Dinamo Riga (original)

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Dinamo Riga
Rīgas Dinamo.png
City Riga, Latvia
League Soviet Championship League
1978-1995
Founded 1940
Operated 1995
Home arena Rīgas Sporta pils
Colors               
Franchise history
Dinamo Riga 1940–1949
Daugava Riga 1949–1967
Dinamo Riga 1967–1991
Stars Rīga 1991–1992
Pārdaugava Rīga 1993–1995

main

Dinamo Riga (Latvian: Rīgas Dinamo) was an ice hockey club, based in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 1946 and disestablished in 1995 as Pārdaugava Rīga.

History of Dinamo Riga

Dinamo Riga was founded in 1940, after Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union. The club was re-established in 1946, after the re-occupation of the Latvia and the overthrow of the Germans by the Soviet Union.[1] The club was one of the 12 teams which participated in the first Soviet championship in season of 1946/1947.[1] The team's first official game was a victory 5-1 against Dynamo Tallinn on December 1946.[1] First season was considered as a success, as the team finished tournament in the fourth place.[2] The club's first roster mainly consisted from the players of the interwar Latvian national team.[1]

At first club had no permanent place, where the home games were held, but since the season 1950/1951, Dinamo started to play home games at Daugava Stadium,[3] but the games still was played on a natural ice rink and the go ahead of the games depended on a suitable weather,[3] situation didn't change until 1960/1961 season, when the stadium was heavily reconstructed.[3]

Dinamo Riga changed its name to Daugava Riga before the start of 1949/1950 season, and kept it for a decade, before team changed name again.[4] In mid-fifties the core of the team - players, which started their career's before World War II, started to retire,[5] and team started to slip further down the table as the years went by.[5]

The club again changed its name and since season 1958/1959 and now was known as RVR Riga,[6] but the name didn't last long as the club two years later was renamed once again to Daugava (RVR).[7] Name changes didn't help teams cause and the club slipped to third division.[8] During the sixties the club adopted new player and staff recruiting policy, switching from local talent developing to gathering players from all corners of Soviet Union and even abroad.[5] The club again changed owners and the name of Dinamo Riga was restored before 1967/1968 season,[9] which ended as the worst season in club's entire history.[8]

In the 1987-88 season, Dinamo Riga had their best finish, losing to CSKA Moscow in the final.

In 1975, Viktor Hatulev of Dinamo Rīga became the first ice hockey player from the Soviet Union drafted by the National Hockey League. He never had a chance to play for the NHL, as Soviet players were not allowed to play for foreign teams. In season 1976-77 Dinamo Rīga star Helmuts Balderis was the leading scorer, had the most goals, and won the best player of the season award (MVP). He was also the goal leader in 1975-76 and leading scorer in 1983. He scored 333 goals in his Soviet Union League career.

After the end of Soviet Union, the team continued to play until 1995 as a member of the International Hockey League, the successor of Soviet Hockey League. During this period, the team was called Stars Rīga and later, Pārdaugava Rīga. It was the former team of the Aleksey Nikiforov, coach of many future NHLers.

As of April 7, 2008 the club has been re-established. See Dinamo Riga.

Super series

Dinamo Riga has also participated in Super Series in exhibition games against NHL teams in year 1989 and 1990. Dinamo Riga Super Series record:

Super Series game log: 1–1–7 (home: 0–0–2; road: 1–1–2)
Game Opponent Score Record
1 @ Calgary Flames 2–2 0–1–0
2 @ Edmonton Oilers 1–2 0–1–1
3 @ Vancouver Canucks 1–6 0–1–2
4 @ Los Angeles Kings 3–5 0–1–3
5 @ Chicago Blackhawks 1–4 0–1–4
6 @ St. Louis Blues 0–5 0–1–5
7 @ Minnesota North Stars 2–1 1–1–5
Game Opponent Score Record
8 Washington Capitals 1–2 1–1–6
9 Montreal Canadiens 2–4 1–1–7

Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Season GP W L T Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs Player statistics
1978-79 44 19 18 7 45 150 132 625 6 None [1]
1979-80 44 16 24 4 36 134 162 8 None [2]
1980-81 49 22 21 6 50 163 157 5 None [3]
1981-82 56 17 33 6 40 202 234 8 None [4]
1982-83 56 27 24 5 59 240 212 619 5 None [5]
1983-84 44 17 19 8 42 146 172 8 None [6]
1984-85 52 18 25 9 45 170 196 531 7 None [7]
1985-86 40 19 15 6 44 138 128 452 5 None [8]
1986-87 40 14 21 5 33 117 132 485 7 None [9]
1987-88 (Stage 1) 26 10 12 4 24 88 92 10
1987-88 (Stage 2) 18 11 3 4 25 66 46 3 Lost in finals [10]
1988-89 44 18 20 6 42 115 131 489 6 None [11]
1989-90 48 26 15 7 59 148 117 5 None [12]
1990-91 46 25 16 5 55 187 138 5 None [13]

Notes

  • The player statistics for the 1987-88 season are the total for both stages.
  • Soviet league had no playoffs, except for the 1987-88 season.

References

General
  • Ulmanis, Aivis (1998). Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture. Latvijas Hokeja federācija. ISBN 9984-19-017-X. 
Specific
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 74. 
  2. ↑ Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 76. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 434. 
  4. ↑ Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 89. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 539. 
  6. ↑ Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 130. 
  7. ↑ Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 139. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 185. 
  9. ↑ Ulmanis. Melnās ripas bruņinieki: Latvijas hokeja vēsture, 182. 


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