Dinamo Riga
 2014–15 Dinamo Riga season | |
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| Full name | Dinamo Riga |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| Based in | Riga, Latvia |
| Arena |
Arena Riga (capacity: 10,300) |
| League | Kontinental Hockey League |
| Division | Bobrov |
| Conference | Western |
| Uniform |
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| Team colors | |
| President | Juris Savickis |
| GM | Normunds Sējējs |
| Head coach | Artis Ābols |
| Captain | Lauris Dārziņš |
| Affiliates |
HK Riga (MHL) Dinamo-Juniors (MHL-B) HK Liepāja (LHL) |
| Website | www.dinamoriga.eu |
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 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.[1] 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.
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.[2] After the first season, also Viesturs Koziols left the project.[3]
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 1-4.
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.
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 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) |
| 2014–15 | 60 | 22 | 30 | 3 | 5 | 77 | 136 | 160 | 5th, Bobrov | Did not qualify |
Players
Current roster
Updated February 21, 2015.[4][5]
Retired numbers
The Dinamo have retired one number, in their history.
| No | Player | Position | Career |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | Sandis Ozoliņš | D | 2009–12, 2013–14 |
Team captains
- Aleksejs Širokovs, 2008
- Rodrigo Laviņš, 2008–09
- Sandis Ozoliņš, 2009–12
- Guntis Galviņš, 2012
- Mārtiņš Karsums, 2012–13
- Sandis Ozoliņš, 2013–14
- Georgijs Pujacs, 2014
- Marcel Hossa, 2014
- Miķelis Rēdlihs, 2014
- Lauris Dārziņš, 2014–present
First-round draft picks
- 2009: Roberts Bukarts (13th overall)
- 2010: None
- 2011: None
- 2012: Rihards Bukarts (9th overall)
- 2013: None
Head coaches
- Július Šupler, 22 May 2008 – 29 March 2011
- Pekka Rautakallio, 27 April 2011 – 5 November 2012
- Artis Ābols, 5 November 2012–present
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
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= current Dinamo player
Franchise records
Regular season
- Most goals in a season: Marcel Hossa, 35 (2009-10)
- Most assists in a season: Miķelis Rēdlihs, 31 (2011-12)
- Most points in a season: Marcel Hossa, 54 (2009-10)
- Most penalty minutes in a season: Duvie Westcott, 124 (2008-09)
- Most goals in a season, defenseman: Sandis Ozoliņš, 10 (2011-12)
- Most assists in a season, defenseman: Sandis Ozoliņš, 26 (2010-11)
- Most points in a season, defenseman: Sandis Ozoliņš, 32 (2010-11)
- Most points in a season, rookie: Roberts Bukarts, 7 (2009-10)
Playoffs
- Most goals in a playoff season: Lauris Dārziņš (2010–11) & Jānis Sprukts (2011–12), 5
- Most assists in a playoff season: Miķelis Rēdlihs, 8 (2011–12)
- Most points in a playoff season: Lauris Dārziņš (2010–11) & Miķelis Rēdlihs (2011–12), 10
- Most penalty minutes in a playoff season: Duvie Westcott, 33 (2008–09)
- Most points in a playoff season, defenseman: Sandis Ozoliņš & Oskars Cibuļskis (2010–11), 7
- Most points in a playoff season, rookie: Roberts Bukarts (2009–10) & Ainārs Podziņš (2010–11), 1
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 Arena Riga
| Home attendance at Arena Riga | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season | Average | |
| 2008–2009 | 6 817 | |
| 2009–2010 | 7 506 | |
| 2010–2011 | 7 619 | |
| 2011–2012 | 7 733 | |
| 2012–2013 | 6 220 | |
| 2013–2014 | 8 083 | |
References
- ↑ "Šuplers apstiprināts". (Latvian)
- ↑ "Lipmans izstājies no a/s "Rīgas Dinamo"". esports.lv. (Latvian)
- ↑ "Koziols: "Par paveikto nekaunos"". esports.lv. (Latvian)
- ↑ "Team Roster". www.dinamoriga.lv. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
- ↑ "Team Roster". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 2015-02-21.
- ↑ Riga Dynamo Yearly Attendance Graph hockeyDB.com
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dinamo Riga. |
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