April 28th, 2015Among the former Soviet republics, the most frequently mentioned "hockey countries" (after Russia, of course) are usually Belarus and Ukraine, sometimes Kazakhstan too: but in the last few years a "new" regional power is also emerging, and it goes under the name of Latvia. In the following paragraphs I will outline the history of its...
Western Conference (2) Torpedo vs. (7) Dynamo Riga Torpedo wins series 4-3 Ruslan Zainullin scored one goal and Vitaly Koval stopped 34 shots as Torpedo defeated Dynamo Riga 2-0 in Game Seven Saturday night. Koval was the difference as he kept his net clean for 60 minutes. Mikhail Varnakov added an empty net goal in the...
They say two’s company and three’s a crowd. Who ‘they’ are, we may never know but one thing is certain, the hockey ice in the Latvian capital of Riga is crowded with the Redlihs trio. Brothers Jekabs, Krisjanis and Mikelis have played together for Dynamo Riga of the KHL for the last two seasons. Unlike the Vancouver...
Atlant Moscow Region has advanced to the second round of the KHL playoffs with Thursday’s road win over Severstal. Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Dynamo Riga forced a decisive Game Seven with second-seeded Torpedo. Here is a recap. Western Conference (4) Atlant vs. (5) Severstal Atlant wins series 4-2 Nikolai Zherdev scored...
SKA St. Petersburg has advanced to the second round of the KHL Western Conference playoffs after defeating CSKA Moscow in five games. With the number one and three (Dynamo Moscow) seeds already moved on, second seeded Torpedo and fourth seeded Atlant are now just one win away. Here is a recap of Tuesday’s Game Five. Western...
Dynamo Moscow became the first team to punch its ticket into the second round of the KHL playoffs after sweeping rival Dynamo Minsk. Meanwhile, SKA St. Petersburg regroups after a Game Three loss to forge ahead in their series with CSKA Moscow. Plus, Eastern Conference #1 seed Traktor turns in one of the greatest comebacks in recent...
The Western Conference playoffs continue to heat up with three of yesterday’s four games going into overtime, including one that was not settled until a second extra session. Here is a recap of Saturday's action. Western Conference (1) SKA vs. (8) CSKA SKA lead series 2-1 Facing an 0-3 hole, the army men from Moscow...
March 1st, 2012(1) SKA vs. (8) CSKA SKA leads series 1-0 Ivan Nepryayev had a goal and two assists and Jakub Stepanak made 16 saves for SKA in their 4-1 win over rival CSKA in Game One of their best-of-seven series. Alexander Kucheryavenko opened the scoring for the home team about seven minutes into the game. He deflected a shot from the point...