HC CSKA Moscow

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CSKA Moscow
ЦСКА Москва
CSKA Moscow logo.png
Full name

HC CSKA Moscow 1960–present

  • CSK MO 1955–1959
  • CDSA 1952–1954
  • CDKA 1946–1951
Nickname(s) Red Army, Central Red Army
Founded December 22, 1946
as CDKA
Based In Moscow
Arena CSKA Arena
(Capacity: 12,100)
League

KHL 2008–present

Division Bobrov
Conference Western
Team Colors               
Owner(s) Flag of Russia Rosneft
Affiliates Zvezda Moscow (VHL)
Krasnaya Armiya (MHL)
Website www.cska-hockey.ru

main

HC CSKA Moscow (1946–present, Russian: ЦСКА Москва, Центральный Спортивный Клуб Армии, Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow) is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. The club is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). It is referred to in the West as "Central Red Army" or the "Red Army Team" for its affiliation with the Soviet Army, known as the Red Army until 1946, and the Russian Armed Forces. CSKA won more Soviet championships and European cups than any other team in history. It is owned by Russia's largest oil company, Rosneft, which is in turn majority-owned by the Russian government.

In addition to nine division titles and record six Continental Cups, CSKA has reached the Gagarin Cup Finals six times, winning in 2019, 2022 and 2023. The club also became the first one to win both the Continental Cup and the Gagarin Cup in the same season.

In 2018, after more than 50 seasons at the old Ice Palace, the team moved to a new arena, which is now called CSKA Arena, their present home arena in Moscow.

History

The club was founded in 1946 as CDKA (Centralnyy Dom Krasnoy Armii – Central House of the Red Army, referring to the Army community centre in Moscow). It was known as CDSA (with Red Army changed to Soviet Army) in 1952 – 1954, as CSK MO (Central Sports Club of the Moscow Military District) in 1955 – 1959, and acquired its current name in 1960.

As a hockey powerhouse

CSKA won 32 Soviet regular season championships during the Soviet League's 46-year existence, far and away the most in the league's history; no other team won more than five. This included all but six from 1955 to 1989 and 13 in a row from 1977 to 1989. By comparison, no NHL team has won more than five Stanley Cups in a row since the NHL took de facto control of the trophy in 1926.

CSKA was almost as dominant in the IIHF European Cup. They won all but two titles from 1969 to 1990, including 13 in a row from 1978 to 1990. The team's first coach was Anatoli Tarasov, who would later become famous as the coach of the Soviet national team. Tarasov coached the Red Army Team, either alone or with co-coaches, for most of the time from 1946 to 1975. The team's greatest run came under Viktor Tikhonov, who was coach from 1977 to 1996—serving for most of that time as coach of the national team.

The Red Army Team was able to pull off such a long run of dominance because during the Soviet era, the entire CSKA organization was a functioning division of the Red Army. Taking full advantage of the fact that all able-bodied Soviet males had to serve in the military, it was literally able to draft the best young hockey players in the Soviet Union onto the team. There was a substantial overlap between the rosters of the Red Army Team and the Soviet national team, which was one factor behind the Soviets' near-absolute dominance of international hockey from the 1950s through the early 1990s. By the late 1980s, however, the long run of Red Army dominance caused a significant dropoff in attendance throughout the league.

One of the most feared lines in hockey history was the KLM Line of the 1980s. The name came from the last names of the three players, Vladimir Krutov, Igor Larionov, and Sergei Makarov. Together with defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov, they were known as the Green Unit because they wore green jerseys in practice. The five-man unit formed a dominant force in European hockey throughout the decade. All five players were later permitted to go to the NHL in 1989, with mixed results. Krutov had the shortest NHL career, lasting only one season in Vancouver; Makarov (who won the Calder Trophy in 1990) and Kasatonov were out of the NHL by 1997; Fetisov and Larionov won the Stanley Cup twice together with Detroit before Fetisov retired in 1998; Larionov would win a third Cup with Detroit in 2002, before retiring from New Jersey in 2004.

Not surprisingly, discipline was quite strict, especially under Tikhonov. His players practiced for as many as 11 months a year, and were confined to training camp (an Army barracks) most of that time even if they were married. However, became less restrictive after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At the IIHF Centennial All-Star Team, out of 6 players selected 4 players once played at CSKA Moscow.

CSKA and the NHL

Main article: Super Series

CSKA played 36 games against NHL teams from 1975 to 1991 and finished with a record of 26 wins, 8 losses, and 2 ties. 34 of these games were played in Super Series, including the tour of North America in 1975/1976. The Super Series also introduced eventual Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Vladislav Tretiak of the CSKA squad to North American ice hockey fans. On New Year's Eve 1975, CSKA played the Montreal Canadiens, widely regarded as the league's finest team (and that year's eventual Stanley Cup winners). The game ended with a 3–3 draw, but was widely hailed as one of the greatest games ever played.

Another memorable game was played on 11 January 1976 against the Philadelphia Flyers, who at the time were the defending Stanley Cup Champions and were known as the "Broad Street Bullies" for their highly physical play. The game was notable for an incident where, after a body check delivered by Philadelphia's Ed Van Impe, the CSKA's top player, Valeri Kharlamov (like Tretiak eventually a Hall of Famer), was left prone on the ice for a minute. CSKA coach Konstantin Loktev pulled his team off the ice in protest that no penalty was called. They were told by NHL president Clarence Campbell to return to the ice and finish the game, which was being broadcast to an international audience, or the Soviet Hockey Federation would not get paid the fee that they were entitled to. They eventually complied and lost the game 4–1.

CSKA Moscow alumni have made a large impact on the NHL; perhaps the largest impact came with the Detroit Red Wings of the mid-1990s. Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Vyacheslav Kozlov had established themselves as key members of the Wings when they were joined by Fetisov and Larionov, forming the Russian Five. These five players would play an integral role in the Wings' consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 1997 and 1998. Dmitri Mironov joined the 1998 squad, following Konstantinov's career-ending injury on 13 June 1997; since Konstantinov was kept on the roster despite his injury, the 1998 squad marks the largest contingent of CSKA veterans (six) to win the Stanley Cup.

Post-Soviet history

During the late '80s and early '90s CSKA positions significantly weakened due to the ongoing collapse of the Soviet Union. After a conflict with Tikhonov, CSKA major stars including Fetisov, Larionov, Krutov and Kasatonov left the team to make their careers in the NHL. During the 90s they were followed by younger talents like Bure, Fedorov and Samsonov.

In 1993, Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin bought a 50 percent interest in the struggling team, re-branding them as the Russian Penguins, and signed a management contract to run that club's arena. The aim was to provide the team with Western sponsorship and much-needed capital, as well as providing the Pittsburgh club with easier access to Russian players. Stephen Warshaw was hired as the marketing consultant to help revive the club. Using gimmicks such as strippers and free beer, the Penguins soon became a sensation and the arena was packed every night to see them play.

Unfortunately, the success of the club led to an increased presence of the Russian mafia around the club and the rink, which went about evicting corporate sponsors from their luxury boxes at gunpoint, putting advertising on the boards (without paying), cutting a Nike logo out of the ice, and even murdering an assistant coach and a team photographer. The Penguins' affiliation would only last two years until Baldwin and other sponsors pulled out.[1] Eventually, the mob gained enough control over the club that CSKA had to use their former army connections to stage a raid using tanks and SWAT teams to take them out of power.[2]

In 1996 after a conflict with management of the club, Tikhonov created his own separate team called HK CSKA that spent two seasons in the Russian Superleague and eventually reunited with the original CSKA in 2002.

Although CSKA has remained one of the strongest teams in Russia since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it did not win a title in the KHL or its predecessors until 2015, when the club finished 1st in the regular season but failed to win the Gagarin Cup. It has never gotten past the conference semifinals of the Gagarin Cup playoffs since the formation of the KHL, and missed the playoffs altogether in 2011. NHL scouts now sign most of the top young prospects in Europe and send them to minor leagues in North America.

Honors

Domestic competitions

1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1954–55, 1955–56, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 2014–15
1954, 1955, 1956, 1961, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1988

1 Vysshaya Liga Championship (1): 1996–97

1 Russian Championship (4): 2014–15, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22

Kontinental Hockey League

1 Gagarin Cup (3): 2019, 2022, 2023

1 Continental Cup (6, record): 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21

1 Opening Cup (2): 2015–16, 2022–23

International

1 Intercontinental Cup (1): 1971–72

1 IIHF European Cup (20, record): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990

1 Spengler Cup (1): 1991

1 Pajulahti Cup (1): 2005

Pre-season

1 Hockeyades (Vallée de Joux) (2): 2017, 2018

1 Moscow Mayor Cup (4): 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017

Season-by-season KHL record

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime losses; Pts = Points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

Season GP W OTW L OTL Pts GF GA Finish Top Scorer Playoffs
2008–09 56 27 7 11 11 106 176 141 1st, Tarasov Sergei Shirokov (40 points: 17 G, 23 A; 56 GP) Lost in Quarterfinals, 0–3 (Dynamo Moscow)
2009–10 56 22 8 21 5 87 148 135 4th, Bobrov Denis Parshin (43 points: 21 G, 22 A; 56 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–3 (HC MVD)
2010–11 54 13 7 28 6 59 136 159 5th, Bobrov Jan Marek (40 points: 16 G, 24 A; 51 GP) did not qualify
2011–12 54 19 3 25 7 70 119 129 4th, Bobrov Sergei Shirokov (47 points: 18 G, 29 A; 53 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2012–13 52 23 13 15 1 96 151 109 1st, Tarasov Alexander Radulov (68 points: 22 G, 46 A; 48 GP) Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4 (Dynamo Moscow)
2013–14 54 25 7 20 2 91 130 118 5th, Bobrov Nikolai Prokhorkin (37 points: 19 G, 18 A; 52 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 0–4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2014–15 60 39 10 9 2 139 207 98 1st, Tarasov Alexander Radulov (71 points: 24 G, 47 A; 46 GP) Lost in Conference Finals, 3–4 (SKA Saint Petersburg)
2015–16 60 38 5 3 14 127 163 87 1st, Tarasov Alexander Radulov (65 points: 23 G, 42 A; 53 GP) Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 3–4 (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
2016–17 60 44 8 8 137 183 110 1st, Tarasov Kirill Petrov (38 points: 20 G, 18 A; 53 GP) Lost in Conference Semifinals, 2-4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
2017–18 56 35 9 11 1 124 175 89 1st, Tarasov Maxim Shalunov (40 points: 20 G, 20 A; 46 GP) Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 1–4 (Ak Bars Kazan)
2018–19 62 43 10 9 0 106 191 75 1st, Tarasov Mikhail Grigorenko (52 points: 17 G, 35 A; 55 GP) Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–0 (Avangard Omsk)
2019–20 62 40 5 13 4 94 202 99 1st, Tarasov Kirill Kaprizov (62 points: 33 G, 29 A; 57 GP) Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4–0 (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
Playoffs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 60 34 9 12 5 91 182 121 1st, Tarasov Konstantin Okulov (49 points: 18 G, 31 A; 54 GP) Lost in Gagarin Cup Finals, 2–4 (Avangard Omsk)
2021–22 47 18 11 13 5 63 120 107 1st, Tarasov Mikhail Grigorenko (33 points: 18 G, 15 A; 41 GP) Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–3 (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
2022–23 68 33 10 17 8 94 214 162 1st, Tarasov Konstantin Okulov (54 points: 18 G, 36 A; 60 GP) Gagarin Cup Champions, 4–3 (Ak Bars Kazan)
2023–24 68 30 4 26 8 76 193 166 4th, Tarasov Konstantin Okulov (49 points: 15 G, 34 A; 57 GP) Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1–4 (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)

Logos


References

  1. ↑ PBS, Interviews - Stephen Warshaw
  2. ↑ The Russian Mafia and hockey

External links

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