To date, SKA HC is one of the most successful clubs in Russia. The St. Petersburg team year after year claims to win the Gagarin Cup - the main trophy of the Continental Hockey League (KHL).
Early period
SKA HC was formed in the post-war period, in 1946. It was then that the club took part in the first championship of the USSR. The debut game was held by Leningrad officers against the team of Vasily Stalin - the MVO Air Force. The result was a major defeat for the Leningrad army with a score of 3: 7.
Army men received their actual name only thirteen years after their official birth, in 1959. The club has since been called SKA. What does this abbreviation mean? SKA is an army sports club. Also, Leningraders had, so to speak, “relatives” in the capital - CSKA (Central Army Sports Club). Muscovites were considered the flagship of domestic hockey longer than others, and their confrontation with “colleagues” from the Northern capital is considered a real army derby.
Being in the shadow of more status rivals from Moscow (CSKA, Dynamo, Spartak, Wings of the Soviets), SKA in the Soviet period was able to win a single gold in the domestic arena. The main achievements of the club were three victories in the Spengler Cup (1970th, 1971st and 1977th). Between them there was a place and the long-awaited bronze in the USSR championship. It happened in the successful year 71 for the army. Prior to this, only fourth place was SKA's best achievement. That such a thing could be possible was not believed very much, but at that time Leningraders were led by Nikolai Puchkov, one of the greatest specialists of that time. He was a supporter of an organized and disciplined game that prioritizes an unmistakable defense game.
The second bronze came to the Leningraders very soon: only in 1987. The philosophy of the team was radically different from the one that Puchkov instilled in his SKA. What happened to the team? The style has changed: the club began to show an aggressive attacking game, aimed primarily at the opponent’s goal.
Modern period
In the nineties, the team had a difficult period, but it's SKA! What are the difficulties for a club with such traditions? CSKA even had to play in the First League, but the team quickly returned to the elite.
However, truly by virtue of SKA, it began to enter only in the two thousandth. In 2007, a significant event for the team occurred: the first foreign coach came to the team. They became the Canadian Barry Smith. Prior to that, he only worked with the teams of the National Hockey League (Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Detroit, Phoenix), so for him it was also a kind of challenge. This appointment was not a failure, but with Smith SKA did not go beyond the quarter-finals of the playoffs, which could please neither the management nor the fans.
In the 2010th SKA, he won his fourth Spengler Cup under the leadership of Czech Vaclav Sikora. In the final between the national team of Canada and SKA, the score was 4: 3 in favor of the Petersburgers.
Campaign for the Gagarin Cup
Further more. Two years later, SKA was a finalist at the Western Conference. However, Moscow Dynamo, the future KHL champion, stood in the way of the army. Next season, SKA is already winning the Continent Cup - a trophy that will be awarded to the best team following the results of the regular season. Also, the composition of the army is replenished by such masters as Ilya Kovalchuk, who shone for a long time in the NHL (in the already defunct Atlanta Thrashers, as well as in the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils), and Sergey Bobrovsky is perhaps one of the best goalkeepers of our time (now playing in Columbus Blue Jackets). However, the Gagarin Cup again failed to take, the matter was limited only to bronze medals. It is interesting that SKA striker Viktor Tikhonov became the top scorer of the Gagarin Cup, however, who later also tried to force behind the Ocean at the Arizona Coyotes club (formerly Phoenix).
The year 2015 was a triumph for SKA, when the club finally took the Gagarin Cup for its seventh year in the KHL. Everything was decided by the fifth match of SKA and Kazan “Ak Bars” in the final series.
Confrontation with CSKA
The game with the SKA-CSKA sign is today considered one of the most striking in the entire KHL championship. The latest history of the confrontation between two large army clubs begins in 2007. The advantage, oddly enough, is on the side of Petersburgers. Interestingly, during the last two finals of the Western Conference, the audience could watch the incredible SKA-CSKA hockey. Two years ago, SKA won, a year ago - CSKA, and the score in the last final of the conference was devastating - Muscovites won 4-0.
Most Notable SKA Players
SKA is a team that has long been played by some of the best hockey players in Russia and Europe. Now the main stars of the club are considered forwards Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Sergey Plotnikov, Vadim Shipachev and Evgeny Dadonov. Among the Defenders can be identified Vyacheslav Voinov, Anton Belov and Evgeny Chudinov. There are, of course, talented young people: for example, twenty-one-year-old goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin and nineteen-year-old defender Yegor Rykov.