History of Dinamo Riga

 

Dinamo Riga 2008 (Latvian: Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Dinamo Riga is one of the seven KHL teams that are not located in Russian Federation. The club has an affiliated club HK Riga, which plays in the MHL.

 

The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a former hockey team (also named "Dinamo Riga"), which was founded in 1946, but ceased to exist in 1995. Since being re-established, Dinamo Riga plays their home games at the Arena Riga, which can accommodate attendance of 10,300 spectators.

 

Július Šupler became the first head coach of the club. For the first two seasons he was assisted by Miroslav Miklošovič and Artis Ābols, but in 2010 Viktors Ignatjevs replaced Miklošovič. On April 27, 2011 the new head coach Pekka Rautakallio was announced.

 

The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 and among the founders of the club were Guntis Ulmanis, Kirovs Lipmans, Aigars Kalvītis, Juris Savickis, Viesturs Koziols and others. However, on 27 May Latvian ice hockey federation president Kirovs Lipmans stepped out of the project, because of a possible clash of interests. After the first season, also Viesturs Koziols left the project.

 

In the first season of the franchise team was led by players like Masaļskis, Prusek, Westcott, Ņiživijs, Hossa and others. After 2008-09 forward Aigars Cipruss decided to retire and instantly became the manager of Dinamo Riga farm club Dinamo-Juniors Riga. Team finished the regular season in tenth position, higher than anyone would have predicted before the start of the season. However, in the first round of league playoffs Dinamo lost to Dynamo Moscow, which later advanced to Gagarin Cup semifinals.

 

Following the first season, Dinamo managed to sign legendary Sandis Ozoliņš, as well as Jānis Sprukts, Mārtiņš Karsums and others. The team finished regular season in the eighth place of Western Conference, which qualified them for the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs Dinamo faced SKA Saint Petersburg with players like Zubov, Cajanek, Sushinsky and Yashin on the roster. Still, Dinamo managed to beat SKA and advance to Western Conference semifinals. In the semifinals, Dinamo was defeated by later Gagarin Cup finalist HC MVD.

 

 

Dinamo Riga's match against Barys Astana at the Arena Riga in 2008.

In December 2009, it was announced that 15 players from Dinamo Riga would be on the 2010 Olympic roster for Latvia's Ice Hockey team. Mārtiņš Karsums was then added to Dinamo Riga in January 2010; along with Marcel Hossa representing Slovakia, 17 players in all from the club played in the Olympics.

 

After his league-leading performance, Marcel Hossa signed a 2-year contract with the current KHL champions Ak Bars Kazan. Martin Kariya signed a 2-year contract with Swiss NLA's HC Ambri-Piotta. New players signed during the off-season include Tomáš Surový, Brock Trotter, Mikael Tellqvist and the returning Mark Hartigan. Július Šupler resumed his post as the head coach.

 

Team finished season in seventh place in Western Conference and thirteenth in league, as the team qualified to the playoffs. In first round their opponents were Dynamo Moscow. Dinamo won the series 2-4, advancing to next round and facing Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Dinamo lost series 1-4.

 

As of the end of third season, head coach Július Šupler left the team to be the coach of CSKA Moscow. On April 27, 2011 Dinamo signed Pekka Rautakallio for the head coach position. Also, all the foreign players with no active contracts left the team to play somewhere else. Brock Trotter also left using chance to play in NHL, Montreal Canadiens.

 

Dinamo signed numerous new players for the upcoming season, from Latvia: Mārtiņš Cipulis, Māris Jučers and for probationary period: Kristiāns Pelšs, Armands Bērziņš and foreign players: Jamie Lundmark, Niclas Lucenius, Björn Melin, Fredrik Warg. Soon, however, Melin was fired. During the season team added also Jakub Šindel, Ville Nieminen and Marcel Hossa to its roster, but Jakub Šindel and Ville Nieminen also got fired.

 

Team captains

 

 

Aleksejs Širokovs, 2008                                ​Mārtiņš Karsums, 2012–13

Rodrigo Laviņš, 2008–09                              Sandis Ozoliņš, 2013–14

Sandis Ozoliņš, 2009–12                              Georgijs Pujacs, 2014–present

Guntis Galviņš, 2012

 

 

 

Head coaches

 

 

Július Šupler, 22 May 2008 – 29 March 2011  Slovakia

Pekka Rautakallio, 27 April 2011 – 5 November 2012  Finland

Artis Ābols, 5 November 2012–present   Latvia

 

 

Season-by-season record

 

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by Dinamo Riga. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Dinamo Riga seasons.

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

 

Season    GP   W     L   OTW  OTL  Pts    GF     GA   Finish                   Playoffs

2008–09  56    24   23     5         4     86    132   156   2nd, Kharlamov    Lost in First Round, 0–3 (Dynamo Moscow)

2009–10  56    23   22     4         7     84    174   175   5th, Bobrov           Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (HC MVD)

2010–11  54    20   20     7         7     81    160   149   4th, Bobrov           Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)

2011–12  54    24   5       4        23    86    132   156   3rd, Bobrov           Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)

2012–13  52    13   31     4         4     51    109   151   7th, Bobrov           Did not qualify

2013–14  54    22   16    11        5     93    141   122   3rd, Bobrov           Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Donbass Donetsk)

 

 

Dinamo Riga (Latvian: Rīgas Dinamo) was an ice hockey club, based in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1946 and disestablished in 1995 as Pārdaugava Rīga.

 

Dinamo Riga was established in 1946. The club was one of the 12 teams which participated in the first Soviet championship in season of 1946/1947. The team's first official game was a victory 5-1 against Dinamo Tallinn on December 1946. First season was considered as a success, as the team finished tournament in the fourth place. The club's first roster mainly consisted from the players of the interwar Latvian national team.

 

At first club had no permanent place, where the home games were held, but since the season 1950/1951, Dinamo started to play home games at Daugava Stadium, but the games still was played on a natural ice rink and the go ahead of the games depended on a suitable weather, situation didn't change until 1960/1961 season, when the stadium was heavily reconstructed.

 

Dinamo Riga changed its name to Daugava Riga before the start of 1949/1950 season, and kept it for a decade, before team changed name again. In mid-fifties the core of the team - players, which started their career's before Second World War, started to retire, and team started to slip further down the table as the years went by.

 

The club again changed its name and since season 1958/1959 and now was known as RVR Riga, but the name didn't last long as the club two years later was renamed once again to Daugava (RVR).[7] Name changes didn't help teams cause and the club slipped to third division. During the sixties the club adopted new player and staff recruiting policy, switching from local talent developing to gathering players from all corners of Soviet Union and even abroad. The club again changed owners and the name of Dinamo Riga was restored before 1967/1968 season, which ended as the worst season in club's entire history.

 

In the 1987-88 season, Dinamo Riga had their best finish, losing to CSKA Moscow in the final.

 

In 1975, Viktor Hatulev of Dinamo Rīga became the first ice hockey player from the Soviet Union drafted by the National Hockey League. He never had a chance to play for the NHL, as Soviet players were not allowed to play for foreign teams. In season 1976-77 Dinamo Rīga star Helmuts Balderis was the leading scorer, had the most goals, and won the best player of the season award (MVP). He was also the goal leader in 1975-76 and leading scorer in 1983. He scored 333 goals in his Soviet Union League career.

 

After the end of Soviet Union, the team continued to play until 1995 as a member of the International Hockey League, the successor of Soviet Hockey League. During this period, the team was called Stars Rīga and later, Pārdaugava Rīga. It was the former team of the Aleksey Nikiforov, coach of many future NHLers.

 

As of April 7, 2008 the club has been re-established. 

 

Notable players

IIHF Hall-of-Famers

 

List of members of the IIHF Hall of Fame 

 

Players

Helmuts Balderis, RW, 1967–77, 1980–85, inducted 1998

Artūrs Irbe, G, 1987–91, inducted 2010

 

Builders

Viktor Tikhonov, Coach, 1968–77 inducted 1998

 

List of Dynamo Riga players selected in the NHL Amateur Draft

 

1975: Viktors Hatuļevs (Philadelphia Flyers) (160th overall)

 

List of Dynamo Riga players selected in the NHL Entry Draft

1988: Harijs Vītoliņš (Montreal Canadiens) (188th overall)

1989: Artūrs Irbe (Minnesota North Stars) (196th overall), Helmut Balderis (Minnesota North Stars) (238th overall)

1991: Sandis Ozoliņš (San Jose Sharks) (30th overall)

1992: Sergejs Žoltoks (Boston Bruins) (55th overall), Grigorijs Panteļejevs (Boston Bruins) (136th overall), Viktors Ignatjevs (San Jose Sharks) (243th overall)

1993: Aleksandrs Kerčs (Edmonton Oilers) (60th overall)

 

Stanley Cup Winners

Sandis Ozoliņš, D, 1990–92, won 1996

 

Olympic Champions

Vitālijs Samoilovs, G, 1982–89, champion in 1988

 

World Champions

Helmuts Balderis, RW, 1967–77, 1980–85 champion in 1976, 1977, 1983

Artūrs Irbe, G, 1986–91, champion in 1989, 1990

 

World Junior Champions

Players

Anatolijs Antipovs, C, 1978–81, champion in 1979

Sergejs Gapejenko, F, 1984–87, champion in 1986

Vladimirs Golovkovs, F, 1978–85, champion in 1979, 1980

Viktors Hatuļevs, D/LW, 1973–81, champion in 1974, 1975

Andrejs Maticins, D. 1981–90, champion in 1983

Sandis Ozolinš, D, 1990–92, champion in 1992

Mihails Šostaks, C, 1975–88, champion in 1976, 1977

Edmunds Vasiļjevs, F, 1969–82, champion in 1974

Germans Volgins, F, 1981–83, champion in 1983

Sergejs Žoltoks, C, 1990–92, champion in 1992

 

Head coaches

Jānis Dobelis, 1946–49

Edgars Klāvs, 1949–61

Anatolijs Jegorovs, 1961–1962

Georgijs Firsovs, 1962–63

Staņislavs Motls, 1967–68

Viktor Tikhonov, 1968–77

Ēvalds Grabovskis, 1977–80

Vladimir Yurzinov, 1980–89

Ēvalds Grabovskis, 1989–91

Jevgeņijs Banovs, 1992

Juris Reps, 1992–94

Mihails Beskašnovs, 1994–95

Leonīds Beresņevs, 1995

 

 

Awards and trophies

Pervaya Liga

 

1972–73

Soviet MVP

 

Helmuts Balderis: 1976–77

Scoring Champion

 

Helmuts Balderis: 1976–77, 1982–83

Goal Scoring Champion

 

Helmuts Balderis: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1984–85

Alexei Frolikov: 1982–83

Soviet / Russian League First Team

 

Helmuts Balderis: 1976–77

Best Rookie

 

Artūrs Irbe: 1987–88

Sandis Ozoliņš: 1990–91