Soviet Championship League

Soviet Hockey Championship
Republic(s) Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic Byelorussian SSR
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Estonian SSR
Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic Kazakh SSR
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Latvian SSR
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Lithuanian SSR
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Russian SFSR
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic Ukrainian SSR
Founded 1946
Folded 1992
Relegation to Soviet Class A2
Soviet Class B
Championship Soviet Hockey Championship
Associated Title(s) Soviet Cup
Most successful club CSKA Moscow (32)

The Soviet Hockey Championship (Russian: Чемпионат СССР по хоккею) was the highest level ice hockey league in the Soviet Union, running from 1946 to 1992. Before the 1940s the game of ice hockey was not cultivated in Russia, instead the more popular form of hockey was bandy, with history of the game in Russia dating several centuries into the past. Following the dissolution of the USSR, the league was temporarily renamed the CIS Championship in 1992. This organization was the direct predecessor of the International Hockey League (Russian: Межнациональная хоккейная Лига), and subsequent Russian Superleague (RSL) and current Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Teams

The first cities to enter teams in the Soviet League were Arkhangelsk, Kaunas, Leningrad, Moscow, Riga, Sverdlovsk, Tallinn and Uzhhorod. The teams were populated with amateur players who were actually full-time athletes hired as regular workers of a company (aircraft industry, food workers, tractor industry) or organization (KGB, Red Army, Soviet Air Force) that sponsored what would be presented as an after-hours social sports society hockey team for their workers.

Far and away the most dominant club in league history was HC CSKA Moscow, the famous "Red Army Team," which won 32 titles, including all but six from 1955 to 1989 and 13 in a row from 1976 to 1989. Indeed, Moscow teams won every title in the league's existence.

Soviet League Champions

See also

Preceded by
none		 Soviet Championship League
1946—1992 		Succeeded by
International Hockey League


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