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Dinamo Riga

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Dinamo Riga
CityRiga, Latvia
Founded2008
Folded2023
Home arenaInbox.lv ledus halle
(capacity: 1,000)
General managerJurijs Kuzņecovs
Websitewww.dinamoriga.lv
Uniforms used since the 2020–21 KHL season.
Uniforms used since the 2020–21 KHL season.

Dinamo Riga (Latvian: Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It most recently was a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU.

The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a former team (also named "Dinamo Riga"), which was founded in 1946, but ceased to exist in 1995. Since being re-established, Dinamo Riga played their home games at the Arēna Rīga until 2022, which could accommodate 10,300 spectators.

History

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The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 and among the founders of the club were Guntis Ulmanis, Kirovs Lipmans, Mały Snopp, 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.[1][2] After the first season, Viesturs Koziols also left the project.[3]

Július Šupler became the first head coach of the club.[4] 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.

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's farm club, Dinamo-Juniors Riga. The 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 the league playoffs, Dinamo lost 3–0 to Dynamo Moscow, which later advanced to the 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 the regular season in eighth place of the Western Conference, which qualified them for the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, Dinamo faced SKA Saint Petersburg with players like Sergei Zubov, Petr Čajánek, Maxim Sushinsky and Alexei Yashin on the roster. Still, Dinamo managed to beat SKA 3–1 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals. In the semifinals, Dinamo was defeated 4–1 by later Gagarin Cup finalist HC MVD.

After his league-leading performance, Marcel Hossa signed a two-year contract with the then-current KHL champions Ak Bars Kazan. Martin Kariya signed a two-year contract with Swiss NLA's HC Ambrì-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.

The team finished the season in seventh place in the Western Conference and thirteenth in the league, as the team qualified to the playoffs. In the first round, their opponents were Dynamo Moscow. Dinamo won the series 4–2, advancing to the next round and facing Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Dinamo lost the series 4–1.

As of the end of the third season, head coach Július Šupler left the team to be the coach of CSKA Moscow. On 27 April 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 his chance to play in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens.

On 27 February 2022, Dinamo withdrew from KHL in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[5]

On 10 August 2022, it was announced that Dinamo Riga would play in the Latvian Hockey Higher League during the 2022–23 season.[6] On 11 July 2023, it was announced that Dinamo Riga would not play in the 2023–24 season.[7]

Crest

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  • 2008–2020
    2008–2020
  • 2020–
    2020–

Season-by-season record

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This is a partial list of the last ten 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 League GP W L OTW OTL Pts GF GA Finish Playoffs
2008–09 KHL 56 24 23 5 4 86 132 156 2nd, Kharlamov Lost in First Round, 0–3 (Dynamo Moscow)
2009–10 KHL 56 23 22 4 7 84 174 175 5th, Bobrov Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (MVD)
2010–11 KHL 54 20 20 7 7 81 160 149 4th, Bobrov Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2011–12 KHL 54 24 5 4 23 86 132 156 3rd, Bobrov Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
2012–13 KHL 52 13 31 4 4 51 109 151 7th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2013–14 KHL 54 22 16 11 5 93 141 122 3rd, Bobrov Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4 (Donbass Donetsk)
2014–15 KHL 60 22 30 3 5 77 136 160 5th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2015–16 KHL 60 17 34 8 8 75 129 151 7th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2016–17 KHL 60 11 34 10 5 58 116 158 7th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2017–18 KHL 56 9 31 7 9 50 105 153 6th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2018–19 KHL 62 18 26 8 10 62 129 155 5th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2019–20 KHL 62 11 38 6 7 41 103 187 6th, Bobrov Did not qualify
2020–21 KHL 60 5 41 4 10 28 126 211 5th, Tarasov Did not qualify
2021–22 KHL 45 9 22 5 9 37 93 143 6th, Tarasov Did not qualify
2022–23 OHL 32 16 10 5 1 43 147 105 3rd Lost in Semifinals, 0–4 Zemgale/LLU

Players

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For a list of all Dinamo Riga players with a Wikipedia article, see List of Dinamo Riga players.

Current roster

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Retired numbers

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Dinamo Riga retired numbers
No. Player Position Career
8 Sandis Ozoliņš D 2009–2012, 2013–2014

Team captains

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Head coaches

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Franchise records and leaders

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Scoring leaders

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Player GP G A Pts +/– PIM
Latvia Lauris Dārziņš 506 124 175 299 –14 282
Latvia Miķelis Rēdlihs 581 120 173 293 –41 386
Latvia Miks Indrašis 319 88 98 186 +6 113
Slovakia Marcel Hossa 241 105 80 185 –12 252
Latvia Aleksandrs Niživijs 290 45 108 153 –46 127
Latvia Guntis Galviņš 416 31 112 143 –1 230
Latvia Krišjānis Rēdlihs 449 37 99 136 –13 205
Latvia Gints Meija 541 51 69 120 –53 210
Latvia Mārtiņš Karsums 196 62 57 119 +3 183
Latvia Jānis Sprukts 186 42 73 115 +12 130

Leading goaltenders

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Player GP TOI W L GA SO SV% GAA
Russia Timur Bilyalov 38 2,035:59 15 14 74 4 93.0% 2.18
Latvia Jānis Kalniņš 72 3,835:47 18 34 143 4 92.7% 2.24
Sweden Mikael Tellqvist 103 5,880:56 44 42 232 5 91.8% 2.37
Czech Republic Jakub Sedláček 126 7,082:09 41 58 286 10 91.8% 2.42
Sweden Joacim Eriksson 34 1,934:53 9 17 78 2 91.9% 2.42
United States Chris Holt 90 5,246:44 37 34 214 6 91.7% 2.45
Lithuania Mantas Armalis 12 576:37 3 5 24 0 91.1% 2.50
Czech Republic Alexander Salak 32 1,835:38 8 19 77 2 91.2% 2.52
Latvia Kristers Gudļevskis 42 2,255:16 13 24 98 3 90.1% 2.61
Czech Republic Martin Prusek 55 3,017:36 18 26 132 6 91.6% 2.62

References

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  1. ^ "LHF Prezidents Kirovs Lipmans Izstājies No A/S Rīgas Dinamo". Latvian Ice Hockey Federation (in Latvian). 27 May 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Lipmans izstājies no a/s "Rīgas Dinamo"". esports.lv. (in Latvian)
  3. ^ "Koziols: "Par paveikto nekaunos"". esports.lv. (in Latvian)
  4. ^ "Šuplers apstiprināts (labots)". Sportacentrs.com. 22 May 2008.
  5. ^ Ethan Sears (27 February 2022). "Dinamo Riga withdraws from KHL following Russian invasion into Ukraine". New York Post. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Dinamo Riga joins Latvian Hockey Higher League". www.tvnet.lv (in Latvian). Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  7. ^ Suveizda, Agris (11 July 2023). ""Kurbads" atgriežas, klāt arī igauņi – OHL apstiprina deviņu komandu dalību". Sportacentrs.com (in Latvian). Retrieved 11 August 2023.
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