Dinamo Riga

Dinamo Riga
Dinamo Riga
League	Kontinental Hockey League
Conference	Western
Division	Bobrov
Founded	2008
Home arena	Arena Riga; (capacity: 10,300)
President	Juris Savickis
General manager	Normunds Sējējs
Captain	Lauris Dārziņš
Affiliate(s)	HK Riga (MHL); HK Liepāja (LHL)
Website	www.dinamoriga.eu
	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 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 27 April 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, 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 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.

Dinamo Riga's match against Barys Astana at the Arena Riga 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 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, the team added also Jakub Šindel, Ville Nieminen, and Marcel Hossa to its roster, but Jakub Šindel and Ville Nieminen also got fired.

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 December 24, 2015.^[4]^[5]

#	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
26	Uvis Balinskis	D	L	27	2015	Ventspils, Latvia
21	Armands Bērziņš	C	L	40	2015	Riga, Latvia
96	Māris Bičevskis	C	L	32	2009	Riga, Latvia
44	Oskars Cibuļskis	D	L	36	2009	Riga, Latvia
10	Lauris Dārziņš (C)	LW	L	39	2014	Riga, Latvia
25	Andris Džeriņš	RW	L	36	2009	Aiviekste, Latvia
30	Joacim Eriksson	G	R	34	2015	Hedesunda, Sweden
35	Nils Grīnfogels	G	R	29	2014	Riga, Latvia
70	Miks Indrašis	RW	L	33	2008	Riga, Latvia
5	Māris Jass	D	L	39	2015	Daugavpils, Latvia
69	Nikolajs Jeļisejevs	LW	L	28	2014	Riga, Latvia
23	Aleksandrs Jerofejevs	D	L	40	2014	Riga, Latvia
12	Roberts Locāns	RW	R	28	2015	Riga, Latvia
32	Edgars Kulda	LW	L	29	2015	Riga, Latvia
87	Gints Meija	LW	L	36	2008	Riga, Latvia
53	Frenks Razgals	LW	L	27	2015	Riga, Latvia
9	Krišjānis Rēdlihs (A)	D	L	43	2008	Riga, Latvia
19	Miķelis Rēdlihs	RW	L	39	2014	Riga, Latvia
17	Kaspars Saulietis	RW	R	36	2015	Riga, Latvia
13	Gunārs Skvorcovs	RW	L	34	2015	Riga, Latvia
36	Jakub Sedláček	G	L	34	2013	Zlín, Czechoslovakia
16	Steven Seigo	D	R	33	2015	Edenwold, Saskatchewan
43	Tim Sestito	C	L	39	2015	Rome, New York
3	Ēriks Ševčenko	D	L	32	2015	Daugavpils, Latvia
11	Kristaps Sotnieks	D	L	37	2008	Riga, Latvia
89	Filipp Toluzakov	LW	L	35	2015	Balakovo, Russia
24	Bruno Zabis	LW	L	33	2015	Liepaja, Latvia

Retired numbers

The Dinamo have retired one number, in their history.

**Dinamo Riga retired numbers**
No	Player	Position	Career
8	Sandis Ozoliņš	D	2009–12, 2013–14

Team captains

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
2014: Travis Konecny (25th overall)
2015: 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

Points
Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts	P/G
Marcel Hossa	LW	215	94	75	170	0.79
Miķelis Rēdlihs	RW	279	66	100	166	0.59
Aleksandrs Ņiživijs	RW	258	39	97	136	0.53
Lauris Dārziņš	LW	221	58	71	129	0.58
Mārtiņš Karsums	RW	169	58	50	108	0.64
Krišjānis Rēdlihs	D	285	28	71	99	0.35
Jānis Sprukts	C	159	32	65	97	0.61
Sandis Ozoliņš	D	182	26	71	97	0.53
Miks Indrašis	RW	152	42	46	88	0.58
Guntis Galviņš	D	243	19	63	82	0.34

Goals
Player	Pos	G
Marcel Hossa	LW	94
Miķelis Rēdlihs	RW	66
Lauris Dārziņš	LW	58
Mārtiņš Karsums	RW	58
Miks Indrašis	RW	42
Aleksandrs Ņiživijs	RW	39
Mark Hartigan	C	36
Jānis Sprukts	C	32
Krišjānis Rēdlihs	D	28
Ģirts Ankipāns	LW	28

Assists
Player	Pos	A
Miķelis Rēdlihs	RW	100
Aleksandrs Ņiživijs	RW	97
Marcel Hossa	LW	76
Lauris Dārziņš	LW	71
Krišjānis Rēdlihs	RW	71
Sandis Ozoliņš	D	71
Jānis Sprukts	C	65
Guntis Galviņš	D	63
Mārtiņš Karsums	RW	50
Miks Indrašis	RW	46

= 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