Dinamo Riga

Dinamo Riga

Full name	Dinamo Riga
Founded	2008
Based In	Riga, Latvia
Arena	Arena Riga (Capacity: 10,300)
Team Colors
Website	www.dinamoriga.eu

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For the previous club with this name, see Dinamo Riga (original).

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 League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LBTU.

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 played their home games at the Arena Riga, which can accommodate 10,300 spectators.

History

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. After the first season, Viesturs Koziols also left the project.

Július Šupler became the first head coach of the club. 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.

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

Season-by-season record

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

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

KHL awards and trophies

Nadezhda Cup

• 2012–13

External links

• Official Website of the Dinamo Riga

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