadian juniors, that later became known as the Punch-up in Piestany. Korolev expressed regret that the incident occurred but did not admit any guilt. He felt that the game should have been finished instead of both teams being disqualified from the tournament. During ice hockey at the 1990 Goodwill Games, Korolev spoke out against Sergei Fedorov leaving the Soviet national team and signing a five-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Korolev insisted that his player was stolen by premeditated actions and, rather than defecting on his own "under normal circumstances". He said that "having this happen on the eve of the goodwill games, is like a spoon of tar in a barrel of honey".