Hockey Club Lokomotiv also known as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, is a
RussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n professional
ice hockeyIce hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team based in
YaroslavlYaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
. The name of the team is derived from its owner,
Russian RailwaysThe Russian Railways , is the government owned national rail carrier of the Russian Federation, headquartered in Moscow. The Russian Railways operate over of common carrier routes as well as a few hundred kilometers of industrial routes, making it the second largest network in the world exceeded...
, the national railroad operator.
On 7 September 2011, a plane carrying the team to a
Kontinental Hockey LeagueThe Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....
(KHL) game in Minsk
crashed shortly after takeoffThe Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash occurred at 16:05 MT on Wednesday, 7 September 2011, when a Yak-Service Yakovlev Yak-42, carrying the players and coaching staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team, crashed near the Russian city of Yaroslavl...
, killing all of the team's roster (plus four players from the Loko MHL junior squad) and coaching staff except for two who were not on the flight, forward
Maxim ZyuzyakinMaxim Zyuzyakin is a Russian professional ice hockey player who is currently playing with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the Kontinental Hockey League....
and goaltending coach
Jorma ValtonenPertti Leo Jorma Valtonen is a retired professional ice hockey player who played in the SM-liiga.Valtonen, who was born in Turku, Finland, played for Jokerit, TPS, Rosenlewin Urheilijat -38 and Ässät. In Italy Valtonen played for Gardena ja HC Alleghe. In West Germany he played for EHC 70 München...
. The tragedy forced Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to cancel
their participationThe 2011–12 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl season will to be the franchise's 52nd season of play in professional ice hockey in Russia. It was supposed to be its fourth season in the Kontinental Hockey League . The season was scheduled to start on September 8, 2011...
in the
2011–12 KHL seasonThe 2011–12 KHL season is the fourth season of the Kontinental Hockey League. The regular season originally began on 7 September 2011 with the Opening Cup game, but because of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash, which killed all but one member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, the start of the...
. The club will instead participate in the 2011–12 season of the Russian Major League (VHL), the second top ice hockey league in Russia after the KHL, in December 2011 and will automatically be qualified for the VHL playoffs. Also, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl's squad for the 2012–13 KHL season will automatically be qualified for the KHL playoffs that season, and the club may request allowance to use more than six non-
RussianThe Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
players in the KHL squad.
Overview
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl was founded in 1959, and has been formerly known as HC YMZ Yaroslavl, Trud Yaroslavl, Motor Yaroslavl and Torpedo Yaroslavl. The team plays their home games in the Lokomotiv Arena 2000, which provides a capacity for 9,046 persons. From 1959 to 2001, the team played in the Avtodizel Arena. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl's team colors are red, white and blue. Lokomotiv Yaroslavl won three Russian championships, in 1997, 2002 and 2003.
History
The team has been known previously by several different names:
- YaMZ Yaroslavl (1959–1963)
- Trud Yaroslavl (1963–1964)
- Motor Yaroslavl (1964–1965)
- Torpedo Yaroslavl (1965–2000)
- Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (2000–present)
The team generally played in the Second League of the Class "A" group during the Soviet era, being promoted to the First League of Class "A" for the 1983–84 season. Known as Torpedo Yaroslavl at that time, the team enjoyed moderate success under head coach Sergei Alekseyevich Nikolaev. Never a powerful club during the Soviet era, the team became a consistent winner during the 1990s and won their first league championship in 1997 under coach Petr Vorobev. The club moved from Avtodizel Arena to the new
Arena 2000Arena 2000 is an arena, in Yaroslavl, Russia. It opened in 2001 and holds approximately 9,000 people. It is primarily used for ice hockey and is the home arena for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team...
early in the 2001–02 season, and won consecutive league championships in 2002 and 2003 under
CzechThe Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
head coach Vladimír Vujtek, Sr. Vujtek left the club after the 2002–03 season for a lucrative contract offer from rival Ak Bars Kazan. Lokomotiv have not been able to replicate their success since that time, but remain a perennial contender in the
Russian SuperleagueThe Russian Superleague , commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second best league in the world, after the National Hockey League of North America...
(RSL).
2011 plane crash
On 7 September 2011, all but one of the club's roster were killed in a plane crash while traveling to an away game in Minsk for the season opener. The airplane caught fire and crashed shortly after take-off, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from
Tunoshna AirportTunoshna is an airport in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia located 18 km southeast of Yaroslavl. It services medium-sized airliners. It does not serve any scheduled airlines....
. Preliminary reports said that all 45 passengers and crew on board had been killed. However later reports stated one player from Lokomotiv, plus a flight engineer, had survived the initial crash.
Alexander GalimovAlexander Saidgereyevich Galimov was a Russian professional ice hockey player. At the time of his death, he was a member of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League .-Playing career:...
, a 26-year-old forward who had been with the team since 2004, was conscious and had burns to 90 percent of his body, but died five days later in a hospital in Moscow. 35 bodies have been recovered thus far.
Prior to the crash, the team played nine pre-season games, finishing with a 7–2 record. On September 3, the players played their last game, at home against
TorpedoTorpedo Nizhny Novgorod is an ice hockey club in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. They are members of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League....
, winning 5–2.
Alexander GalimovAlexander Saidgereyevich Galimov was a Russian professional ice hockey player. At the time of his death, he was a member of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League .-Playing career:...
, who had initially survived the crash but later died of his injuries, scored the last goal of that game, sealing the win for Lokomotiv with an empty net goal.
In the aftermaths of the crash, KHL president Alexander Medvedev announced that a
disaster draftA disaster draft or contingency draft is a procedure developed by professional sports leagues to rebuild a team's roster if many players are disabled or killed.-Background:...
will be held to allow Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to ice a team for the 2011-2012 season. However, on September 10, 2011, the team announced its intention not to participate in the 2011-2012 KHL season, opting to play in the Russian Major League for one season before returning to the KHL. Former coach
Petr VorobievPetr Vorobiev is a former ice hockey player who is better known as the head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League.-Playing career:...
has returned to the team as its head coach.
This is the second plane accident in Russia involving a hockey team; in 1950, the entire
VVS MoscowVVS Moscow was a Soviet sports club representing the Soviet Air Force. Among the sports the club participated in were soccer, ice hockey, basketball, and volleyball. They won the championships in basketball and volleyball in 1952, and the hockey team won three championships.Vasily Stalin, the son...
team
were killedThe Sverdlovsk air disaster of January 5th, 1950 was an airplane crash where all 19 of those on board were killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team of the Soviet Air Force - 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur...
in an air disaster near
SverdlovskYekaterinburg is a major city in the central part of Russia, the administrative center of Sverdlovsk Oblast. Situated on the eastern side of the Ural mountain range, it is the main industrial and cultural center of the Urals Federal District with a population of 1,350,136 , making it Russia's...
(now Yekaterinburg).
Honours
Russian Open ChampionshipThe Russian Open Hockey Championship , also known as the Championship of Russia in ice hockey , is an annual ice hockey award and national title, bestowed by the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia to the professional hockey organization judged to have the best performing team in Russia.The Russian...
winner (3): 1996–97, 2001–02, 2002–03
Runners-up of
KHLThe Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....
(2): 2007–08,
2008–09The 2008–09 KHL season was the inaugural season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It started on September 2, 2008, and finished on February 26, 2009...
Bronze medal winner of Russian Open Championship and
KHLThe Kontinental Hockey League is an international professional ice hockey league in Eurasia founded in 2008. As of 2009, it is ranked as the strongest hockey league in Europe....
(4): 1997–98, 1998–99, 2004–2005, 2010–11
Runners-up of IIHF Continental Cup : 2003
Bronze medal of
Spengler CupThe Spengler Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss team HC Davos and played each year in Davos, Switzerland, between...
: 2003
Statistics in KHL
| Season |
Regular season |
Play-off |
| Division |
Place in
division |
Place in
Conference |
Place in
League |
G |
W |
WO |
LO |
L |
Pts |
GF |
GA |
G |
W |
L |
GF |
GA |
Result |
| 2008–09 The 2008–09 KHL season was the inaugural season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It started on September 2, 2008, and finished on February 26, 2009...
|
Kharlamov
Division |
1 |
n/a |
3 |
56 |
32 |
4 |
7 |
13 |
111 |
175 |
111 |
19 |
13 |
6 |
57 |
33 |
Won in Last 16, 3–1 (HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk)
Won in Quarterfinals, 3–0 (HC Spartak MoscowHC Spartak is a professional ice hockey team based in Moscow, Russia. They are members of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League .-History:One of the sections of the Spartak Moscow sports club, HC Spartak Moscow was established in 1946...
)
Won in Semifinals, 4–1 (Metallurg MagnitogorskMetallurg Magnitogorsk is a professional ice hockey team based in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. They are members of the Kharlamov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League...
)
Lost in Final, 3–4 (Ak Bars Kazan) |
2009–10The 2009–10 KHL season was the second season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was held from 10 September 2009 to 27 April 2010, with a break for the Olympic winter games from 8 February to 3 March...
|
Tarasov
Division |
3 |
5 |
7 |
56 |
26 |
5 |
8 |
17 |
96 |
163 |
132 |
17 |
10 |
7 |
54 |
37 |
Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–1 (Atlant Moscow Oblast)
Won in Conference Semifinals, 4–2 (HC Spartak MoscowHC Spartak is a professional ice hockey team based in Moscow, Russia. They are members of the Bobrov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League .-History:One of the sections of the Spartak Moscow sports club, HC Spartak Moscow was established in 1946...
)
Lost in Conference Final, 3–4 (HC MVD) |
| 2010–11 The 2010–11 KHL season is the third season of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was held from 8 September 2010 and ended on 16 April 2011.The season started with the Opening Cup game between the last season's finalists, Ak Bars Kazan and the new team that was created by merging last season's...
|
Tarasov
Division |
1 |
1 |
3 |
54 |
33 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
108 |
202 |
143 |
18 |
10 |
8 |
63 |
62 |
Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4–3 (HC Dinamo MinskDinamo Minsk is an ice hockey team based in Minsk, Belarus. They are members of the Tarasov Division of the Kontinental Hockey League.Dinamo has qualified for the KHL playoffs only once, during the 2010-11 KHL season....
)
Won in Conference Semifinals, 4–1 (Dinamo RigaDinamo Riga 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:...
)
Lost in Conference Final, 2–4 (Atlant Moscow Oblast) |
External links