Sport | Ice hockey |
---|---|
Awarded for | Team winning the first game of the regular season of the Kontinental Hockey League |
History | |
First award | 2008 |
Most recent | ![]() |
The Opening Cup (Russian : Кубок Открытия, Kubok Otkrytiya), is the trophy awarded to the winner of the first game of every regular season of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). This match is played between the previous season's playoff champion (Gagarin Cup Winner) and the previous season's Continental Cup winner. The game is played on the home ice of the previous season's playoff champion.
During the first season of the KHL, the match was played between the winner and runner-up of the 2007–08 playoffs of the Russian Superleague.
The Western Conference in the 2010 Opening Cup game was represented by UHC Dynamo because the 2009–10 Western Conference champion, HC MVD, merged with Dynamo Moscow to form the new team after the 2009–10 season. [1] On September 10, 2011, three days after the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash disaster, the KHL head office decided to honor the deceased in the 2011 Opening Cup. [2]
W | Western Conference member |
E | Eastern Conference member |
N/A | N/A, KHL conferences established during the second season of competition |
Apps | Team | Wins | Losses | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|
8 | CSKA Moscow | 2 | 6 | .250 |
5 | Ak Bars Kazan | 3 | 2 | .600 |
4 | Dynamo Moscow | 3 | 1 | .750 |
3 | SKA Saint Petersburg | 2 | 1 | .667 |
3 | Avangard Omsk | 2 | 1 | .667 |
3 | Metallurg Magnitogorsk | 2 | 2 | .500 |
3 | Lokomotiv Yaroslavl | 1 | 2 | .333 |
2 | Salavat Yulaev Ufa | 2 | 0 | 1.000 |
1 | Atlant Moscow Oblast | 0 | 1 | .000 |
1 | Traktor Chelyabinsk | 0 | 1 | .000 |
Third season of the Kontinental Hockey League starts September 8th with Gagarin Cup holders Ak Bars entertaining UHC Dynamo Moscow in Kazan in a clash for Opening Cup.
HC Dynamo Moscow is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Hockey Club Lokomotiv, also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a Russian professional ice hockey team, based in the city of Yaroslavl, playing in the top level Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The name of the team is derived from its owner, Russian Railways, the national railroad operator.
Hockey Club SKA, 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.
The Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs.
The Kontinental Hockey League's (KHL) Tarasov Division was formed in 2008 as part of the league's inauguration. It is one of four divisions and part of the Western Conference since the second season of the KHL when the conferences were established. It is named in honor of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Anatoli Tarasov, "the father of Russian hockey", who established the Soviet Union as "the dominant force in international competition".
The 2009–10 KHL season was the second season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was held from 10 September 2009 to 27 April 2010, with a break for the Olympic winter games from 8 February to 3 March. Ak Bars Kazan defended their title by defeating Western conference winners HC MVD in a seven-game play-off final.
The Junior Hockey League (JHL) (Russian: Молодежная Хоккейная Лига (МХЛ), romanized: Molodezhnaya Hokkeinaya Liga), sometimes translated as the Minor or Youth Hockey League, is a major junior ice hockey league in Eurasia, founded in 2009. It currently consists of 33 teams from 3 countries. Currently, all teams but one are subsidiaries (feeder teams) for their respective KHL or VHL professional counterparts. A player's age cannot be older than 20. The Kharlamov Cup, named after star ice hockey player Valeri Kharlamov, is awarded annually as the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia's official Junior Championship, following a 16-team playoff at the end of the regular season.
The 2010–11 KHL season was the third season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was held from 8 September 2010 and ended on 16 April 2011.
Alexey Igorevich Marchenko is a Russian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently playing for Ak Bars Kazan in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Marchenko was drafted 205th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
The 2011–12 KHL season was the fourth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began with the Opening Cup game on 7 September 2011, but because of the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which occurred during the first period of the Cup game and killed all but one member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, further play was delayed until 12 September 2011. The tragedy forced Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to cancel their participation in the KHL season. The Opening Cup was renamed the Lokomotiv Cup in honor of those lost in the tragedy. The regular season ended on 26 February 2012 and the following playoffs ended on 25 April.
Mikhail Yuriyevich Balandin was a Russian professional ice hockey player. Balandin played for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) at the time of his death. Balandin had also played for Salavat Yulaev Ufa, HC Lada Togliatti, HC CSKA Moscow, Khimik Mytishchi, Atlant Mytishchi and UHC Dynamo in Russia. Balandin won a silver medal with the Russian team at the 2000 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
Rivalries in the KHL come in many categories. There's many rivalries that have carried over from the days of the Russian Superleague, while others are new and may disappear. Some are based on geography, while others are based on team names or organization that these teams belonged to back in the Soviet Union. Not all teams have pronounced rivalries that don't change with each season - this article attempts to chronicle only those that last for multiple years.
The 2012–13 KHL season was the fifth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season began on 4 September with the Lokomotiv Cup between last year's finalists Dynamo Moscow and Avangard Omsk. The league consisted of 26 teams from 7 countries for the first time. Dynamo Moscow successfully defended their title after beating Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Gagarin Cup finals.
The 2013 Gagarin Cup playoffs of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) has begun on February 20, 2013, after the conclusion of the 2012–13 KHL regular season. The 2013 Gagarin Cup Finals started in April.
The 2019 Gagarin Cup playoffs of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) began on 25 February 2019, with the top eight teams from each of the conferences, following the conclusion of the 2018–19 KHL regular season. The playoffs ended on 19 April 2019, when Continental Cup winners CSKA Moscow became the first team to win the Gagarin Cup finals in a series sweep, defeating Avangard Omsk in four games to win their first Gagarin Cup, after two previous Finals defeats.
Danil Vitalevich Yurtaikin is a Russian professional ice hockey forward, who is currently playing with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He formerly played with the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL), as well as Amur Khabarovsk, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, and CSKA Moscow in the KHL. Internationally Yurtaikin has played for the Russian national junior team, and won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships.
The 2019–20 KHL season was the 12th season of the Kontinental Hockey League. There were 24 teams that competed in 62 regular season games. The season began with the Opening Cup on 1 September 2019, and the regular championship ran until 27 February 2020. The playoffs were scheduled to take place from 1 March through until 30 April. The All-Star Weekend took place over 18–19 January 2020.
The 2020 Gagarin Cup playoffs of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) began on 1 March 2020, with the top eight teams from each of the conferences, following the conclusion of the 2019–20 KHL regular season. The playoffs were scheduled to finish no later than 25 April 2020.
The 2020–21 KHL season was the 13th season of the Kontinental Hockey League. There were 23 teams that competed in 60 regular season games, beginning on 2 September 2020 and finishing on 27 February 2021. The playoffs were held from 2 March, culminating in Game 6 of the Gagarin Cup Finals on 28 April. Avangard Omsk won their first Gagarin Cup title, avenging their sweep in the finals of the 2019 Gagarin Cup playoffs, defeating CSKA Moscow by 4 games to 2.
The 2023–24 KHL season was the 16th season of the Kontinental Hockey League. There were 23 teams that competed in 68 regular season games, with a record-breaking 165 playing days, having begun on 1 September 2023 and ended on 26 February 2024.