Dinamo Riga


Dinamo Riga is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Kontinental Hockey League. Dinamo Riga is one of the six KHL teams that are not located in the Russian Federation. The club has an affiliated club HK Rīga, which plays in the MHL.
The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of a former hockey team, which was founded in 1946, but ceased to exist in 1995. Since being re-established, Dinamo Riga plays their home games at the Arēna Rīga, which can accommodate attendance of 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, Aigars Kalvītis, 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 to Dynamo Moscow 0–3, 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 by later Gagarin Cup finalist HC MVD, 1–4.
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 1–4.
As of the end of the third season, head coach Július Šupler left the team to be the coach of CSKA Moscow. On April 27, 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.

Crest

Season-by-season record

This is a partial list of the last ten seasons completed by Dinamo Riga. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Dinamo Riga seasons.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTW = Overtime/Shootout Wins, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
SeasonGPWLOTWOTLPtsGFGAFinishPlayoffs
2008–0956242354861321562nd, KharlamovLost in First Round, 0–3
2009–1056232247841741755th, BobrovLost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4
2010–1154202077811601494th, BobrovLost in Conference Semifinals, 1–4
2011–1254245423861321563rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4
2012–1352133144511091517th, BobrovDid not qualify
2013–14542216115931411223rd, BobrovLost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3–4
2014–1560223035771361605th, BobrovDid not qualify
2015–1660173488751291517th, BobrovDid not qualify
2016–17601134105581161587th, BobrovDid not qualify
2017–185693179501051536th, BobrovDid not qualify
2018–19621826810621291555th, BobrovDid not qualify
2019–2062113867411031876th, BobrovDid not qualify

Players

Current roster

Retired numbers

Team captains

Scoring leaders

Player
506124175299-14282
581120173293-41386
3198898186+6113
24110580185-12252
29045108153-46127
41631112143–1230
4493799136-13205
5415169120-53210
1966257119+3183
1864273115+12130

Leading goaltenders

Player
382035:59151474493.0%2.18
723835:471834143492.7%2.24
1035880:564442232591.8%2.37
1267082:0941582861091.8%2.42
341934:5391778291.9%2.42
905246:443734214691.7%2.45
12576:373524091.1%2.50
321835:3881977291.2%2.52
422255:16132498390.1%2.61
553017:361826132691.6%2.62