SKA Saint Petersburg

SKA Saint Petersburg
CitySaint Petersburg, Russia
LeagueKHL
ConferenceWestern
DivisionBobrov
Founded1946
Home arenaSKA Arena
(capacity: 21,500)
ColoursRed, blue
   
Owner(s)Gazprom Export
PresidentGennady Timchenko
General managerDmitry Konstantinov[1]
Head coachRoman Rotenberg[1]
CaptainEvgeny Kuznetsov
AffiliatesSKA-Neva (VHL)
SKA-1946 (MHL)
SKA-Yunior Krasnogorsk (MHL)
Khors-Kareliya Kondopoga (MHL)
SKA-Kareliya Kondopoga (YHL)
Websiteska.ru
Team colours
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Home colours
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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

Hockey Club SKA (Russian: Хоккейный 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.[2]

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 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.[3]

In 2023, Roman Rotenberg, the General Manager of the Russian team, thanked Russian state-owned Gazprom for their contribution to Russia's victory at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[4]

History

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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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

In the 2016–17 KHL season, SKA drew an average home attendance of 11,735.[5]

Awards and trophies

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Team

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Gagarin Cup

Continental Cup

Opening Cup

Soviet Championship League

Pre-season

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Spengler Cup

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

Motorola Cup

  • Winners (1): 1983

Puchkov Cup

  • Winners (6): 2008,2015,2017,2018,2019,2021,2022

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

Sochi Winter Cup

  • Winners (1): 2022

Season-by-season record

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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 OTW L OTL Pts GF GA Finish Top Scorer Playoffs
2008–09 56 26 9 17 4 100 143 105 3rd, Tarasov Maxim Sushinsky (45 points: 18 G, 27 A; 48 GP) Lost in preliminary round, 0–3 (Spartak Moscow)
2009–10 56 36 4 10 6 122 192 118 1st, Bobrov Maxim Sushinsky (65 points: 27 G, 38 A; 56 GP) Lost in Conference quarterfinals, 1–3 (Dinamo Riga)
2010–11 54 23 9 13 9 96 171 144 2nd, Bobrov Mattias Weinhandl (49 points: 21 G, 28 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference semifinals, 3–4 (Atlant Moscow Oblast)
2011–12 54 32 6 11 5 113 205 130 1st, Bobrov Tony Mårtensson (61 points: 23 G, 38 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 0–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2012–13 52 36 2 11 3 115 182 116 1st, Bobrov Patrick Thoresen (51 points: 21 G, 30 A; 52 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 2–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2013–14 53 33 1 13 4 105 174 113 2nd, Bobrov Artemi Panarin (40 points: 20 G, 20 A; 51 GP) Lost in Conference semifinals, 2–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2014–15 60 36 2 14 2 123 210 136 2nd, Bobrov Artemi Panarin (62 points: 26 G, 36 A; 54 GP) Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–1 (Ak Bars Kazan)
2015–16 60 29 2 21 2 100 163 197 2nd, Bobrov Vadim Shipachyov (60 points: 17 G, 43 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 0–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2016–17 60 39 7 8 8 137 249 114 1st, Bobrov Ilya Kovalchuk (78 points: 32 G, 46 A; 60 GP) Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–1 (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
2017–18 56 40 3 9 2 138 227 97 1st, Bobrov Ilya Kovalchuk (64 points: 17 G, 43 A; 54 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 2–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2018–19 62 45 4 5 8 103 209 80 1st, Bobrov Nikita Gusev (82 points: 17 G, 65 A; 62 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 3–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2019–20 62 30 14 13 5 93 179 118 1st, Bobrov Vladimir Tkachev (42 points: 14 G, 28 A; 55 GP) Won in Conference quarterfinals, 4–0 (HC Vityaz)
Playoffs cancelled due to COVID-19
2020–21 60 33 4 8 15 82 178 126 1st, Bobrov Vladimir Tkachev (38 points: 11 G, 27 A; 45 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 2–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2021–22 48 25 6 11 6 68 146 98 1st, Bobrov Andrei Kuzmenko (53 points: 20 G, 33 A; 45 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 3–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2022–23 68 40 10 5 13 105 243 150 1st, Bobrov Dmitrij Jaškin (62 points: 40 G, 22 A; 67 GP) Lost in Conference finals, 2–4 (CSKA Moscow)
2023–24 68 40 6 19 3 95 220 139 1st, Bobrov Alexander Nikishin (56 points: 17 G, 39 A; 67 GP) Lost in Quarterfinals, 1–4 (Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg)

Players

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Current roster

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Updated 15 September 2024.[6][7]

No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
72 Belarus Vladimir Alistrov LW L 23 2023 Mogilev, Belarus
11 Russia Sergei Andronov RW L 35 2024 Penza, Russian SFSR
70 Russia Zakhar Bardakov (A) F L 23 2021 Seversk, Russia
52 Russia Pavel Dedunov LW L 34 2023 Bolshoy Kamen, Russian SFSR
91 Russia Ivan Demidov RW L 18 2022 Sergiyev Posad, Russia
77 Belarus Stepan Falkovsky D L 27 2021 Minsk, Belarus
79 Russia Danila Galenyuk D L 24 2024 Tyumen, Russia
27 Russia Emil Galimov RW L 32 2020 Nizhnekamsk, Russia
7 Russia Vasili Glotov C L 27 2022 Barnaul, Russia
25 Russia Mikhail Grigorenko C L 30 2024 Khabarovsk, Russia
81 Russia Arseni Gritsyuk LW L 23 2023 Zheleznogorsk, Russia
61 Russia Marat Khairullin RW/C L 28 2022 Volzhsk, Russia
32 Russia Timur Kol D L 18 2024 Moscow, Russia
92 Russia Evgeny Kuznetsov (C) C L 32 2024 Chelyabinsk, Russia
21 Russia Alexander Nikishin D L 23 2022 Oryol, Russia
3 Russia Andrey Pedan D L 31 2022 Kaunas, Lithuania
73 Russia Artemi Pleshkov G L 21 2023 Moscow, Russia
16 Russia Sergei Plotnikov F L 34 2024 Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Soviet Union
17 Croatia Borna Rendulic RW R 32 2023 Zagreb, Croatia
9 Belarus Sergei Sapego D L 25 2023 Vitebsk, Belarus
54 Russia Nikita Serebryakov G L 28 2023 Moscow, Russia
33 Russia Nikita Smirnov D L 22 2021 Kuznetsk, Russia
86 Russia Kirill Tankov C L 22 2024 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
28 Russia Sergey Tolchinsky LW R 29 2023 Moscow, Russia
42 Russia Mikhail Vorobyev C L 27 2021 Salavat, Russia
84 Russia Ivan Vydrenkov D L 20 2023 Balashikha, Russia
22 Russia Nikita Zaitsev (A) D R 32 2024 Moscow, Russian SFSR
8 Russia Artyom Zemchyonok D R 33 2023 Moscow, Russian SFSR
90 Russia Valentin Zykov RW R 29 2021 St. Petersburg, Russia


All-time KHL scoring leaders

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These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed KHL regular season.[8]

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

Head coaches

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Logos

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Ротенберг продлил контракт в качестве главного тренера СКА на пять лет". Sportrbc.ru (in Russian). 21 July 2023.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ Ротенберг о победе на Олимпиаде-2018: «Без «Газпрома» она была бы невозможной. Мы вернули многих игроков из НХЛ – за счет бюджета компании»
  5. ^ Attendance IIHF [dead link]
  6. ^ "СКА Team Roster". www.hc-ska.ru. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  7. ^ "SKA Saint Petersburg team roster". www.khl.ru. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  8. ^ "SKA Saint Petersburg ‑ All-Time KHL Leaders". QuantHockey.com. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
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