SKA Saint Petersburg

The Hockey Club SKA (Russian: Спортивный клуб СКА), often referred to as SKA Saint Petersburg and literally as the Sports Club of the Army, is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Saint Petersburg. They are members of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The club never competed in a league final until the 2014–15 KHL season, where they defeated Ak Bars Kazan winning the Gagarin Cup. They won their second Gagarin Cup in 2017, defeating Metallurg Magnitogorsk. In 2012, with an average of 10,126 spectators, the SKA became the first Russian club ever to average a five-digit attendance.[1]

SKA Saint Petersburg
NicknameSoldiers, Horses
CitySaint Petersburg, Russia
LeagueKHL
ConferenceWestern
DivisionBobrov
Founded1946
Home arenaIce Palace
(capacity: 12,300)
ColoursRed, blue
   
Owner(s)Gazprom Export
PresidentGennady Timchenko
General managerAndrey Tochitskiy
Head coachValeri Bragin
CaptainEvgeny Ketov
Affiliate(s)SKA-Neva (VHL)
SKA-1946 (MHL)
SKA-Varyagi (MHL)
Websitewww.ska.ru
Home colours
Away colours
Franchise history
Kirov LDO
1946–1953
ODO Leningrad
1953–1957
SKVO Leningrad
1957–1959
SKA Leningrad
1959–1991
SKA Saint Petersburg
1991–present
Current season

SKA is owned by Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom. The club used its immense wealth to gather almost all elite Russian KHL players under its umbrella to prepare them for the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics. The success of Russian team in winning gold at the first Olympics since 1994 that did not feature any active NHL players were attributed to players' chemistry developed in SKA.[2]

History
Helsinki Ice Challenge 2017.

The club was established in 1946 as a top level club of the Soviet Championship League to participate in its first season. The original name of the club was Kirov LDO (Kirov Leningrad Officers’ Club). It was subsequently changed to ODO (District Officers' Club) in 1953, SKVO (Sports Club of the Military District) in 1957 and finally Sportivnyi Klub Armii (Sport Club of the Army) in 1959. During the Soviet era, the SKA (along with CSKA Moscow) belonged to the Ministry of Defense sports club system.

After finishing last in their group during the first season, LDO skipped the next season and was downgraded to the second level of the championship in 1948. The club returned to the Soviet Class A in 1950–51 and remained in the top division of the Soviet league until 1991. The highest achievements of the club during that time were the 1968 and 1971 Soviet Cup Finals (the former was lost to CSKA Moscow 7–1, the latter to Spartak Moscow 5–1) as well as the bronze medals of the 1970–71 and 1986–87 Soviet Championships.

After one season in the second level division of the Soviet League (the first and the only CIS Championship), the SKA joined the International Ice Hockey League established by the top ice hockey teams of the former Soviet Union. During its 1993–94 season, the SKA managed to advance to the IHL Cup semi-finals but lost to that year's champion Lada Togliatti. The club was less successful in the Russian Superleague, which replaced the IHL as the main Russian championship since 1996, failing to get further than the first playoff rounds.

The formation of the Kontinental Hockey League in 2008 marked the beginning of a new era for the team. HC SKA got into their first Conference Finals during the 2011–12 season and finishing first during the regular season the next year winning the 2012–13 Continental Cup.

In the 2015 Gagarin Cup playoffs, after defeating both Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod and Dynamo Moscow in five games in the first two rounds, HC SKA were in the Western Conference Finals for the third time in four years this time facing CSKA Moscow. HC SKA were already down 0–3 after the first three games, but managed to rebound and win the next four straight clinching the series 4–3. This made them the first team in KHL history to win a playoff series after being down three games to none. The team would go on to defeat Ak Bars Kazan 4–1 to win the Gagarin Cup and become the KHL champions, the first nationwide championship in club history. But they could not manage to retain the Gagarin Cup in the following season, as they were swept by 2015–16 Continental Cup winners CSKA Moscow in the Conference Finals and finished in 3rd place.

In the 2016–17 KHL season, SKA drew an average home attendance of 11,735.[3]

Awards and trophies

Team

Gagarin Cup

Continental Cup

Opening Cup

  • Winners (2): 2017-18, 2018-19

Soviet Championship League

Pre-season

Spengler Cup

  • Winners (4): 1970, 1971, 1977, 2010

Motorola Cup

  • Winners (1): 1983

Puchkov Cup

  • Winners (5): 2008,2015,2017,2018,2019

Basel Summer Ice Hockey

  • Winners (1): 2009

Donbass Open Cup

  • Winners (1): 2011

President of the Republic of Kazakhstan's Cup

  • Winners (1): 2012

Tournament Hameenlinna

  • Winners (1): 2013

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

SeasonGPWOTWLOTLPtsGFGAFinishTop ScorerPlayoffs
2008–09562691741001431053rd, TarasovMaxim Sushinsky (45 points: 18 G, 27 A; 48 GP)Lost in preliminary round, 0–3 (Spartak Moscow)
2009–10563641061221921181st, BobrovMaxim Sushinsky (65 points: 27 G, 38 A; 56 GP)Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–3 (Dinamo Riga)
2010–1154239139961711442nd, BobrovMattias Weinhandl (49 points: 21 G, 28 A; 54 GP)Lost in Conference Semifinals, 3–4 (Atlant Moscow Oblast)
2011–12543261151132051301st, BobrovTony Mårtensson (61 points: 23 G, 38 A; 54 GP)Lost in Conference Finals, 0–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2012–13523621131151821161st, BobrovPatrick Thoresen (51 points: 21 G, 30 A; 52 GP)Lost in Conference Finals, 2–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2013–14533311341051741132nd, BobrovArtemi Panarin (40 points: 20 G, 20 A; 51 GP)Lost in Conference Semifinals, 2–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2014–15603621421232101362nd, BobrovArtemi Panarin (62 points: 26 G, 36 A; 54 GP)Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–1 (Ak Bars Kazan)
2015–16602922121001631972nd, BobrovVadim Shipachyov (60 points: 17 G, 43 A; 54 GP)Lost in Conference Finals, 0–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2016–1760397881372491141st, BobrovIlya Kovalchuk (78 points: 32 G, 46 A; 60 GP)Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–1 (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
2017–185640392138227971st, BobrovIlya Kovalchuk (64 points: 17 G, 43 A; 54 GP)Lost in Conference Finals, 2–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2018–196245458103209801st, BobrovNikita Gusev (82 points: 17 G, 65 A; 62 GP)Lost in Conference Finals, 3–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2019–20623014135931791181st, BobrovVladimir Tkachev (42 points: 14 G, 28 A; 55 GP)Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4–0 (HC Vityaz)
Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19

Players

Current roster

Updated 1 September 2020.[4][5]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
52 Miro Aaltonen C L 27 2019 Joensuu, Finland
9 Viktor Antipin D L 28 2020 Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan
30 Yaroslav Askarov G R 18 2019 Omsk, Russia
77 Anton Belov D L 34 2014 Ryazan, Soviet Union
32 Lukas Bengtsson D R 26 2019 Stockholm, Sweden
71 Anton Burdasov RW L 29 2019 Chelyabinsk, Russian SFSR
73 Yaroslav Dyblenko D L 27 2019 Surgut, Russia
79 Danila Galenyuk D L 20 2019 Tyumen, Russia
72 Emil Galimov RW L 28 2020 Nizhnekamsk, Russia
45 Magnus Hellberg G L 29 2018 Uppsala, Sweden
98 Vladislav Kamenev C L 24 2020 Orsk, Russia
23 Joonas Kemppainen C L 32 2019 Kajaani, Finland
40 Evgeny Ketov (C) RW L 35 2013 Gubakha, Soviet Union
3 Dinar Khafizullin D L 31 2014 Kazan, Soviet Union
– Pavel Koltygin C L 21 2020 Moscow, Russia
96 Andrei Kuzmenko RW R 25 2018 Yakutsk, Russia
86 Kirill Marchenko F L 20 2018 Tyumen, Russia
17 Ivan Morozov F R 20 2018 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
27 Igor Ozhiganov D R 28 2019 Krasnogorsk, Russian SFSR
92 Vasili Podkolzin RW L 19 2018 Moscow, Russia
31 Alexander Samonov G L 25 2019 Moscow, Russia
57 Artyom Shvets-Rogovoy C L 25 2019 Saratov, Russia
37 Yevgeny Timkin RW L 30 2020 Murmansk, Russian SFSR
19 Vladimir Tkachev LW R 25 2019 Omsk, Russia
24 Vasili Tokranov D L 31 2018 Almetyevsk, Russian SFSR
91 Linden Vey C R 29 2020 Wakaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
76 Bogdan Yakimov C L 26 2020 Nizhnekamsk, Russia

All-time KHL scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed KHL regular season.[6]

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game;   = current SKA player

Head coaches

References
  1. "Swiss club and Swedish league lead European attendance rankings". INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  2. "Геннадий Тимченко: СКА – это базовый клуб сборной России, и ЦСКА – тоже". Sovetsky Sport. Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  3. http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/attendance-2016-2017/
  4. "СКА Team Roster". www.hc-ska.ru. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  5. "SKA Saint Petersburg team roster". www.khl.ru. Retrieved 7 September 2013.
  6. "SKA Saint Petersburg ‑ All-Time KHL Leaders". QuantHockey.com. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
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