Hockey players of the ska team. Story

Today, HC SKA is one of the most successful clubs in Russia. From year to year the St. Petersburg team claims to win the Gagarin Cup - the main trophy

Early period

HC SKA was formed in the post-war period, in 1946. It was then that the club took part in the first USSR championship. Leningrad officers played their debut game against Vasily Stalin's team - the MVO Air Force. The result was a major defeat for the Leningrad army team with a score of 3:7.

The army team received their current name only thirteen years after their official birth, in 1959. The club has since been called SKA. What does this abbreviation mean? SKA is also Leningraders had, so to speak, “relatives” in the capital - CSKA (central sport Club army). Muscovites were considered the flagship of domestic hockey longer than others, and their confrontation with their “colleagues” from Northern capital considered a real army derby.

Being in the shadow of more status rivals from Moscow (CSKA, Dynamo, Spartak, Krylya Sovetov), SKA during the Soviet period was able to win not a single gold in the domestic arena. The main achievements of the club were three victories in the Spengler Cup (1970, 1971 and 1977). Between them there was a place for the long-awaited bronze in the USSR Championship. This happened in the successful year 71 for the army team. Before this, only fourth place was best achievement SKA. It was not very believed that this could be possible, but at that time the Leningraders were led by Nikolai Puchkov, one of the greatest specialists of that time. He was a proponent of organized and disciplined play, which prioritizes error-free defensive play.

The second bronze did not come to the Leningraders very soon: only in 1987. The team's philosophy was radically different from the one that Puchkov instilled in his SKA. What happened to the team? The style changed: the club began to show an aggressive attacking game, aimed primarily at the opponent’s goal.

Modern period

The team had a difficult period in the nineties, but this is SKA! What are the difficulties for a club with such traditions? The army team even had to play in the First League, but the team quickly returned to the elite.

However, SKA really began to come into its own only in the 2000s. In 2007, a significant event took place for the team: the first foreign coach joined the team. It was Canadian Barry Smith. Before that, he worked only with teams of the National hockey league(“Pittsburgh”, “Buffalo”, “Detroit”, “Phoenix”), so it was also a kind of challenge for him. This appointment was not a failure, but with Smith, SKA did not advance beyond the quarterfinals of the playoffs, which could not please either the management or the fans.

SKA won its fourth Spengler Cup in 2010 under the leadership of the Czech Vaclav Sikora. In the final between the Canadian team and SKA, the score was 4:3 in favor of the St. Petersburg team.

Going for the Gagarin Cup

Further more. Two years later, SKA is a finalist Western Conference. However, Dynamo Moscow, the future KHL champion, stood in the way of the army team. Next season, SKA will already win the Continental Cup - a trophy that is awarded best team based on the results of the regular season. Also, the army team is replenished by such masters as Ilya Kovalchuk, for a long time shone in the NHL (in the now defunct Atlanta Thrashers, as well as in the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils), and Sergei Bobrovsky is perhaps one of the best goalkeepers of our time (now plays in the Columbus Blue Jackets) . However, it was not possible to take the Gagarin Cup again, the matter was limited only bronze medals. It is interesting that the top scorer of the Gagarin Cup was, however, SKA forward Viktor Tikhonov, who later also tried his hand overseas in the club “ Arizona Coyotes"(formerly "Phoenix").

2015 was a triumphant year for SKA, when the club, in its seventh year in the KHL, finally won the Gagarin Cup. Everything was decided by the fifth match between SKA and Ak Bars Kazan in the final series.

Confrontation with CSKA

The game with the SKA-CSKA sign is today considered one of the most exciting in the entire KHL championship. Recent history confrontations between two large army clubs begin in 2007. The advantage, oddly enough, is on the side of the St. Petersburg residents. Interestingly, during the last two Western Conference finals, the viewer could watch the incredible hockey of SKA-CSKA. Two years ago SKA won, a year ago CSKA won, and the score was last final conference was devastating - the Muscovites won with a score of 4:0.

The most notable SKA players

SKA is a team that has long been home to some of the best hockey players Russia and Europe. Now the main stars of the club are strikers Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Sergei Plotnikov, and Evgeniy Dadonov. Among the Defenders we can highlight Vyacheslav Voinov and Evgeny Chudinov. There are, of course, talented young people: for example, twenty-one-year-old goalkeeper and nineteen-year-old defender Yegor Rykov.

The composition of SKA for 2017-2018 has changed slightly. The team was forced to resort to new transfers, since two main strikers from the first line left in the off-season: Vadim Shipachev and Evgeniy Dadonov. The first of them will continue his career in Vegas, and the second in Florida (both clubs from). The remaining losses in the form of two reserve goalkeepers, forward Moses and defender Yudin will not affect the game of the army team.

As you know, in hockey the goalkeeper is half the team. The results of matches largely depend on the goalkeeper’s performance, so the composition of SKA’s main goalkeepers remained unchanged. In the 2017-2018 season, the St. Petersburg team will be able to hit the puck:

Mikka Koskinen;
Igor Shesterkin;
Konstantin Volkov.

Obviously, the place of the main keeper belongs to the young Russian Igor Shesterkin. Last season, he played 39 games with an impressive save percentage of 93.7%. His replacement, Finn Mikka Koskinen, played 23 matches in the regular season with a percentage of 91.6%. The position of the third goalkeeper, which SKA requires only to complete the lineup, belongs to Konstantin Volkova. Usually the reserve goalkeeper is allowed to play no more than 1-2 games. For example, Evgeniy Ivannikov, who moved to Lada, defended the goal of the army team only once last season.

Defensive line

The vast majority of hockey players renewed their contracts with the club in the off-season. SKA's defensive lineup for 2017-2018 is as follows:

Artem Zub;
Dinar Khafizullin;
Roman Rukavishnikov;
Patrick Hursley;
David Rundblad;
Vyacheslav Voynov;
Andrey Zubarev;
Egor Yakovlev;
Vladislav Gavrikov;
Egor Rykov;
Maxim Chudinov;
Anton Belov.

The defenders of the first two lines showed good results in the past. Vyacheslav Voynov scored 37 points using the goal+pass system, Anton Belov – 27, Egor Yakovlev – 21. Obviously, the army team will not have any problems supporting the attack during the match and when playing too much. In addition, when defending their own goal, the defenders show a good game, because last season they conceded 112 goals in 60 matches (less than 2 per match). Only CSKA Moscow can boast of a lower figure, which took the puck out of its own net 104 times.

In general, SKA’s defense does not need to be strengthened: it has some of the best hockey players in the world who know their job and can improve in the playoff series. The team's head coach Oleg Znark has a huge choice, so it is possible that a number of young players will go to the SKA-Neva farm club, which plays in the VHL.

Attack line

After the departure of Shipachev and Dadonov, a gap appeared in the attack of the first and second links. A number of new players are called upon to fill the team's attacking potential. During the summer transfer window, the roster of HC SKA for the 2017-2018 season was replenished with: Viktor Komarov (Lada), Danila Kvartalnov (CSKA), Sergei Kalinin (Toronto, NHL), Maxim Karpov (Dynamo Moscow) ). Also in attack will be:

Jarno Koskeranta;
Ilya Kovalchuk (captain);
Victor Tikhonov;
Arkhip Nikolenko;
Sergey Plotnikov;
Ilya Kablukov;
Evgeny Ketov;
Sergey Shirokov;
Nikolai Prokhorkin;
Alexander Dergachev;
Alexander Khokhlachev;
Alexander Barabanov;
Nikita Gusev.

Last season, SKA became the record holder for goals scored: the team hit the opponents' goal 252 times. To get a sense of the difference, let’s look at the numbers of the Army team’s closest pursuer in this component – Metallurg Magnitogorsk had only 199 goals during the season. Top scorer Ilya Kovalchuk (32 goals) became the team leader, followed by Dadonov (30 goals) and Shipachev (26 goals). Despite the departure of two of the best strikers, the attacking potential of the St. Petersburg team remained one of the most powerful in the league.

Thus, the SKA roster in 2017-2018 has not weakened compared to the previous season. The club continues to have a pipeline of talented puttermakers ready to compete for the top spots. The main goal of the “army team” from the banks of the Neva will undoubtedly be the Gagarin Cup, to win which they will make every effort.

Read more about doping scandal in SKA see the following video:

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Books

Hockey club SKA. Fan Encyclopedia, . The main facts about the club - from the creation of the first team in 1946 to the present day. You will learn how SKA turned from the pioneers of Canadian hockey into the base club of the national team...
Hockey club SKA Fan Encyclopedia, Bazhanov D. (ed.). The main facts about the club - from the creation of the first team in 1946 to the present day. You will learn how SKA turned from the pioneers of Canadian hockey into the base club of the national team...