Dinamo Riga

Dinamo Riga
Rīgas Dinamo
City Riga, Latvia
League Kontinental Hockey League
Conference Western
Division Bobrov
Founded 2008
Home arena Arēna Rīga
(capacity: 10,300)
Colours               
President Juris Savickis
General manager Ģirts Ankipāns
Head coach Ģirts Ankipāns
Captain Lauris Dārziņš
Affiliate(s) HK Rīga (MHL)
HK Liepāja (LHL)
Website www.dinamoriga.lv
Current season

Dinamo Riga (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 six KHL teams that are not located in the Russian Federation. The club has an affiliated club HK Rīga, 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 Arēna Rīga, which can accommodate attendance of 10,300 spectators.

History

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.[1] After the first season, Viesturs Koziols also left the project.[2]

Július Šupler became the first head coach of the club.[3] For the first two seasons, he was assisted by Miroslav Miklošovič and Artis Ābols, but in 2010, Viktors Ignatjevs replaced Miklošovič. On 27 April 2011, the new head coach, Pekka Rautakallio, was announced.

In the first season of the franchise, the 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's farm club, Dinamo-Juniors Riga. The 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 the league playoffs, Dinamo lost to Dynamo Moscow 0–3, which later advanced to the 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 the regular season in eighth place of the 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 3-1 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals. In the semifinals, Dinamo was defeated by later Gagarin Cup finalist HC MVD 1-4.

Dinamo Riga's match against Barys Astana at the Arēna Rīga 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 then-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.

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

As of the end of the 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 his chance to play in the NHL with the 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, the team added also Jakub Šindel, Ville Nieminen, and Marcel Hossa to its roster, but Jakub Šindel and Ville Nieminen also got fired.

Sponsors

Apart from Itera, which is one of the owners of the team, Dinamo Riga sponsors include companies such as Aldaris, LDZ Cargo, Skonto Būve among others.

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last ten 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

SeasonGPWLOTWOTLPtsGFGAFinishPlayoffs
2008–0956242354861321562nd, KharlamovLost in First Round, 0–3 (Dynamo Moscow)
2009–1056232247841741755th, BobrovLost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (MVD)
2010–1154202077811601494th, BobrovLost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2011–1254245423861321563rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
2012–1352133144511091517th, BobrovDid not qualify (won Nadezhda Cup)
2013–14542216115931411223rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Donbass Donetsk)
2014–1560223035771361605th, BobrovDid not qualify
2015–1660173488751291517th, BobrovDid not qualify
2016–17601134105581161587th, BobrovDid not qualify
2017–185693179501051536th, BobrovDid not qualify
2018–19--------?th, Bobrov?

Players

Current roster

Updated 18 September 2018[4]

# Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
4 Lithuania Nerijus Ališauskas D R 27 2017 Elektrėnai, Lithuania
26 Latvia Uvis-Jānis Balinskis D L 22 2016 Ventspils, Latvia
11 Latvia Oskars Batņa W L 23 2017 Riga,Latvia
82 Russia Timur Bilyalov G L 23 2018 Kazan, Russia
91 Latvia Daniels Bērziņš W L 19 2017 Riga, Latvia
9 Canada Kevin Clark W R 30 2018 Winnipeg, Canada
10 Latvia Lauris Dārziņš (C) W L 33 2013 Riga, Soviet Union
25 Latvia Andris Džeriņš W L 30 2018 Jekabpils, Soviet Union
16 Latvia Mārtiņš Dzierkals W L 21 2018 Ogre, Latvia
81 Canada Colton Gillies W R 29 2016 White Rock, Canada
56 Russia Sergei Gimayev D L 34 2018 Moscow, Soviet Union
50 Latvia Kristers Gudļevskis G L 26 2018 Ogre, Latvia
49 Latvia Emīls Ģēģeris W L 19 2017 Riga, Latvia
77 Latvia Egils Kalns W R 27 2018 Liepaja, Latvia
86 Latvia Roberts Kaļķis W L 19 2018 Dobele, Latvia
2 Latvia Renārs Kārkls D L 19 2018 Rīga, Latvia
97 Latvia Roberts Lipsbergs W L 24 2016 Riga, Latvia
21 Latvia Roberts Mamčics W L 23 2018 Liepaja, Latvia
18 Italy Mathew Maione D L 27 2018 Toronto, Canada
29 Latvia Rihards Marenis W L 25 2018 Valmiera, Latvia
88 Canada Brandon McMillan (A) W L 28 2017 Delta, British Columbia
87 Latvia Gints Meija (A) W L 31 2008 Riga, Soviet Union
15 Finland Matias Myttynen W L 28 2018 Tampere, Finland
79 Latvia Vitalijs Pavlovs W L 29 2015 Riga, Soviet Union
41 Latvia Frenks Razgals W L 22 2015 Riga, Latvia
19 Latvia Miķelis Rēdlihs (A) W L 34 2014 Riga, Soviet Union
63 Russia Dmitry Shulenin D R 22 2018 Moscow, Russia
13 Latvia Gunārs Skvorcovs W L 28 2015 Saldus, Soviet Union
11 Latvia Kristaps Sotnieks (A) D L 31 2018 Riga, Soviet Union
12 Latvia Pauls Svars D L 20 2017 Liepaja, Latvia
1 Latvia Artūrs Šilovs G L 17 2018 Riga, Latvia
20 Russia Maxim Tretyak G L 21 2018 Moscow, Russia
55 Sweden Linus Videll W L 33 2018 Stockholm, Sweden
51 Canada Marc-Anthony Zanetti D L 27 2018 Richmond Hill, Canada
7 Latvia Kristaps Zīle D L 20 2016 Riga, Latvia

Retired numbers

The team have retired one number in their history.

Dinamo Riga retired numbers
No. Player Position Career
8Sandis OzoliņšD2009–2012, 2013–2014

Team captains

First-round draft picks

Head coaches

Franchise scoring leaders

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

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

     = current Dinamo player

Franchise records

Regular season

Playoffs

NHL alumni

Franchise history

Milestones

Event Date Details
First KHL match (and first win) 2 September 2008 4–2 win at Amur Khabarovsk
First KHL home match (and first home win) 11 September 2008 2–1 win vs HC MVD
First KHL play-off match 1 March 2009 0–4 loss at Dynamo Moscow
First KHL play-off match won 10 March 2010 2–0 win at SKA Saint Petersburg
First KHL play-off series won 14 March 2010 3–1 series win vs SKA Saint Petersburg

KHL awards and trophies

Attendance at Arēna Rīga

Home attendance at Arēna Rīga:[5]

Home attendance at Arēna Rīga
SeasonAverage
2008–096,817
2009–107,506
2010–117,619
2011–127,733
2012–136,220
2013–148,083
2014–155,941
2015–165,780
2016–174,457
2017–185,548

References

  1. ↑ "Lipmans izstājies no a/s "Rīgas Dinamo"". esports.lv. (in Latvian)
  2. ↑ "Koziols: "Par paveikto nekaunos"". esports.lv. (in Latvian)
  3. ↑ "Šuplers apstiprināts". (in Latvian)
  4. ↑ "Sastāvs un komandas vadība". www.dinamoriga.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  5. ↑ Riga Dynamo Yearly Attendance Graph hockeyDB.com
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.